The One PS5 Feature That Changes Everything

With PlayStation 5 reviews now going live, one might expect a lot of attention on launch titles like Spider-Man: Miles Morales or Demon's Souls. These are the headliners for Sony's new machine after all, right? You might assume all eyes would be on the games.

Software is only part of the equation, however. Consoles aren't sentient — yet — and games don't play themselves. Players need a way to interact with the PlayStation 5's launch lineup, and the accessory they'll use to do so — the PS5's DualSense controller — appears to be stealing the show in terms of critical acclaim. If there's anything at all that clearly separates the PlayStation 5 from the Xbox Series X, it looks to be the DualSense.

IGN's Luke Reilly called it a "truly remarkable new controller," adding it brings "an amazing new level of haptic feedback that really needs to be felt to be believed." The Verge's Andrew Webster concurred, saying "there are some good reasons to believe that the DualSense will catch on." And Polygon's Russ Frushtick wrote that the DualSense may be an even bigger deal than 4K or HDR, stating, "I find myself totally smitten by the new DualSense."

Based on those takes, it sure seems like Sony's PlayStation 5 controller is going to be a real game changer.

Did Sony completely and totally nail the DualSense? Perhaps not entirely. There have been some concerns about the controller's battery life, which doesn't appear to have improved much from the DualShock 4. Some of the reviewers above had some small nitpicks for the gamepad, as well. Webster, for instance, said he felt the home button was "harder to find" on the new DualSense versus the DualShock 4.

Aside from those fairly minor quibbles, though, few critics had bad things to say about Sony's next-generation controller. While many expected graphical improvements and faster load times to signal the start of gaming's future, it appears the unique haptic feedback features of the DualSense may actually do it instead.

The PlayStation 5 launches in just a few days on Nov. 12, 2020. Each new PS5 comes with a DualSense controller and a copy of Astro's Playroom, a title that takes full advantage of all the controller's capabilities. Fans will have to wait and see if later games continue to utilize the DualSense, or if its advanced feature set eventually fades out. One thing is for certain, though: right now — at the dawn of the next generation of gaming — a lot of people are very high on the DualSense and its potential.