Would AI make future game difficulty better?

May 17, 2026

1:06

Would AI make future game difficulty better?

Here's something that caught my attention — imagine if AI in video games could adapt in real-time to your skill level. According to /u/bluefootedpig on Reddit, instead of just ramping up resources in hard modes, future games might use neural nets to tailor difficulty dynamically. So, you could tell the game, 'I want a challenge where I win 60% of the time,' and it would actually adjust strategies to match that. This isn't just about smarter enemies — it's about personalized gameplay that learns from how you play, whether it's a strategy game like Civ or a hero-based game like Heroes of Might and Magic. As /u/bluefootedpig points out, we already have impressive AIs in titles like StarCraft, so adding language models or neural nets could make game difficulty feel more natural, less artificial. Now, the real game-changer? This could mean a future where your gaming experience is truly unique — no more predictable AI just throwing more resources at you. The takeaway is simple: adaptive AI could revolutionize how we experience challenge in gaming, making it more personal and engaging.

I was thinking that as AI and basically neural nets, couldn't AI in video games be soon as a baseline feature. You can tell it how difficult to be, as you play it learns how to match the difficulty. You could even command it to play at various difficulties different on days.

I was just thinking like we have these starcraft AIs, but like what if in a Heros of might and magic, you could have an AI that you could describe how to play, how aggressive, and in general it could then implement that level. "I want a slight challenge with me most likely winning 60% of the time" and it could understand how to change it's strategy to that.

This would be nice because in a lot of strategy games, the harder difficulties just give the AI more resources for free. Would be nice if Civ would just put in a LLM, image you played vs an AI that read up how the person actually acted.