This roguelite claims to have the dubious honor of being 'the world's first fully playable game created 100% through AI' in a milestone for slop everywhere

An AI-generated demon with fiery eyes is seen laughing in the Codex Mortis trailer. — (Image credit: CRUNCHFEST)

It feels like generative AI is everywhere in game development—a Google survey estimated 87% of game developers are using it in some capacity—but generative AI is really everywhere in Codex Mortis, a Vampire Survivors-esque game the developer has called "the world's first fully playable game created 100% through AI" in a press release. Reminds me a bit of those labels on certain sodas that assure you they contain absolutely no real fruit juice.

The game's developer, under the username Crunchfest3, posted about the development process on the AI game dev subreddit. The dev claimed that they forewent the use of a game engine, and that everything was slapped together with AI tools in just three months (though it was slightly more complicated than just typing an idea for a game into a text field).

The game's claim to be a world's first is hard to verify. Hobby coder David Friedman's Doomscroll is a browser game that was generated using ChatGPT, and I'm sure there are plenty of other games out there with similar ambitions to use generative AI for all it's worth in the game development process. Perhaps Codex Mortis is unique in that it's releasing on Steam, potentially as a paid product, but still, I'm not sure "vibe-coded" is necessarily a distinction to be proud of.

Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...

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