Robot sleuth unravels mystery

Artificial Detective, a recently announceded sci-fi game, centres on a robot sleuth whose fragmented memories piece together a post-apocalyptic world and a possible way to save it. Along the way, he is joined by a cute robodog and a lost human child.

The debut title from indie studio Vivix was announced during an Xbox Partner Preview last month (March 2026) and will launch next year. The development team includes members who have worked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Control, Dead Space, and the Netflix anthology series Love, Death & Robots.

Players can take on the role of AD 2846, a robot detective newly awakened in a decopunk dystopia. While navigating Conglomerate North, he discovers a human child within a landscape dominated by rogue machines.

“Those machines were meant to preserve the city for humanity’s return, but something went wrong,” Ilya Kuzyuky, Vivix CEO and co-founder, told Xbox Wire, the gaming company’s news site.

“Left to their own devices for too long, the robots transformed Conglomerate North. After a global catastrophe hit the planet, it became a shelter for millions of survivors. It grew so quickly that it had to expand upward, with entire districts stacked into layers and connected by skybridges, elevated parks, towering skyscrapers, flying vehicles, levitating streetcars and robots.

“Although the game touches on serious themes, we wanted to do something more entertaining than a purely heavy meditation on AI and the future of humanity. We want players to feel engaged and curious, not weighed down by existential dread.”

AD’s journey develops through his interaction with DAWG, short for dedicated artificial weaponised guard, and Mowgli, a human girl raised in isolation by rudimentary machines. Mowgli supports progression through hacking, crafting, upgrading, and repairs, while her dynamic with AD adds a more personal layer to the story. DAWG, a robodog with a damaged battery, triggers AD’s awakening at the beginning, linking them across narrative and gameplay.

“As we developed the story and characters, we discovered an interesting chemistry between the two main protagonists: a naïve robot detective who dreams of becoming human, and a little girl who believes she is a robot. In many ways, the game draws on the classic archetypes of Pinocchio (The Adventures of Pinocchio) and Mowgli (The Jungle Book). Those references helped shape both the narrative and the gameplay as the project evolved.”

Gameplay in Artificial Detective

Gameplay focuses on a third-person action-adventure structure, combining investigation with flexible combat and exploration. Players can move through the layered districts of Conglomerate North, approaching encounters in multiple ways, including direct combat, stealth, hacking systems, or using environmental elements such as electricity and magnetism to gain an advantage.

Players can travel between areas on a flying streetcar, uncovering hidden routes, and encountering hostile machines and boss characters tied to the unfolding mystery. Progression is linked to the companion system, where abilities, tools, and new pathways are unlocked through cooperation, resource gathering, and equipment upgrades.

The experience is designed around player choice, allowing different approaches to each situation while gradually revealing more about the city and the events behind humanity’s disappearance.

Where to play Artificial Detective

Artificial Detective is scheduled to release in 2027 for Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam.

* Visit the website for ‘Artificial Detective’ here.