Small Dev Steals Assets from Countless Games, Including Oblivion, Wolfenstein, World of Warcraft

Update 3: More comparisons surfaced overnight, revealing that Limbo of the Lost apparently contains background elements of Gray Matter's Return to Castle Wolfenstein, World of Warcraft artwork, and a shocking number of Unreal Tournament 2004 maps.

"This is not an old game that has been dressed up," director Steve Bovis once told QuandaryLand. It is also worth noting that developer Majestic was planning a sequel to Limbo of the Lost and was seeking a new background artist for the project.

Given the sheer number of similarities from so many different games, it is extremely unlikely that all of the duplicate assets are a result of a common texture pack, as was the case with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.'s apparent use of Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 elements.

Update 2: Along with Oblivion and Thief: Deadly Shadows, it seems the three-man Majestic team stole assets from People Can Fly's Painkiller (PC) for use in Limbo.

Allegations are flying across several forums, including NeoGAF, that the 2D point and click adventure further "borrows" from a truly staggering amount of other titles, including:

• Epic's Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004 (PC)
• Konami's Silent Hill series
• Lionhead's Black & White 2 (PC)
• Blizzard's Diablo 2 (PC)
• Troika's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (PC)
• Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC, Xbox)
• The 1997 film Spawn

It is again worth noting that work first began on Limbo in 1995. It was then put on hold and, going by the game's site, restarted in 2002..

Update: Limbo of the Lost publisher Tri Synergy has issued a statement regarding the comparisons between the adventure title and Oblivion, specifying that it will immediately discontinue sales of Limbo in both retail and online outlets.

The publisher, which claims to be "just as shocked as everyone else," revealed that the game apparently borrows assets from Ion Storm's 2004 stealth-action title Thief: Deadly Shadows (PC, Xbox) as well.

"At no point during our dealings with Majestic Studios...did we have any knowledge of these similarities," the company wrote. "We have contacted the developer, Majestic, and are anxiously awaiting their response. As soon as we know more on this matter we will issue another statement."

Original Story: Limbo of the Lost (PC), the latest adventure title from the three-man team at Majestic Studios, appears to have stolen multiple assets and environments from Bethesda's two-year-old open-world RPG The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PC, PS3, 360).

While Oblivion arrived in 2006, Limbo of the Lost was just released this past May. GamesPlasma originally noticed the uncanny similarities between the two and has provided multiple comparison shots, which we have rehosted above.

Going by a 2004 JustAdventure preview, work first began on Limbo in 1995. It was shelved and, according to the game's site, resurrected in 2002. To provide an idea of the studio's resources, the official Limbo of the Lost website is hosted on GeoCities.

As of this writing, neither Bethesda nor Majestic has responded to the claims. Thanks to Damodred for the heads up.