Viktor Antonov, the iconic artist behind Half-Life 2 and Dishonored sadly passed in 2025. The brilliant artist penned some of the most gorgeous worlds in gaming, and left behind a legacy that continues with his upcoming posthumous release, Guns of Eschaton. (For more on the game’s creation, read Inside Viktor Antonov’s final game right here.)
Antonov’s passing comes as era of AI enters, and their work has been used by many to AI generate art similar to his style. But can an AI ever actually match the talent of one of gaming’s great artists? Well, obviously, the answer is no.
Speaking to FRVR, Guns of Eschaton art director Helene Giraud, who was best friends and collegues with Antonov, explained that his art came from his own way of interacting with the world. “Viktor was unique,” she told us. “He has really his own style [which] cannot be imitated. There is a spirit and there is an approach.”
While an AI-generated prompt may attempt to create detail in the style of Antonov, Giraud explains that this simply doesn’t work because every piece of his work came with obsession about how everything belonged in a scene. “He used to say everything is a character,” she explained. “Everything, when you put your eyes [to it] you must believe it.”
“It’s interesting to know that Viktor barely used gadgets,” we were told. “He hated it. He was mostly not using his phone. He didn’t like it. He was not on social media. He’d avoid it, really. He was scared of it. But he was looking [at] the revolution from afar.”
Giraud explained that, for Guns of Eschaton, Antonov had no interest in using generative AI, and the issue with the technology is that some people using it have no concept of how to make art themselves. “Most of the people who [are] using it sometimes don’t even know how to hold a pencil and [that] working with [it] is a long process to have the chance to have exactly what you want.”
As for people trying to generate AI art in the style of Viktor Antonov, Giraud explains that AI simply cannot generator the artist’s way of designing a world. “He was brilliant… when he was in a room, people were hypnotised in a way by him. He had strong aura… you can’t copy that. Viktor is unique, will always be unique, and when someone tries to imitate his work, this is just bulls*t. Maybe the form will look like Viktor, but there’s nothing beyond. There’s not the spirit.”
While Giraud explains that AI cannot replicate the spirit of Viktor Antonov, she also explained that the technology is becoming ever more prominent within the art industry. “What shocked me the most is that this technology suddenly became available to everyone without warning, without any control, and without any discussion with, I don’t know, government or people in the industry. And now it’s growing so fast that it’s out of control.”
Nevertheless, Viktor Antonov’s final game, Guns of Eschaton is one filled to the brim with his art in an era where some are pushing art to the wayside. Eschaton is not only just a world designed with Antonov’s attention to detail, but one inspired by a long-standing love of Westerns, many of which he watched alongside Giraud and others.
Guns of Eschaton releases on December 8, 2026 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series. The game also has a free demo available right now on Steam.
