Some players react sharply to the use of artificial intelligence in game development, which might give the impression that the mere mention of AI is enough for many to immediately blacklist a game. However, this is far from always the case.
This summer, a teaser for the game Slotbound went viral in the gaming community. The creator, under the handle Optima Arch, openly stated that he is not a developer and that literally 100% of the game's code was generated by AI:
To create the graphics, I mainly used Pixelab and Gemini Nano Banana, and for programming — VS Code Copilot and Cursor. I also alternated between ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini during the development process.
Nevertheless, many were hooked by the concept of Slotbound itself: it is a defense roguelike auto-battler. Players are invited to spin a 3×3 slot machine, summon new units, and reinforce their army by sacrificing weaker fighters to empower stronger ones:
Spin the 3×3 reels, match winning paylines, and summon your fighters. Down on your luck? Don’t panic. Few things compare to the moment when one desperate spin hits a massive jackpot, fills the screen, and summons a legendary warrior capable of saving the entire run.
In November, Optima Arch released Slotbound on PC on Steam (in the Russian localization, the full title of the game is “Legion of Luck – Slotbound”), and the peak concurrent player count quickly surpassed 9,000, while reviews are “Very Positive.” Many players were pleased with the novelty.
The Slotbound page on Steam is available at the following link.