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GLBGames That Learn: AI-Powered Gameplay That Adapts to Your Playstyle
2Article by Aimee Gilmore
"We should be in constant evolution and adapt to the new without ever losing our essence or our integrity." (Pedro Capo)
Reference: World of Warcraft Midnight Expansion at Xbox
Imagine starting a game that seems to anticipate your every move. The difficulty rises just enough to challenge you, the rhythm keeps you engaged, and the gameplay shifts in response to how you play. This is not random chance; it is the result of adaptive game design. Powered by artificial intelligence and advanced algorithms, these games that learn evolve in real time, tailoring the journey to each player and making every experience feel unique.
Timeline of Adaptive Games
In the 1980s and 1990s, early games experimented with adaptive behavior, meaning the game would respond to how well a player was performing, such as enemies becoming more aggressive if a player was doing well. In the 2000s, Halo 2 (2004) and Resident Evil 4 (2005) refined this, adjusting enemy actions and game challenges based on player performance. In the 2010s, Left 4 Dead's AI Director (2009) and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System, 2014 introduced AI-driven adaptive systems. By 2025, adaptive behavior had grown more sophisticated, utilizing machine learning, procedural generation, and data to tailor challenges, narratives, and environments in real time, to create more personal and emotive player responses.
Reference: Left 4 Dead 2 at Steam
How Do Games Learn and Adapt?
The key is data. By tracking your actions, choices, and even moments of hesitation, games build a profile of your playstyle. AI systems then adjust the experience in real time, slowing enemy attacks, increasing item drops, or raising the challenge to keep you engaged.
Alien: Isolation (2014) monitored how you hide and move to make the alien hunt more unpredictable. The Last of Us Part II (2020) adjusted enemy behavior based on how effectively a player handles encounters.
Reference: Alien: Isolation
Benefits of Adaptive Video Game Design
Increased Player Engagement
Adaptive game design keeps players interested by adjusting challenges to match their skill levels. Games that are too easy can become boring, while games that are too difficult can be frustrating. By changing the difficulty or gameplay in real time, players stay in a state of flow, where challenge and skill are balanced to maximize immersion and enjoyment. This individualized pacing encourages longer play sessions and deeper involvement in the game.
In a recent update to Hyper Light Breaker (2016), added a dynamic duo boss fight in which the sequence players use to defeat the bosses changes their abilities and tactics, effectively producing four unique boss variations.
Enhanced Skill Development
Adaptive games encourage learning and the growth of skills by gradually increasing the complexity of challenges. Players are inspired to develop strategies, improve reflexes, and enhance problem-solving abilities. This approach is especially valuable in educational games or training simulations, where adaptive design provides a structured learning process without overwhelming the player.
Hades (2020) uses adaptive design to foster skill development by gradually teaching players its combat mechanics, enemy patterns, and upgrade systems. Each run introduces slightly different challenges, encouraging players to refine strategies, improve reflexes, and enhance problem-solving abilities.
Reference:Hades at Nintendo
Accessibility
Adaptive design enhances inclusivity by tailoring gameplay to accommodate a wide range of abilities. This approach allows players to adjust reaction-time requirements, choose alternative control schemes, and modify visual and auditory cues. Such flexibility ensures that all players, including those with disabilities, can enjoy the game without unnecessary barriers.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (2024) included high-contrast and guided modes, as well as a screenshot marker feature to assist navigation.
Reference: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown at Nintendo
Custom-Tailored Experiences in Gaming
Adaptive game design personalizes content to align with individual player preferences, behaviors, and skill levels. By dynamically adjusting storylines, reward systems, and challenge levels, games create a more engaging and emotionally resonant experience. This customization fosters a deeper connection between the player and the game, ensuring that each session feels unique and rewarding.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey (2018) features over 30 hours of interactive cutscenes, allowing players to make significant choices that shape their hero's journey.
Reference: Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Challenges of Adaptive Video Game Design
Preserving Game Balance in Adaptive Design
One of the key challenges in adaptive game design is keeping difficulty levels appropriate for all players. Dynamic adjustments that are too easy can make the game feel unrewarding, while overly difficult changes can cause frustration and reduce enjoyment.
In DOOM: The Dark Ages (2025), after players reported that the game's Nightmare mode was too easy, id Software released a patch that raised enemy damage, lowered health and armor pickups, and made mistimed parries more challenging.
Reference: DOOM: The Dark Ages at Playstation
Maintaining Game Design Integrity
Adaptive video game systems, which adjust gameplay elements based on player performance, present a significant challenge in preserving the integrity of game design. While these systems aim to enhance player engagement by tailoring difficulty levels, they can inadvertently disrupt the narrative flow, pacing, and intended challenge curves meticulously crafted by designers. For instance, in horror games, the adaptive system might reduce threats if it detects that a player is struggling, thereby diminishing the intended tension and emotional impact.
Mario Kart World (2025) includes an adaptive AI that adjusts to player skill levels, often increasing its performance when players use advanced techniques such as drifting or managing items effectively. Players have challenged AI, saying it uses rubber banding, where AI racers gain unrealistic speed boosts or superior items, making it difficult to stay in the lead.
Reference: Mario Kart World at Nintendo
Technical Complexity
Building adaptive systems frequently demands advanced AI, extensive player data tracking, and precise behavior modeling. These elements greatly increase the intricacy of development, placing heavier demands on design, testing, and quality assurance. Fine-tuning multiple adaptive pathways intensifies the strain on development teams, driving up production timelines and resource consumption.
A recent example of these difficulties is Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, an action-RPG that faced significant backlash at launch due to technical shortcomings, poorly balanced boss fights, and rapidly declining Steam reviews.
Reference: Wuchang: Fallen Feathers at Playstation
Adaptive game design is rapidly shaping the future of interactive entertainment. By observing players and adjusting in real time, these systems transform games into dynamic and responsive experiences that feel personal and alive. What began as simple difficulty adjustments in early titles has grown into sophisticated AI driven mechanics that enhance engagement, accessibility, and storytelling. At the same time, these innovations bring new hurdles such as keeping gameplay balanced, protecting the integrity of the original design vision, and managing the heavy technical demands that such systems require. Mario Kart World and Wuchang: Fallen Feathers show how easily adaptation can fail when it disrupts fairness, pacing, or performance. Even so, the potential of adaptive design remains powerful.
