While some have cited yesterday's State of Play to be something of a dud, there were still plenty of great announcements to come out of it. One of the most exciting pieces of news for PlayStation owners is that Death's Door will be making its way to the platform towards the end of November. The indie game has been called one of this year's best, with many fans already saying that it's their personal Game of the Year, so when it was released without a PlayStation version, PS4 and PS5 owners were feeling a little bit left out.
Now that it's headed to the PS5, Death's Door has the opportunity that all games coming to the console have to make the most out of the PlayStation 5's exclusive features and stand out from the PC, Xbox, and Switch versions. Ever since it was revealed, the PS5 was marketed to give players a gaming experience unlike anything they've had before, and Death's Door certainly has the potential to add to the pile of cross-platform games that are best experienced on the PS5.
The PS5's Instant Load Times
While both the Xbox Series X and the PS5 feature SSDs, as opposed to the much slower hard drives of last generation, the custom drive in the newest PlayStations have been outspeeding those included in the Series X and S. While the difference is pretty negligible, load times can really impact the experience of playing a challenging game like Death's Door. Even the most seasoned players will catch themselves dying frequently as the game ramps up its difficulty in the second half, so being able to get right back into the action after the "death" screen ends will make the experience of playing the game a lot more seamless and make dying less of a frustrating wait.
The DualSense Controller's 3D Audio
There are plenty of excellent features exclusive to the DualSense for studios to use to change a game's experience, but the 3D audio has the opportunity to enhance Death's Door's world greatly. As the story of the game is pretty minute, the atmosphere of the environments is where a lot of the game's "feel" comes from. Those unique corners of Death's Door's world would be made even more memorable by taking some of the audio design elements out of the general mix and making them come from the controller. Even if it's as simple as highlighting the small sounds of the Crow's footsteps like in Astro's Playroom, the 3D audio can do a lot to get players truly engrossed in the game world.
The DualSense Controller's Haptic Feedback
The other DualSense feature that will likely impact the way Death's Door is experienced on the PS5 is the controller's haptic feedback. The varied vibrations and rumble settings do a lot to enhance a game's literal "feel," and Death's Door features plenty of different animations, attack types, and weapons - all of which could be made to feel truly unique. The game already provides plenty of great audio and visual feedback, from an attack glancing off of an enemy's armor with a satisfying "clank" to the mechanical weight of the hookshot, so there's a lot for Death's Door to enhance with the controller's haptic feedback.
Hopefully, the game can make good on at least one of these PS5 exclusive features and elevate the experience of playing it. That's not to say that those who've already played the game on any of the other platforms it's available on have had a worse or lessened experience with it, but that the PS5 has the potential to be an even better place to play the game for all newcomers from here on out.
Death's Door is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S and is launching on November 23 for PS4, PS5, and Switch.
