“Hell is empty and all of the devils are right here.” That quote from Shakespeare’s The Tempest is how the debut trailer for hack-and-slash journey sport Fallen begins. It was correct if you happen to depend amongst these devils the scourge of AI slop. The trailer, an IGN unique, was flamed on social media for showing to showcase gen AI work, and the developer of the sport later confirmed it.
The Fallen trailer appeared on X on Monday the place it instantly made a splash far past what you might need anticipated from its in any other case generic-looking, demon-slaying gameplay. “Introducing Fallen, a brand new Xbox 360-era impressed character motion sport the place you play as Astra, a fallen angel who should battle via Hell and its demonic forces. It’s in improvement for console and PC,” learn the advertising copy.
However what stood out to individuals instantly was the now acquainted whiff of slick however lifeless gen AI-produced artwork that was peppered all through the trailer. “It appears to be like nauseatingly dangerous, genAI isn’t simply strolling again gaming {hardware}, it’s attempting to make the video games themselves terrible too,” wrote cosplayer Kitty Bit. “That is essentially the most AI ass AI online game I ever did see lmao,” wrote Twitch streamer Ms5000watts. “Appears to be like like a bizarre amalgamation of AI and jank,” learn one of many high YouTube feedback.
They don’t seem to be even attempting to cover it brah😭😭AI slop content material is off the charts now https://t.co/uWFQdopCy8 pic.twitter.com/b0B9Jnm8aq
— Oshbard (@Ludvicus) January 19, 2026
Was this one other instance of individuals being paranoid about gen AI and leaping the gun with the accusations of slop? Nope! Superboo Studios founder, director, producer, and author Brooke Burgess admitted as a lot after the backlash, however claimed the gameplay was actual and in-engine UE5.4 work. Burgess blamed “context” collapse for the controversy.
“What ended up being shared as an ‘official trailer’ was really our early dev ‘tone pitch’, i.e., a work-in-progress UE5 teaser designed for funding discussions,” he told TheGamer. “There are [AI-Generated] placeholders in there, particularly some 2D check property used to discover temper and presentation (for instance, how ‘misplaced souls’ and fallen angels within the sport may react when spoken to and judged, alongside w/ WIP HUD parts). That materials was by no means meant as ultimate content material, nor as an announcement on how the shipped sport could be made.”
To return to referencing Shakespeare for a second, Burgess appears to be suggesting that “the fault, pricey Brutus, is just not in our ‘tone pitch AI placeholders,’ however in ourselves.” He makes it sound like IGN posted the flawed trailer, or jumped the gun. In truth, Burgess has had no qualms about using AI slop to pitch the sport to potential traders.
In truth, he not too long ago complained about simply how arduous it’s to lift cash for making a sport proper now. Burgess stated each writer he’s spoken to is asking how he’ll us AI to streamline improvement. He’s open to utilizing it for QA and localization, however claims he’s not “waving the flag of AI by any stretch.” however claims he’s not “waving the flag of AI by any stretch.”
“I’m not going to promote my soul and be like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it on my own, let me immediate this entire sport into existence,’” he not too long ago instructed GamesIndustry.Biz. “No, I need to work with actually gifted individuals and make one thing cool. But when integrating it in a method that doesn’t have an effect on creativity, however helps to avoid wasting a little bit bit of cash and will get the sport on the market to individuals, and offers us an opportunity to make one thing cool and memorable, after which make one thing else after that–it’s one thing I’ve to consider.”
