The producer of Resident Evil Requiem has addressed Nvidia’s demonstration of its AI-powered image enhancement technology from earlier this year, which dramatically altered the appearance of Requiem protagonist Grace Ashcroft.
Revealed in March, Nvidia’s DLSS 5 tech was met with widespread criticism online due to it drastically changing the original art direction of various games in its showcase video. Grace’s AI makeover came under fire, in particular, for barely resembling her original design.
In a new interview with Eurogamer, producer Masato Kumazawa was asked what he thought about the backlash.
“The fact a lot of players commented they really liked the original design of Grace and didn’t want to see it changed was a positive,” Kumazawa said.
“It meant we got the design right [and] points to the fact that Grace quickly established herself as a fan favorite, that people had such strong opinions on her design.”
Grace was brand-new to the Resident Evil series when she was introduced in Requiem. Director Koshi Nakanishi, who also participated in the interview, shared that his team has “been really glad to see” the fandom’s positive reaction to her.
“It’s something I think players have just really responded to; because she’s so relatable, you root for her,” Nakanishi said.
“You want her to get through this and be okay. I think that emotional relatability, in a horror game especially, is important.”
Kumazawa added that Capcom doesn’t necessarily feel pressured to replace its aging legacy characters with new faces.
“We don’t really think of it in those terms,” Kumazawa explained.
“I mean, I think Leon is really appealing in his current form. And who knows, we could bring him back when he’s 70, and I’m sure he’ll still be a great character.”
Last week, Nakanishi and Kumazawa discussed Requiem’s upcoming minigame DLC, which is expected to release this month. Nakanishi shared that it will be “strictly based” on the game’s combat.
Resident Evil Requiem is available now on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam. We said in our review: “Resident Evil may be revisiting the past with this latest entry, but for the most part, it manages to avoid its previous mistakes – and more importantly, capitalizes on what the series does best.”
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Written by Reece Heather
A veteran Zelda Universe editor and First-class journalism graduate, Reece emerged with a Nintendo 64 and a lifelong obsession after a narrow escape from Santa’s Naughty List in 1998. Outside of games, he’s reading Punisher comics, being bossed around by his cocker spaniel, and cornering innocent bystanders to rant about the importance of game preservation.
