You're a Japanese player stuck on Malenia. The best strategy guides are in English. The best YouTube walkthroughs are in English. The AI chatbots you might ask are most fluent in English. So every time you need help, you alt-tab, read English, translate it in your head, then go back and try to remember it under pressure. That's a double tax. Starting today, Sidekick AI removes it. The coach now speaks your language.
What shipped
Sidekick AI now supports voice coaching in 8 languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. You can speak to it in your language, and it speaks back in your language, while watching the same screen and understanding the same game.
This is not a translation layer bolted on top of English output. The language choice is passed directly to the model, which responds natively in that language — using the words and phrasing a player would actually use, not the English terms awkwardly transliterated.
The English-only tax on non-English gamers
Most gaming help is written in English first, and many popular titles have uneven localization when it comes to community resources. A Korean player looking for Sekiro parry timing or a Brazilian Portuguese speaker trying to find a Hollow Knight charm combo will find thin coverage in their language and deep coverage in English.
The alt-tab problem is already a 15% tax on play sessions. For non-English speakers, the cost goes higher:
- Translation overhead. You read English, then silently translate while trying to remember the input timing. The tip is older by the time you understand it.
- Vocabulary mismatch.English guides call it a "poise break." You know it by a different term in your language. Matching them up eats another few seconds.
- Voice guides don't exist. Non-English video walkthroughs tend to be shorter, older, and harder to scrub to the exact moment you need.
A real-time coach that speaks your language collapses all of this into a voice in your headset saying the right thing at the right time.
What it sounds like
Three short scenarios from different languages. Same AI, same visual pipeline, different voice output.
1. Japanese player, Elden Ring
What you see: Malenia, Blade of Miquella, second phase. Flower bloom animation starting.
What the AI says (Japanese): 「今のは花散らし。全力で離れて。」 (Translation: "That's flower scatter. Run away at full speed.")
The player hears the warning in Japanese before the AoE lands. No English-to-Japanese mental jump, no wiki tab.
2. Spanish player, Baldur's Gate 3
What you see: Dialogue with Priestess Gut, options visible, party outside the room.
What the AI says (Spanish): «Si vas sola, es una trampa. Puedes usar persuasión o pelear ahora con el grupo en posición.»
The AI picked up the encounter from the screen. The guidance is delivered in Spanish phrasing that matches how a Spanish-speaking friend would actually explain it.
3. Chinese player, Black Myth: Wukong
What you see: Mid-fight against a large elite, stamina low, attack wind-up from the boss.
What the AI says (Chinese): “体力不够了，先拉开距离。这招是破式。” (Translation: "Low stamina, pull distance first. This attack is a Stance Breaker.")
The AI uses the in-game Chinese term for the mechanic, not a transliterated English phrase.
Why this works: same vision pipeline, localized voice
The underlying system is the same one described in How Vision AI Sees Your Game: screen capture, vision-language model, voice synthesis. What changed is the output stage. The system prompt now carries a language directive, the model generates native-language reasoning, and the TTS voice is tuned for that language.
Two implementation notes that matter for quality:
- Allowlisted languages only. The chat backend validates the requested language against a fixed list before inserting it into the prompt. That prevents prompt injection and keeps output consistent.
- Voice input matches.When you speak to the AI, ASR is told which language to expect. That cuts transcription errors for mixed-language gaming vocabulary ("Elden Ring" spoken in the middle of a Spanish sentence still transcribes cleanly).
Language support at a glance
| Language | Voice in | Voice out |
|---|---|---|
| English | Yes | Yes |
| Chinese | Yes | Yes |
| Japanese | Yes | Yes |
| Korean | Yes | Yes |
| French | Yes | Yes |
| Spanish | Yes | Yes |
| Portuguese | Yes | Yes |
| Russian | Yes | Yes |
Every language supports the full voice round-trip: speak in your language, hear the response in your language. No fallback to text, no fallback to English.
Try it in your language
Pick a game you're stuck on. Launch the free Sidekick AI demo on Steam, choose your language in the chat settings, and play. The AI watches the same screen you do and now talks back in the language you actually play in. Any PC game.
If you've been holding off because the coaching only worked in English, this is the update that changes that.