I played NBA 2K27 with Nvidia's DLSS 5 at Gamescom, and I was genuinely impressed with it — but one thing still worries me

Nvidia unveiled DLSS 5 at Gamescom 2026, showing it off in NBA 2K27 DLSS 5 will launch alongside NBA 2K27, and be available from September 3, 2026 DLSS 5 is exclusive to RTX 5000 GPUs, but Nvidia is working to eventually make it available on older GeForce cards It's no secret that Nvidia's reveal of DLSS 5 earlier this year led to instant controversy and a backlash from gamers, not to mention game developers.

The technology was branded as generative 'AI slop', effectively changing the look and style of character models, notably Leon S.

Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem .

Since then, Nvidia has worked on developing its neural rendering tech, and DLSS 5 is now ready for launch — and it's arguably being used in the game that's most appropriate for it.

DLSS 5 will debut on September 3, 2026, and will be first available in NBA 2K27 on September 4.

The new tech will be exclusive to RTX 5000 GPUs, but Nvidia made it clear that it will explore ways to bring DLSS 5 to older generations of GeForce graphics cards eventually.

At Nvidia's Gamescom 2026 booth, I was treated to a brief hands-on sample of DLSS 5 running in NBA 2K27, on multiple systems including an RTX 5060 gaming laptop and also on GeForce Now .

Much to my surprise, DLSS 5 looks absolutely amazing with NBA 2K27's environments and character models, providing a level of realism that can only be described as the next leap in visuals for gaming.

The level of detail in character faces in terms of lighting and shadows is truly next-level, and it's all possible thanks to AI-enhanced lighting on the rendered frame, which Nvidia states is trained to 'preserve artistic intent'.