PS5 owners are most likely having the fun of their life right now (no offense to those who haven’t gotten their hands on one yet). They’ve gotten their hands on next-gen gear early, and they’re reaping the rewards of the hardware—smoother frame rates, ultra-high resolutions, and near-zero load times.
On November 3, 2020, a living room featuring a Sony PlayStation 5 home video game console and DualSense controller next to a television.
However, the PlayStation 5’s overall design allows it to accomplish additional things that you (probably) aren’t aware of. As a result, here are five cool features in your new game system that Sony isn’t telling you about.
Related: How to take a screenshot on a PS4 and PS5?
Use a Dualshock 4 Controller Only For Specific Games
If you don’t care for the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller for whatever reason, you may still use your old DualShock 4 controller from your PS4. According to GamesRadar, this will only be available on a limited number of backwards-compatible games.
On November 12, 2013, a detail of a Sony PlayStation DualShock 4 controller was shot on a white background.
Sony has stated that the DualShock 4 will not be backwards compatible with the PlayStation 5. This, however, only applies to games made particularly for the current-gen system, such as “Sackboy: A Big Adventure,” “Astro’s Playroom,” and “Spider-Man: Miles Morales,” to name a few.
Here’s a video from YouTuber Gamer Heaven that demonstrates this:
As seen in the video, a game designed for the PS5 will notify you that it does not support the DualShock 4. You won’t be able to control the game at all.
However, to ensure that you don’t have any problems, just use the DualSense controller for everything. You’ll almost certainly notice a significant change, and you could even prefer it to your old DualShock 4.
The PS5 has the ability to shield you from spoilers.
It’s understandable that gamers don’t want to be spoilt while playing a new game. According to Looper, the PS5 can actually help shield you from spoilers by using the Spoiler Warnings feature.
Toggle the Warn About Game Spoilers option in Home > Settings > Saved Data and Game/App Settings > Spoiler Warnings to enable the feature. You can also choose to block all spoilers you haven’t seen or only those specified by the developers from there.
If you enable this option, the PlayStation 5 will warn you before you click on specific gameplay video, pictures, or trophy guides. You will only be spoilt if you click through the warning.
Choose from a variety of game presets.
You can spend a lot of time fine-tuning specific in-game parameters to your taste. On games that offer it, this includes adjusting the difficulty level, camera settings, and even choosing between “Performance” and “Quality” modes.
According to WIRED, Sony developed the PS5 to allow you to load all of your favorite game presets at once. Simply navigate to Home > Settings > Saved Data and Game App Settings > Game Presets to make the changes.
From the Home Screen, return to a Game Mode/Mission.
Mark Cerny, the chief architect for PlayStation 5, made it a goal to save consumers as much time as possible by decreasing loading times to near-zero (thanks, SSD).
But did you know that you may return to a specific game mode (say, “GTA Online”) or even missions directly from the console’s main menu, without the hassle of traversing in-game menus?
The PS5 Activities feature makes this possible. According to GameRant, the feature essentially suspends the game, allowing players to enter whenever and wherever they want.
Related: Sony PlayStation 5: Specs, Price, release date, games, and everything you should know
Enhance PS4 games automatically
Almost the entire PS4 catalog is backwards compatible with the PS5. This is something we are all aware of. However, Sony’s Game Boost feature may automatically improve the performance and aesthetics of many last-gen titles, making them look even more next-gen.
You don’t need to meddle with this setting because it is activated by default on your PlayStation 5, according to PushSquare. As a result, you’ll notice a significant improvement in load times, frame rates, and graphics when playing select games.
The only caveat is that you’ll need to maintain the firmware and games on your system up to date.