Last month, Square Enix and Google announced that they’d partnered to develop Oshaberi Slimey (Chatty Slimey), a Gemini-powered AI chatbot set to be integrated into Dragon Quest X in the role of the player’s support character. Speaking at the annual Google Cloud Next 2026 conference recently held in Las Vegas, Dragon Quest series creator Yuji Horii shed some more light on his expectations of AI “companions” in games and why he’s so on board with them becoming a thing not only in Dragon Quest, but potentially other series too.
As reported by Toyo Keizai, Horii views AI as “not just a convenient tool, but a friend to each individual player,” capable of evolving the sense of adventure in RPGs.
When asked where the desire to implement Chatty Slimey into Dragon Quest X came from, he explains: “When I first created Dragon Quest, I wanted the townspeople dialogue to sound as much like real human speech as possible. Now, AI can actually respond, so I think we can make them feel even more human. However, simply replacing townspeople with AI wouldn’t be fun.”
Instead, Horii opted for an AI side-companion that players can consult about in-game topics as well as other things, like an everyday AI assistant, but within the more inviting setting of a game character. “With regular AI, people can feel embarrassed about treating it like a friend, but if it’s a game character, the barrier is lower, and people may find it easier to talk to about various topics.”
Expanding on this point, Horii goes on to say, “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. I’d like to explore ways for AI characters to accompany players as supporting companions while they play, which could then expand into other series too. 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.”
In response to the player’s prompts, DQX’s upcoming Chatty Slimey will offer advice about things like what content to interact with next or what equipment to use based on analysis of game progression, in-game screenshots, inventory and other factors. It will also support real-time voice interaction through Gemini Live, and based on Horii’s remarks, will not limit prompts to strictly game-related topics. While a beta version was already tested, the official launch date is TBD.
