Got around to trying Shadow Empire after hearing all the hype about its deep logistics and planetary simulation. But man, the moment I started actually looking at the unit portraits and event images, my suspension of disbelief went straight out the airlock.

First impressions? Anatomically incorrect fingers. And I don’t mean “slightly off” – I mean hands with six digits, twisted at wrong angles, and centered dead in the frame like the AI thought that was the most important part of the image. Then you notice the human figures… none of them have feet. Just stumps or blurs where feet should be. Every. Single. One.

So I flip open the manual – you know, the one that prides itself on grognard-level detail – and what do I find? A whole section cheerfully admitting they used generative AI for most of the “art assets.” They try to spin it as a time-saver or stylistic choice, but let’s be real: it directly contradicts the game’s own claimed immersion. How am I supposed to feel like a post-apocalyptic warlord when my general looks like he was assembled by a diffusion model that’s never seen a human foot?

This isn’t “procedural charm.” It’s slop. Cheap, telltale, immersion-shredding slop. If you can’t be bothered to draw feet or count fingers, don’t act surprised when your “deep strategy game” feels like a clipboard of uncanny valley rejects.