[falcor84]

Is that sort of game mechanic copyrightable/patentable?

The only example of a patentable mechanic I'm familiar with is the Shadow of Mordor "Nemesis" system [0], which is relatively complicated.

[0] https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-i-shadow-of-war-i-pu...

[thereddaikon]

Game mechanics are generally not copyrightable. Nintendo did file patents for some mechanics in the newest Zelda game. I don't know how well those would hold up under court scrutiny, bad patents are approved every day. Pokemon's mechanics were also not fully novel, it was inspired by what was already in 1997 the well established JRPG formula.