"The Animal Crossing -like cozy life sim is one of the biggest new games on Steam this month. It's also made with AI-generated content according to a new disclosure by the developers. is developer and publisher XD International's answer to the question "What if Animal Crossing was a chibi anime?" It dropped on January 17 following a wave of closed betas in both November and December 2025. Concurrent players peaked at over 35,000."
""This game contains Generative AI (used to generate the puzzles), which they didn't disclose until the accusations of it surfaced," writes user . The use of AI wasn't made public until emailed Heartopia's UK PR team earlier this week. A statement from the developer appeared on Discord not that long after. "Monetization Content in Heartopia does not include AI-generated materials," read part of the message to fans."
Heartopia is an Animal Crossing-like cozy life sim from developer and publisher XD International that launched on January 17 after closed betas in November and December 2025, peaking at over 35,000 concurrent players. The game holds a 66 percent positive rating on Steam and has attracted negative responses over undisclosed AI use. Developers later updated the Steam page to disclose that AI is used to reinterpret and redraw in-game snapshot images for puzzle gameplay and to assist in in-game chat for language understanding. Developers stated that monetization content does not include AI-generated materials and promised prior notice for future AI-assisted content.
Read at Kotaku
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