The Dual Sense controller was one of Sony’s main selling points for the PS5. In addition to things like the amazing new design and adaptive triggers, the controller’s haptic feedback offers truly new experiences for games. At the time, the Rumble’s influence had been around for decades, but DualSense offered something very different: I’m still blown away by the crunching of the sand under Astro’s feet at Team Asubi. Astro’s Playroom Or futuristic pulses from Housemark’s arsenal. return.

But since the release of the PS5 there have been a few titles that have captured that same magic and showcased what made the controller so distinct. This week, Housemark launched its next title, Sarosand it’s the first game in a long time to make DualSense feel important.

In most games, rumble and haptics feel like an added bonus. They can help emphasize an explosion or a shot here and there, but if I stop rumbling in a game, I usually don’t miss it. But with SarosDualSense’s haptics are an important part of game play.

Here are some examples of how haptics work. When blasting enemies with a rifle, the haptics pitch ticks as a warning that I’m running out of ammo. With a powerful handgun that fires three shots at a time, the DualSense rifle fires three short taps with each shot. When a charged crossbow shot is ready, the haptics create a nice dot in my hands that lets me know I can fire. When my shield is about to wear off because I’ve held it too long, the controller vibrates in a way that disengages the shield on-screen.

Outside of combat, DualSense’s haptics also make exploring the world feel more immersive. You will feel the small pulses when the main character Arjun runs into Carcosa’s world. To cross chasms using a grappling beam, Dual Sense rattles when you approach a grapple point. The controller rumbles predictably as Arjuna approaches the strange group of hands that initiate a world-changing eclipse.

Even some of Arjun’s interactions with other characters use the controller. In one area late in the game, when a character’s voice filled my ears, I was surprised to feel my Dual Sense haptics hum along with them. And I loved interacting with the corporate robot, Primitive, at Arjun’s base, because of how the dual senses harmonize with the machine’s foreboding voice. These moments add significant new dimensions to the game.

Haptics don’t just feel cool; They actually improve the experience in certain ways. In the heat of a frantic firefight where I’m trying to dodge waves of bullets and hordes of enemies, it’s often easier to rely on DualSense’s tactile haptic cues than to parse something on a very busy screen.

More than five years into the PS5’s life, only a handful of studios have really figured out what to do with DualSense. What was once one of the console’s biggest selling points has been largely forgotten. Saros It turns out that there’s still a lot of untapped potential in DualSense’s various features – let’s hope it sparks new interest in the controller.