I was wrong about the PS5 DualSense controller, and I couldn’t be happier

techradar.com:

It’s never easy to eat a slice of humble pie, but I’m happy to admit I was wrong about the PS5 DualSense controller. Sony’s innovative new pad is comfortably my favorite aspect of the PlayStation 5 – by some distance. But I’m still kind of shocked that developers have embraced it so readily.

You see, I was convinced that the majority of the DualSense controller’s fancy features would be overlooked. And with good reason. There’s been a clear pattern in previous console generations where third-party developers, particularly on multiplatform games, simply choose to ignore specific console features to save time and money. 

After all, the PS3’s Six-Axis accelerometer, which is still present in the DualSense, was barely used outside a handful of games. On PS4, the DualShock’s touchpad essentially became a giant oversized menu button a few months into the generation. Nintendo Switch’s HD Rumble was all but ignored after 1-2-Switch released, and on Xbox One, the controller’s impulse triggers were criminally overlooked for years, something that’s thankfully been rectified on Xbox Series X.

I was confident, then, that we’d only see Sony’s first-party studios spending the time to get the most out of the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers – but I’m delighted that’s not been the case. Far from it. 

Practically every game on the PS5 includes some sort of DualSense implementation, and it’s yet to feel like a gimmick to me. Yes, it can often be subtle, but the DualSense’s features make a tangible difference to my overall enjoyment whenever I play games on PS5. I love the satisfying feedback you get every time you fire a gun in Call of Duty: Vanguard or how you can feel Jesse Faden’s footsteps in Control as you move around.