We are only a few months away from the release of both the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. However, information from both Sony and Microsoft has been scarce. This has not stopped excitement from gamers awaiting the new experiences that the latest consoles will bring. The DualSense controller is one way Sony intends to introduce a new dimension to gaming. It boasts several novel features geared towards increasing immersion. In a recent PlayStation Blog post, game developers have been outlining ways upcoming games will be utilizing the DualSense’s unique features.
Triggers will jam when your guns jam in Deathloop
One of the new features the DualSense is bringing to the table is adaptive triggers that can adjust their tenseness in relation to events in the game. This is sure to bring a whole new dimension to the way weapons and vehicles feel. The game director of the upcoming title Deathloop explained that the game would be making use of adaptive triggers. For instance, when your guns jam in the game, the adaptive triggers will jam too. This will give you immediate feedback that you have to unjam your gun, and is certainly more immersive than an onscreen visual cue.
Deathloop will use adaptive triggers to make weapons feel different.
Braking will feel more precise in Gran Turismo 7
Although the adaptive triggers will certainly find plenty of use in shooting games, they are also useful in car games. This will be demonstrated in Gran Turismo 7, the upcoming latest installment in the long-running PlayStation franchise developed by Polyphony Digital. According to Kazunori Yamauchi, President of Polyphony Digital, the DualSense’s adaptive triggers will be used to replicate the feeling of using ABS in real life. As Yamauchi explains, the adaptive triggers will recreate the feeling of an anti-lock breaking system intermittently releasing brake pressure as the driver applies pressure to the pedal. Such an innovation will only serve to add further realism to an already immersive driving simulator.
Gran Turismo 7 will use adaptive triggers to mimic ABS.
Traversing different terrain will feel different in Bugsnax and Astro’s Playroom
One of the new features of the DualSense that upcoming games will be using is haptic feedback. This can be used to simulate the sensation of different terrain. Two upcoming games that have confirmed they will be using this feature are Bugsnax and Astro’s Playroom. Developed by SIE Japan and Team ASOBI!, Astro’s Playroom promises to improve immersion through haptic feedback. Traversing differing terrain will produce different sensations, and “Astro’s steps can be felt running on plastic, metal, sand, and even splashing in water”.
Bugsnax, developed by Young Horses, is a first person mystery adventure that has you visiting Snaktooth Island and investigating the disappearance of Elizabeth Megafig. Earlier this year, the President of Young Horses, Philip Tibitoski commented on how haptic feedback would be used in Bugsnax, and had the following to say:
Running on different terrain, jumping in and out of water or running into bugsnax, you can feel the difference between running on grass versus running in water versus running on sand or snow. There’s weather in our game and if there’s a thunderstorm and things of that nature, you can feel where the sound is coming from through the vibration.
Bugsnax has a quirky art style.
Combat will feel more immersive in Demon’s Souls
The benefits of haptic feedback are not limited to traversal, however. The upcoming Demon’s Souls remake will be making use of haptic feedback to make combat more immersive too. Instead of merely seeing metal clanking against metal, you will be able to feel it too. As the creative director of SIE Japan explains:
Metal strikes metal when your foes block your attacks or you block theirs. That extra sensory feedback through the controller allows you to know your attack hit home and your perfectly-timed parry was a success, so you can react faster and more decisively.
This is a step up from the rumble technology of the DualShock controllers.
As is the case with many new innovations in gaming, there is always the fear that these features will be used sparsely then quickly forgotten once their novelty has worn off. However, if used correctly by imaginative developers, the DualSense’s features could become enduring staples of the gaming experience.
