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Best AI games… as in games about AI, not slop made by AI
Best AI games… as in games about AI, not slop made by AI
published
1 March 2026
As AI invades everyday life, we’ve gone back and revisited the best video games with memorable AI characters, evil or otherwise.
[Split image showing three sci-fi games featuring AI. Left: GLaDOS from Portal, Middle: Cortana from Halo, Right: SHODAN from System Shock.]
- (Image credit: Valve, Microsoft, & Nightdive Studios)
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You might be tired of hearing about AI, but it remains a fascinating subject when tackled by actual scientists and fiction writers. Over the decades, we’ve imagined both benevolent and malevolent artificial intelligences in books, AI movies, and TV shows. Video games also embraced AI stories as the medium evolved, and we’ve put together a list of our favorite games in which AI plays a pivotal role.
To be clear, we're talking about actual AI, not the large language and generative models that "big tech" has rebranded as AI. We're talking about actual AI, or what has now been termed Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). These are sentient characters that interact with the player, and represent our fears and hopes for the technology. They can be formidable foes or memorable allies, or simply compelling neutral characters that make impressive sci-fi worlds even richer to navigate and interact with.
1. Cyberpunk 2077
[Promotional art for Cyberpunk 2077 showing V sitting against a futuristic car, looking out over Night City.]
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)
Release date: December 10, 2020 | Platforms: PC (Windows, macOS), PS4/5, Xbox Ones Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 | Developer: CD Projekt Red
AI plays a huge role in the dystopian open-world RPG Cyberpunk 2077, across both the main story and several side missions.
Players must navigate the Net to look for a certain ally (spoilers), and that’s when the Blackwall comes into play; a firewall tasked with keeping destructive rogue AIs away from the “safe” cyberspace. Some netrunners are betting their chips on the free artificial intelligences as they try to conquer the virtual world, but most people fear what could happen if they were set loose after the 2022 DataKrash.
There are some AIs hiding amongst Night City itself, though, including a sentient vending machine, and everyone's favorite Taxi operator, Delamain, who runs an entire chauffeur service in secret.
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Even though Cyberpunk’s world barely survived a total collapse of the Net and now hides behind a giant firewall to keep the threat of rogue AIs at bay, society and big corporations haven’t turned their back on progress. Cyberpunk is a deeply entertaining and thought-provoking RPG — in large part because it deals with the ramifications of our technological advances — and it's well worth playing. Especially now that most of the bugs have been quashed.
2. SOMA
[SOMA_Frictional Games]
(Image credit: Frictional Games)
Release date: September 22, 2015 | Platforms: PC (Windows, Linux, macOS), PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch | Developers: Frictional Games, Abylight Studios
SOMA is among our favorite sci-fi horror games. The thick atmosphere of the underwater PATHOS-II research facility has a lot to do with it, but the game's gruesome take on AI and transhumanism is the reason it's still being talked about over a decade after launch. Equal parts spooky and smart, SOMA explores a dark future in which WAU, an AGI, ensures humanity’s survival... in less than ideal conditions. Sorry, but we can’t reveal anything past that basic premise.
While it's technically a horror game, SOMA is heavy on exploration and narrative beats, so the casual crowd can still enjoy the ride. There’s a survival element to it, as bio-mechanical horrors abound, but it's not too taxing, and there was a“Safe Mode” added post-launch that allowed newcomers to enjoy the atmosphere and story at their own pace, without having to avoid deadly encounters.
Even as a more “relaxed” experience, it’s a journey full of twists and turns that gets lots right as it bounces between well-established ideas that might feel trite elsewhere.
3. Halo (series)
[Screenshot from Halo 4 showing Cortana looking at Master Chief]
(Image credit: 343 Industries)
Original release date: November 15, 2001 | Platforms: PC (Windows, macOS), Xbox consoles | Developers: Bungie, 343 Industries
Yes, the Halo games are largely about fighting off alien invasions, but it’s impossible to discuss it without acknowledging the importance of Cortana, Master Chief’s trusty AI partner. She’s the key to defeating the Covenant’s forces on more than one occasion, and as the series evolved, she became even more important... to the point she flipped into a more villainous role in Halo 5.
Most fans disagreed with that direction, which is why we’ve seen 343 Industries make some heavy course-correction in recent years, but Cortana is still arguably the most memorable AI character in modern gaming.
Cortana is a key part of the Halo mythos, but also the element that often elevates the franchise above its basic “desperate war against a massive alien threat” premise. She could easily have become a one-note character — a voice in your ear to deliver exposition and instructions — but instead she was a remarkably deep and layered (disembodied) individual whose relationship with the Master Chief lies at the core of the series.
4. System Shock 1 & 2
[A first-person screenshot of the System Shock remake, showing the AI villain SHODAN.]
(Image credit: Atari / Nightdive Studios)
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