Total War: PHARAOH To Receive An On Device AI Advisor Powered By NVIDIA ACE, With 2026 Community Playtest Planned
Creative Assembly’s Total War: PHARAOH is set to get a major quality of life upgrade that could meaningfully change how new and returning players learn the game. NVIDIA revealed at CES 2026 that Total War: PHARAOH will soon feature an in game AI advisor powered by NVIDIA ACE technology, reframing the classic strategy game guide into a real time, context aware assistant that runs locally rather than pushing players to dig through menus, tooltips, or external guides.
The core concept is simple but high impact for a deep strategy title. Instead of hunting for the right help screen, Total War: PHARAOH players will be able to engage the advisor using natural language prompts through voice or text. NVIDIA says the advisor is trained on Total War: PHARAOH mechanics and has game state awareness, while also maintaining a historically appropriate tone and lore driven mindset. In practice, that means it can do more than repeat generic tips. It can analyze why a settlement revolted, explain what variables contributed to the collapse, and provide targeted advice based on what is happening in the current campaign. NVIDIA describes the system as processing the player’s prompt, the current game state, and data retrieved from Total War: PHARAOH’s complex database, pulling up to date information around units, economy, resource management, faction traits, buildings, and status effects.
From a technical positioning standpoint, NVIDIA also highlighted that the Total War: PHARAOH AI advisor is powered by a small language model that runs locally on the player’s GPU. Creative Assembly used NVIDIA ACE developer tools to build the pipeline that connects Total War’s data rich backend to the model, effectively turning the game’s own internal information into actionable guidance at the moment it matters. This is an important detail because it frames the advisor less as a vague chatbot and more as a structured decision support layer wired into real mechanics.
NVIDIA also contextualized this as part of a broader initiative to make Total War more approachable, dynamic, and accessible for players of all skill levels, while keeping the depth that has defined the franchise for 25 years. The CES 2026 announcement included confirmation that an upcoming playtest program for the AI advisor is scheduled for select community members in 2026.
During the same CES 2026 NVIDIA ACE update, NVIDIA also provided a status check on PUBG Ally, the in game companion originally announced at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show. PUBG Ally will be tested in the first half of 2026 via a limited time event in PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS Arcade, supporting English, Chinese, and Korean. NVIDIA frames these companions as CPC, meaning Co Playable Characters, built with efficient on device inference using small language and speech models. In the described pipeline, an automatic speech recognition model understands the player’s voice, a small language model merges the instruction with PUBG Ally’s perception of the current match state for planning and real time reactions, and a text to speech model generates dynamic voice lines back to the player.
The additional detail that stands out most for long term design implications is the confirmation that PUBG Ally will include a long term memory system. NVIDIA says this will let CPC recall previous performances and gameplay interactions, enabling the AI to draw on those memories while interacting with the player. From a player experience angle, this could unlock more immersive interactions and better teamwork behaviors over time, but it also lands in a community climate where anti AI sentiment is rising. How players respond will likely depend on whether the companion feels like a genuine tactical asset that respects competitive integrity, or an intrusive layer that changes the social fabric of a match.
Finally, the CES 2026 mention closed with a quick note that Creative Assembly is also working on 2 major projects on the Total War roadmap: Total War Medieval III and Total War: Warhammer 40,000. That context matters because it signals NVIDIA ACE is being explored not as a one off novelty, but as a potential foundation for how Creative Assembly could modernize onboarding and guidance across future releases.
Would you use an in game AI advisor for strategy planning in Total War, or do you prefer learning through experimentation, guides, and community meta discussion?
