MIMESIS Wins Excellence Award in Game Design at CEDEC Award 2026
The award recognizes a game whose core design-an AI that impersonates teammates in real time-was judged to demonstrate new potential for AI technology in game design, a category that has drawn increasing industry attention.
Reporting from 1 sources: ASCII.jp.
KRAFTON Japan announced that the cooperative horror game MIMESIS, developed by ReLU Games, received the Excellence Award in the Game Design category at CEDEC Award 2026. The game was also selected as a finalist for the Grand Prize. The selection committee praised its AI-driven NPC that mimics player voices and actions, creating tension and unpredictability.
The cooperative horror game MIMESIS, developed by ReLU Games and published by KRAFTON Japan, took the Excellence Award in the Game Design category at CEDEC Award 2026. The Computer Entertainment Developers Conference, organized by CESA, gives awards across four categories: Engineering, Game Design, Sound, and Visual Arts. MIMESIS was also named a finalist for the category's Grand Prize.
The selection committee highlighted the game's AI NPC, called Mimesis, which learns from player voice chat and behavior during gameplay and mimics teammates in real time. The committee evaluated the design as generating both fear and laughter through AI, combining voice-chat-based cooperation with the constant doubt of whether a teammate is human. MIMESIS launched in early access about a year after a four-person prototype began in October 2024, and passed 1 million global sales on Steam within 50 days.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.