**Hardest**, a free roguelike card game released in 2025, will be permanently removed from Steam on January 30, 2026. Independent developer Eero “Raukel” Laine announced the decision, expressing deep regret for having used **artificial intelligence** to generate the project’s visual assets. This action, reflecting a growing debate in the industry, turns the title into an emblematic case of the ethical dilemmas surrounding the use of AI in game development.
The decision came from the creator himself, who published a direct statement on the game’s page on Valve’s platform. In his message, titled “AI is bad, game will be deleted 30.1”, Raukel explains that, despite having programmed all the game’s logic himself, the use of AI-generated images led him to consider the project’s existence a “disgrace”. He argues that the technology, often seen as a free and accessible tool, actually has a significant cost for the economy and the environment, and can be used by large companies to justify more investment in a sector that, in his view, extracts resources without real benefit.
The game, which allows players to “stop time, summon tsunamis, and feed cards to a mimic”, according to its official description, maintained a “Mixed” rating in the store, with 36 user reviews. While some criticized it as “AI trash”, others praised its relaxing gameplay. However, this division of opinion was not enough to keep the title online. Raukel concluded his announcement by thanking a specific person: “The girl I’ve been dating for a month made me realize this. Thank you, Eero Laine.”
## The AI Debate Gains a New Chapter
The case of Hardest goes beyond a simple game being removed. It becomes a tangible symbol of a complex discussion permeating the independent development scene. On one hand, AI offers powerful tools that democratize creation, especially for solo developers or those with limited budgets. On the other hand, as illustrated by Raukel, questions arise about originality, the environmental impact of large models, and the devaluation of human artistic work.
Reactions in the announcement’s comment section on Steam mirror this polarization. Some supported the developer’s ethical stance, while others lamented the loss of a functional game and questioned the radicalism of the decision. Thus, the scheduled removal at the end of this month doesn’t just erase a title from the catalog, but ignites a crucial debate about the paths and costs of innovation in the games industry, which will continue to echo long after January 30th.
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