PS5 developer 'blown away' by console's INCREDIBLE features

The PS5 is gearing up to launch this November and is set to have a fantastic line-up of games, with console exclusive titles like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Horizon Forbidden West bolstering the ranks. 

Sony is doubling down on exclusivity, carrying forward its PS4 strategy to entice gamers to splash out on the new console as early as possible – the opposite of Microsoft's approach with the Xbox Series X. 

Its first-party developers have had free rein to delve into the hardware, and following the debut of a new Ratchet & Clank trailer at Gamescom last week, creative direct Marcus Smith has shared how the game will utilise the PS5's new features, and how it left him 'blown away'. 

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Speaking to GamesRadar, Smith is yet another in a long line of developers to sing the praises of the PS5's SSD, trying to impress upon us just how fast it it. 

"We knew that there was going to be an extremely fast SSD [in the PS5], so we were trying to leverage that as much as possible. Part of the reason we wanted to add dimensionality as a theme is, it's wide open.

"This is one of the few franchises that can get away with doing anything. We can basically do whatever we want. And being able to transport players nearly instantaneously, which is a huge, new feature of the PlayStation 5, that was something that we were aiming to do and really capitalise on. 

"And I will say, even hearing about how fast it was, I was blown away when we saw how fast it actually was."

The kind of gameplay Insomniac is delivering simply wouldn't be possible without the sizzling speed of the PS5's SSD, but the console offers more than that to bring the in-game world to life.

Talking about the use of rifts in the new title, game director Mike Daly explains that just watching the video doesn't allow you to feel the level of immersion that the PS5 DualSense imparts to the whole experience.  

"What you don't get to see, of course, is that you can also feel this [rift] coming [with the DualSense] – like, the energy of a portal is sort of its own unique sensation. You get a sense of the distance of it, because the haptics add so much sort of texture to that experience.

"And the same goes for 3D spatial audio. Basically, you know, all the other new channels of feedback we have, reinforce this notion that you are passing through this portal."

The DualSense also brings its magic to the game's combat, with Smith and Daly joking with the site that "it feels like the PS5 controller was designed with Ratchet and Clank weapons in mind". 

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Delving deeper into the extra layers offered by the DualSense, Daly continues:

"The fact that we can layer haptics as a new channel of feedback over everything, all parts of core gameplay stand up. For example, for traversal, now you get this extra layer of feedback when you attach to a grind rail or switch, or if there's a huge car incoming. You get that extra layer of feedback when you swing on a swing shot. You can sort of feel his acceleration, and the wind blowing past. 

"It just gives you an enhanced sense of velocity that you don't fully realise just from the visuals and the audio. So it enhances traversal, and it greatly enhances weapons. It enhances the UI – just all parts of it feel a little bit better than they ever have before, just thanks to this new, ever-present thing."

It sounds like the PS5 is going to change the gaming landscape come November, and even its controller is ramping things up to the next level. We expect PS5 pre-orders to go live soon, so stay tuned!

Source: GamesRadar

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