A new “game” took social media by storm with its mesmerizing visuals—only for millions to discover it was never real. The supposed project spread rapidly on X/Twitter, promising something special, but in the end, it was just an AI-generated illusion with no actual gameplay behind it.

Artificial intelligence is often hyped as a revolutionary tool for building video games. While the idea of “streamlining development” sounds like a developer’s dream, the reality is far murkier. The same tech that delivers jaw-dropping visuals and captivating art styles also enables new scams—making it disturbingly easy to trick millions of people in seconds.

This is exactly what happened with a so-called “game” that went viral thanks to its eye-catching presentation. X/Twitter user ‘Desimulate’ posted a short teaser clip showcasing an atmospheric, painterly world that drew millions of views almost overnight. Oddly enough, the project had no name or description, but that didn’t stop the video from racking up massive engagement and reactions.

omw to peril in hopes of finding loot pic.twitter.com/C5cPsQq5Ma

— Desimulate (@de5imulate) July 22, 2025

Eventually, the truth came out (feigned shock, anyone?): the “game” wasn’t real. Every moving image in the teaser was created by AI. The viral clip depicted a misty forest, a castle looming in the background, and a character wielding both a sword and a torch. That moody setting alone was enough to attract attention—leading to 34 million views and 142,000 likes. Many genuinely believed a new game was about to be announced, but in reality, it was just another showcase for the popular Midjourney AI.

Why bother with the ruse? The answer, as always, is money. Below the video, Desimulate tagged key X/Twitter staff in a bid to get their monetization privileges restored. On Elon Musk’s platform, likes and shares mean cold, hard cash, and some users will apparently stoop to anything for engagement. The stunt drew heavy criticism from an actual game developer, who blasted the deceptive tactic and the practice of passing off AI art as original work.

“One of the most embarrassing things I see with AI is people posting crap like this without saying it’s AI on purpose, just to get likes like they were the artists who created it from scratch… But hey, I guess nowadays everything is fake on the Internet,” lamented a developer.

Source: Gamepro