The cover art of the new DLC has many strange details that seem like indications of AI-generated art.
The Viking’s misshapen vambrace, where the AI can’t differentiate between strings and leather rims;
The incorrect proportions of the sword, and its shapeless pommel.
The unreasonable placement of the huge “button” on the fur, and its overly detailed yet chaotic patterns.
The Viking has no lower jaw; the braided beard is directly attached to the lower lip.
The Samurai’s armor is meaninglessly detailed in places, sloppy in others.
The background castle is not only architecturally wrong, it’s wrong in ways that are unhumanlike: the left and right roofs are unconnected to walls and asymmetric to each other.
The general strange anatomy of the two characters’ whole bodies, and so on.
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Previously, we’ve had a thread casting suspicion on the last DLC’s Georgian and Armenian civ emblems.
However, that thread may be caused by a trivial misunderstanding (the poster looked at images auto-enlarged by the Fandom wiki, rather than original in-game ones).
The case with this new DLC seems harder to ignore.
According to Valve’s Steam regulation update from 2024.01, AI-generated content is now allowed on Steam; however, if I’m understanding it correctly, developers need to submit disclosure info about their usage, and Valve will provide a summary of the disclosure on Steam.
I don’t know if this requirement applies to assets that technically do not appear in-game though - there have already been publishers using AI art to make Steam banners.
To clarify, it’s not the structure of the turban that’s strange - it’s a strip of cloth interweaving itself. What’s strange is the way the individual “blocks” bulge out uniformly and excessively like a sewn-together balloon.
EDIT:
Another thing:
The homepage image and the news article one are slightly different variations.
Among other things, homepage version’s Viking has more snow on him, no axe in the belt, and more strings wrapping his vambrace. The Samurai’s sheath is obviously wrong - the sword is too short and passes through the front of his sash, the golden buttons at the bottom are messier.
I mean, you FEEL the weirdness when you look at AI-generated imagery. Both faces look like they were drawn by one of those street artists who try to sell poeple realistic yet soulless drawings of their own faces.
Devs should at least have someone polish the bizarre details you pointed out.
I would also like to point the bizarre concept. Players who do not know what AOE2 campaigns are about could easily think this is a Vikings x Shoguns fictional showdown.
Considering pop culture is obsessed with those guys, it looks like devs wanted to appeal to new markets…
Jesus, now I can’t look at the Japanese guy without noticing virtually everything is disproportional in him. The sheath, the sword, his short T-Rex-like forearms, his HUGE, GARGANTUAN thighs… my eyessss nooooo
You and I both. I basically can’t become a graphic designer unless I embrace AI, which I am unwilling to do.
Someday, I’m going to write a book where AI causes the downfall of society because both it and robots collectively take everyone’s jobs, giving people nothing to do to support themselves and also causing them to lack basic subsistence skills.
Thank you for helpfully linking the video, though as with the turban above, I have to clarify what I meant is the AI art is a grotesque appropriation (due to AI not understanding its principles) of the real object.
The real Viking / Frankish pommels we are comparing it to are a half-disc with its rim segmented into a series of arcs.
What the AI gave us in this cover art is five ambiguously protruding capsules (and they are lit at a different angle from the hilt).
For the 2nd time, a few people from the community are criticizing the devs for unfounded reasons lol
We’ll see exactly the same accusation when the next DLC is presented. LMAO
No one here said AI generated this image by itself like it was some sort of Skynet. But there you got weird details, inhuman hands, and that Barbie-plastic look, disproportionate bodies… the kind of stuff that comes with the use of AI.
By the way, I’m not against AI. It is just a resource and illustrators should use it freely as long as they do it with responsability and actually put in the actual work to make it look good.
If someone made this picture without using AI at all – which I doubt because it has AI written all over its details –, then it is just a bad work by that person.
Comparing it with the other works of that artist (that you can check out on their website), it just seems to be their style which you are of course free to dislike.
First of all thank you for the interest you have regarding my wife’s work.
After my post on reddit earlier today I have been told they were suspicions about the usage of AI generated art for the two latest covers & this is how I found this post.
To sum up, I can assure you those key arts are not AI generated at all.
For instance, the button of the fur has been inspired using a personal photo from a vacation trip to Copenhagen in the National Museum of Denmark we went together to, in the viking treasure
The backgroud castle using the Oda Nobunaga Castle reproduction
I can understand that people may find a “Barbie-plastic look” to her art even if I don’t share this POV. Laura has always been a romantic with a mannered style.
It is true that AI is very disruptive in the digital Art world, however, I would appreciate more benevolence towards studios such as https://www.forgottenempires.net/ that are doing their best to deliver as a team, high quality content.
I hope you may be able to appreciate my wife’s art more deeply & wish you a great day.
