PlayStation's holiday 2021 lineup may lack big AAA exclusives, but before that season arrives, PS5 users have one snazzy-looking exclusive on their hands. Arkane Studio's unique first-person shooter Deathloop arrives later this month on PC and PS5, and while it would eventually release on the Xbox family of devices a year later, the PS5 version may still stand out for one specific reason.
The DualSense controller has been one of the PS5's standout features ever since the console launched last November. First-party exclusives like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart and Returnal are pinnacles of the DualSense experience, whereas third-party games like Resident Evil Village offer a slight taste of the DualSense's capabilities. Naturally, the PS5 version of Deathloop has an advantage over its eventual Xbox counterpart, and so far, Deathloop's DualSense features seem to stand out among the rest of the PS5 game experiences releasing this year.
Deathloop: Every PS5 DualSense Feature Confirmed
Ever since Deathloop was revealed as a PS5 timed exclusive, Arkane Studios has been transparent about the features its next-gen successor to Dishonored and Prey would come loaded with, including its DualSense functionalities. Weapons in Deathloop can get jammed mid-battle, and DualSense's adaptive triggers get locked to complement that until players find a way to unjam them.
There's also a wide variety of unique weapons in Deathloop, ranging from a multitude of shotguns, pistols, energy rifles. These are just a few of the many variants of the weapons players will come across in Deathloop, and Arkane promises that every single weapon will feel different, thanks to DualSense's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.
Deathloop smartly implements DualSense's haptic technology outside of combat as well. Players can feel the heaviness of Colt's footsteps on either side of the DualSense controller as he sprints, jumps, and slides his way into or outside enemy territory. It will be interesting to see how much further Deathloop takes the immersion factor, especially when traversal is concerned. For example, Horizon Forbidden West's PS5 version will let players "feel" the grass thanks to DualSense's haptics. Whether Deathloop offers such a level of immersion remains to be seen.
Deathloop also takes advantage of DualSense's speaker, a feature first introduced in PS4's DualShock 4 controller. Colt's radio is an important source of information in Deathloop. Knowledge is the key to stopping the loop in-game, and the radio provides players with valuable intel that could help them solve the mystery. Furthermore, one of Deathloop's visionaries Julianna, who pursues Colt throughout the game as an NPC or a player-controlled character, converses with Colt through the radio. As it seems, players will be able to hear all the chitter-chatter from Colt's radio via the DualSense's speaker.
There are potentially plenty of Deathloop's DualSense features yet to be confirmed, and it seems players will have to wait and experience it for themselves to find out. For instance, weapons in Deathloop are upgraded using trinkets that change their fundamental properties. This should presumably change how these weapons feel compared to their base counterparts in players' hands due to the haptics and adaptive triggers.
Furthermore, Deathloop also offers players different supernatural abilities, some of which are straight out of Dishonored 1 and 2. It's no surprise that these abilities will feel more immersive to use via the DualSense controller, though Arkane has yet to provide more details on this. These features should make Deathloop's PS5 version the most immersive one to exist. Xbox boss Phil Spencer has suggested adding DualSense features to the Xbox controller in the future, but it could be a while before that happens.
Deathloop launches on September 14 for PC and PS5.