Daniel Vávra is not one to shy away from discussing controversial topics. The former Warhorse Studios creative director, who shepherded the developer to great success with Kingdom Come Deliverance and its sequel Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, has been embroiled in many a controversy. From his rants about the ‘historical accuracy’ of medieval games to constant hot takes online, Vávra is never far from the headlines. When it comes to DLSS 5, though, he’s right about one thing.
Vávra has come weighing in on the DLSS 5 discussion. Everyone and their nan can see that the technology is vapid, gen-AI trash, yassifying scenes with no care for the original lighting or art direction. Characters shown in the tech’s first advertisements look like they’ve been put through a Snapchat filter. But the Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 creative director doesn’t think that the so-called “haters” will stop the technology from becoming commonplace in the industry.
“I can imagine in the future devs will be able to train this tech for particular art style or specific people faces and it might replace expensive raytracing etc.,” he says in an X post. “This is just a little uncanny beginning. No way haters will stop this. It’s way more than a soap opera effect every TV has when you turn motion smoothing on.”
There’s a lot to unpack here, but it’s a somewhat nuanced take from the fiery director. Firstly, I’ve got to give him props for his point about motion smoothing; apparently that’s something that everyone below a certain age can agree on, no matter their differences. As for everything else, I’m less sure.
Vávra is simply guessing at what DLSS 5 could be, rather than taking the technology at face value for what it is now. If I saw DLSS 5 taking art style or specific faces into account, then sure! It’d be great. But it currently can’t do that, or Nvidia would probably be showing it off in light of all the bad press it’s currently generating. This “little uncanny beginning” is currently all that the tech is proven to be capable of.
It also won’t be “haters” that stop DLSS 5 from taking off: it’ll be the product itself. Very few people are taking its side, and the general consensus around AI in videogames seems to be that players just don’t want it. Developers that utilize it are coming under fire – just look at Crimson Desert. Nvidia’s latest is comparably worse, and that’s why it – and those associated with it – have become somewhat of a laughing stock online.
I’m all for getting excited about new technology. I love checking out what crazy tech people show off at CES each year, and wondering if we’ll have flying cars in my lifetime. On the other hand, we have to have standards. In its current iteration, DLSS 5 is well below them.