Assassin’s Creed dev accuses Middle-Earth game of stealing

One does not simply create a fantasy action game without allegedly lifting assets wholesale from other titles.

Monolith Productions released new gameplay footage of its upcoming Lord of the Rings game, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. In the eight-minute demo, the main character stalks through an orc camp, climbing scenery in order to leap down on unsuspecting foes and performing stealthy takedowns.

Capybara Games’ Charles Randall, formerly a Ubisoft developer, claims that many of these actions have been stolen from Assassin’s Creed II, according to CVG. 

Randall, who takes credit for Ubisoft’s air assassination move, tweeted:

https://twitter.com/charlesrandall/status/426372317237616640

As is often the case with Twitter, Randall was immediately lampooned by fans but stood his ground, adding:

https://twitter.com/charlesrandall/status/426373356560986112

Ubisoft Quebec programmer Eric Martel caught wind of Randall’s claims, and upon watching the video himself, simply replied:

@charlesrandall wow…

— Eric Martel (@emartelAI) January 23, 2014

Randall later clarified that he was aware he had no legal claim to the work of Assassin’s Creed II and that, despite his surprise, he was still looking forward to Monolith’s title.

I know I don't have any legal rights to what I did on Assassin's Creed 2 but I sure hope I get a special thanks on that Middle Earth game.

— Charles Randall (@charlesrandall) January 23, 2014

For the record though, that Middle Earth game looks pretty damn awesome. And I love AC2 so it's kind of a double win.

— Charles Randall (@charlesrandall) January 23, 2014

Warner Bros and Monolith have yet to comment.

What do you think? Watch the footage here, courtesy of GameSpot, and judge for yourself: