Summary
Kazuma Kaneko, formerly ofAtlusand now of Colopl, recently released a new artificial intelligence-powered game called Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter, for bothSteamand mobile. The game is a roguelike deck builder, and its gimmick is that new cards will be generated based on what happens during your runs.
Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter was immediately controversial upon its announcement, given its heavy use of generative AI in conjunction with marketing that focused on the “return” of Kazuma Kaneko. The game currently holds a"Mixed" review scoreon Steam for a variety of reasons.
Kaneko is renowned for designing and drawing monsters for thePersonaandShin Megami Tenseiseries, as well as last year’s Metaphor: ReFantazio. According to Colopl, the artificial intelligence in Tsukuyomi has exclusively been trained on the art that Kaneko created while at the company. Kaneko has even said that training the AI to draw was more “time-consuming” than just doing the art himself (thanks,Automaton).
Let it Go
Despite Colopl’s insistence that the AI was only trained on Kaneko’s original work, players have begun discovering cards that look a lot like Disney characters and other copyrighted material (thanks again,Automaton).
“Guess we’re doing Elsa Frozen now,” writesKanataent, captioning a card from Tsukuyomi that looks a lot like a beloved Disney princess. Elsa appears to be a common generation for the AI, withNuzumeposting another card of the princess, saying, “Yeah dude those training sets are totally legit! Who could forget Kaneko’s phase where he exclusively drew Elsa from Frozen fan art, the AI really captured that era of his work.”
It’s concerning for the future of image generation if Colopl can’t even stop an AI supposedly solely trained by an artist from defaulting to theft. If Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter keeps generating licensed characters, then Colopl will have to find a way to address this problem, or it risks legal action.
Besides the poorly-implemented AI mechanic, Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter also contains a plethora of microtransactions to boot, the subject of many of the negative reviews on Steam.
