This game is one of my inspirations. It had the most alive-feeling AI in a game. It was a lightweight implementation of Belief-Desire-Intent combined with some reinforcement learning backstopped by classical AI techniques.
media.gdcvault.com/GD_Mag_Ar…
One of the most hyped and anticipated games back in 2001: Black & White
Developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Electronic Arts (ironically the ones that bought Bullfrog in 1995 and then shut them down in 2001), the project was led by none other than Peter Molyneux.
It is widely regarded as a textbook example of a game that was too ambitious for its time, resources, and team size. Still critically acclaimed and a cult favourite, it underperformed commercially relative to the massive hype surrounding it (and Molyneux’s status).
The game combined god-game mechanics, influencing villagers, facing moral choices between good and evil, a learning AI creature, gesture-based controls, and a massive open world. This was groundbreaking in 2001, but it also pushed hardware limits too far for the average user, making it only playable on high-end machines at the time.