Games

The best thing about this gen so far is the rise of handheld PCs, like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. I mostly play on the Deck nowadays, while the PS5 gathers dust.

My steamdeck makes me feel like I've gone 3rd party. It's affordable and can run about 90 percent of releases. Plus indies and it's not locked down by anything.

I think this is actually a good thing. In a perfect world exclusives wouldn't exist and you would buy things based on their own merits. Having to buy something you don't want because you fear missing out on a game is a horrible experience. In fact I stopped caring because I got so tired of possibly missing out on a game. It has worked out great for me this generation.

I think this is by far the worst generation for gaming.

Obviously from a technical standpoint, it's great. Fast loading times, better performance, graphical prowess. But in terms of the quality of the games, it's dire. I honestly don't understand why I was in such a rush to buy a PS5, because most of the games I've enjoyed have had PS4 versions, so whilst I may have experienced that better performance and graphics etc, I didn't really need to buy a PS5.

The reason is PC part prices. If you want an affordable in on modern gaming, you get a PS5 or Xbox. Yeah, you can get used parts, change settings, upsampling, upgrade down the line. But tell that to the person who just wants to buy a machine that lets them play games, hard to convince people to likely go through a bigger hassle, pay more, and have to assemble, set it up, and manage it themselves. I own a gaming PC and an OLED Switch, and if a friend asked me, I‘d tell them to just get a PS5. I would‘ve said something different five years ago.

95% of the games I play are on pc. With mods. Faster load screens. Better debugging by the community.

The 5% of games I don't get to play "new" will inevitably be developed for pc - by the companies themselves or some smart fan.

I figure consoles have another 25 years max before they are totally obsolete tech.

I disagree with not owning one.

If you have a 4k 120hz, VRR tv, then you really are missing out when playing games.

And the speed of the PS5 loading, along with Xbox series quick resume features, make gaming feel much more instant like it used to in the snes days.

I liked the price point of the PS5 vs getting a solid gaming PC.

Returnal is one of my favorite games of the last few years.

Demon's Souls is a delight for the eyes, as well. And I loved being able to replay such a classic PS3 game, even if Bluepoint modified the art direction from the original in certain ways.

FF16 was incredible, I don't care if they trimmed down the jrpg elements

Sony seems content sending many of its exclusives over to PC after a few years, which I'm grateful for. So if you've got a PC I wouldn't see a huge need for a PS5.

As someone who skipped the last generation... I think this one is way better.... Because it's fully backwards compatible. Since I got a PS5 I've gone back and played many games I missed. Meanwhile the only game for the PS5 I play is GT7. And since I've loved every GT game, it was worth it for me. I expect that GTA 6 will be the next PS5 game I actually get.

PC has always been better anyway

You're right in that exclusives are becoming less and less but I still think it's worth getting a PS5.

If you have the wallet for it I think the perfect setup is owning a switch for party games and Nintendo exclusives, a PS5 for Sony exclusives/general couch gaming and as your media machine, and a PC for all the rest.

Ps5 definitely has some great exclusives that imo make the system worth it, not to mention the graphical upgrades and how quick it is compared to a ps4.
-Ghost of Tsushima is a beautiful game, with a great story and gameplay, performs so much better on PS5 -Spiderman 2 -God of war Ragnarok -Horizon zero dawn -Gran Turismo

I use my PS5 for most of my games over my gaming PC, just more comfortable for me. Also I still like that you can get lucky if you go to a GameStop and find used physical copies of expansive games at a discount.

I have also always recommended owning an Xbox/PlayStation as a media device as well. Sound and image quality usually surpass your smaller basic steaming devices or built in smart TVs. Compared to my ps5, my ps4 crawls through the menus and loading screens. One of those things that you won't notice until you upgrade.

Having said all that, I wouldn't get the "pro" model, unless you have the cash and want to game in like 8k or some bs

The last console I got was the 360 halo three special addition. Been on PC ever since.

Which as we all know makes me superior.

PS5 is nice if you can't afford a PC capable of 4K or Ray Tracing for the games that are on every system ($500 for a machine capable of high fidelity gaming is a good value; couldn't build a PC for that price with the same capabilities atm).

