A new cozy game inspired by Animal Crossing: New Horizons was criticized by fans for using generative AI without first disclosing details on its Steam page.
In this day and age, there is no escaping AI, especially when it comes to the entertainment and marketing industries.
Well-programmed and informed AI software can do great work in minutes or seconds. Companies can also significantly reduce costs at the cost of not hiring talented employees.
However, if not implemented correctly, you can make obvious mistakes if not carefully monitored. For example, Amazon recently fall out The Prime Video streaming service’s Season 1 recap was plagued with errors aimed at keeping viewers up to date.
Yesterday, I reported on the Animal Crossing-inspired free-to-play game that launched on PC via Steam and Android and iOS devices in the West, nearly a year after it launched in its native China.
Heartpia Steam user review rating has decreased
At the time of writing, Heartpiais developed and published by XD Entertainment and has a “mostly positive” rating on Steam user reviews. However, that rating dropped from “very positive” on January 19, 2026.
Among the positive user reviews on Steam, a common complaint from gamers was the game’s use of generative AI. Heartpia. One Steam reviewer exclaimed, “Use of AI. That’s it. That’s why I won’t play anymore. Use of AI is private.”
“This negative review will change if the AI used is made public and immediately replaced with real human work. Using AI for assets and marketing when the core of the game is to foster creativity is extremely disrespectful. Really disgusting,” another Steam user wrote.
Heartpia, XD Entertainment
Complaints regarding the use of AI were also raised with the authorities Heartpia discord.
“Please stop using AI narration in game videos and ads, and AI-generated images in puzzles. This is very malicious, drives out potential players, devalues the work of real people, and makes it look like they care more about cutting costs on ‘small things’ than making something of high quality,” said an upset Discord member.
“Personally I don’t really care either way, but Steam does. Steam requires that if you have visible AI images or audio, you disclose it on the page, and they didn’t do that,” another Discord member explained.
When I wrote yesterday’s article on January 19, 2026, there was no mention of AI in games, even though Steam requires disclosure of the use of AI for games available on its platform, as shown on web.archive.org. Heartpia Steam page. Additionally, we did not see any disclosure regarding the use of AI, as mentioned in some of the community comments above.
We asked for comments from Heartpia developer
When I contacted British PR, they said: Heartpia Please request comments from the developer before publishing this article.
The spokesperson reached out to the developer, but has not received a response from the developer, despite expecting a response within 24 hours.
However, after I contacted the developer yesterday to remind him of his failure to mention the use of A.I. Heartpia The Steam page has been updated to declare its use.
The update, discovered on January 20, 2026, reads: “AI is used in puzzle gameplay to reinterpret and redraw in-game snapshot images.” “AI is used in in-game chat to help players understand different languages.”
We will update this article if we receive comments about this disappointing usage. For now, Heartpia is released on PC and compatible mobile devices. Please try it if you like.
