PS5 developers explain how the DualSense controller changes gameplay

With the PlayStation 5 launch getting closer, we’re beginning to learn how the console will change gameplay. Today, developers explained how they’re using the new PS5 DualSense wireless controller’s adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.

In games like Deathloop, developers use the adaptive triggers to make weapons feel different from one another, and when a weapon jams, the trigger will jam too. In Ghostwire: Tokyo the adaptive triggers give players a sense of recoil, and in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, the adaptive trigger is used when you fire a dual-barreled shotgun type weapon. As you pull the trigger, you’ll fire from one barrel and feel resistance halfway down the trigger. If you pull the trigger through that resistance, you’ll fire from both barrels at the same time.

As for the DaulSense’s haptic capabilities, the developers behind Demon’s Souls used that tech to make the game “feel grittier, darker and deadlier.” You’ll feel every blow and be able to react to the game even faster. In Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the haptics hint at which direction attacks are coming from and let you feel Spider-Man’s “bio-electric crackle” across the controller.

Developers discussed these and other haptic and adaptive trigger capabilities alongside the first global ad for PS5. As that ad says, PS5 will introduce players to “a world where you can feel force at your fingertips.”