(Pocket-lint) – At Gamescom 2022’s Opening Night Live, Sony took the opportunity to announce a very exciting new accessory for its most eager gamers – the DualSense Edge.
This is like a super-powered version of its already-impressive DualSense controllers, and packs in extra buttons, swappable parts and more besides. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming controller.
DualSense Edge: Price and release date
We now know both when the DualSense Edge releases and how much it will cost – the controller is now available to pre-order directly from Sony, but will actually release on 26 January 2023 worldwide.
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It’s priced at a fairly steep $199.99 in the US, €239.99 in Europe, and £209.99 in the UK.
This means Sony has skipped the chance to heavily undercut the likes of Scuf or AimControllers in the third-party market, and the controller will cost only a little shy of half as much as the PS5 itself.
Still, it looks like you’ll get a huge amount of bang for your buck.
DualSense Edge: design and features
If you look at the DualSense Edge from the front, it really doesn’t look very different from a normal DualSense, although it has a black touchpad instead of a white one like the normal model. It’ll also come with a nice white carrying case.
It’s clear that that controller will feel very similar in the hand, then, which is a good thing given the excellent ergonomics of the standard DualSense.
There are two hints about a major difference, though, when you look under each thumbstick, where you can see a small toggle. These let you access quick controls, to adjust volume, mic input levels, or button profile all on the fly.
Given that stick drift has blighted the DualSense (and most modern controllers), it’s also huge news that you’ll be able to buy just a replacement stick unit from PlayStation to replace each one on your DualSense Edge, without needing an expert to take apart your controller.
These replacement stick units will each cost $20 / £20 / €25, which isn’t too much at all. That’s nice for longevity, but when it comes to gameplay the really big changes are on the back of the controller.
Firstly, and most obviously, there are two extra buttons on the back there, by default the shape of small lozenge paddles, although you can swap them out for lever-shaped versions if you prefer. These will be remappable, as will every button on the controller, and let you get a better control scheme for games where you want quick access to certain buttons.
More impressively (having tested other controllers) are those little switches to change the travel distance on the pad’s triggers – having variable stops to make it easier to shoot, while still being able to use the DualSense’s haptic feedback and trigger tension, is a great combination that not many third party offers have managed.
The DualSense Edge will come with a braided USB-C cable that can lock into the controller to avoid accidental disconnects, which is great for competitive play in live scenarios. It’ll also have three sets of thumbstick toppers for those who like to have different grips on their sticks.
DualSense Edge vs Scuf Reflex
The biggest competitor on the market right now for the DualSense Edge is the Scuf Reflex, which we’ve already fully tested and reviewed.
It’s also a professional-grade option, and while we haven’t gone hands-on with the Edge yet, just from a design standpoint there are some differences to summarize.
For one, Scuf lets you hugely customise the look of your controller, as you can see from our colourful version. At present, Sony hasn’t said it’ll offer anything like this.
Another difference is that Scuf’s controller has four back buttons, rather than two, for you to remap. However, you can’t remap every button on the controller – only these back buttons.
Scuf does offer clicky zero-travel triggers for the Reflex, but they’re an added extra and you can’t have both normal and clicky triggers to toggle between, making it a one-time choice between the two. That’s a huge advantage for the DualSense Edge, in our books.
We’ll be able to give a fuller sense of whether the Edge comes out on top overall once we’ve tested it but, for now, that’s an overview of some major differences between the controllers.
Writing by Max Freeman-Mills.
