AI LIMIT Gearing Up for the 2024 Release

Sense Games was grabbed up not long ago by PlayStation for their involvement in the China Hero Project, an effort that began in 2016 to find and hire Chinese video game developers, provide them with a platform, and help them see their ideas come to fruition.

Since its inception in 2016, this venture has already produced several games. Of course, Lost Soul Aside is another game that PlayStation picked up in 2016 and has been developing since then, although it has yet to be released. This is among the games that ARPG fans have been looking forward to playing for a while now.

Then again, 2024 has been rather good in terms of Souls-like and ARPG perspective. While plenty more games such as Ballad of Antara, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, Phantom Blade Zero, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and UNKNOWN 9: AWAKENING are on their way toward release, ARPG fans may finally look forward to playing AI LIMIT soon, a game currently being developed by Sense Games that has gone radio silent since its last showcase back in 2019.

Although it has a sci-fi concept, AI LIMIT seems to be similar to Code Vein. Natural catastrophes and conflicts have decimated the planet. The last known human settlement is at a place called Havenswell, and the human race is on the verge of extinction. The Mud, the stuff that gives rise to these extraterrestrial-seeming beings, is gradually swallowing the planet after a while.

The protagonist, Alissa the Blader, sets out on a mission to discover the precise cause of the world's descent into a state of impending doom. Furthermore, it seems that Alissa is not a human but may be an android or artificial intelligence. You can customize it with various powers, like unleashing a thunderbolt or transforming it into a shield that resembles the design of the enemies you're up against.

In keeping with the sci-fi premise and the game's title, AI LIMITs, you can expect to encounter combat against robots in many forms, including bosses that resemble something out of Armored Core and other enormous robots. Again, this approach is quite NieR or Stellar Blade-esque, and it seems like Nier: Automata was AI LIMIT's inspiration right from the start. The iconic sword swooping behind the female protagonist, who may or may not be an android, in the early clip, is extremely Nier: Automata.

As a part of the story, one of the objectives is to locate these crystal branches. Restoring these crystal branches will reportedly save the earth from yet another impending disaster, maybe the same one that first killed out the majority of the human race. If the crystal branches are a component of the mud material that gives rise to the creatures, then Alissa could not be a robot or AI at all, but rather one with them.

The gameplay mechanism does seem Souls-like. You can lock onto the enemy, learn their attack patterns, dodge at the perfect moment, block and parry—it's very Souls-like. There's a blue gauge below the health bar that is used up when these abilities are used, and it operates similarly to the Echor system in Code Vein in that enemies are attacked, or this resource is increased by flawless dodging or parrying.

The game allows you to equip two weapons and toggle between them. A variety of ability sets can be equipped too, perhaps depending on the weapons. The crystal branches are also the bonfires in this game. Activating them will serve as a checkpoint, much like a Soulslike, allowing you to level up, restore health, and respawn enemies.

What sets this game apart, in my opinion, is its art style. Returning to the idea that it resembles Code Vein and Soulstice—but with AI LIMIT and the PlayStation 5—is the very precise cell shading that is used by all of the character models. The level designs are highly post-apocalyptic, reminiscent of Nier: Automata's desolate industrial sections.

AI LIMIT is currently scheduled for release in 2024, although no exact date has been announced. This game has been in production for a long six years, and it should turn out to be something sensational.