Sony Dualsense Edge PS5 controller review: features beyond compare

More than two years on from the PS5’s release, Sony’s new DualSense Edge controller offers a premium upgrade over the gamepad bundled with the console – and a rival to Microsoft’s Xbox Elite controller. It’s a competition-focused pro gamepad with back paddles, fully remappable buttons, adjustable triggers and swappable parts. The Edge costs a steep £210/$200 at launch – so is it worth the premium? And how does it compare to third-party alternatives – not to mention the Xbox Elite controller? Let’s find out.

First, let’s give the original DualSense its dues. The £60/$70 controller got off to a flying start, with the bundled Astro’s Playroom game showcasing its features beautifully at launch – from adaptive triggers and haptic feedback to a speaker, gyrometer and accelerometer. Other titles like Returnal and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart make great use of the hardware features too, but there’s also much more basic implementations – like in Call of Duty, where the trigger resistance is more a barrier to the action than an immersive revolution.

Despite this mixed success in using its more advanced features, the DualSense is also an ergonomically superior controller to its predecessors – and that carries over to the DualSense Edge too.

Of course, we wouldn’t expect anything less for a controller that costs £210, $200 or €240 – that’s around 3.5x as expensive as the regular DualSense, so the Edge really has to deliver. Let’s take a look at what comes in the box before we get into the highlights – and the lowlights.