Arknights Story Writers Caught Copying Iconic Line From Gujian 3 — Changed Two Characters and Called It a Day

Swap two characters and call it original — surely Gujian players don't browse the internet, right? That seems to have been the Arknights writing team's gamble, and it backfired spectacularly when eagle-eyed players caught the latest story update lifting a legendary line nearly word-for-word from the 2018 action RPG Gujian 3 (古剑奇谭三).

The evidence is a side-by-side comparison posted on NGA. The original line from Gujian 3 — the very last line of the entire game, spoken by the female lead and widely regarded as the thematic thesis of the whole story — goes: > "人生百年，吾道不孤，总会有人和我们一起的" The Arknights version in the new character's story reads: > "人生百年，此道不孤，总会有人和我们一起" One character swap (吾→此). One dropped particle at the end. Everything else? Identical — three consecutive phrases matched verbatim. The odds of that being a coincidence are probably lower than pulling a 6-star on a single pull.

Here's where it gets even more awkward: the official Gujian spinoff game Ash Echoes (白荆回廊) features the character Cen Ying — the very same female protagonist who delivered this iconic line — and uses the exact quote as a rank-up Easter egg. The original devs repurpose their own legendary line with pride. Meanwhile, Arknights allegedly swiped it and slapped a new coat of paint on it.

The comment section went nuclear. The top-voted reply nailed the issue perfectly: 'If you'd just quoted it straight-up, you could at least pass it off as a tribute. But changing two characters and pretending it's yours? That's... not a good look.'

Another commenter bluntly stated: 'Three consecutive phrases are identical. By any standard, that's textbook plagiarism — support the original creators.' Others dismantled the damage-control attempts circulating on Weibo's Arknights super-topic (超话): defenders argued these are common literary phrases, but as one player shot back, 'Sure, "人生百年" and "吾道不孤" aren't rare phrases on their own. But hitting all three in sequence? What a beautiful coincidence.'

Some players connected this to the Arknights writing team's recent track record of blunders, with one snarkily asking if the writers were trying to 'kick Cotton from his throne' — referencing earlier controversies. The timing raised eyebrows too: Gujian's spinoff Ash Echoes just had Cen Ying's rate-up banner end right before Arknights dropped this story beat. As one commenter quipped, 'Go check Weibo — everyone's sharing Cen Ying's S4 art. Is Arknights doing free promo for the competition now?'

A player who self-identified as a two-playthrough veteran of Gujian 3 pointed out the crucial context: this isn't some generic ancient proverb anyone might independently arrive at. The line is Gujian 3's creative reworking of classical Chinese literary tropes — it's a signature original creation unique to that game. Plausible deniability? Virtually zero.

As of now, Hypergryph (鹰角) has not issued any official response. But given the community's growing frustration over declining story quality in recent updates, this copy-paste scandal is adding fuel to a fire that's been smoldering for a while. When even the bare minimum of 'change more than two words' feels like too much to ask from the QA process, players are left wondering: does Arknights even have a review pipeline, or is it just vibes?