Steam launch: New interactive fiction game debuts to "Very Positive" reviews, may divide gamers over heavy AI integration
There is a clear, growing divide between players when it comes to the usage of AI in video games. Tiptoeing around that narrative, Whispers from the Star has launched on Steam as of August 14, 2025. It introduces players to an interactive sci-fi narrative where every word holds weight. You play the only linked voice for Stella, an astrophysics student stranded on Gaia, communicating via text, voice, or video to guide her survival - without fixed dialogue options. As of writing, the Steam page shows "Very Positive" reviews, with 92% of 202 user ratings in favor.
Players receive real-time feedback during the game - metrics like her heart rate, ambient temperature, and signal strength appear on-screen - which adds urgency to the guidance mechanic. The game comes with the promise of open-ended interaction: your voice or text prompts are interpreted by AI to generate Stella’s dialogue, emotions, and actions dynamically. Anuttacon - the studio behind the game founded by miHoYo’s Cai Haoyu - uses large language models and multimodal AI tech to render scenes and dialogue fully in real time.
Circling back to the ethics of AI implementation in gaming, the developers are pretty transparent: all conversations are AI-powered and voiced, co-created with human actors. Visuals for Whispers from the Stars also include select elements generated with AI tools. The game also includes safeguards - such as content filters - to reduce explicit or harmful outputs, though user input can still steer dialogue into sensitive areas.
It is still a pretty bold step - using AI’s storytelling potential can be a huge hit or miss. As a standalone AI-focused experiment, it could set a precedent for future games - or it could be a major flop. Only time will tell. So far, the reviews tell a different story, however.
If you're okay with the premise described above, and want to test a conversational format, Whispers from the Star looks rather promising. It's priced at $7.99 post a 20% launch discount.
