2025 sci-fi game The Alters is coming under fire as players unearth undisclosed use of Artificial Intelligence across a number of visual assets, lines of translated text, and more.
Polish developers 11 Bit Studios released The Alters on June 13, and early reception has been mostly positive. It currently sits with a score of 84 on MetaCritic and has a Very Positive label on Steam based on roughly 6,000 player reviews.
Many are enjoying the game for its unique cloning-based design, wherein players make duplicates of the protagonist in order to survive on a hostile planet. However, some have begun to spot some cracks in the experience.
On June 24, one player shared an image that suggested AI was used during the game’s development. In fact, the picture revealed an asset that still had an AI generator’s response at the very top. Now, more instances are appearing online, with some left furious at the studio for not disclosing the use of generative tools.
The Alters under fire for not disclosing AI use
The first instance was spotted on a background asset. Where in other sci-fi games, like say, a Dead Space, computer screens littering the Ishimura may be covered in random text, here, it doesn’t appear a human has made said random text for The Alters.
One translucent terminal is intended to display Astrophysical Observations. Before the actual scientific data, however, the first line reads just like a response from an AI program.
“Sure, here’s a revised version focusing purely on scientific and astronomical data,” the line reads before then delivering a smattering of technical information on a fictional voyage through the Andromeda galaxy.
The first example of AI use in The Alters has opened a messy can of worms.
Another example came from a Portuguese-speaking player who observed quirks with the game’s localization. Once again, it appears the initial response from a generative AI tool has been kept in. “Claro!” a line of dialogue reads in their local language. “Of course!” it translates to in English. “Of course! The text translated into Brazilian Portuguese is…”
Now, what’s crucial to note among all of this is that The Alters does not disclose any use of AI. Since January of 2024, it has been a requirement on Steam for developers to confirm whether AI was used in any capacity.
Backlash has been widespread, with some questioning just how big a role AI played in localizing the game for any number of regions.
Generative AI prompt responses have been left in on multiple occasions.
Localization Specialist Lucile Danilov chimed in on LinkedIn (as first spotted by Eurogamer), calling the matter a “disgrace.”
“Seriously, leaving parts of an AI prompt in the lockit?! Talk about spitting in the face of your international audience.”
In the replies, Handon Ryu, translator for the Korean version of The Alters, admitted “the same issue exists in the Korean version as well.”
“While no AI prompt has been exposed, I can confirm that the same section of the Korean localization shows clear signs of having been run through a [Large Language Model] without proper editing.”
11 Bit Studios has yet to address the controversy. We’ll be sure to update you here as any further details emerge.
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