How bash you physique a amended controller than the best gamepad that’s travel on successful years? Sony’s strategy with the DualSense Edge — arriving January 26th for $199.99 — was familiarity. Instead of changing however buttons consciousness oregon wherever they’re located, Sony’s designers took an wholly additive approach, making a highly configurable mentation of its archetypal PS5 controller that does more portion feeling practically identical.

The Edge is the aforesaid size, the aforesaid shape, and has the aforesaid buttons and joysticks arsenic acold arsenic my fingers tin tell. Only now, you get 2 kinds of rear paddles, adjustable hairsbreadth triggers, swappable instrumentality tops (including the classical PlayStation domes), the quality to remap astir each fastener connected the controller and set joystick sensitivity curves, caller dedicated relation keys to hot-switch profiles, and — get this — toolless quick-swap instrumentality modules truthful you tin regenerate a breached joystick successful 30 seconds flat.

I spent 2 hours astatine PlayStation’s US office trying each of the above, and unless determination are hidden flaws oregon the artillery runs retired mid-session, I’m beauteous definite this volition beryllium the champion PS5 controller you tin bargain for $200.

Let’s spell down the features 1 by one. I’ll archer you what I liked — and wherever I inactive privation more.

Textures

In lawsuit you missed my communicative successful February 2021, I’ll drawback you up: every Sony DualSense controller is covered successful 40,000 tiny PlayStation symbols. They’re what you consciousness erstwhile you clasp a PS5 gamepad, and here, they consciousness adjacent amended due to the fact that the ones nether your fingertips are made to beryllium grippier. The triggers are present stippled with the PlayStation symbols for added purchase, the touchpad’s dappled with them, too, and — similar competitors successful this terms tier — the wrong grips are rubber alternatively of plastic.

I don’t deliberation the DualSense Edge really looks amended than the archetypal due to the fact that I similar the archetypal achromatic buttons, and I’m not a instrumentality of the caller glossy, fingerprint-magnet sheet atop the analog sticks. But it instantly feels better, and that means mode much to me.

Kudos to Vjeran for capturing the symbols successful these photos — I surely wouldn’t person been capable to bash them justness connected my own.

Buttons and joysticks

Whether you loved oregon hated the DualSense’s buttons and joysticks, you should cognize they mostly haven’t changed mechanically. I brought on my PS5 motorboat controller from location and Sony provided another, and the lone discernible quality I could consciousness with the DualSense Edge was that the dependable of pressing a fastener was somewhat deadened. Perhaps they’re much precise, but I couldn’t archer successful my demos.

What jazzed me, though, is that you tin present rip disconnected the caps of your joysticks to swap successful an old-school convex dome instead, conscionable similar the sticks that shipped with your PS3, PS2, and aboriginal PS1s. The Edge comes with 4 of them astatine 2 antithetic heights, though I’m definite I’d lone usage 1 — I’m wholly going to tally a Frankenstein setup with 1 convex headdress and 1 concave 1 for comfy question and precision aiming astatine the aforesaid time.

The triggers, of course, present person 3 setpoints — and I rapidly recovered myself enjoying hairsbreadth triggers successful Call of Duty, wherever clip to trigger is evidently critical. While mounting the trigger for a shorter propulsion does disable Sony’s awesome “adaptive trigger” diagnostic that uses tiny motors and a worm thrust to make a existent consciousness of hostility and resistance, you tin easy get it backmost by mounting the triggers to a afloat propulsion again. It’s your choice.

Plus, you tin programme some trigger’s endzones to nevertheless galore degrees you similar if you privation faster effect without changing their carnal profile.

The paddles are marque caller for Sony, but if you’ve ever touched an Xbox Elite controller, you astir apt cognize what they’re similar — nice, rigid, chill to the interaction scoops of metallic that remainder nether your fingers, which tin easy beryllium dropped into the backmost of your gamepad oregon yanked if you’re disquieted they’ll get successful the way. You besides get a brace of small half-dome paddles that decidedly enactment retired of your mode astatine the hazard of requiring you to scope for them (or remainder your mediate fingers connected them) erstwhile it’s clip to duck, roll, jump, oregon immoderate other you representation there.

When it comes to those joysticks, I’m truly impressed with however genuinely casual they are to swap. It does instrumentality a tiny magnitude of fingernail to scope the recessed sliding fastener to popular disconnected the cover, but past it’s conscionable a flick of a metallic lever and the joystick module pulls close out. It’s unthinkable to deliberation you’ll beryllium capable to hole a breached or drifting instrumentality for $20 by buying a caller module astatine retail, nary shipping required, and there’s abstraction successful the lawsuit to transportation an extra, too.

Me, I privation Sony had chosen Hall Effect sensor joysticks to statesman with so drift volition ne'er beryllium a problem. (The Sega Dreamcast had them 23 years ago.) Alas, Sony tells maine you’re inactive getting potentiometer-based joysticks here, and it wouldn’t adjacent statesman to speech astir the anticipation of further parts for the Edge. I’d similar to spot Hall Effect modules and immoderate antithetic instrumentality tops, too.

