VIVIX, a game and film studio based in San Francisco with credits including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Control, Dead Space, and Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots, has revealed its new game, Artificial Detective. This action adventure title puts players in the role of a robot detective in the year 2846 and is scheduled to release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC (via Steam and the Microsoft Store) in 2027.
Here are the first details, via Xbox Wire:
About
Artificial Detective is the first game from the independent studio VIVIX. The team behind it includes experienced artists who’ve previously contributed to popular projects like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Control, Dead Space, and the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots.
The studio broadly describes their game as an action-adventure experience combining elements of companionship and survival, all within a dystopian future inspired by ‘decopunk’ aesthetics. Following an initial cinematic reveal, we were eager to learn more about the gameplay itself. We spoke with VIVIX’s CEO and co-founder, Ilya Kuzyuk, and VP of production and co-founder, Vadim Krayevoy, to discuss the world of Artificial Detective, its unique combat, and that charming robot dog.
Waking the Detective
In the game Artificial Detective, you play as AD 2846, a robot detective who wakes up in Conglomerate North. This city is now controlled by rebellious machines, and it appears all humans are gone… except for one. AD 2846 soon finds a single human child left behind, a complete mystery in this machine-ruled world.
Ilya Kuzyuk described the city as a futuristic, multi-layered metropolis with a style reminiscent of 1930s Art Deco. It was once a chaotic and crime-ridden place, but now it’s a clean, yet still perilous, city overrun with malfunctioning robots.
The machines were originally built to protect the city until people could return, but they malfunctioned. As Kuzyuk explains, the robots ended up completely reshaping Conglomerate North. Following a worldwide disaster, the city became a haven for millions of people, growing so rapidly that it was forced to build upwards. New districts were added on top of old ones, connected by skybridges, parks in the sky, huge skyscrapers, and a network of flying vehicles, levitating trains, and robots.
While the game deals with important issues, our main goal was to create an enjoyable experience, rather than a deeply serious exploration of AI and what the future might hold for humanity.
The reveal trailer offers brief views of this ruined city, which the year 2846 finds populated by towering skyscrapers and an elaborate train network – yet strangely empty of people. Although the game begins in a bleak situation, the developers at VIVIX aren’t aiming for a purely depressing experience.
We really wanted to make a game that dealt with big ideas – AI and what it means to be human – but without being, like, super depressing. We didn’t want players to feel stressed out, just curious and hooked! As we built the story, we found this awesome dynamic between our two main characters. There’s a robot detective who’s a bit innocent and desperately wants to be a real person, and then there’s this little girl who thinks she’s a robot. It actually reminded us a lot of classic stories like Pinocchio and The Jungle Book. Those tales really influenced how the story unfolded and even how we designed the gameplay. It was cool to see those connections come together as we developed the game.
Three Unlikely Heroes
AD begins the game with almost no memory – he only remembers being a partner to a human detective. Guided by these few fragments, he embarks on a large-scale journey to uncover the truth about what happened to the world and, possibly, how to save it. Along the way, he meets two other characters who become his steadfast companions.
The game features a robotic dog and Mowgli, a girl who grew up with machines. According to Kuzyuk, AD isn’t a standard superhero. He has an electric taser, but it doesn’t have much power. He can find weapons and parts by defeating robots, but ammunition is limited, so he needs to be clever, resourceful, and funny just as much as strong. Kuzyuk describes AD 2846 as a blend of RoboCop and C-3PO.
Mowgli is a young woman who grew up alone, raised by simple robots, and she holds a key to many of the world’s hidden mysteries. She’s incredibly skilled with technology, handling hacking, building, and repairs. But her connection with AD is what truly makes the story special, transforming it from a simple action story into a deeply personal one, according to Kuzyuk.
My personal favorite character is D.A.W.G., a robodog with a faulty battery. She unintentionally wakes up AD at the start of the game, kicking off the story and becoming an important companion to him both in the plot and how you play.
According to Kuzyuk, D.A.W.G. is a powerful and aggressive character. She’s capable of attacking enemies, interacting with the game environment by destroying obstacles and activating mechanisms, finding useful items through scanning, and offering helpful support like managing inventory and aiding exploration.
The relationship between AD, Mowgli, and D.A.W.G. is just as crucial to enjoying the game as fighting or discovering new things.
A key part of the game will be the strong connection you have with your companions, who are much more than just helpers. They’ll be essential for moving forward, opening up new options for exploring, surviving, and fighting in the world of Artificial Detective. According to the developer, Kuzyuk, as the story unfolds, the characters AD, Mowgli, and D.A.W.G. will journey across Conglomerate North using a flying streetcar as their base of operations.
The streetcar serves as a hub where you can improve your companions’ abilities, connect the clues you’ve found about the game’s world, and get updates on your missions. The cinematic trailer briefly shows this, with AD at a computer console before the team is ambushed. Based on what the developers have said, it sounds like they’re building a very rich and varied world in Conglomerate North, full of things to explore.
