Review
Between construction simulation and survival adventure: "The Alters" tested
by Kevin Hofer
The Alters and others: why gamers are right to protest against the use of AI
3-7-2025
Translation: Julia Graham
In the recent past, several games have caused a stir in the gaming community about the use of AI in development. The fear is that games will get increasingly generic.
AI is polarising. Some see it as a saviour that makes all areas of life and your job easier, while others see it as generating soulless content and images, and taking away jobs. The use of AI in game development is also frequently the subject of heated debate. Most recently, 11 Bit Studios from Poland was met with accusations. Their story-driven, base-building game The Alters was released in mid-June. Observant gamers discovered evidence of the use of an AI chatbot.
The Alters isn’t an isolated case. I’ll show you other examples and explain why many users react so sensitively to the use of AI in games – and why this is a good thing.
The Alters: chatbot make it into the game
On Reddit, a user shared a screenshot from the game that suggests the use of an AI chatbot for in-game text. This is default copy in a logbook that‘s only visible in the background and has no function in the game.
It was suspected that someone from the development team had this text generated and inadvertently copied the chatbot’s response, including its introduction, into the game. The Reddit community reacted with indifference, malice at the clueless copy-pasting and a lack of understanding.
Source: 11 Bit Studios
AI was obviously also used for the translations. A chatbot introduction (link in Portuguese) was also found as a subtitle to a video sequence in the Brazilian-Portuguese localisation. In other languages, there were also anomalies at this point in the game, as other users noted.
11 Bit Studios hadn’t declared AI usage on its Steam page for The Alters, despite the fact Steam has required this since 2024.
What did the developers say?
A few days after the first reviews, the team published a statement, saying AI was only used to a very limited extent and exclusively for placeholder text during development. The aim was never to show AI content in the finished game. Its AI response in the logbook is a one-off oversight and has no influence on the story writing or the game experience.
The AI translation was a last-minute compromise, as the video in question was only implemented shortly before release. This was chosen because otherwise only English subtitles would have been available, which those responsible considered to be the «worse experience» in terms of localisation. As a result, the AI translations only affect 0.3 per cent of all written material in the game.
More games with AI-generated content
Other studios are also currently experimenting with AI. At the end of 2024, there was excitement about a remaster project for the 30th anniversary of Warcraft 3. Blizzard Entertainment released the new edition of Warcraft 3: Reforged to celebrate this, which was itself a new edition of the original from 1994.
Blizzard used AI upscaling to polish up the graphics. In the gaming community’s opinion, the result was anything but worth seeing. There were accusations that Blizzard wanted to make money with their classic game without any effort or love put into it. AI upscaling is an understandable method, but apparently they didn’t use a good service. Nice ones look different. Some graphics can be seen in this video on the Back2Warcraft YouTube channel.
AI is bad and produces 100% soulless trash.
The golf game Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots will be released in September. On Steam the studio states that tree and leaf textures were AI-generated. An article on Kotaku refers to it as «AI-generated junk». On Reddit, on the other hand, one user writes that this is precisely what AI was made for. It could take on «boring work» that no designer would want to do anyway.
But Jurassic World Evolution 3 is on a whole other level. Frontier Developments studio announced the game at the start of June. There was immediate disgruntlement as the game apparently contained AI-generated portraits of scientists. These aren’t background graphics that hardly anyone notices anyway. Critics were disappointed that Frontier didn’t use artists to draw them instead.
On 24 June, the studio finally responded and announced it would no longer use AI-generated images. The game will be released in October.
Should games be great or generic?
These examples may not look serious on their own. Enough people also defended the studios for their approach, with arguments that AI use in these cases was too minor and understandable. That may be true, but as is so often the case, it’s a matter of principle. A fundamental problem is usually found lurking behind even supposedly minor AI usage.
Due to the rapid development of AI, companies are faced with the question of whether they want to and can resist the temptation of AI. It’s a fragile balance between productive and creative support from AI and its increased use in favour of cost savings. We’re looking at nothing more than the decision between the (expensive) creation of unique games and the (cheap) generation of arbitrary, soulless content.
AI doesn’t have to be bad. After all, developers can focus more on demanding tasks if they don’t have to worry about repetitive but necessary activities. This can ensure higher quality in the end product. And imagine how vivid a game would feel if you could talk freely with NPCs because a language model has been implemented.
Complaints are deserved – and necessary
The gaming community is sensitive to the use of AI in games for good reason. Its fear is that AI is increasingly a substitute for talented, creative people. Bypassing the work of professionals goes hand in hand with disrespecting gaming customers. They’re fobbed off with generated content instead of gripping stories, innovative gameplay and genuine craftsmanship.
The fact that disgruntlement spreads like wildfire is good for everyone, as it shows studios that there’s a line they can’t cross. Otherwise, it could snowball. At first it’s just translation, 3D models in the background and avatar images. But without resistance, the temptation to transfer more and more work to AI models would become ever greater. At the end of the development phase, the market would be flooded with interchangeable games.
But one thing’s clear: AI is here to stay. How and what exactly it’ll be used for depends on all of us: if we overlook supposed trivialities and tolerate AI-generated content... or not. However, this requires companies to be transparent about the use of AI, as required by Steam, for example.
Addendum: Quite aptly, Microsoft has announced it’s laying off thousands of employees due to high investment costs for AI. My colleague Kim has written about the specific effects of the layoffs on the gaming industry.
Header image: 11 Bit Studios / «The Alters»
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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