An formidable and celebrated fan challenge primarily based on the cult franchise Bionicle has now been pulled by Lego – however the workforce is continuous.
Three years in the past, we reported on a long-awaited fan challenge that aimed to remodel the favored Bionicle figures from the early 2000s into a contemporary open-world role-playing sport. A playable demo was alleged to be launched this yr, however that can now not occur, because the rights holder Lego has determined to scrap the sport. However it’s not utterly over but.
Makes an attempt had been made to adjust to Lego’s tips
What sort of sport is it? The challenge was referred to as Bionicle: Masks of Energy and was alleged to be out there for followers to obtain without cost. The motion role-playing sport follows the story of the Toa, who got down to discover the Masks of Energy to free the island of Mata Nui from the evil Makuta.
Masks of Energy was developed in Unreal Engine 5 and needed to ship you into an open world modeled after the lore of Bionicle with six totally different Toa.
Lego steps in: Lego nonetheless owns the rights to Bionicle, regardless that the franchise has been dormant for a few years. Nevertheless, Masks of Energy apparently turned too huge for the Danish toy producer, and Lego requested the event workforce to discontinue manufacturing. Naturally, they complied.
Unmasked Video games has issued a public assertion on Steam saying that the demo is theoreticallyin its ultimate phases and only some bug fixes and ultimate touches areleft to finish it. It was initially scheduled to be launched as a shadow drop on August 10, 2025.
To acknowledge the exhausting work that has gone into the sport, a whole walkthrough of the demo in its present state has been launched as a two-hour video on YouTube.
Precautions had been taken: Unmasked Video games goes on to put in writing that each effort was made to adjust to Lego’s truthful play tips No cash was ever requested, and there have been quite a few indications that Masks of Energy was a fan challenge. Sadly, the Lego Group’s perspective towards fan-created media appears to have modified.
Though the workforce by no means obtained a proof for Lego’s resolution, they believe that it might have been simply confused with an official challenge.
On the time of writing, the Steam web page for Bionicle: Masks of Energy seems among the many high outcomes when trying to find Bionicle sport on Google. A median individual seeing our sport for the primary time might simply suppose it was an official sport – and no quantity of clear disclaimers or disclaimers on our half might change that impression.
Bionicle followers don’t must throw within the towel simply but, although. One other promising fan challenge is presently within the works that might fulfill all of our editor Fabiano’s childhood goals.
For Unmasked Video games, the journey is simply starting
Till Bionicle: Masks of Energy was discontinued, the builders had been often called Workforce Kanohi. The group is now utilizing its expertise and achievements to create a brand new sport with its personal IP. This was adopted not solely by a reputation change, but additionally by the conversion of the Steam web page for Masks of Energy to a brand new challenge.
There you’ll now discover the upcoming sport Venture Rustbound. The hooked up photos are nonetheless from the Bionicle challenge. It could subsequently be assumed that improvement shouldn’t be ranging from scratch. Maybe there’ll even be a religious successor to Bionicle. It stays thrilling!
Issues are additionally shifting ahead at Lego. After the toy producer posted document earnings once more in 2024, the corporate now needs to take a position extra closely within the online game market.
