Nvidia’s DLSS 5 Showcase Faces Criticism For How Much it Changes Characters’ Looks

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Nvidia recently demonstrated DLSS 5, a new technology that uses AI to create more realistic lighting in games. However, the company is now receiving criticism about how the feature is changing the look of games. Nvidia showed off DLSS 5’s ability to generate lifelike lighting and textures in a video featuring games like Resident Evil Requiem, Starfield, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

DLSS 5 is technically remarkable – it can create almost every frame of a game in real-time using the graphics card. However, many people have criticized the way it makes games look.

According to Nvidia, DLSS 5 uses a game’s color and movement data to create incredibly realistic lighting and textures. It leverages AI to ensure these visuals stay consistent and are firmly based on the original 3D elements of the game.

DLSS 5 closes the gap between what you see on screen and true-to-life visuals, letting game developers create graphics that were once only possible in high-end movie effects.

Nvidia’s DLSS 5 technology has faced criticism, notably from Danny O’Dwyer of Noclip, who described it on BlueSky as sometimes turning characters into overly-enhanced, almost unrecognizable versions of themselves. He pointed to Nvidia’s own promotional material for Resident Evil Requiem, specifically the character Grace Ashcroft, as an example. In the demonstrations, her appearance was dramatically changed with a lot of makeup and subtle alterations to her facial features.

Alex Donaldson from RPGSite also found the DLSS 5 effect to be unsettling and unnatural, and expressed concern that it could limit the creative vision of game developers. He questioned how much control developers will have to customize the technology to fit their artistic goals.

Game developers weren’t impressed with the showcase either. Steve Karolewics, a rendering engineer at Respawn Entertainment, pointed out that DLSS 5 noticeably alters the appearance of game characters.

One commenter described DLSS 5 as looking overly processed, like it uses too much contrast, sharpening, and an airbrush effect. They preferred the original look of the game, feeling that DLSS 5’s attempt at photorealistic lighting created a noticeably different and undesirable result, according to VideoGamesChronicle.

Concept artist Jeff Talbot strongly criticized the use of AI upscaling in games, stating it’s a negative trend. He felt that adding excessive ‘details’ through technologies like DLSS 5 actually diminished the art direction and character of the games, making them look worse than the originals and describing the result as a poor ‘AI filter’. He urged developers to avoid this practice.

So, Bethesda finally spoke up about the visual concerns with Starfield. They said their artists are tweaking the lighting and overall look to make sure everything looks its best. And the cool part is, any improvements coming from DLSS 5 will be something we can control – totally optional if we want to use them, and all handled by their art team.

We noticed your enthusiasm and detailed look at the new DLSS 5 lighting! This is just a first glimpse, and our artists are still refining the lighting and overall look to make sure it fits each game perfectly. Players will have the option to customize or disable these effects, giving our artists full control over the final visual experience.

DLSS 5 is slated to be available on Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards later this year.

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2026-03-17 15:12