Summary
- Adaptive AI in video games learns from your actions and adjusts enemy behavior, making encounters more challenging and tailored to your playstyle.
- Ghost Recon Wildlands, Resident Evil 2 Remake, and The Last of Us Part 2 utilize Adaptive AI to enhance gameplay dynamics and increase immersion.
- Games like Far Cry 6, Halo 3, and F.E.A.R. showcase how enemies with adaptive AI create engaging, dynamic, and unpredictable gameplay experiences.
Video games offer you all sorts of challenges, from puzzles and labyrinths to boss fights and enemy encounters. However, some video games add an extra layer of difficulty with adaptive AI. Adaptive AI gives NPCs and enemies the ability to adjust their behavior based on your decisions and actions in the game. In other words, video game characters can learn from you.
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When fighting enemies, this means that the more you play the game, the more difficult the enemies will become. They’ll learn your strategies, favorite attacks, and habits. You can become your own worst enemy.
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Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands
Ghost Recon Wildlands is one of Ubisoft’s most expansive open-world games, set in a sprawling recreation of Bolivia. You control an elite Ghost Recon fireteam deployed on Operation Kingslayer, a joint effort to dismantle the Santa Blanca Cartel, a powerful Mexican drug cartel that has overtaken the region. The game emphasizes player freedom, offering a variety of approaches to completing missions, from stealth to all-out combat.
The Adaptive AI in Ghost Recon Wildlands enhances the experience by responding dynamically to your tactics. Enemies adjust their behavior based on your approach; if you favor stealth and leave bodies visible, they’ll notice and change patrol patterns to investigate. A direct confrontation triggers more aggressive and coordinated responses. These mechanics make engagements feel more reactive and tailored to your playstyle, encouraging strategic thinking.
Some players complain that the Adaptive AI in Ghost Recon Wildlands is too aggressive, leading to poor enemy decisions. For example, single enemies will rush towards you instead of waiting to attack you in a group, eliminating the effectiveness of the game mechanic.
8
Resident Evil 2 Remake
Resident Evil 2, launched in 1998, set a high standard for subsequent games in the series, eventually becoming its best-selling entry. Given its legacy, the 2019 remake was eagerly anticipated. Faithful to the original while modernizing its gameplay, the remake introduced various quality-of-life improvements, including the implementation of Adaptive AI.
Resident Evil also utilizes Adaptive Difficulty, which scales the difficulty of the game’s challenges based on how well you perform.
One of the most significant upgrades is the Adaptive AI governing the Tyrant, the relentless antagonist who stalks you throughout the game. Also called Mr. X, the Tyrant’s behavior dynamically changes based on your actions, forcing you to adapt your strategies on the fly. This mechanic not only makes every playthrough unique but also heightens tension, as its unpredictability keeps you on edge. The organic feel of his pursuit enhances the game’s immersive and suspenseful experience, solidifying the remake as a masterclass in survival horror.
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The Last Of Us Part 2
- Released
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June 19, 2020
- Engine
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Proprietary
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- How Long To Beat
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24 Hours
The Last of Us Part 2 takes place four years after the events of the first game, diving deeper into the consequences of Joel’s decision to save Ellie at the cost of humanity’s potential cure. This revelation creates a rift between Joel and Ellie that remains unresolved before Joel is brutally killed by Abby, a soldier from the Washington Liberation Front. Consumed by grief and anger, Ellie embarks on a relentless quest for vengeance, setting the stage for a story filled with emotional weight and moral complexity.
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The game introduced several quality-of-life improvements over its predecessor, including Adaptive AI. This mechanic allows enemies to react dynamically to your playstyle. If you adopt an aggressive approach, enemies will make strategic use of cover. If you try to flank them, they will adjust their positioning and tactics accordingly. These enhancements make combat more challenging and immersive, requiring constant adaptability and ensuring no two encounters feel the same.
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Halo 3
- Released
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September 25, 2007
- Publisher(s)
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Microsoft Game Studios
- Engine
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havok, blam engine
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Mild Language, Violence
- How Long To Beat
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8 Hours
The Halo series has long utilized adaptive AI, particularly in its handling of Covenant and Flood enemies. First introduced in Halo: Combat Evolved, the AI challenges players to constantly adapt their strategies as enemies react intelligently to combat scenarios. This tradition continues in Halo 3, where the Covenant and Flood provide dynamic, engaging battles that keep you on your toes.
