Review: General AI Bots in Roleplay

context: Okay so I have been using many General AIs (like .. gemini.. etc) for roleplaying multiple scenarios, but mainly high-school scenarios and magic high. It has been 2 years and I have been using it regularly. And I just wanted to give a review of it.

Why do I prefer General AIs?: I like roleplay-focused AIs too, but general AIs like chatgpt allows for massive customisation (as you can write your own prompt), while having a good memory and I have had a better experience in roleplaying in general AIs than roleplay-focused AIs. But that is my opinion.

How will be the rating be done?: I will basically have a few criterias:
– Memory (according to me very important for roleplays)
– Detail Handling (Can it handle long lore as the roleplay starts)
– Storybuilding (again, important)
– Worldbuilding
– Speed

Custom Instructions: I gave all bots here some custom instructions to follow. “for roleplays it should always be detailed, immersive, full of random events and should look very good. It should never speak extra dialouges of whatever character I am rping, only the ones i input. Keep it in mind. lore building should be done automatically and the rp should always be detailed.”

— THE RATINGS —

1. ChatGPT 5 Instant
   1.1. Memory (8.5/10): ChatGPT 5 Instant has a really good memory, combining with its other capabilities and speed, it really has a long enough memory for a roleplay to last you ~4-5 hours without the bot forgetting details. It can remember even the smallest of details. It has 400,000 total context tokens (I think, correct me if I am wrong). You can comfortably roleplay with 5-Instant for a very long if you keep mentioning few things you have not mentioned in a long time, just once.
   But if certain characters are not mentioned in a long time, major details about them can be forgotten with time. If a character is mentioned scarcely, what I have seen is that it forgets the character’s name or their physical appearance or social connects.

   1.2. Detail Handling (8/10): It can handle details in a very well manner. Consider its speed, and memory, it can remember and recall even the smallest of details. Example, I was roleplaying about the highschool thing one time, and I had mentioned a character having obsession with coffee, and throughout the entire roleplay, there were small and subtle mentions of coffee for that character, it was so good.
   But if you are a fan of gore (fighting and all), then only mild gore is allowed as far as I have done it, extreme gore is not at allowed. If too much gore is involved, it automatically reverts to the thinking mini model, and then shows that gore is not allowed.

   1.3. Storybuilding (7/10): I would say the story building is decent. It will only develop lore if you specifically tell it to. Somehow I noticed that for most roleplays, it always diverts the lore to something sci-fi, supernatural or horror, but that could just be on mine, but roleplaying slice-of-life and it pivoting to sci-fi in 99% cases just does not suit me, I need to provide lore on my end in inputs to make it keep up with the slice of life theme.
   But when you do provide it lore, it can keep up with it.

   1.4. Worldbuilding (9/10): It is amazIng with world-building. If you are entering any room or area, it will wonderfully explain the area and expand on its idea, just using its name as inspiration. If you say the roleplay is based in Tokyo, it will accustom to it, making NPCs have japanese names, making them do japanese traditions, making the buildings have typical japanese names, etc etc. It is amazing in it and I would say it is one of its best powers according to me.

   1.5. Speed (10/10): It is the instant model. It is supposed to be instant 😀

   == OVERALL: 42.5/50 ==

2. ChatGPT 5 Mini Thinking

   2.1. Memory (8.5/10): Basically the same as ChatGPT 5 Instant.

   2.2. Detail Handling (8/10): Basically the same as ChatGPT 5 Instant

   2.3. Storybuilding (7/10): Basically the same as ChatGPT 5 Instant

   2.4. Worldbuilding (7/10): Worldbuilding on mini thinking is a huge downgrade compared to instant. After it thinks, you never know what happens, example. In one scene, a character.. lets say ‘A’ was in the science class, but in the next scene, they are suddenly next to character ‘B’ in a cafe who is in the school cafe when no time skip is mentioned. It can make characters spawn out of anywhere even if they are somewhere. Further, the bot just feels.. dull, more than instant. The way it outputs text in just simple paragraphs is so robot-y and literally does not make me roleplay due to the clutter being an eye sore. But it regardless does a good job at explaining areas with details.

