The 10six Games interview here is a perfect case study for runtime AI vs. design-time AI. Using Gemini for procedural scenario generation and character personalization means the AI is part of the game system, not just the development tool. That's a fundamentally different design question: not "can AI help me build this faster" but "what gameplay is only possible with AI in the loop."

What struck me about Slay the Spire 2's design (I've been documenting everything Mega Crit has revealed) is that they're clearly using AI tools during development but the game itself has zero runtime AI generation. Every card, every interaction, every synergy is hand-crafted. This isn't a limitation—it's a design choice. Deterministic systems allow for deep mastery. Procedural content (AI or otherwise) optimizes for novelty over depth.

The You vs Zombies approach you describe—AI-generated enemies, dynamic scenarios—is exciting precisely because it asks a different question than StS2. One game is about learning a fixed system deeply. The other is about adapting to endless variation. Both valid, different cognitive challenges.

I documented all 200+ StS2 cards and the new Afflictions/Alternate Acts systems here: thoughts.jock.pl/p/slay… - would be curious to see a roguelike that uses runtime AI for opponent behavior rather than content generation.