The campaign mode in Halo 3 picks up where Halo 2 and the comic tie-in, Halo: Uprising, leave off. Master Chief returns to Earth to lead humanity’s fight against the Covenant, a coalition of alien species bent on annihilation, and the Flood, a parasitic alien scourge. With its refined AI, expansive levels, and a gripping story, Halo 3 combines tactical combat with an epic narrative, creating a memorable adventure.
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Far Cry 6
In Far Cry 6, you step into the boots of Dani Rojas, a freedom fighter battling to overthrow the oppressive regime of Antón Castillo on the fictional Caribbean island of Yara. The game’s first-person shooter mechanics combine high-octane combat with guerrilla tactics, challenging you to navigate both military forces and the dangerous wildlife of the island.
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The game employs Adaptive AI to elevate its combat dynamics. Enemy soldiers act autonomously, avoiding the hive-mind behavior seen in many other games. This individuality means that enemies coordinate their tactics in real-time, using a range of tools such as smoke bombs, heavy artillery, and even helicopters to counter your moves. Wildlife also reacts unpredictably, creating additional hazards. These elements raise the stakes of each encounter, requiring you to stay vigilant, think on your feet, and adapt your strategies to survive.
4
Project Hastur
Project Hastur is a free-to-play strategy game on Steam where humanity’s survival hangs in the balance. Set on the planet Nyx, you face off against the Proteans, an alien race that has burrowed into the planet and now threatens to overrun humanity. As the last line of defense, you must strategically deploy turrets to eliminate waves of Proteans while systematically destroying their burrows. Each victory unravels more about the mysterious Project Hastur.
Project Hastur was created by Polymorphic Games, a game studio based in the University of Idaho that specializes in Adaptive AI games.
A standout feature of the game is the Proteans’ evolving strategy, driven by a groundbreaking implementation of digital genomes. Each individual enemy is programmed with traits that allow for adaptive progression. The Proteans that inflict the most damage or advance furthest in your defenses pass their traits to the next wave, creating enemies that are specifically tailored to counter your tactics. This evolutionary AI ensures that each level presents new, unpredictable challenges, keeping gameplay fresh and requiring constant adaptation.
3
Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor
Shadow of Mordor redefined the open-world genre with the introduction of the Nemesis system, an innovative mechanic that creates dynamic rivalries with your enemies. Uruk captains and war chiefs, the game’s stronger foes, remember their encounters with you, adapting their behavior and tactics based on past battles. This system only applies to Uruks that survive, so the more encounters you lose, the harder the game will become. What’s more, it isn’t uncommon for Uruk to want revenge, prompting them to start hunting you.
Shadow of Mordor is an open-world game where you play as Talion, a Captain of Gondor who has been bound to the spirit of Celebrimbor, an Elven wraith and the original forger of the Rings of Power. Together, they seek vengeance for the brutal murder of Talion’s family and uncover the truth behind Celebrimbor’s fragmented memories.
2
Echo
Echo is a futuristic stealth game that pushes the boundaries of player-driven AI. Set in a distant future, you play as En, a genetically modified human exploring a mysterious, seemingly deserted colony known as the Palace. Constructed by an advanced self-replicating colonization probe, the Palace is far from lifeless. As En delves deeper into its secrets, the structure begins creating Echoes, violent, mindless clones of herself, intent on stopping her.
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Despite its critical acclaim and numerous accolades, Echo was the only game developed by Ultra Ultra before the studio closed in 2019.
The standout feature of Echo is the adaptive AI that governs the behavior of these clones. Each cycle of the Palace generates Echoes that mimic your gameplay decisions. If you rely on stealth, they become sneakier; if you use firearms, they start shooting back. Between cycles, the Echoes ‘unlearn’ behaviors you didn’t utilize, creating a constantly evolving challenge.
The game’s true strategy lies in managing what you teach your enemies. It’s a psychological battle, forcing you to carefully consider your actions, balancing survival and progression while limiting what your Echoes can learn.
1
Fear
As an agent in Fear (First Encounter Assault Recon), you are part of an elite team called in to handle supernatural threats when conventional methods fail. Your latest mission takes you to a military company that has lost control of its experimental projects involving cryogenics, nuclear technology, cloning, and telepathy. The situation spirals into chaos as the company’s army of Replica soldiers, telepathically controlled clones, go rogue, leaving destruction in their wake.
Fear masterfully incorporated adaptive AI technology, particularly showcased in the behavior of the Replica soldiers. These enemies dynamically respond to your tactics in real time, whether you’re taking cover or engaging in close combat. Their unpredictable strategies force you to stay on your toes, adapting your approach to every encounter. This advanced AI, combined with atmospheric horror and intense firefights, creates a uniquely gripping gameplay experience that remains a standout in the FPS genre.
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