I thought the PS5 DualSense controller was a gimmick — until I played this game
I thought the PS5 DualSense controller was a gimmick — until I played this game
It's no secret that I don't dear the PS5 DualSense controller. Compared to the beautifully simple Xbox Series X controller, the DualSense has a lot of wasted space, some questionable button placements and a few odd connectivity restrictions. The biggest dealbreaker for me, though, was that I establish the innovative haptics more distracting than immersive. Or I did, at least, until I reached the concluding level of Demon'due south Souls.
For those who oasis't played it yet, Demon'south Souls is hands the all-time game on the PS5, and possibly the best game I've played all yr. (Granted, information technology was likewise one of the best games of the yr when information technology first came out in 2009, but I digress.) Like the PS5's other exclusive launch titles, Demon's Souls makes extensive use of the DualSense's subtle haptic feedback.
But unlike in Spider-Man: Miles Morales, I didn't find it grating here. While it took a while to grow on me, the DualSense wound up facilitating one of my very favorite parts of the Demon's Souls Remake.
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PS5 DualSense: How it's different
In case you haven't tried out the DualSense controller withal (I'1000 aware that the PS5 is non very easy to find right now), it's quite dissimilar from the DualShock iv. The long grips make information technology resemble an Xbox controller, while the lightbar is now on the forepart of the controller, letting you see it during gameplay. The biggest difference, still, is that the DualSense has extremely sensitive haptic feedback.
Rather than just varying degrees of vibration, the DualSense lets you "feel" subtle furnishings, from different weights on each side of the controller, to resistant triggers when you fire a gun. It's very difficult to depict until you go your hands on one, but the DualSense can mimic subtle sensations of move and action; other controllers can mimic only varying degrees of impact.
While the DualSense has generally gotten a lot of praise (including in our own PS5 review), I've been a little more reticent virtually it than most. My gut feeling is that anything that puts distance between you and the action onscreen is more of a gimmick than a gameplay feature. This includes motion controls, touch controls and, aye, fifty-fifty vibrations themselves — although vibrating controllers take been effectually since the N64 days, so I've grown to grudgingly accept them.
In Miles Morales, I didn't understand why my trigger locked halfway downwardly every time I wanted to burn a spider web, or why I had to blow into my controller in Astro's Playroom. The Nintendo DS tried a number of like things back when it first launched, just mostly speaking, the best DS games were the more traditional fare — not the ones that leaned on the console's odd control scheme.
Granted, if you don't like the DualSense haptics, y'all can always merely plough them off, just I kept them on, just in case I found a truly justified use-case for them. Demon'south Souls didn't disappoint.
The Blue Dragon
The adjacent section has minor spoilers for a late-game level in Demon'southward Souls, so read on at your own gamble.
For most of the game, I found the haptics in Demon'south Souls just equally distracting as in Miles Morales. If you play without headphones, y'all hear a ton of audio effects through your controller, from whooshing arrows to crackling magic spells. Additionally, the controller vibrates differently whether you're crossing swords with an enemy, traversing a aging bridge, winding up a crossbow and and so forth. Demon'due south Souls is a very tough game, and i that demands your total attention. It'southward precisely the kind of state of affairs I mentioned earlier, where haptics — nonetheless innovative — can distract you from what'southward happening onscreen.
It wasn't until very late in the game — right before the final dominate, in fact — that I realized the DualSense really can accomplish some things that a simple vibrating controller can't. Late in the game, y'all have the opportunity to rescue a hardy fighter named Biorr of the Twin Fangs. When the fearsome Blue Dragon blocks the entrance to the terminal dominate sleeping room, Biorr selflessly runs into the dragon's path and proclaims that yous'll fight the animal together. It'southward a rousing moment in what is often a very bleak game.
Whatsoever Demon'southward Soul veteran knows that the all-time manner to fight the Blue Dragon is with a bow, so I let Biorr draw the dragon's fire and ran right underneath the huge animal, where its burn couldn't reach me. Equally I drew my bow and unleashed my arrow, I noticed three very subtle things happening simultaneously: Every time the dragon breathed fire, the DualSense'southward bottom half would rumble slightly, simulating an earthshaking impact backside me. At the same fourth dimension, every time I nocked an arrow, the right trigger would lock halfway downward, and release when I fired. Finally, the controller's speaker would play a "whoosh," followed by a "thud" to allow me know that the arrow had landed.
Taking downwards the Blue Dragon was a time-consuming procedure, simply in the cease, the DualSense helped me feel like I was actually fighting off a mythical beast rather than simply performing a repetitive, effortless activeness. If I'grand being totally fair, the Blue Dragon fight is not i of the improve boss fights in Demon'due south Souls, considering that all you lot do is stand in one place and hit the same push button over and over until y'all win. But the DualSense elevated information technology into something at to the lowest degree a petty exciting.
DualSense outlook
My stance on the DualSense has softened — but but a piddling. Demon's Souls is a 30-60 minutes game, and I can cite just nigh five minutes where the PS5 controller made it considerably better than its PS3 predecessor. But withal, information technology makes me hopeful that developers can keep to refine the DualSense and find unobtrusive ways to integrate it into the gameplay.
I don't know if one splendid encounter in one excellent game is enough to alter my opinion of the PS5 controller entirely, but I can say that it's at to the lowest degree a good outset. If the DualSense tin can evangelize more magical moments like the Bluish Dragon run across, information technology might just justify the peripheral's odd blueprint choices.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/demons-souls-dualsense-ps5
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