Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine playing, let alone talking to, Darth Vader, in Fortnite. Epic Games has tried quirky stuff in the past, and give credit where it is due, it has resonated well with the core audience.
Fortnite is always at the front with experimentation in the world of gaming. Whether it’s the first-ever in-game concert with Marshmellow or live events dictating the game’s storyline, Epic Games has never shied away from trying out new things. Now, the developer is taking a bold step by incorporating AI-based NPCs on the map.
Many game companies discussed incorporating AI in their NPCs so that they could react to players’ words in real time rather than sticking to rigid dialogues. In collaboration with Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model and ElevenLabs’ Flash v2.5 model, the developer has brought back the popular voice of the late James Earl Jones, playing Darth Vader in the game.
To nobody’s surprise, the second the update dropped, players swarmed Darth Vader like moths to a lightsaber, all just to drag him into their squad. Once successfully added to the team, players can talk about pretty much anything with the Sith Lord. That’s where players and streamers might have a bit too much time on their hands between the fights, as they ask some questionable things to the popular antagonist.
From making Anakin say Mommy ASMR to skibidi memes, videos of AI Vader exploded all over my social media feed and received mixed opinions. While most Star Wars loyalists didn’t find it amusing, others found it hilarious to see Vader having a tough time dealing with Gen Z lingo while answering some very weird questions that the Emperor wouldn’t approve of.
Popular streamer Loserfruit even made Vader swear through one of her conversations, which made the developer step in immediately and release a hotfix to stop the character from going off the script, and they assured everyone that it won’t happen again.
In theory, the idea of AI NPCs antagonist is fun, and the family of Earl Jones also said that James “always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience [Darth Vader].” So, it’s something that long-time or new fans of the Star Wars franchise would love to experience. However, the developer definitely made him a bit one-dimensional, religiously sticking to his original bold voice with menacing comebacks, although it feels bland at times.
In my matches with Darth Vader, I’d ask him various questions, which were often unrelated to his universe. For example, I asked Vader about Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws’ sales and if he thinks the game is underperforming. He would not have any opinion on it. The Vader I know from films would’ve had a humorous yet solid opinion about it, but this one would just deflect my question or give a very AI-ish textbook answer, which got boring very fast. It almost felt like he was following a Star Wars manual to answer any question, taking away from the badass personality of the on-screen antagonist.
That being said, Skywalker doesn’t disappoint at all with his fighting skills, where he uses the Lightsaber to protect himself and even uses the Force to bring enemies to his location. When I’d shoot at enemies, he’d jump at them to become the perfect distraction, making enemy encounters a piece of cake if you can take cover and let Vader do the fighting for you.
While Vader’s AI definitely shows potential, there are a few ways Fortnite can potentially improve its AI models. One of the popular YouTubers, SypherPK, asked AI Vader to predict storm circles in the game to get a strategic advantage, and it worked for him. However, I wasn’t clever enough to test this theory and it might be patched soon by the developer. Still, this example is a good inspiration for players to take advantage of the AI NPCs’ real-time answers to make plans and have more fun while playing the game.
You can probably ask the character’s two cents about the situation in-game, and it could probably help you get better outcomes in your battle royale matches. For instance, you can ask the AI NPC if you should rush that player on a hill or take cover since the next zone is closer to you. While older players won’t use this feature much, newer players in Fortnite have always found it a high-skill game to master the building mechanic, and this should allow them to make better decisions and become good at the game by developing their awareness.
Older players already have strong in-game awareness, but the developer could enhance their experience further by introducing iconic NPCs that use AI. These characters could use real-time data to talk about fun topics, allowing players to have entertaining conversations with them. As Fortnite has barely opened the door with AI Darth Vader, a lot of the upcoming collaborations in the game have suddenly had an interesting and unique opportunity to add their iconic characters to the game, and let players interact with them to make memories.
I can’t wait for what the future holds for Fortnite’s next AI-powered character, but if they can make it have more personality along with being an option for beginners to use them as companions, the sky’s the limit.
