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Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii wants his AI Slime companion to be someone players actually talk to about their problems.
The Slime has been the face of Dragon Quest since 1986. Square Enix and Google announced in March that they were turning one into an AI chatbot for the Japan-exclusive MMO Dragon Quest X, powered by Google’s Gemini. At Google Cloud Next 2026 in Las Vegas last week, Horii explained where the idea came from and how far he wanted it to go.
Speaking at the conference and reported by Toyo Keizai, Horii traced the concept back to the original game. “When I first created Dragon Quest, I wanted the townspeople dialogue to sound as much like real human speech as possible,” he said.
“Now, AI can actually respond, so I think we can make them feel even more human.” He ruled out simply replacing NPC townspeople with AI, though, calling that approach unfun. The companion model made more sense to him. “With regular AI, people can feel embarrassed about treating it like a friend,” he said, “but if it’s a game character, the barrier is lower, and people may find it easier to talk to about various topics.”
He went further than that. “I think it’s wonderful that Slimey can also listen to people’s concerns with empathy and even talk about things unrelated to the game itself,” Horii said, adding that he hoped the concept would eventually expand to other series. “AI characters could become an entry point that teaches beginners how to play, and even after leaving the game, players might come to consider them as friends.”
Chatty Slimey reacts to on-screen activity in real time, commenting on outfit changes, enemy defeats, and rare item discoveries, and uses Gemini Live for voice interaction. A trial phase launched in late April, ahead of Dragon Quest X Online Version 8.0, due in Japan on June 25, but a full release date has not been set.
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Earlier this year, the Dragon Quest franchise stunned fans with a $329 microtransaction in the web store for Dragon Quest Smash/Grow.
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