Not only has DLSS 5 been divisive with consumers, but it’s also splitting the opinion of game developers themselves. In the eyes of gamers, the idea that it can look like an ‘AI filter’ is a big criticism, and the issue of artistic intent remains a hot topic. New Blood Interactive CEO, Dave Oshry, recently left some fiery comments in a discussion with PC Gamer, saying developers and players “need to push back” against the tech, in the same way as NFTs and crypto games.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has had a couple of goes at clearing things up, recently saying “I don’t love AI slop myself” while explaining (again) how DLSS 5’s neural rendering model works, and what it does (and doesn’t) change about the original image. In short, artists have control over visuals, and they don’t have to aim for photorealism, risking cratering into the uncanny valley.

DLSS 5 neural rendering discourse

If you’re not familiar with New Blood Interactive, the company is best known for its retro indie titles, particularly ‘boomer shooters’ such as Dusk and Ultrakill. In other words, practically none of its games really care for photorealistic visuals, nor the need to lean on DLSS technology for performance improvements.

Oshry notes that Amid Evil is the only game the studio has implemented DLSS and RTX in, claiming it was “a huge pain in the ass, arguably made the game look worse, and didn’t get us any extra sales”. For reference, the game only asks for an GTX 1060 in its recommended system specs, so it’s not a title that needs to benefit from Nvidia’s latest AI-accelerated features anyway.

“At this rate, why make game art at all? Why not just draw some shapes and colours and let AI generate what it thinks it should look like?”

Dave Oshry, CEO and Co-founder of New Blood Interactive, on DLSS 5 neural rendering

New Blood Interactive offered a full, unedited transcript over on social media for those interested.

Moving on to the other side of the argument, ex-producer at Epic (before the layoffs earlier this week), Jean Pierre Kellams, offered a different view on the subject. He says that if DLSS 5 was shown off as a next-gen hardware reveal and not AI, “you guys would be going nuts like the Watch Dogs demo”. He calls the improvements to lighting and shading “bonkers” (in a good way), and it’s clear why Nvidia opted to showcase the technology in titles aiming for a more photorealistic look.

Daniel Vávra, director and lead writer of the beloved Warhorse Studios titles Kingdom Come: Deliverance (I and II), recently commented on DLSS 5, saying, “This is just a little uncanny beginning,” adding that there’s “No way haters will stop this”. As such, it’s clear to see he is relatively positive about the technology. He mentions the possibility of devs being able to train “for [a] particular art style,” and this is exactly what will be possible, as revealed by Jensen Huang in a Lex Fridman podcast. The Nvidia CEO says gamers want to see DLSS 5 produce the opposite of photoreal. “Yeah, it’ll do that too,” he says.

Of course, DLSS 5 will still come with the same performance-boosting features as its previous iterations. Namely, upscaling and frame generation technology. New Blood Interactive’s David Szymanski has also been critical of these, too, as they’ve pivoted from optional to essential tools in many modern AAA releases, “because games are now built to lean on those technologies,” he says. The Dusk, Iron Lung, and Gloomwood developer adds, “While I’m not a graphics tech expert, I’m still not convinced that they’ve solved many problems that didn’t already have solutions”.

The new neural rendering model will be an optional feature limited to the RTX 50 series GPUs. The demos shown at GTC were running on two RTX 5090 graphics cards, though Nvidia says DLSS 5 will be optimized to run on a single GPU by the time it launches this Fall.

About the Author

Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.