Creative Assembly's Total War: PHARAOH, the latest game released over two years ago in the iconic real-time strategy series, will soon feature an in-game AI advisor powered by NVIDIA ACE technology.
The news was unveiled by NVIDIA at CES 2026 today. This updated version of the in-game advisor reimagines the traditional strategy game guide by using on-device AI to provide real-time, context-aware assistance.
Total War: PHARAOH players can engage with the advisor via natural language prompts (voice or text), rather than searching through menus or FAQs. The advisor has been trained on the specific mechanics of Total War: PHARAOH and has game-state awareness (as well as using a historically appropriate tone and lore-driven mindset). For example, it can analyze why a settlement revolted or offer strategic advice based on the player's current campaign situation. The AI processes player prompts, the current game state, and data retrieved from the game's complex database, which contains up-to-date information on units, the economy, resource management, faction traits, buildings, and status effects.
Behind the scenes, the Total War: PHARAOH AI advisor is powered by a small language model that runs locally on the user's GPU. The studio used NVIDIA ACE developer tools to build the pipeline connecting Total War's extensive game data to the model.
This new feature is part of a program to investigate how Creative Assembly can make Total War more approachable, dynamic, and ultimately more accessible to players of all skill levels, without compromising any of the depth that has defined the franchise over the past 25 years. The CES 2026 announcement also included confirmation that an upcoming playtest program for this AI advisor is scheduled to launch for select community members in 2026.
During the CES 2026 NVIDIA ACE update, we also received an update on the PUBG Ally in-game companion that was originally announced at last year's Consumer Electronics Show. PUBG Ally will initially be tested in the first half of 2026 via a limited-time event in PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Arcade, and will be available for players using English, Chinese, and Korean. These CPC (Co-Playable Characters) are powered by small language and speech models via efficient on-device inference. An automatic speech recognition model understands the player's voice, while a small language model (SLM) combines these instructions with PUBG Ally's perception of the game state for strategic planning and real-time reactions. A text-to-speech model then generates dynamic voice lines to communicate with the player.
At CES 2026, it was also confirmed that PUBG Ally will include a long-term memory system that lets Co-Playable Characters recall previous performances and gameplay interactions, allowing the AI to draw on these memories while interacting with the player. This definitely opens up to more immersive interactions, although it will be interesting to see how the gaming community reacts to it, given the growing anti-AI sentiment.
In other Total War news, Creative Assembly is working on two big games: Total War Medieval III and Total War: Warhammer 40,000.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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