Agents Play Thousands of 3D Video Games
On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Reinforcement learning for LLM agents
Abstract (arXiv)
We present PORTAL, a novel framework for developing artificial intelligence agents capable of playing thousands of 3D video games through language-guided policy generation. By transforming decision-making problems into language modeling tasks, our approach leverages large language models (LLMs) to generate behavior trees represented in domain-specific language (DSL). This method eliminates the computational burden associated with traditional reinforcement learning approaches while preserving strategic depth and rapid adaptability. Our framework introduces a hybrid policy structure that combines rule-based nodes with neural network components, enabling both high-level strategic reasoning and precise low-level control. A dual-feedback mechanism incorporating quantitative game metrics and vision-language model analysis facilitates iterative policy improvement at both tactical and strategic levels. The resulting policies are instantaneously deployable, human-interpretable, and capable of generalizing across diverse gaming environments. Experimental results demonstrate PORTAL's effectiveness across thousands of first-person shooter (FPS) games, showcasing significant improvements in development efficiency, policy generalization, and behavior diversity compared to traditional approaches. PORTAL represents a significant advancement in game AI development, offering a practical solution for creating sophisticated agents that can operate across thousands of commercial video games with minimal development overhead. Experiment results on the 3D video games are best viewed on https://zhongwen.one/projects/portal .
Key facts. Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Reinforcement learning for LLM agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 16 of its 29 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 17 Mar 2025.
Builds on
16 of 29 references.
Closest ancestors · 2
Same direction, newest first
- 2023Large Language Models Play StarCraft II: Benchmarks and A Chain of Summarization Approach19 Dec
- 2023Voyager: An Open-Ended Embodied Agent with Large Language Models25 May
Other references · 14
- 2023GPT-4 Technical Reportcited by 18,396
- 2017Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithmscited by 15,215
- 2022Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Modelscited by 12,459
- 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,695
- 2023Toolformer: Language Models Can Teach Themselves to Use Toolscited by 4,182
- 2024Gemini 1.5: Unlocking multimodal understanding across millions of tokens of contextcited by 3,224
- 2023ToolLLM: Facilitating Large Language Models to Master 16000+ Real-world APIscited by 1,947
- 2019Dota 2 with Large Scale Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 1,103
- 2018IMPALA: Scalable Distributed Deep-RL with Importance Weighted Actor-Learner Architecturescited by 883
- 2019Mastering Complex Control in MOBA Games with Deep Reinforcement Learningcited by 161
- 2025Towards System 2 Reasoning in LLMs: Learning How to Think With Meta Chain-of-Thoughtcited by 109
- 2017Behavior Trees in Robotics and AI: An Introductioncited by 107
2 more
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2025: 5; 2026: 4.
9 papers.
- 2025Understanding Tool-Integrated Reasoningcited by 38
- 2025Single-stream Policy Optimizationcited by 28
- 2026Co-Evolving LLM Decision and Skill Bank Agents for Long-Horizon Taskscited by 15
- 2025Cogito, Ergo Ludo: An Agent that Learns to Play by Reasoning and Planningcited by 12
- 2025Think in Games: Learning to Reason in Games via Reinforcement Learning with Large Language Modelscited by 7
- 2026COMFYCLAW: Self-Evolving Skill Harnesses for Image Generation Workflowscited by 6
- 2025LLMs as Agentic Cooperative Players in Multiplayer UNOcited by 0
- 2026Compiled Agency: Frontier General-Purpose Coding Agents Build Winning Game Players from Bare Interaction - from Flappy Bird to StarCraft II and Civilizationcited by 0
- 2026Synthesizing Reactive Character Behaviors for Continuous Games via Programmatic Policy Searchcited by 0
- 2026Synthesizing Reactive Character Behaviors for Continuous Games via Programmatic Policy Search21 Sep 2026
- 2026Compiled Agency: Frontier General-Purpose Coding Agents Build Winning Game Players from Bare Interaction - from Flappy Bird to StarCraft II and Civilization17 Jul 2026
- 2026COMFYCLAW: Self-Evolving Skill Harnesses for Image Generation Workflows2 Jul 2026
- 2026Co-Evolving LLM Decision and Skill Bank Agents for Long-Horizon Tasks22 Apr 2026
- 2025Cogito, Ergo Ludo: An Agent that Learns to Play by Reasoning and Planning29 Sep 2025
- 2025Single-stream Policy Optimization16 Sep 2025
- 2025LLMs as Agentic Cooperative Players in Multiplayer UNO11 Sep 2025
- 2025Think in Games: Learning to Reason in Games via Reinforcement Learning with Large Language Models29 Aug 2025
- 2025Understanding Tool-Integrated Reasoning26 Aug 2025
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2025Learning Game-Playing Agents with Generative Code Optimization
- 2024A Survey on Large Language Model-Based Game Agents
- 2025GVGAI-LLM: Evaluating Large Language Model Agents with Infinite Games
- 2025Cultivating Game Sense for Yourself: Making VLMs Gaming Experts
- 2025PolicyEvolve: Evolving Programmatic Policies by LLMs for multi-player games via Population-Based Training
- 2024Large Language Models as Agents in Two-Player Games
- 2026Modular Discovery of General Game-Playing Algorithms with Large Language Models
- 2026NitroGen: An Open Foundation Model for Generalist Gaming Agents