About

Dark Gothic Pixel RPG "AI-Invented Visual Style" refers to memes and discourse about an AI-generated video showing a first-person RPG video game angle of a pair of hands holding a flaming torch and a sword while approaching a countryside town and distant castle. The video was originally posted by Twitter / X user @de5imulate in late July 2025, who created it in the style of a 2D pixel art first-person fantasy adventure video game. The game inspired several indie artists and game developers to share their takes on fantasy-inspired pixel artwork and prompted video game designer Tim Soret to describe it as an "AI-invented visual style." Several internet users pushed back on this characterization of the artificial intelligence video and gave examples of existing video games that match the dark gothic pixel art style presented by @de5imulate, such as Elder Scrolls III: Daggerfall, as well as upcoming games like Relics of the Oracle and Wizordum.

Origin

On July 20th, 2025, X^[1] user @de5imulate posted a video captioned, "omw" (on my way), showing a pair of hands holding a torch and a sword approaching a rolling countryside and distant castle. The video was notably rendered with AI and made to resemble pixel art. The video gathered over 33 million views and 140,000 likes in three days.

omw pic.twitter.com/eCiTOrjtzC

— Desimulate (@de5imulate) July 20, 2025

Spread

On July 21st, 2025, game designer Tim Soret tweeted on his X^[2] account @timsoret, "Interesting to see the praise for this AI-invented visual style. Everybody wants it, and indie devs are rushing to prototype it & make it real." The post gathered over 19,000 likes in two days.

Interesting to see the praise for this AI-invented visual style. Everybody wants it, and indie devs are rushing to prototype it & make it real. https://t.co/rASfMaZpxM

— Tim Soret (@timsoret) July 21, 2025

On July 22nd, X^[3] user @994_ram tweeted a still from the 1996 video game Elder Scrolls III: Daggerfall, showing a similar pixelated rendering and first-person perspective, while refuting that AI invented the visual style. The post gathered over 55,000 likes in a day.

Several indie game designers then posted clips from their upcoming pixel-art inspired RPG fantasy games, including the makers of Wizordum,^[4] who gathered over 16,000 likes on a tweet posted on July 22nd, 2025.

That same day, the X^[5] account @Housefiregames posted a video of its video game mechanics, showing a first-person perspective of a pair of hands holding a scroll and walking through a black-and-red-tinted castle landscape. The post gathered over 11,000 likes in a day.

Also on July 22nd, 2025, X^[7] user and pixel artist @AndreSargeant replied to Tim Soret's tweet about AI "inventing" a new visual style, writing, "AI-invented style my ass. Been handcrafting pixel depth masks forever."

Later on July 22nd, X^[6] user @NoSoloBits posted gameplay from the 1994 Sega Jurassic Park game, writing, "Sega did it first," and gathering over 17,000 likes in a day.

Sega did it first https://t.co/gWjatd5twv pic.twitter.com/AvO5YosnvM

— NoSoloBits (@NoSoloBits) July 22, 2025

Also on July 22nd, X^[8] user @EZE3D tweeted, "Hey look a real game with a dark gothic pixel artstyle you can support, not AI. One of the most common comments I saw with that viral AI video was, 'I would love an actual game in this style that isn't AI.'" The tweet was posted in response to gameplay from the upcoming game Relics of the Oracle. The post gathered over 57,000 likes in a day.

Search Interest

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External References