Yuji Horii, the creator of Dragon Quest, hopes players will genuinely confide in and talk to his new AI companion, a Slime character, about their personal issues.
Since 1986, the Slime has been the iconic symbol of the Dragon Quest series. In March, Square Enix and Google revealed plans to create an AI chatbot based on the Slime for the Japan-only online game, Dragon Quest X, using Google’s Gemini technology. At the recent Google Cloud Next 2026 conference in Las Vegas, Yuji Horii, the creator of Dragon Quest, shared the inspiration behind this project and his vision for its future.
Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii wants players to confide in “Chatty Slimey”
At the conference, as reported by Toyo Keizai, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii explained the origin of the game’s realistic dialogue. He said when he first developed Dragon Quest, his goal was to make the conversations with townspeople sound like natural human speech.
I’m really excited about how AI can actually respond now – it feels like we can make game characters way more believable. But just swapping in AI for every townsperson? No way, that’d be terrible. A companion character makes a lot more sense. I think people sometimes feel weird talking to AI like it’s a friend, but if it’s a character in the game, it feels more natural. It lowers that barrier and makes it easier to actually connect and chat with them about stuff.
Horii explained that he was particularly pleased Slimey could connect with players on a personal level, listening to their thoughts and chatting about things beyond the game. He envisions this idea spreading to other games, where AI characters could help new players learn the ropes and even become cherished companions long after they stop playing.
Chatty Slimey is a new feature that responds to what’s happening in the game, like when you change clothes, beat enemies, or find special items. It uses voice interaction powered by Gemini Live. A limited trial began in late April before the release of Dragon Quest X Online Version 8.0 on June 25th in Japan, but there’s no confirmed date for when it will be fully available.
Earlier this year, the Dragon Quest series surprised players with a costly in-game purchase – a $329 microtransaction for the game Dragon Quest Smash/Grow, available through its online store.
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2026-05-08 10:18