After stepping off the streetcar, you’ll discover a variety of unique environments, like a high-tech Police Station, a secret Corporate Lab, and a RoboZoo. The game focuses on quick thinking, staying alive, and solving mysteries – you can fight, hack, sneak, or use your surroundings to your advantage. Artificial Detective is more than just a robot action game; it’s a story-driven adventure about friendship, curiosity, and surviving in a world where old rules no longer apply. The connection between the characters AD, Mowgli, and D.A.W.G. is just as important as the action and exploration.
The strange attackers shown in the game’s trailer are actually connected to a key villain named Bishop. According to the developers, Bishop isn’t a single robot, but a powerful, ever-changing entity made up of smaller units called Monks. The cube-like forms we see are part of Bishop and represent the advanced, adaptive machine intelligence that’s taken over parts of the city. These aren’t just random effects; they hint that the threats in Artificial Detective are much bigger than simple malfunctioning robots – there are far more sophisticated and disturbing machine forms operating in the shadows.
Tools of the Trade
The trailer showcases AD’s ability to surprise attack enemies and cleverly use the surrounding environment to win – for example, by electrifying the floor. This suggests players will have a lot of freedom in how they approach combat. According to Vadim Krayevoy, a key feature of the game is offering players multiple solutions to any challenge. AD can use a variety of tactics, including electromagnetic weapons, hacking, stealth, and the interactive environment, to defeat rogue robots. Players might choose to fight directly, set up traps, or remain hidden and let the situation play out on its own.
The team is aiming for a gameplay experience where you’re always aware of your surroundings and adapting on the fly. This means using the environment to your advantage – disabling enemies, sneaking past threats, or launching surprise attacks, for example. You’ll also be able to use your companions’ special abilities, like sending D.A.W.G. to attack robots. The goal is to make you feel truly connected to the world, giving you plenty of tools and opportunities to experiment and find creative solutions. This leads to a key question: what role does detective work play in the game?
As a fan, I’m really excited about how much investigation is built into the game! You’ll be exploring everywhere for clues, piecing things together to figure out what happened to the city and why everyone vanished. It’s not just about finding items, though – you actually interact with the world. Imagine chatting with a robot on a streetcar or a bartender in a deserted bar, or even reading old newspapers and posters to get more hints. Plus, you slowly start to recover the memories of your character, which is awesome. The more you discover in the present, the more you learn about the past, and sometimes you even get to experience flashbacks, letting you revisit locations as they were decades ago and uncover even more story details. It sounds like a really immersive way to learn about the world and the mystery behind it all.
A key part of the game is how your companions help you grow stronger. The closer you become with them, the more new skills you’ll gain and the more options you’ll have for exploring and interacting with the game world.
I was also curious about how players improve their abilities in Artificial Detective. Krayevoy explained that, instead of simply gaining experience points, progression focuses on unlocking new options through your companions, building relationships, and making upgrades. He emphasized that companions are central to this system, stating, “As you build relationships with them, you’ll unlock new abilities and find new ways to interact with the game world.”
As players investigate, they’ll unlock and choose new missions, improve their character, weapons, and teammates, and defeat challenging bosses that advance the story. Mowgli provides access to crafting, repairs, and upgrades, and D.A.W.G. enhances combat abilities, scanning, and overall utility. The game’s progression system is meant to feel both interconnected and focused on character development.
A World of Machines
The world of Artificial Detective feels both strange and recognizable, drawing heavily from classic influences like neo-noir films, retro-futuristic movies, and anime. The creators were particularly inspired by films such as Blade Runner and the overall feel of Cowboy Bebop, which helped them create a future that’s both high-tech and strangely rundown.
What’s particularly remarkable about Artificial Detective, especially considering the team at VIVIX is small, is how polished and high-quality the game already looks. The developers intentionally aimed for a focused experience, prioritizing a compelling story, solid gameplay, and striking visuals over a vast, open-world design. As they put it, they wanted to do ‘less, but better.’
Krayevoy explained that after two years of development, the project is still in progress and requires additional team members to complete and refine the game. They’ve spent the last two years perfecting the core gameplay and establishing a solid foundation for full-scale production. He also highlighted their close collaboration with Team from Earth, a talented art studio, which allows them to maintain a small, efficient team while still striving for high-quality visuals and a fast development pace.
What truly sets us apart is our unique blend of expertise. We’ve brought together talented developers from top-tier game studios, as well as artists and writers with experience in high-quality animation and film. This combination is particularly crucial for Artificial Detective, as the game uniquely combines exciting action-adventure gameplay, a compelling story focused on relationships with characters, and a striking visual style.
Watch the announcement trailer below.
Announce Trailer
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2026-03-26 21:19