this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
117 points (95.3% liked)

Games

44576 readers
809 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

AI in video games is a caustic enough subject that Valve requires developer disclosure if a title utilizes the generative technology. This way, people who have qualms about AI or its impact can opt out of purchasing anything that uses the genAI. One developer, however, is saving everyone from the moral quandary in the first place by just deleting their game altogether.

Hardest is a free-to-play roguelike on Steam that was released in the summer of 2025 with the tagline, "stop time, summon tsunamis, shoot with bubble guns, feed cards to mimic, collect rare negative cards!" Except for a user who says the game helped him bond with his son, Hardest mostly got a negative reception. "I assume the whole thing is AI slop," one reviewer wrote.

You'd think flopping like this would be the end of the story, but half a year later, Rakuel, the developer, has undergone a revelation. On Jan. 10, the indie creator posted an update to Hardest announcing that he would pull the game from the platform by the end of the month.

top 27 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 hour ago

Good for him doing the right thing. Keeping slop out of the world is one of the most moral things a person can do.

[–] HarkMahlberg@kbin.earth 7 points 1 hour ago

"Ethically, [the] only logical reason is to delete the game from Steam. The girl I've been dating for a month made me realize this."

Make like 38 Special and hold on loosely brother. Keep it up.

[–] Soulphite@reddthat.com 31 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Why doesn't he just... I dunno, develop the AI bits? Is he just going to give up?

[–] False@lemmy.world 1 points 11 minutes ago

It sounds like the bigger issue was that the game was bad.

[–] becausechemistry@piefed.social 29 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

The announcement suggests the developer wrote all the code, but used the slop robot to generate assets. Sounds like the issue is that making art assets actually takes skill, and is something most programmer types underestimate.

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 1 points 30 minutes ago

I'm curious if a dev that carefully manages placeholders could at least garner interest from artists this way. Clair Obscur's debacle with their Indie Award demonstrates how horrible this can turn out if they miss even one asset; but sadly, I empathize coming from a position where I devoted my studies into learning coding and writing techniques, not artistry.

My space game was cubes and cylinders colliding.

[–] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 7 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Incidentally, if people had skill, they wouldn't use Ai?

[–] becausechemistry@piefed.social 10 points 1 hour ago

Again, reading the announcement, it sounds like the advice the developer received in school was to use it. He’s realized now that it was a bad call.

[–] StitchInTime@piefed.social 8 points 3 hours ago

Kind of an extreme viewpoint in my opinion. I personally have no issue with an indy or first time dev using AI assistance for a passion project, my issue is when large studios are replacing talented folks with soulless slop.

[–] tomalley8342@lemmy.world 17 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 12 points 3 hours ago

Its funny reading the positive reviews and seeing thay they couldn't even bother spending more than 20mins playing.

Props for it being open source but it seems like a shit game. Needs more gameplay polish I doubt AI was the problem here.

[–] etchinghillside@reddthat.com -3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Meh - sounds like they saved some money by not going heavy into custom assets.

Seems like for a first pass at an indie game you should use asset packs and/or Gen AI. If the game has legs - you make another pass with a bigger investment into it.

Obviously if you enjoy the asset/model/whatever aspect then delve deeper into it.

[–] peanuts4life@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, I don't know how I feel about celebraing an indie dev deleting their game while the biggest games such as arc raiders succeed despite overt ai use that actually displaces voice actors at the company.

[–] HarkMahlberg@kbin.earth 7 points 1 hour ago

The developer gives a pretty decent reason for the deletion, imo:

"I have realized the AI is not actually free, and it has a major effect on the economy and environment," Rakuel wrote. "Some AI companies can use this game just existing as a reason the get more investment for their AI companies, that benefit[s] no one, but rather suck resources from the economy from hard working people," he continued.

There's nothing he can do about Arc Raider's success, but taking ownership of what he did, I gotta say, respect.