PS5 Launch Impressions - A Trip with Next-Gen Gaming

I have owned a PlayStation 5 for a few days now and I have to say I am loving it!

Having new games to dive into is an important aspect, if not the most important part, of a next-gen system launch so I picked up Demon's Souls, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Bugsnax, and Astro’s Playroom. Let this be said now, even for someone who has had a PlayStation 4 for a long time that PS+ Collection that gives PS5 users a ton of excellent PS4 titles is a great deal. There were a few games I missed out on completely or games I just did not finish for one reason or another and now I have another chance to play them on a more capable console.

I opted for the digital version of the PS5; I’ve had a bigger digital library than a physical one since the early Xbox Live Arcade days so I could not justify the extra $150 CAD to have a disc drive. Of course, with that being said, I have not encountered the disc drive malfunction that a lot of people have been running into.

In the week that I've had the console, I’ve already grown accustomed to the incredibly quick load times. Most of the PS4 games I've played load with a quick fade to black and then instantly fades right back into playing. For a point of reference, I went back to my PS4 Pro system and tried to load into Grand Theft Auto V Online, and oh boy it was rough, and so was going back to the DualShock 4.

I do feel like Sony oversold the fast load times. I mean sure first-party will likely take advantage of the SSD but this probably won’t be the case for every single title played on the system. For example, I haven’t hit a load in Demon's Souls, which is incredible but it’s also not a powerhouse like The Last of Us 3 or God of War Ragnarok would be. With the third-party titles, however, I’ve hit load times; granted these loads were a lot faster. Playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla on a PS4 Pro I was hitting loads up to 1 minute 22 seconds when fast traveling and booting up, where the PS5 was doing that same load in 10-20 seconds. It's incredibly fast, don't get me wrong, but I think we do need to temper expectations on that considering this is the start of the generation. I'm sure midway through we will see those loads creep higher again.

The DualSense controller is really going to be the thing that sets the PS5 apart this generation in the hardware department. Feeling the difference between walking on glass, wood, and dirt has been practically mind-blowing. The speaker on the DualSense (on the DS4 I had turned off completely) sounds pretty good too! Additionally, the adaptive triggers are the big takeaway here and I'm not really sure I could put into words how good it feels.

For example, in Astro’s Playroom, in a course called the SSD Speedway, you turn into a rocket with a left and right thruster. To blast off, you need to press down on the R2 and L2 buttons, but as you’re probably used to the feeling of an easy press of a typical trigger, pulling these on the DualSense almost takes you by surprise. The controller puts resistance into the triggers and depending on how hard you press that's how hard the rockets go. Another level features rain and you can feel individual drops of rain on your controller with the amazing rumble. You can also tell the difference between metal, sand, glass, and mud when trouncing through it. Okay, so it sounds kind of simple and gimmicky but trust me, get this thing in your hands and it'll change your mind.

I have yet to try Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales but besides that, it'll really be how well these controller features are implemented in not only first-party but third-party games that can make the PS5 stand out. Right now Miles Morales and Demon’s Souls are the two big titles that most PS5 players will gravitate to. I hope to finish up Demon’s Souls and tinker with some PS4 titles while waiting for Cyberpunk 2077.

Additionally, 1TB of storage on the PS5 is just not enough; it's more like 660GB after the OS which leaves us with next to nothing for games. Take Demon's Souls for instance, which is 66GB, you can have that of that size installed only 10 times. There and are and will be games that are much larger. With the cost of an m.2 drive for PC's already very expensive, the ones that Sony officially sanctions I'm assuming will be even higher. I would not be surprised if getting another 1TB drive would be closer to $150 CAD with the Sony name on it, kind of like those insanely priced Vita memory cards.

Now that I've had the opportunity to transfer all my PS4 games onto an external drive it is nice having just a drive I can plug in that holds my PS4 games and all my saves. It was a breeze to set up, I just literally plugged in the drive and the PS5 understood immediately to default download PS4 games on the external drive. That being said, with these games not being on the M.2 drive in the PS5, you do lose out on those incredible load speeds and as of right now the PS5 has a tough time booting up from Rest Mode with those drives plugged in. However, to Sony's credit, they are working on fixes, and to be honest booting up from complete power off is only like 14 seconds so it's even faster then the PS4 waking up from rest mode so you don't really feel the downside to it unless you are mid-game and need to boot it down.

The last nitpick I have is the UI layout. After years with the Xbox One X and the PS4 Pro, I became incredibly comfortable with those user interfaces. PS5 tries to change it up, while it does work for the most part, but choices like the store being baked into the UI and not a separate app or being able to track playtime even on older PS4 games is a great decision. Finding the friends list is deep in a menu and so is the trophy section. Holding down the PS button to turn off the console is no longer a thing either; you have to hold the PS button if you're in a game, tap it again to bring up the menu, and scroll to the power options. It just takes a little too much menuing to get to where I need to. I'm sure I'll get used to it but friends and power options are important and I  hope with patches these functions will be easier to get to.

With all of this in consideration, was getting a PS5 worth it? Absolutely.

Sony came out with a strong launch week of games and they really have something for everyone. Sure, a lot of the games can be played on the PS4, but they run better and honestly look fantastic on the PS5. It sucks that the pre-orders went how they did and I remember it being like this around the PlayStation 4 launch where I couldn’t get my hands on one until March of the following year. Granted the pandemic wasn't around, so the supply line wasn't as strained.

I'm already impressed by how well this system runs and I can only dream of what we will be experiencing in three or four years on this machine. I wish I could have gotten my hands on an Xbox series X but with the pandemic, I had to make a choice of what console to get. That being said, I want to get a Series X especially The Medium from Team Bloober drops (I will follow them anywhere) not to mention the Bethesda games or that new Fable in the works.

For more looks into exciting PlayStation content, check out my early thoughts on Dreams, a creative tool that steadily gets more interesting. For more PlayStation excellence, read Zach’s take on Mortal Shell, Alex’s review on Final Fantasy VII Remake, or Joe’s in-depth analysis of The Last of Us Part II.