The use of generative AI in the gaming industry has increased dramatically over the past year, with major AAA games like Call of Duty and Fortnite experimenting with it to see how far they can push the boundaries. Unfortunately, they cross the line from human creativity into soulless art in their games. I’m not entirely opposed to the use of AI in games like Arc Raiders, which do a decent job of showing the technology’s potential. It was only a matter of time before Generative AI became the villain of a horror game.  A.I.L.A takes the concept of using generative AI to create entirely new experiences and takes it in a horrifying direction, without (from what I can tell) using the technology. 

Story

A.I.L.A is a brand-new, sophisticated AI companion in beta testing. A companion that will not only help you in your day-to-day life, but also create brand-new VR experiences that are tailored to the player’s personality, feelings, and fears. You play as Samuel, a beta tester who has received the VR headset, expecting a straightforward VR experience, but soon pushed into a nightmare world as A.I.L.A creates more terrifying experiences that bleed into the real world. 

What sin? Did you look at my browser history?

The concept of an AI designing a horror game (thematically) to build it around a player’s fears and actions is an interesting idea, especially when A.I.L.A. blends out of the VR space and into the real world to mess with Samuel on an entirely different level. Sadly, the stories within the games A.I.L.A. creates are generic and uninteresting, and I pretty much forgot about them the moment the chapter ended. Interestingly, it’s the story outside of VR that shines. 

This unique idea actually allows A.I.L.A. to blend multiple narratives. Not only the one built by these artificial intelligence that shapes the games, but also the one the developer wants to tell. A cautionary tale against the use of AI is one we’ve heard a thousand times. Still, it is becoming increasingly relevant as the use of generative AI in different art forms rapidly increases. 

Gameplay 

A.I.L.A. attempts to mix up various genres within the horror space. Every chapter offers an entirely different experience. A.I.L.A. is a love letter to the horror genre with tons of references and callbacks to some of the best in the genre. However, in doing so, it does very little differently to keep it engaging. 

Am I about to be attacked by a vampire or a priest?

The first chapter is a P.T. or Layers of Fear-style horror walking simulator that has you exploring a small, self-contained hallway that changes on loops and creates some puzzles along the way. It’s all straightforward, thanks to the unique ability to control the loops by interacting with TVs that appear in the various versions of the environment. A solid start to the game, but unfortunately, things get a little shaky from here. 

This is followed by a rather lengthy Resident Evil VII homage that has you exploring a house overrun by aliens as you try to survive the horde. All complete with an unkillable stalker enemy that you can stun for a few seconds if you fail to get away from it while trying to hide. It felt all shoddily put together, with some weak combat and puzzles that do nothing more than exist. 

A few chapters also heavily focus on the melee combat, and it gets even worse from there. They follow the same general structure of following those paths and solving some light puzzles, but set in a completely different time period that, admittedly, provided some really cool visuals. 

I’m sure this blood trail doesn’t lead to anything troubling.

Whilst all these chapters feel disjointed, how they work narratively makes sense, and I did enjoy the game’s attempt at frequently mixing things up. However, despite each chapter feeling different, they all have the same issues. Given the premise of A.I.L.A, which aims to provide the ultimate horror experience that learns from players’ actions and choices, it doesn’t feel very reactive. In an attempt to bring together multiple horror genres and styles, the game feels disjointed, and none of the chapters can really realise their potential. 

The game’s level design feels intentionally obtuse, with weak signposting that left me stumbling around, yet it’s excessively linear, with very few ways to get around the level. The puzzles can be decent enough distractions, but often too simple to provide any challenge or combat that just feels fine for both melee and ranged. The enemies you fight are, for the most part, completely uninteresting and barely react to your presence in interesting ways, and the few boss fights are tedious damage sponges with enemy waves thrown into them. 

Worse yet, for a game’s narrative that focused on creating the most horrifying experience. A.I.L.A is inconsistent in nailing its horror. At its best, it can be atmospheric, with a fantastic castle section that absolutely stands out as the game’s best moment, but most of the time, I was just bored. There’s an overreliance on loud noises or enemies randomly sitting around corners, very rarely letting tension build naturally, and instead feeling like it’s relying on cheap jump scares. 

‘Tis but a scratch.

Graphics and Sound

A.I.L.A is yet another game running on the Unreal Engine 5, and the results are a little bit mixed. Environments are well detailed, with plenty to look at and visual storytelling that sells the world, but that’s where my praise ends. Enemy designs (especially in the house chapter) are incredibly weak and almost comical, to the point of breaking immersion. 

The sound itself fares a little better. Samuel is a bit of a mixed bag with some decent enough line delivery. However, it’s the titular AI entity that really steals the show. She introduces herself as an innocent AI assistant that helps Samuel with his day-to-day life, whilst also creating new VR experiences from his feedback, with a slightly sinister edge that grows more apparent as the story progresses. However, it’s not perfect, and the over-reliance on jumpscares and loud noises becomes increasingly grating throughout. 

Verdict 

I’m not going to lie, it hurts that I didn’t like A.I.L.A. as much as I wanted to. Beyond the wildly inventive, genre-blending scenarios that create something unique and interesting, there’s not a lot here. Every chapter feels undercooked, and the horror falls flat most of the time. There is potential for something great here, and I hope Pulsatrix can expand on this in future entries, especially if we get more moments like those towards the end of the Castle chapter. 

A.I.L.A is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. 

Reviewed on PC with an RTX 4070, Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

A copy of A.I.L.A was provided by the publisher.