Heartopia has proven surprisingly popular on Steam following its release on January 8. The life simulation game was originally released on mobile, before being ported to PC by the game's developer XD (a subsidiary of TapTap). The gameplay involves levelling up hobbies, decorating homes and dressing up your character — staples of the genre.
Heartopia has the usual pitfalls of a mobile game ported to PC, namely clunky controls and aggressive gacha monetisation. However, the novelty of playing a cosy multiplayer game with friends has allowed Heartopia to thrive despite its shortcomings.
That being said, Heartopia is now facing controversy because of its use of generative artificial intelligence. Initially, the use of this technology was not disclosed, but players quickly picked up on instances where AI was clearly used to generate images.
Today, the team behind Heartopia released a statement disclosing the use of AI, but insisted that no monetised content was created using this technology.
"This announcement serves to provide clear disclosure regarding the use of AI-assisted content generation in Heartopia. AI is used in the puzzle gameplay to reinterpret and redraw in-game snapshot images. AI is used in in-game chat to help players understand different languages," the disclosure reads....
