Hidden Door: AI Game Offers Meaningful, Constrained Storytelling

Years before large language models ignited the generative AI boom, a game called AI Dungeon 2 offered a glimpse into open-ended, AI-narrated improvisation. Now, a new platform named Hidden Door, currently in early access, revisits this concept, allowing users to co-write choose-your-own-adventure-style stories with artificial intelligence. However, unlike its predecessors or general-purpose chatbots, Hidden Door’s AI narrator imposes crucial in-universe limits on player actions, a design choice that paradoxically forms a significant part of its appeal.

Hidden Door is engineered to immerse players in familiar fictional worlds, including public domain settings like The Wizard of Oz and Pride and Prejudice, alongside licensed properties such as The Crow. The journey begins with character creation, where players define their avatar’s backstory and notable traits. The system then presents an opening scenario, prompting the player to respond much like a participant in a tabletop role-playing game interacting with a game master. Certain decisions may even involve a behind-the-scenes dice roll to determine success or failure, with the narrative unfolding organically regardless of the outcome. During gameplay, players collect “cards” representing characters and locations, serving as a handy reference for key story elements. The AI narrator also possesses its own deck of “plot point” cards, occasionally offering players choices to steer the story’s direction.

This deliberate adherence to narrative logic is where Hidden Door fundamentally diverges from a free-form chatbot. Consider, for instance, a scenario involving a vampiric variation of Pride and Prejudice, dubbed “Courtship and Crimson.” As a player, one might choose to embody a vampire hunter driven by an “uncompromising sense of duty and a thirst for vengeance.” The game could then drop the character into a social event where a potential vampire is spotted. While prepopulated options exist, a player might attempt a direct, weaponized assault. Hidden Door would allow this, even if the “vampire” turns out to be an illusion. Yet, if a player were to attempt a similar maneuver with a general-purpose chatbot like ChatGPT, for example, by suddenly acquiring an “unbeatable bow with silver arrows” to instantly dispatch all vampires on Earth and beyond, the chatbot would readily comply, short-circuiting any meaningful challenge or narrative progression. Hidden Door, by contrast, would intervene, gently redirecting the player towards in-universe appropriate actions, such as attempting a conversation to gather information instead. This enforcement of internal consistency is core to its design.

However, this guiding hand can sometimes feel overly restrictive. In one Wizard of Oz scenario, an attempt to have a “daring, danger addict” reporter confront a hypnotized porter by repeatedly trying to throw a punch or grab them was met with a “you failed” message. While this might be attributed to unusual bad luck on the dice rolls, even when actions succeed, there’s an underlying sense of the AI subtly pulling the story’s strings, preventing extended interactions with random characters. Consequently, the storytelling can occasionally feel disjointed, resembling a series of distinct, AI-guided beats rather than a cohesive, flowing narrative. For instance, in a vampire story, an orchestra conductor continued to deliver exposition for a mysterious plot thread even as the player character conspicuously ignored him, focusing instead on attacking another character. This experience lacks the spontaneous camaraderie and collaborative “bullshitting” inherent in a live tabletop game with human companions.

The platform also exhibits some technical rough edges. The AI narrator’s processing time can be noticeably long, often spanning several seconds, leading to player distraction. Minor text errors, such as copied and pasted character descriptions with misplaced punctuation, also occasionally appear.

Despite these imperfections, Hidden Door’s focus on familiar narrative worlds presents a compelling new avenue for interacting with AI storytellers. By preventing players from simply breaking the rules for an instant win, it compels engagement within the established logic of each story, no matter how fantastical. Furthermore, the platform’s use of public domain and licensed works, alongside reported deep involvement from authors in the creation process, theoretically ensures compliance with copyright. The most significant testament to Hidden Door’s potential is its ability to intrigue, making players genuinely curious about the next chapter of their AI-crafted adventure, even when the current one has its frustrations.