Story has to be scratched due to another story

So I have been creating this world for a story. I spent many hours on it and was ready to write it. Then I hear of a new game coming out that follows my story.

Let me start from the beginning. I was creating a post apocalyptic setting that took inspiration from the game and book "Metro 2033". I loved the setting of the book but I wanted to create a different story. The setting wasn't exact, just had similar elements. The plot and characters were entirely different. I was about ready to start writing, when they announced Metro Exodus. I read the short summary of the story, and it was my plot. I sure the elements of the plot will be different, but they made a major change a change I made myself to avoid being a copy cat.

I was devastated. All that work, and now if I come out with this story it'll be seen as a wanna be or a copy cat work. I'm not sure what to do.

Is there a way I can tale my plot and my characters and change the genre? Has that been done before? Ugh, I REALLY wanted a post apocalyptic setting, it's my favorite. I created my world first, the plot came later. I can try to change the plot, but it took so long to get the plot I had. I don't want to trash this story but I don't want to have it be so similar that people don't see it the right way. I'm stuck. Any advise would be helpful. Thanks.

 

Well you could write it anyway. Though it would have been better
to have come up with something less based of of something else,
that is how things get tricky.

As for me I have borrowed elements from some of my fave PC games,
but only minor things that I made my own. Never an entire story
or large chunks of one. I mainly do hardware or tech, and redesign
it so as not to be a copy of the original source material.

Sounds like you won the luck of the draw coming up with a plot that
exists in a game that hasn't even come out yet.
You could look at it one of two ways.
1. You feel you are copying the source material in some kind of homage.
2. Or just call it a fan-fic, that is loosely based around said material.

No point in throwing the baby out with the bath water, ya know?
Just let it go, and write it as you have planned to. Every plot that
there is has been done before yours. What is different is it hasn't
been told by you. Plots are like cliches, you can't avoid them and
there are no original ones left. So you just have to take the elements
you have and make them your own.

Now own it, and start writing.

 

You should make what you want.

You haven't even started writing yet, so it's going to be some time before you've actually got a publishable product. By that point, Metro Exodus probably isn't going to be new and interesting - we're not talking about Breath of the Wild and Horizon Zero Dawn coming out at the same time, here, we're talking about two entirely different types of media coming out at different times to different audiences. (And for their surface-level similarities, are BOTW and HZD interchangeable, or can you only enjoy one of them? Nah. It doesn't matter.)

It's genuinely so unlikely that anyone is going to think your story is a rip-off of Metro Exodus. People who notice are probably just going to like both things. Everything is inspired by something else, and being able to point to similarities between A and B doesn't mean that one or the other is derivative, and I think most people understand that.

Don't worry about it. Write what you want to write.

 

The similar elements was only the setting, and not even set in the same place. I just liked how in Metro the surface is dangerous. I didn't want a story where everyone is living easily. That's all I took from the story. I made a plot that was completely different, then BOOM thus comes out with a similar plot.

My plot was generally, main character leaves home to find a legendary location, a safe place to live. In Metro they never leave the Metro. Yet, this new game is the main character being forced to leave his home and find a new place to live. Our reasons are different but the base plot is the same. Leave to find a new home in a similar setting.

 

@SirMathias007 Then you should be fine. @izzybot hit the nail on the head,
and that should dispel any concern of yours. That is better than worrying about
the similarities between the two. Unless you do not feel up to the task of letting
go of that small fact, in which case you may be throwing away a lot of hard work
for nothing. Ultimately you will do what you want to do, but we don't see any
problem with you following through with writing your story.

 

Honestly, from looking at the game, it just looks like a combination of the Stalker game series and Fallout, with the atmosphere and darker theme of radioactive wasteland from Stalker and the technology stuff from Fallout.

It isn't like the wasteland scenario is new, but it doesn't mean your story isn't original. Besides, the odds of someone reading your story and comparing it so strongly to the game to say it's a copy is unlikely, I'd say. You created the world, don't throw it away!

 

From my perspective, you don't have to change anything. If it was YOUR story, YOUR idea, and you were only inspired by something else, then don't bother in changing that. To be more precise, if change affects the story in bad way, don't do it. However if you feel that the change won't affect the quality of the story, then you can go with it.

 

Character who leaves home to find a safe haven isn't a plot - that's a premise. I think you are panicking over nothing, really. If your every major event coincided with the game, then i would be worried, but that's clearly not the case. It matters how your character goes about finding thw safe haven. What actually happens is the plot - a series of events. And how the story happens determines how unique your story is.

And the truth is, you will probably find your story changes as you write - that's usually how writing goes. It's a rather organic thing. To be worrying that your story is similar before you even have a draft is... getting a little ahead of yourself