Square Enix Releases Free AI-Powered Murder Mystery Game Demo

Although fears regarding AI causing widespread unemployment are valid, many professionals are discovering ways to leverage AI to automate mundane tasks. A prime example is publisher Square Enix, who is set to launch a tech demo of a PC game on Monday that incorporates an AI technology called Natural Language Processing (NLP). The game features a murder mystery theme and employs NLP to empower a non-playable character (NPC) to interpret and react to the player’s commands.

A game with AI is released by Square Enix on Steam

The upcoming technical demo is a contemporary adaptation of Yuji Horii’s classic adventure game, The Portopia Serial Murder Case, which was released in 1983. In the original game, players would enter text commands on a command line to progress through the story, but due to hardware and software limitations, they often had to use very specific phrasing that the game could understand.

Fast forward 40 years, personal computers are significantly more powerful, and NLP has advanced by leaps and bounds. As shown in the accompanying video, the new game is much more capable of understanding and responding to players’ prompts, resulting in a smoother and more enjoyable experience.

Initially, Square Enix’s AI Division intended to incorporate Natural Language Generation (NLG) technology into the game. This would have enabled the game to generate a natural-sounding response to a prompt that wasn’t pre-programmed into the game, similar to ChatGPT. However, the NLG function has been omitted from this initial release due to concerns about the AI generating inappropriate or unethical replies. The developer expressed gratitude for the players’ understanding and assured them that they would reintroduce the NLG function as soon as their research succeeds in creating a safe and enjoyable environment for players.