For just $200, PlayStation 5 owners can live on the edge.
Well, not really. What you're actually doing with that money is buying the DualSense Edge(opens in a new tab) controller, a new official "pro" PS5 controller that Sony launched back in January. Sony's answer to the Xbox Elite(opens in a new tab) controller from a few years back can do a lot of cool things, from adding optional back buttons to the ability to use different types of analog sticks.
But that only scratches the surface. DualSense Edge is very pricy at $200, but if you can scrounge up that much cash, you might want to look into getting one. Here are three very important reasons why.
Remappable buttons
The first and simplest-to-explain selling point of the DualSense Edge is that you can remap every button on the controller, right from the "Accessories" section of the PS5 system menu. There's a very simple tutorial process walking you through how it works, but you probably won't even need that because the menu is pretty intuitive.
But that's not all. You can set, save, and hot-swap between custom button mapping profiles, too. In other words, if you want one game to have controls like another game, just create a profile, hold down one of the buttons underneath the analog sticks, and switch to that profile instantaneously. It's all very quick and easy to grasp, and could be a major time-saver down the road.
Trigger stops
When Sony launched the PS5 back in 2020, perhaps the most noteworthy new hardware feature was haptics in the DualSense controller's triggers. If you (virtually) fire a gun or accelerate a car in a PS5 game, sometimes you'll get realistic feedback to simulate the effect of doing those things in real life. It's been a stand-out feature in games like Returnal and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.
But, truthfully, most PS5 games don't use that feature at all, and precisely zero PS4 games (which are still relevant and coming out to this day) use it. A lot of games don't utilize the analog nature of the triggers at all, meaning it's just another binary button press. And for those games, the trigger stops feature on the DualSense Edge is your best friend.
Locate the little slider next to each trigger. You'll notice that as you adjust it, the triggers travel less and less. Push the slider all the way in the other direction and the triggers basically just turn into big buttons, with no travel at all. For fast-paced, twitchy games where reaction time is key, this can be really useful.
Or maybe you just don't like analog triggers in any game. That's fine, too.
And finally, a solution for stick drift
Last but obviously not least is that the DualSense Edge finally provides an answer to the years-long analog stick drift drama surrounding modern video game controllers. Anyone who's gamed in the last decade probably knows this all too well: After using a controller for long enough, one (or both) of the analog sticks will eventually start to drift, meaning it's registering inputs that aren't happening.
The end result is that you may find yourself perpetually aiming to the right in shooters, or constantly walking forward in an RPG when you don't mean to do that. It's a massive problem for PS5 controllers, in particular. I've had the console since launch and gone through three different controllers because of drift. With each replacement costing $70, it's a real hassle.
Not anymore with DualSense Edge. You can easily slide the front plate off the controller and remove each individual stick module, replace it with an official $20 replacement module(opens in a new tab) from Sony, and voila! No more drift.
Does it kinda suck that you have to spend money to have a replacement shipped to you? Absolutely. But $20 is a lot less than $70. With this feature, the DualSense Edge can be your permanent PS5 controller.
As long as you don't break it, anyway. Always protect anything you spent $200 on, people.
