I was browsing my games queue in Steam when I came across one that was early access. I decided to watch the video, and right away, the first image I saw is of the character harvesting plants. Here is the thing: I have sworn to see the plant she was harvesting before! I took a screen cap to make sure I wasn't just fooling myself but sure as sh!t, it's the same thing as one of the decoration blocks (plants) in Empyrion! Evidence attached From GAIA early access game (on Steam): From Empyrion Galactic Survival (decoration plant block): Did they get permission to use this model? Is it a public domain thingy or what do you think?
Very little of Empyrion's art assets are original. Most are Unity base assets or were purchased from the Unity store- that's why there is almost no cohesive style. Hopefully, they are ultimately just placeholders. Hopefully.
Its kind of fun to find the source of the models. Here is the new creature "Pangolin" for example: I hope they keep the funny jump Animation. This one would make a nixe critter for the "swamp" biome.
To keep costs it's common to use outsourced resources at a cheap discount. Even Fortresscraft evolved had similar models for a while.