It’s no secret that some of the most popular videogames have spawned knock-off mobile clones. There’s the age-old saga of League of Legends and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and ongoing discussion around 2024 superhit Palworld and its resemblance to classic Nintendo series Pokemon – where there are great ideas, there are always imitators. But in the case of Stray Fawn Studio, the indie developer behind city builder The Wandering Village, two “ripoffs” of its roguelike deckbuilder Dungeon Clawler have already appeared on the App Store, and the game isn’t even out yet.
It’s something that Stray Fawn’s co-founder Philomena Schwab is used to, however. Speaking to me on X (formerly Twitter), she tells me that “our current game (The Wandering Village) has been ripped off in all kinds of ways, mostly by mobile games.” The creature-focused city building game, where you build a civilization on the back of a slow-moving dinosaur creature called Onbu, was one of my favorite games of Gamescom 2022 – I still have some of the concept art in a little event collection in my desk.
“The most frequent thing we have seen is that our 3D model is taken from the game and used in other games. Our screenshots frequently get stolen and used for random games advertisements, too.”
It’s not the first time Stray Fawn’s work has been cloned, but what shocks Schwab more is the fact that there are not one, but two illegitimate versions of the team’s upcoming roguelike deckbuilder, Dungeon Clawler, on the App Store. Set to be released in Q4 of 2024, the game tasks you to select randomized items from a huge arcade-style claw machine and take them into battle against the dungeon’s adorable-yet-villainous denizens. You can play as several different characters, build unique ability decks to take down foes, and even acquire Lucky Charms, which drastically change gameplay.
Dungeon Clawler was announced on Thursday, March 21, 2024, according to PR correspondence sent to this writer. The reveal was swiftly followed by a free demo that debuted at Steam Deckbuilder Fest, which took place from March 25 through to April 1.
‘Claw Heroes,’ which was uploaded to the App Store by ‘Spinbot’ on August 15, 2024, has a remarkably similar premise. “Step into Claw Heroes, the ultimate turn-based RPG where strategy meets the thrill of the claw machine!” reads the description, with images showing gameplay akin to that of Dungeon Clawler. “Good game, reminds of the PC version Dungeon Clawler,” reads one review dated August 25, 2024.
‘Crab Clawler’ tells a similar story, and even uses the ‘Clawler’ part of Dungeon Clawler’s name. Uploaded on July 30, 2024, “this one even uses our own game assets…” Stray Fawn claims, and a close look at the shield icons, green-hilted swords, and red, damage indicator markers appears to confirm that theory. Gameplay also appears to be similar, with the cutesy monsters and animals swapped for various aquatic creatures.
I ask Schwab if the team has tried to take the game down, and what that process looks like. She claims that “if people use our screenshots or game assets we report them to the corresponding platform which sometimes results in them being removed. If a game copies our game mechanics, even down to all the items you find in the game, it‘s much harder to get it removed.”
And it’s only getting worse. “For us [videogame cloning] has never been as bad as it is now,” she tells me. “There are already three clones we know of for our next game which hasn’t even been released yet. They went ahead and ripped off our demo that was recently shown in Steam Next Fest.
“It‘s quite demoralizing, especially the feeling that others are profiting off your work before you’ve even finished it. We love being open about our ideas, showing what we‘re working on, and sharing our learnings with others. Knowing that there are people out there just waiting to take advantage of this is scary, but we will continue to do so anyway.”
PCGamesN has attempted to reach out to both Spinbot and Crab Clawler’s uploader, but could not find any contact details for them. We’ve also reached out to the App Store, and will update this story if we receive a response.
If you’re looking to try Dungeon Clawler when it drops later this year, you can wishlist it on Steam.