March 3, 2026
NPCs with PhDs or improv gone wrong?
Why No AI Games?
Gamers split: AI mind‑blowers overdue or just chatbots with costumes
TLDR: A tech writer asks why AI hasn’t delivered a breakthrough game beyond chatty demos and novelties. The comments explode: some blame a developer “culture war,” others say only a loud minority hates AI, while a few love chatbot improv—leaving gamers split on whether AI toys can become real games.
The internet is asking: where are the wild, mind‑melting AI games we were promised? The original post calls out early hits like AI Dungeon as fun novelties, then accuses newer demos—Google’s Genie, “Drunk Minecraft”‑style toys—of feeling like clunkier versions of normal games. Cue the comment brawl.
One camp says the magic was always smoke and mirrors. Fans hail Middle‑earth’s Nemesis system as “feels like AI” but actually smart rules, not a brain. Another camp says the real block isn’t tech—it’s a culture war. As azath92 puts it, the industry’s “veeeery strong stance against genAI” is choking experiments before they ship. Enter the chaos agent: NitpickLawyer torches the purists, insisting anti‑AI outrage is just a loud minority and that players only care if the result is good, dropping the spicy “but muh art” line.
Meanwhile, the improv enjoyers show up. Aeolun loves role‑playing with chatbots. YesBox argues chatting with an AI is like improv or “a fractal,” while regular games give clear goals. Translation: maybe LLMs (large language models—the chatbots) aren’t “games” at all, they’re open‑ended toys. The memes write themselves: “NPCs with PhDs,” “AI as Dungeon Master who never read the rulebook,” and “press X to yes‑and.” Everyone agrees on one thing: five years in, we’re still waiting for the first AI game that truly blows the doors off.
Key Points
- •The article contends that few notable AI-based gameplay experiences have emerged since 2021 despite advances in generative AI.
- •AI Dungeon launched on GPT‑2 in December 2019, peaked in 2021, and later declined, serving as an early example of AI-driven interactive storytelling.
- •Other cited AI-centric games include Death by AI (with reported a16z funding) and Suck Up!, alongside semi-viral AI engine demos.
- •Google’s Genie 3 is mentioned as a technically impressive demo capable of generating coherent spaces, though not seen as delivering novel gameplay by the author.
- •The article notes a general scarcity of games where AI itself is the primary hook, listing The Sims, Alien: Isolation, The Last Guardian, F.E.A.R., Black & White, and Façade as notable examples.