Fallout New Vegas 'Remaster' Becomes Nightmare Fuel with AI
If you’ve been anywhere in the gaming space in the last couple of weeks, you’ll have undoubtedly seen folks experimenting with DLSS 5. This is NVIDIA‘s AI-assisted neural rendering technology that takes games and makes them photorealistic in real-time. In many ways, it’s incredible, but in others, it’s absolutely terrifying.
In the last few days, Fallout fans have been ‘remastering’ the franchise’s games through the DLSS rendering framework, producing some less-than-stellar results. For instance, they’ve spun up Fallout New Vegas and fed it through DLSS 5 multiple times, and what has come out the other end is the eeriest rendition of the game I’ve ever seen.
Fallout with DLSS 5 is an Irradiated Mess
On YouTube, several videos have been uploaded showcasing Fallout New Vegas, the 2010 epic that’s often considered the best game in the series, rendered through NVIDIA’s DLSS 5. It’s a hugely advanced neural engine that upscales games and uses AI to introduce photorealistic lighting and textures.
The technology is insane, but it doesn’t always have the best results.
Here’s an example: more than three minutes of Goodsprings content captured in Fallout New Vegas with three passes of DLSS 5 applied:
Three passes is pretty mild. People are running wild with DLSS 5, pushing it to the limit and generating AI-driven monstrosities that honestly should never see the light of day.
Rose of Sharon Cassidy, also known simply as ‘Cass’, is downright mutilated by AI when put through seven neural passes.
Many have compared DLSS 5 to a ‘bad acid trip’, and it’s easy to see why. Given that Fallout’s universe revolves around things hideously mutated by radiation and other negative influences of a global wasteland, it’s not a stretch to suggest the neural mangling at the hands of NVIDIA’s technology could have some in-world explanation.
Do you think DLSS 5 is the future of gaming, or do you want to hold on for a legitimate Fallout New Vegas remaster? Because it is coming, after all.
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Written by
Senior Editor and Esports Lead
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.