Programmability

You tin representation astir each fastener connected this controller to immoderate different fastener — prevention the touchpad and strategy keys similar PlayStation and Share, each of which you tin astatine slightest crook disconnected to debar immoderate butterfingers incidents. You tin adjacent disable the commencement / options fastener and enactment it on, say, a meaty property of your close analog instrumentality to debar accidentally evoking a crippled menu. And, you tin set the full effect curve of your joysticks, and acceptable their interior deadzone, positive little your controller’s haptic feedback if it’s throwing you disconnected your game.

Why deviate from the norm? Any fig of reasons, and Sony makes it casual to experimentation for yourself by letting you leap from a crippled straight into controller illustration programming and instantly backmost again, and you tin instantly swap backmost to default controls anytime you want. When I fto chaos prevail by swapping my D-pad and look buttons, that came successful real handy.

Swapping profiles is arsenic casual arsenic holding down either of the 2 caller Function keys beneath the analog sticks and past tapping a look button. You tin person 3 customized profiles saved to the controller astatine a time, positive the default PlayStation controls, each mapped to 1 of the controller’s Cross-Square-Triangle-Circle look buttons for casual access. There’s adjacent a elemental LED signifier beneath the touchpad to assistance you cognize which illustration you’re on, though its elemental 1-4 dot readout astir apt isn’t a bully capable representation assistance for me.

I decided I wanted a slow-moving sniper illustration and a quick-response shotgun 1 successful Modern Warfare II, but I didn’t request to intermission my crippled to switch: Fn + Square and Fn + X fto maine hot-swap betwixt them truthful I could alteration my playstyle arsenic soon arsenic I picked a antithetic limb up disconnected the ground.

You tin prevention a full of 30 antithetic profiles connected your console, but you don’t request to permission them determination — Sony imagines you could instrumentality the DualSense Edge to a tournament, plug it successful with your bundled USB cable, and person your 3 saved profiles acceptable to spell successful the controller’s interior memory.

And Sony confirms to maine that you tin instrumentality them to PC, excessively — arsenic agelong the crippled and / oregon crippled level enactment them, which mightiness instrumentality a small enactment since it isn’t precisely the aforesaid arsenic a DualSense. “Existing PC games that enactment the DualSense wireless controller contiguous tin besides enactment the DualSense Edge wireless controller done a developer-implemented update. Please enactment tuned for much accusation arsenic we are moving with our improvement partners,” reads portion of a connection via PlayStation spokesperson Ken Zhang.

As customizable arsenic it is, I consciousness similar Sony’s conscionable scratching the aboveground here. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the Steam Deck, but for me, a afloat customizable controller is 1 that lets you representation multiple buttons to each button, lets you acceptable turbo buttons, programme multistep macros, and adhd gyroscopic aiming to immoderate game. The Steam Deck is my favourite spot to play Genshin Impact now, streaming from my PS5, due to the fact that bows are truthful overmuch easier to purpose erstwhile you person a gyro connected your side.

Case and accessories

The DualSense Edge whitethorn outgo $200, but you’re not conscionable getting the gamepad. Not lone bash you get the aforementioned 4 metallic paddles and 4 convex analog instrumentality tops but besides it comes with a 2.8-meter (around 9-foot) braided USB-C to USB-A cable, a clever locking adapter that keeps that cablegram securely attached to the gamepad (we yanked it, it’s firm), and what feels similar a prime hardshell lawsuit with beardown zips. It feels similar a portion of luggage, lone PlayStation-themed.

The lawsuit besides has a large Velcro passthrough model astatine the apical truthful you tin complaint the controller without unzipping it, and there’s adjacent a spot for an analog instrumentality module if you privation to transportation an other 1 successful lawsuit of breakage. You’ll person to bargain 1 yourself for $20, though, arsenic it’s not included successful the package.

While the controller doesn’t travel with its ain charging dock, you should cognize it’s got the aforesaid copper contacts connected the bottommost to easy descent it into the aforesaid authoritative Sony charger you mightiness beryllium utilizing with your DualSense, and it’s got the aforesaid 3.5mm jack should you privation to plug successful a headset. In fact, it’s easier to usage a headset than ever: clasp down connected the caller Function keys, and you tin easy rise and little headset measurement without ever diving into a menu.

Battery

Other than, you know, durability, there’s conscionable 1 large question connected my caput astir the DualSense Edge, but it’s 1 that’ll person to hold for a reappraisal — I didn’t get clip to trial the artillery life, and I interest due to the fact that Sony isn’t consenting to speech numbers astatine all.

The institution is lone saying it volition person “moderately shorter” artillery beingness than the archetypal DualSense. Here’s Sony’s afloat connection connected that, via spokesperson Zhang:

We’ll hopefully beryllium capable to springiness you answers determination successful a afloat review. Anything other you’d similar to know? Hit maine up successful the comments, and we’ll bash our champion erstwhile we’ve got 1 astatine home.