Nintendo has officially released gameplay footage for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remastered. Shortly after the demo ended, players overseas began comparing the Castle Town scene from the remaster with Mondstadt from Genshin Impact, claiming that Nintendo had copied Genshin Impact after six years and replicated Mondstadt's aesthetics down to the last detail. This viewpoint quickly sparked a heated debate online.
The core of the controversy is clear at a glance. The original Ocarina of Time was released in 1998, more than twenty years before Genshin Impact. The European-style architecture and market square in Castle Town are based on the common appearance of historic German towns. The remaster adopts a more realistic medieval European style, while Genshin Impact's Mondstadt also draws inspiration from traditional German architecture. The two works simply share the same real-world references, yet some have forcibly accused one of copying the other.
