“It’s Re-Rendering the Game!” – It Turns Out Game Artists Don’t Love DLSS 5, Despite Nvidia’s Claims

Nvidia revealed DLSS 5 earlier this week, working neural rendering into its AI technology suite for graphics cards. The company claimed that game developers were on board, despite some of the drastic changes it seems to make to the game’s aesthetic – especially Resident Evil 5.

Both Assassins Creed Shadows and Resident Evil Requiem were used to show off the new technology, but it seems like the art teams for Ubisoft and Capcom, respectively, didn’t know about it until the trailer debuted, with a developer from the former telling Insider Gaming, “We found out at the same time as the public.” Capcom’s art team was particularly shocked and worried by Resident Evil’s trailer, given the company’s anti-AI stance with previous Resident Evil games.

The Capcom art team definitely wasn’t alone in its reaction to the technology. Animator Mike York, who has worked on wide variety of games, including Death Stranding 2, streamed a reaction to Digital Foundry’s preview of DLSS 5. In it, he paused at several moments to point out some of the more radical changes that the neural rendering tech made to the games.

For instance, York points out that with DLSS 5 enabled, Grace Ashcroft’s eyes point in two different directions, along with extra details, like wrinkles in her lips, and an ear with a completely different shape. But more than that, York contends that rather than just fixing the lighting and some “materials” like Nvidia has claimed:

“The geometry hasn’t changed in the computer,”…