Star of Dawn Claims to Be the 'True Successor' of Meteor Butterfly Sword — Gets Absolutely Destroyed by Netizens Who Point Out the Original Devs Are Working on Naraka: Bladepoint at NetEase

Tencent and NetEase are at it again — and this time, the battlefield is a 22-year-old classic action game called Meteor Butterfly Sword (流星蝴蝶剑). The drama kicked off when Star of Dawn (星之破晓), a new spin-off under Tencent's Honor of Kings (王者荣耀) IP, dropped a public statement on QQ and WeChat claiming to be the legitimate successor of Meteor Butterfly Sword. The subtext? NetEase's Naraka: Bladepoint (永劫无间) should stop 'pretending' to be the heir.

This move immediately set NGA forums on fire. For context, Meteor Butterfly Sword was a landmark Chinese action game from 2002, and Naraka: Bladepoint has been widely regarded as its spiritual successor since day one. So when Tencent suddenly popped up saying 'actually, WE are the real successor,' players' first reaction wasn't shock — it was disbelief. You can't be serious.

The top reply nailed it: 'Whether you like it or not, Meteor Butterfly Sword really is Naraka's daddy.' Multiple players confirmed that 24 Entertainment, Naraka's development studio, has a significant number of former Meteor Butterfly Sword devs on board. But the real nuke came from Replies #3 and #4 — Guan Lei (关磊), the person who literally designed the combat system for the original Meteor Butterfly Sword, is currently working at NetEase's 24 Entertainment studio.

Reply #4, a high-voted response, went scorched earth: 'This is absolutely insane — you got the chairman of a gutted shell company (whose original dev team all left) and some random mod creators to endorse your claim, and you think that qualifies you to challenge Guan Lei for the 'legitimate successor' title? What's next, you gonna dig up Tsai Chun-Sung (蔡浚松, the original director) too?' The implication was crystal clear: Tencent bought a name, but NetEase has the soul.

Reply #10 offered a counterpoint: 'Whoever owns the IP is the legitimate successor. Period. No matter how many original team members you have, your game is still just a spiritual successor.' Fair enough — IP ownership is a legal reality. But Reply #11 absolutely dismantled this argument: 'Sure, you're the 'legitimate' Meteor Butterfly Sword — but then why doesn't your combat system inherit from the original? Instead, you're 'inheriting' from Naraka, the supposed spiritual successor? Guan Lei rebuilt Naraka's combat from scratch, keeping only the original's animation style. What does Star of Dawn have left if you strip away the Meteor animations and swap in hero abilities? It's ALL Naraka. Tencent is just using the IP as a fig leaf to give uninformed King of Glory players something to believe in.'

Reply #12 delivered the knockout blow with hands-on playtest evidence: 'This isn't just a genre overlap. The demo clearly copies Naraka's white-blue-gold Rock-Paper-Scissors stamina combat loop, and the running, blade-clashing, and grappling hook animations are practically 1:1 replicas. Finding some old relics and a dead IP to endorse your game doesn't solve this problem.' This was massive — it essentially proved that Tencent was slapping the Meteor Butterfly Sword IP name onto what is basically a Naraka clone.

Reply #13 delivered the most quotable burn: 'Forget whether Meteor is Naraka's daddy — the real absurdity is how Tencent says it with a straight face, as if NetEase did something wrong.' Meanwhile, Reply #16 summed up the entire fiasco in one sentence: 'Basically, King of Glory went looking for a daddy to legitimize its new game, and the 'real son' panicked and started screaming 'I'm the only heir!''

Reply #17 dug up NetEase's own hypocrisy, sharing screenshots of their previous stance on copying games like Fall Guys and Dead by Daylight — a classic 'people in glass houses' moment. Both sides' skeletons were dragged out of the closet.

Reply #18 offered a more detached take: 'This is just mutual hype farming. Star of Dawn's discussion levels across every community are way below Naraka's.' And Reply #19 delivered the most poetic roast of all: 'The moment you stitch together words like 'legitimate successor' and 'spiritual heir,' it already reeks of absurdity and copium. Whether it was League of Legends back in the day or Naraka now, desperately insisting you're the 'real one' just looks kinda pathetic.'

As things stand, this 'Meteor Butterfly Sword succession war' looks like a carefully orchestrated marketing spectacle. Tencent wants the IP's blessing to hype its new game; NetEase obviously won't let its spiritual successor get hijacked. As for who the 'real' heir is? Maybe a certain player put it best: 'Let them fight — let's see who's the real Meteor Butterfly Sword.' In the end, gameplay and quality speak louder than PR wars.