Last week, the Tomb Raider Remastered collection received an update dubbed Challenge Mode, which came hand in hand with a slew of new outfits that fans had huge issues with. Aside from being generally awful and low-quality, many believed that they were created with generative AI.
The update caused the game’s review score to plummet, with 71% of the most recent reviews on Steam alone being firmly negative. In a statement, Aspyr has addressed the concerns of players, suggesting that no AI-generated assets were used in the update.
AI or Not, They’re Pretty Terrible
In a recent statement published on social media, the team at Aspyr wrote:
We hear and appreciate your feedback regarding the recent Challenge Mode update for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered. Our top priority is the delivery of a patch that will fix the texture issues and technical bugs.
In addition, a series of updates are on the way to address a variety of technical issues across all platforms.
This is also an opportunity to correct some mistaken information: The outfits in the update were created by our team of artists; no AI generated assets were used in the update.
We’ll release more details on the patch content and timing as soon as possible.
(Thanks to PCGamer for the spot)
In the immediate comments under the statement, fans flocked with counter-claims, with many pointing out that the key art used for the patch itself was obviously AI-generated.
The recent reviews on Steam represent a damning indictment of the situation.
One user wrote, ‘Insulting not only the customers, but even the game devs by adding AI garbage? Shame on you Aspyr. How dare you?’
Another wrote, ‘I don’t want to play Slop Raider. Can you please provide a pre-challenge mode version of the game via beta branch?’
It has been claimed extensively that the Challenge Mode update has effectively broken the game in several ways, which is what Aspyr was alluding to in the recent statement posted above.
Do you think generative AI was used in the recent Tomb Raider update? Let us know what you think on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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