The DLSS 5 AI enhanced preview version of “Resident Evil Requiem” was complained by a large number of players during the testing phase because it “looked too distorted”. The focus of the complaints fell on the presentation of the character “Grace”. Her face was obviously distorted after AI enhancement, which the fan community found “unacceptable.” However, CAPCOM’s attitude towards this matter is unexpected: they believe that this represents fans’ deep emotional projection of the original design.
“Dislike” is another expression of “love”
The development team stated in an interview that players’ negative reactions to the AI enhancements are actually a disguised affirmation of “the character’s position in the players’ hearts.” When fans say “this AI ruined her,” what they’re really saying is that the character’s true self cannot be compromised. This protective desire from fans is more convincing to CAPCOM than any publicity data.
AI enhancement tools often face this over-smoothing problem when restoring character designs.
In the process of optimizing the resolution, AI upscaling technologies such as DLSS 5 will perform a certain degree of speculative reconstruction of the picture. The result of this reconstruction is particularly likely to appear plasticky or to eliminate details on the character’s face. For a work like “Resident Evil Requiem” that emphasizes character portrayal, this loss directly touches the player’s emotional connection with the character.
For CAPCOM, this event was a bonus!
Without the controversy over this AI preview, the development team might not have been so aware of the character’s special place in the fanbase. This understanding helped them determine the principle of not easily changing the visuals of the core characters in subsequent character design and marketing decisions.