Gaming review platform Metacritic has taken down a critique of Resident Evil Requiem after determining it came from artificial intelligence, according to a Kotaku article. The piece appeared on the British site VideoGamer, seemingly authored by a fabricated AI persona instead of an actual writer.
Detecting AI authorship with absolute certainty remains challenging, yet a quick scan of VideoGamer's analysis reveals numerous red flags. Beyond the overuse of forced analogies, the text stands out for its superficiality, offering little more insight than a game's promotional clip. Pre-launch restrictions on spoilers are often rigid, yet skilled reviewers typically convey their impressions without resorting to such generality. The VideoGamer entry, credited to 'Brian Merrygold,' falls short in this regard entirely.
One X user highlighted reasons to doubt Merrygold's legitimacy as well. The bio on VideoGamer comes across as clumsily composed, much like the review itself, and the accompanying photo looks artificially produced. Saving the image reveals a filename, 'ChatGPT-Image-Oct-20-2025-11_57_34-AM-300x300,' which strongly suggests its origin. Kotaku examined profiles of other recent VideoGamer contributors and observed parallel issues: all images seem AI-made, with accounts established simultaneously in October 2025.
Metacritic compiles critiques from legitimate outlets to generate a composite rating that captures critical consensus for games and films, similar to Rotten Tomatoes. Opinions vary on whether boiling down detailed assessments into a single figure benefits the industry, but most would concur that allowing fabricated AI content undermines the process.
Following the revelation about VideoGamer's probable AI origin, Metacritic excised the review from its Resident Evil Requiem listing. 'The RE Requiem review and a handful of other VideoGamer reviews from 2026 have been removed from Metacritic,' stated Marc Doyle, the site's co-founder, to Kotaku. The platform also sent notifications to aggregated gaming outlets and developers outlining its stance on AI content, as noted by Alex Donaldson, who runs RPG Site.
'Our policy is that we will never include an AI-generated review on Metacritic,' the service declares, 'and that if we subsequently discover that one has been posted we will remove it immediately and sever ties with that publication upon an investigation.'
Submitting AI-composed critiques from a news outlet poses risks comparable to their inclusion on Metacritic, and VideoGamer seems to be engaging in this practice. ClickOut Media, which operates VideoGamer alongside various other titles, recently dismissed employees from its gaming properties to shift toward AI-produced material. Navigating low-quality AI output has become essential across platforms like social networks and image boards. Metacritic now joins the list of sites requiring vigilance from audiences.