Epic Unveils AI NPC Creation in Fortnite: Darth Vader Marks the Start

Following the introduction of AI-powered Darth Vader in Fortnite, Epic Games has revealed ambitious plans to allow players and creators to design their own custom AI NPCs within the expansive battle royale environment.

Last month saw the debut of AI Darth Vader, a highly interactive character capable of engaging with players in real-time. He can sing, join or leave squads freely, respond intelligently to gameplay situations, deliver spontaneous dialogue, summarize in-game events, and even alert players when danger is near.

Darth Vader’s voice comes from none other than the late James Earl Jones, who passed away in September 2024 at the age of 93. This AI-generated version of his iconic voice was created using Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash model and ElevenLabs' Flash v2.5, and it was implemented with the full consent of the Jones family.

AI Darth Vader was more than just a novelty—it was a testbed for future features. Within an hour of his release, players discovered how to manipulate his dialogue into producing unintended content, including explicit language. Epic quickly addressed the issue with a patch.

As announced during the State of Unreal 2025 presentation, the Darth Vader experiment paved the way for new tools that will empower creators to build their own AI-driven characters in the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). One such tool demonstrated on stage was the new Persona Device, which allows developers to craft characters with unique personalities and interactive traits.

Creators can customize their NPC by selecting voice types, delivery styles, and defining behavioral characteristics—bringing fully dynamic characters to life within Fortnite’s evolving world.

“We’re taking what we learned from Darth Vader and sharing the underlying technology with the creator community,” said Epic Games during the keynote.

In addition to AI character creation tools, Epic also showcased upcoming IP integrations coming to UEFN. These include:

• Squid Game – available starting June 27
• Avatar: The Last Airbender content
• Official Star Wars features, templates, and assets
• LEGO brick-by-brick building support launching on June 17
• A new LEGO Bloom Tycoon template

The announcements highlight Fortnite’s growing role as a creative platform that blends popular franchises with user-generated innovation.

Epic wasn’t the only one showing off impressive tech during the event. In a separate segment, CD Projekt Red and Epic jointly presented a breathtaking Unreal Engine 5 tech demo for The Witcher 4, showcasing the future of open-world RPG visuals powered by next-gen engine capabilities.