What innovations should a new generation of video games bring with it? Bigger worlds? Faster load times? GPU maker Nvidia has an answer that I bet you’ve never thought of: What if you paid thousands of dollars for a computer graphics chip that makes it seem like you’ve put a Snapchat beauty filter over everything?
At Nvidia GTC Live 2026 on Monday, the AI-focused company unveiled DLSS 5, which Nvidia claims is “the most significant breakthrough in computer graphics since the debut of real-time ray tracing in 2018.” Reactions to that tech have been… mixed.
The tech wizards at Digital Foundry recently uploaded a video that breaks down Nvidia’s DLSS 5 technology, which is exclusive to its upcoming RTX 50-series computer chips. It’s full of comparison shots that show what games like Resident Evil Requiem and Starfield would look like with DLSS 5 turned on and off. The tech is powered by machine learning that Nvidia describes in a press release as “real-time neural rendering model that infuses pixels with photoreal lighting and materials.” DLSS does not, however, alter any of the geometry or texture assets, according to Digital Foundry.
You wouldn’t know that from looking at the results, however. With DLSS, human character designs seem to transmute into someone else entirely. It almost seems like what you’d get after prompting an AI to come up with a realistic video game character. Everything comes out outrageous and yassified.
Near the end of the video, Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter claims that Bethesda’s Todd Howard personally signed off on Starfield‘s DLSS visuals. He paraphrases Howard, who apparently told Nvidia that this is how he wanted Starfield to be seen by the public.
“Bethesda has such a rich history pushing graphics with Nvidia, going all the way back to Morrowind, with that incredible water,” Howard said in a statement. “When Nvidia showed us DLSS 5 and we got it running in Starfield, it was amazing how it brought it to life. We’ve played it. We can’t wait for all of you to do so as well.”
“I think it’s fair to say it’s one of the surprising, potentially disruptive, transformative next generation technologies we’ve seen,” says Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter.
That’s one way of putting it. Most people seem to be clowning on the technology. The women at Capcom did not shed blood, sweat, and tears to gift us the hottest version of old Leon S. Kennedy just for him to get downgraded into something that looks like AI slop.
“I haven’t seen anything more uncanny ever in my life,” one YouTube commenter writes.
“[It] gave Grace completely different eyes and makeup,” another opined. “Straight up detrimental to artistic intent.”
Digital Foundry is mostly complimentary about Nvidia’s tech, especially when describing its effects on background objects. A lamp post, for example, is singled out for its convincing depiction of water on metal.
According to Nvidia, the tech demo is still a work in progress. The company is expecting to implement changes and improvements. When DLSS 5 is out in the wild this fall, it will support games from developers like Bethesda, Capcom, NetEase, Tencent, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros., Nvidia says. If you somehow manage to buy the graphics card despite the shortages, don’t be alarmed by what your favorite games look like. If Nvidia is to be believed, then apparently all the characters who seem uncanny under DLSS 5 were actually always meant to look like that.
“On Assassin’s Creed Shadows, it’s letting us build the kind of worlds we’ve always wanted to,” says Charlie Guillemot, co-CEO of Vantage Studios. That’s saying… something.
