How had I not heard of long before Gamescom opened the evening live?

At the end of July, a five-seconded AI-generated clip was viral. It portrayed a 3D perspective of a Pixel Art Fantasy World from a first person's point of view. In front of the character extends a long way through a city when a dark, gloomy castle tissue chairs in the distance. The character goes down the road, a torch in one hand and a sword in the other.

There was a lot of Hubbub about GIF, with many who said they would love to play a game that looked just like this. Don't think about that are Already games that look like this – it is basically a more beautiful dagger. The account that published the clip has apparently started a game studio to make a game inspired by this Midjourney-generated GIF, but does not actually use AI in workflows, as the tools are not up to snus yet. Go in the number!

It is strange that this got such a huge reaction from Twitter users, given that there are interesting pixel art projects everywhere. I'm a big fan of them, and they always catch my eye. Long Gone, an indie game funded by Ytterloth that made a performance at Gamecom's opening night Live Pre-Show, struck me as the type of game that hits all the same notes as this viral AI-generated game, except it is, you know, real.

Long Gone is a unique pixel art game

Pixel art by a man standing in a dilapidated living room.

As a big sucker for the points and click genre, I had long sold almost immediately. Its post-apocalyptic, zombie-infected 2.5D world is wonderful and lush, overgrown plants that paint the abandoned area around you a lush green. The character of the player must puzzle and platform through the dangerous streets, and there is no battle-every zombie is a puzzle.

But what most interested me was how the perspective shifts during the game. The camera moves and changes perspective as you interact with the world, and when you enter houses to clear after objects the world becomes 3D, so you can move freely through space. It's wonderful.

I'd rather play something real than wish for something fake

Pixel Art of A Man who points a gun at a zombie when it is enough for him over a fence.

It is also, to be fair, not exactly the same as the viral clip. It is not in the first person, it is in a completely different environment, and it is a real game that is developed by actual people and not just a Vibey GIF generated in an AI engine. But it made me think about how many developers are looking for new and new ways to change pixel art, which many consider to be an outdated art style because of its history in early game development, to something that feels new and modern.

Personally-and I can be biased, because I am anti-Ai-I think it is much more interesting to see a finished product that innovates on the typical pixel art style than to see a midjourney GIF that can theoretically be a sick video game if anyone actually thought it was feasible to do so. I don't know, maybe we should support indie -devs that are doing cool things instead of offering to finance random people who are not even play devs but did Put the right promptly in a generative AI model.

Anyway, you can wish for a long time here.