Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Director Defends DLSS 5 for Bringing Out ‘Original Artistic Vision'

Published Aug 31, 2026, 7:25 AM EDT No Uncanny Henry, according to Daniel Vávra Image: Warhorse Studios/Deep Silver via Polygon DLSS 5 provides an "excellent photorealistic upgrade to the character lighting model" in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, says Daniel Vávra, former creative director at Warhorse Studios. Following its controversial reveal in March 2026, Nvidia's AI-driven real-time neural rendering model has been criticized for its "uncanny valley" filter effect, which seemed to change characters' faces. Now that DLSS 5 has been leaked, the internet is flooded with videos, photos, and fresh opinions on the matter, including those posted by Vávra on X. "First off—what was leaked isn’t even remotely what NVIDIA originally presented. It doesn’t alter the geometry of the models or the appearance of the characters in any way," writes Vávra. "What it does is take existing normal maps and create much better skin texture and facial detail [...] than the lighting model in the game." According to Vávra, his comparisons show that DLSS 5 refrains from altering the character's geometry (their facial shape), yet it provides more than a dehaze filter. He finds that the key lies in the ambient occlusion, a shading and rendering technique that calculates the appropriate position and amount of shadow according to an object's environment. In other words, Vávra argues that DLSS 5 improves shades cast by objects like helmets and buckles. Vávra specified that he's not working for any company nor on any game at the moment, but his post sparked many new and heated discussions on DLSS 5. While some commenters are impressed by Vávra's findings, many remain skeptical, especially since Vávra used screenshots as evidence, whereas some of the more critical DLSS 5 testers have posted videos. Since DLSS 5 seems to provide a filter based only on what's in the frame, some commenters fear that lighting effects are mere guesswork when the source is unknown, thus providing "fake" details that don't match realistic shadows. Others point out that the developer can't control the AI enhancements, citing this lack of control as problematic. On top of that, if the rendering is left to DLSS 5, developers may feel justified in delivering unfinished products, or products that have hardly been touched by a human hand. "DLSS 5 is gonna be like what Unreal Engine 5 has been like," comments Desperate-Intern in a Reddit thread. "There will be [a] handful of studios taking proper advantage of their tools. But [a] good majority will just take the easy way out. DLSS 5, I reckon, will be used for more slop than not." In a follow-up post, after declaring those who call the effects of DLSS 5 "AI slop" crazy, Vávra says they bring Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 closer to the artists' original vision. In a third message, he defends his stance on the use of AI in general, saying that "Absolutely every developer across many companies that I’ve spoken with over the past year uses AI. Programmers can’t get anything done without it anymore. [...] I spent 7 years working day and night on ONE game. If anything helped me to make it in one year I would take it anytime. No one wants to work on a game for a decade. Sure, I would rather [have] made 7 games instead of one in that time." In response to recent DLSS 5 videos that still show the uncanny valley effect, Vávra urges people not to "believe all those fake videos circulating the internet right now." While there's no evidence that the videos are fake, it's possible that the DLSS 5 tester's settings have a profound impact on the sense of realism. Whether that sense of realism is accurate, or even desirable, will probably remain a point of contention for some time to come — at least until DLSS 5 is released.