Long metal blade ❌

Absolutely not, of course it is about having fun.
Are you going to just experience something that makes you feel miserable? Not an unfun moment for catharsis later, but an entire make-you-feel-awful experience?
Getting lost in a fantasy world is about having fun.

AI makes it far less tedious to write out that test code […]

Completely disagree.
In my experience, LLMs constantly generate bad code that needs to be thoroughly checked, to the point that writing by hand is more practical.