DLSS 5 leak turns game characters into photorealistic mutants and has already split the community into two camps

An unofficial version of Nvidia upscaling tech that users have dubbed "DLSS 5" has escaped into the wild. The tool ended up in the hands of enthusiasts ahead of any official announcement, and people are jamming it into games that, to be fair to Nvidia, it's not necessarily optimized for yet, sparking a wave of discussion mixed with confusion and memes.

One of the most talked-about examples is a screenshot from Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, where Cloud Strife turned into something different enough from the original that he's now been nicknamed "Claude Strife." The joke is credited to Brian Bucklew, though the origin of the image itself couldn't be traced – the trail leads to a deleted Reddit thread.

Unlike the DLSS we're used to, which harnesses machine learning to upscale low-res graphics without deviating too much from the source material, this version works differently. "DLSS 5" applies generative AI models, adding effects to the frame that provide similar results to using the word "photorealism" in a prompt for an AI image model.

Besides Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Hogwarts Legacy also got the treatment – comparisons of the same character before and after the tech have been popping up online. One notable side effect is an aging effect on characters: skin texture gets intensified, the separation between cheek and jaw becomes more pronounced, and expressions turn gloomier and harsher, even when the original character looked neutral.

Not every example looks equally jarring. Under certain settings, the tech can turn a flat, untextured Starfield character face into something far more realistic and lifelike. Results like these are being collected and discussed in the RenoDX Discord channel, where users experiment with different processing parameters.

Community reaction has split into two camps. Over in the RenoDX Discord channel, plenty of people are delighted by the results they're getting and sharing their successful attempts with each other. At the same time, a thread on ResetEra has popped up, with posters expressing shock and rejection at the whole idea of applying generative AI to game characters.

Even where the tech does turn a flat-looking face into something with volume and texture, the result keeps a distinct AI-generated look. The effect resembles photos of models taken with studio lighting stretched over the faces and bodies of characters – creating an impression of a staged, unnatural image despite the technical boost in detail.

Nvidia has not issued any official comment on the leak or the status of "DLSS 5" so far.