   2.5. Speed (7/10): It will think for a few seconds, 8-10s depending on how big your input is and then give the output

   == OVERALL: 37.5/50 ==

3. ChatGPT 4o

   3.1. Memory (7/10): 4o has a good memory, but not too much. Maybe after ~3-4 hours of intense roleplay it may start forgetting things, depends on how much input you are giving it and how much detail are you asking from it. But still, it is good. You can do a very quality roleplay with good details on 4o. Its definitely less than 5 Instant

   3.2. Detail Handling (7/10): From what I have experienced, 4o is a much more “lively” chatbot than 5. For any detail given to it, it will make sure to make references to it in every output. It is similar to that of ChatGPT 5. The only issue that comes to it is the the memory.

   3.3. Storybuilding (7/10): ChatGPT 4o has amazing storybuilding out of all the bots I will be mentioning here. Again, as it has a more lively personality in general I think it does great in storybuilding. If you are doing surface level roleplaying, it is amazing for the storybuilding, in terms of lore building, it is decent, not better than ChatGPT 5 instant, but still, it does it job for a good amount of time. For light surface level roleplay, surely choose 4o.

   3.4. Worldbuilding (9/10): ChatGPT 4o feels alive, its roleplay output decoration makes it feel full (which is what I like, maybe not for you). It does a great job at explaining an area with details, adding small details like furniture, the environment , etc etc. It is sorta similar to chatgpt 5 instant, but somehow feels more alive.

   3.5. Speed (10/10): Fast like instant.

   == OVERALL 40/50 ==

4. Gemini 2.5 Flash

   4.1. Memory (5/10): The memory on on 2.5 flash is not good compared to rest of the models. It is worse than ChatGPT 5 Instant. During my roleplay time, it started forgetting crucial details after 30 minutes ish, again, this is my individual experience. It may or may not remember small details. It is a gamble, but it will surely forget it after 30-50mins

   4.2. Detail Handling (6/10): i would say it is somewhat similar to ChatGPT 4o, but it cannot handle much detail, you give it a long lore in the starting or anywhere between, half of that stuff is not being remembered in less than 5-6 texts. Would certainly not reccomend it for heavy roleplay

   4.3. Storybuilding (7/10): Flash has good storybuilding, somewhat like 4o, If its memory was good, roleplaying on 2.5 flash would be tolerable enough. It is very similar to instant 5.

   4.4. Worldbuilding (6/10): Again, similar to that of instant 5, but it literally always shows on the top “thats great addition to the story!” or something similar, making the experience bad. Even if you mention “narrate it like a story” or “no extra text” it literally will do it again.

   4.5. Speed (9/10): Almost instant. I dont know if its the lag for me but yeah

   == OVERALL 33/50 ==

— below here are other special mentions which idts i could do a proper rating of due to less interactions so ill just give a general comment and rating on them —

1. Microsoft Copilot

   5.1. Memory (5/10): For roleplays, It cannot do heavy roleplay but has enough to sustain a very light roleplay, but the memory is bad. It is an assistant bot afterall

   5.2. Detail Handling (6/10): Similar to 2.5 flash. Not tested enough

   5.3. Storybuilding (7/10): the story building is actually decent enough to pass for a assistant bot, it is comparable to that of 2.5 flash or gpt 40 (with the use of emojis and stuff)

   5.4. Worldbuilding (6/10): Same comments as storybuilding.

   5.5. Speed (8/10): It is almost instant.

== OVERALL 32/50 ==

6. Gemini 2.5 Pro:

6.1. Memory (8/10): Good memory, decent enough, but i have only really used it for research and stuff so I do not know in reference to roleplays

6.2. Detail Handling (Estimate) (8/10): Consdering it has a thinking model, i would estimate it has good detail handling.

6.3. Speed (6/10): For roleplays, it gives fast enough responses but not fast as the other models.

—> cannot judge world and story building because i havent really roleplayed on it but i just putting it the other information out there.

TLDR;

CHATGPT 5 INSTANT > CHATGPT 4o > CHATGPT 5 THINKING MINI > GEMINI 2.5 PRO (POTENTIALLY) > GEMINI 2.5 FLASH > COPILOT

NOTE: once again, this is on basis of my personal experience, so it could be different for you.

NOTE 2: If you want me to try any other, let me know in the comment!