After DLSS 5 furore, Resident Evil Requiem director says fan criticism of Grace Ashcroft’s AI-powered makeover means team ‘got her design right’
Resident Evil Requiem’s protagonist Grace Ashcroft received positive fan reception following the game’s launch in February. However, when Nvidia unveiled an AI-powered DLSS 5 makeover for the character several weeks later in March, the response was markedly different. The redesign, utilizing artificial intelligence technology, generated strong and swift criticism from the fanbase, sparking considerable debate about the direction of character design in the franchise.
Rather than dismissing the backlash, Resident Evil Requiem’s game director Koshi Nakanishi offered an unconventional interpretation of the fan criticism. Speaking to Eurogamer, Nakanishi suggested that the passionate response from players actually validated the development team’s original character design choices. He characterized the criticism as evidence that the team had “got her design right,” indicating that the strong emotional reaction demonstrated the resonance of their creative vision. Expressing that he was “really glad to see” the positive response to Grace, Nakanishi reframed the critical feedback as validation rather than failure.