Scarlet Nexus, Life Is Strange: True Colors Reveal PS5 Controller Features

Sony’s promoting the PlayStation 5 controller hard today. Along with the announcement that two new colours will be joining the platform’s product portfolio, the firm has also invited a half-dozen developers onto the PS Blog in order to talk about how they’re leveraging the hardware. Much of this we already knew – like how all Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart’s weapons will “feel” different – but there’s some new information in the article as well.

For example, Life Is Strange: True Colors will use the pad’s light bar to reflect the mood of the characters protagonist Alex interacts with. “Alex’s supernatural ability allows her to view and experience the strong emotions of others through their brightly coloured auras – and so the burning red of Anger, sharp purple of Fear, deep blue of Sadness, and shining gold of Joy will all blaze into life through the new light bar as you connect with each of them.”

But that’s not all: “As you explore the streets and spaces of Haven Springs, reaching out with Alex’s growing power using the left trigger, you’ll find the trigger feedback strength ramps up as the power builds in intensity, haptically hinting at the volatile, supernatural sense that’s just barely under Alex’s control. Even as Alex becomes more confident in her power across the arc of the game, it’s never something she taps into lightly.”

Scarlet Nexus will also tap into the controller’s features to give more texture to the psychokinetic abilities of its stars: “When you lift and toss objects, you will feel the flow of the hero’s power, no matter if it’s from left to right, or front to back. When the object moves from left to right on-screen, the sensation is achieved by having the left motor vibrate then move along to the right motor. Moreover, adaptive triggers provide players with a more realistic game experience.”

It’s typical PR promotional guff, but it’s good to see developers actually leveraging the unique feature-set of the DualSense, as there were concerns prior to release that it would be abandoned by teams unwilling to invest the additional effort to make it sing. So far, the implementation hasn’t been amazing outside of first-party games, but we’re slowly beginning to see third-party studios get to grips with the device.