With technology advancing at such a rapid rate in recent years, some of the latest video game releases are becoming more and more photorealistic. Thanks to improvements in technology and more power being granted to the latest consoles and PCs, we are pushing the limits when it comes to graphics, fidelity, and performance, and even titles that are merely five-years old can look outdated by today’s standards.
It is a scary thought, but it is also exciting. We all remember seeing the latest video game release back in the early 2000s and thinking it was absolutely breathtaking. Now, looking back, we wonder what on earth we were looking at. However, there is a fine line when it comes to graphics and the look of video games as a whole, and with AI regularly being used to push those limits, gamers are starting to feel horrified at what could happen to the future of the beloved media form.
This comes after NVIDIA announced its DLSS 5, AI-powered breakthrough presentation back in March. To showcase the new technology, NVIDIA used some of our favorite video game titles, with Hogwarts Legacy being one of them. In a comparison shot, we can see what the beloved Harry Potter-inspired RPG looks like with and without DLSS 5 equipped. Now, I try to remain pretty unbiased when reporting here at Screen Rant, but as an avid hater of generative AI, the end results are pretty appalling. It is very clear that AI was used to “enhance” the game’s graphics, leaving the character showcased look devoid of any of the original art used by its development team.
However, it seems as though I am not the only one who is horrified by this new technology as, over on r/HarryPotterGame, fans soon came together to share their thoughts over our “new look” at Hogwarts Legacy. “Looks like the AI slop filter,” one user said, simply. Another agreed, adding, “They are literally just removing the character design and personality of the art style. What is this sh**t?” With many agreeing that the “vibe” of Hogwarts Legacy is completely changed thanks to this new technology, it seems as though DLSS 5 is something that gamers do not want to see in any future releases.
It was one user over on Reddit who summed the situation up perfectly when they said, “Like we’ve seen over and over in the last 15 years of gaming, that photorealism does not equal a free pass to video game quality. There’s a reason games like Overwatch, Stardew Valley, Elden Ring, Nintendo games, Hollow Knight, and the infinite slew of other indies have been so wildly successful despite their apparent lack of perfect hair physics and countable skin pores, and that is that art style is what is attractive, not graphical fidelity. The genres where photorealism is actually a boon basically include FPSs and simulators. If I wanted my fantasy worlds to look like real life, I’d go outside and LARP. AI-washing the models and textures that people spent years crafting to fit the world and aesthetic of the games they were making is just completely insulting to the artists and the people who paid for their work.” I could not agree more, and it seems as though Hogwarts Legacy fans join in the sentiment.
- Released
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February 10, 2023
- ESRB
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T For Teen Due To Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol
- Developer(s)
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Avalanche Software
- Publisher(s)
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Warner Bros. Interactive
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 4
- Cross-Platform Play
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Hogwarts Legacy doesn’t have crossplay or crossplatform support
- Cross Save
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you can freely use your saved data between each console as long as you are connected to the internet and signed into the same account where the saved data was created
- Number of Players
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Single-player
