LayarHijau – Wuxia Survivors (群侠传：幸存者), a wuxia-themed roguelite game, has attracted attention after earning 96% positive reviews on Steam. Developed by a creator named Nenly, the game was made in just three months, despite the developer having no prior game development experience, never having written any code, and never having used a game engine before.
Wuxia Survivors entered Early Access on Steam in August 2026 and launched as a free-to-play game. Its combination of martial arts techniques from different schools, a wide variety of skill synergies, and cinematic sequences quickly attracted players. After accumulating more than 1,000 reviews, the game earned the Overwhelmingly Positive rating, with 96% of its reviews being positive.
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Inspired by Jin Yong’s Wuxia Novels
In a video shared on Bilibili, Nenly explained that the idea for the game came to him early in the year while he was recovering from an illness. During his recovery, he revisited several wuxia novels by Jin Yong and played survivor-style games, a genre he particularly enjoys.
These two interests inspired him to create his own game. Starting in April 2026, Nenly used Godot as his game engine and relied extensively on artificial intelligence (AI) throughout the development process.
Using an approach known as vibe coding, he employed AI to generate planning documents, programming logic scripts, cover art, pixel-art graphics, and music. This approach allowed Nenly to turn his idea into a playable game and release it on Steam in approximately three months.
Uses 5 Billion AI Tokens, Keeps Development Costs at US$630-950
Despite the extensive use of AI throughout development, the game’s reported production costs remained relatively low. According to the source report, the development process consumed approximately 5 billion AI tokens, alongside subscription fees for various AI tools.
The total production cost was estimated at just NT$20,000–30,000, equivalent to approximately US$630–950. This illustrates how AI tools can help reduce the initial costs of game development, particularly for independent creators without a technical background.
Nenly’s achievement also demonstrates how generative AI can help creators turn their ideas into products ready for commercial release. However, this does not necessarily mean that every aspect of game development can be completed without technical knowledge or human involvement.
AI-Assisted Game Development Still Faces Challenges
Despite the game’s positive reception, the use of AI to write programming code has also sparked debate among China’s gaming community.
Some users have warned that AI can accelerate the development of basic features in the early stages. However, as a project becomes more complex, repeatedly generated code can result in inconsistent project structures, inadequate error-prevention mechanisms, and poorly integrated code components.
AI’s limited context window can also create problems when developers repeatedly request changes. A model may lose track of earlier decisions or overlook existing dependencies, causing a fix in one part of the project to break another. This is commonly described as the “fix A, break B” problem, in which correcting one issue introduces a new one elsewhere.
These challenges become more significant in complex projects, such as open-world games with numerous interacting systems or large-scale online games. Without a solid understanding of software development and game engines, creators may struggle with the final stages of development, which require extensive refinement and testing.
Developers who have experimented with using AI to create games or mods have also shared experiences suggesting that the final stages can demand substantial manual work. They still need to refine images, adjust visual details, and ensure that every element works as intended. In some cases, the time spent correcting visual assets can far exceed the time spent writing code.
Ultimately, Wuxia Survivors highlights AI’s potential to open the gaming industry to creators with no programming experience. However, the project also serves as a reminder that rapidly building a prototype and delivering a polished, consistent game are two very different challenges.
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