It might be more worthwhile if the exclusives for it weren't able to be counted on 1 hand. There's very little to warrant buying a whole system if you're only interested in the exclusives.

Let's put it this way. Split screen was a mostly console exclusive feature before some genius decided to kill it off. Locking multiplayer behind a pay wall at some point was also the stupidest idea I've ever seen.

Most new titles for consoles are exactly as enjoyable on PC. The experience is almost identical. Companies prefer it this way too.

They can make a nice exclusive and release it for PC 2 years later to reap double the profit.

The above has me thinking that consoles are becoming a niche. I'd just get a steam deck for portable gaming and a play pass for the exclusives not yet available on PC.

My partner and I got a PS5 when they became available and only played a couple of games on it. It mostly collects dust now. I'd attribute a lot to PlayStation's games becoming more available on PC.

For what it’s worth I love the ps5. The ps5 controller absolutely reinvigorated my love of gaming. I know some pc games are getting the adaptive triggers but I do not think it compares.

It's worth it just for my PS4 library not punishing me with a ten minute wait every time I die. The loading entirely changes the experience and enables punishing gameplay to be far less frustrating, in the same way Celeste can have harder sequences and be less annoying than something like Mario at the same time.

But the controller features are insane as well.

PS5 and a Steam Deck aren't massively different in price. Building a PC can be relatively the same price during sales depending on your expectation. And then the games on PC are so much more often cheaper, that it saves a lot of money on that front.

Over the last few years, I have bought countless games for Steam at a few bucks or less that were $20+ on PS.

And that's not even getting into how garbage Sony customer service has been for over a decade when you need them.

I might regret wasting money on a PS5. I play Steam Link or Steam Deck more than anything today, and this is likely my last console Gen. Steam also has controller configuration settings that make playing older games so much nicer. Some games I never thought I'd comfortably play with a controller can be modernized very well with enough tinkering.

The Nintendo Switch is an appallingly slow and clunky piece of handheld. Nintendo hardware is slow and their UI, eshop, and general software designs suck. They are immensely restrictive about game saves, ownership, and transferring things to new systems, and their stuff is needlessly pricey.

I don't even bother with Xbox. PC for that.

As someone with a PS5 since launch... Not really.

I've owned every PlayStation generation since the original. I don't consider myself a Sony stan, but with the exception of the Xbox 360, I've felt each generation of the various PSX's have had a better lineup for my tastes. (Halo is great, though)

This time around, not so much. After three years, I have purchased five titles for my PS5. And, by FAR, the game that gets the most play is my PS4-version of Minecraft, so my kids can play multiplayer.

If you've got money to burn, I'd recommend a Steam Deck + Dock and a Bluetooth controller of your choice instead. Most of the same games will run on either platform, with the advantages of PC gaming - mods, forward compatibility, access to the MASSIVE Steam store and library...

Alternately the Switch has had a great lineup of first party titles - as usual. Just pickup a pro controller too, the "joycons" develop drift so fast it's not even funny. Every single joycon I've purchased (six pairs over five years) has developed drift in under a year. I know I can get them repaired, but at this point, I'm over it. Just buy a pro controller and have done with it.

(If anybody is curious, my five PS5 titles are

• Spider-Man: Miles Morales
• Spider-Man 2
• Sackboy's Big Adventure
• Jedi Survivor
• Diablo IV

All but one are available on PC. I bought the Spiderman games before the PC ports arrived. Jedi survivor had a bad port at launch and I really wanted to play it. And Diablo IV I was able to pick up used for cheaper than the PC price. ...let's just say that after hundred plus hours in D3, I'm glad I didn't pay full price for D4.

I do also pay for PlayStation Plus, where I've downloaded and played a few dozen indie titles, all of which are also on PC.)

I haven't seen the point in anything but PC ever since the PS4 came out. You get worse hardware and less games.

PS4 and Xbone was the first generation I skipped. I always waited to see what console I was going to get first but then that whole gen just came and went before I knew it. I kind of wanted a switch this gen but I could never justify it to myself.

I'm really enjoying my Xbox Series X with a Gamepass subscription. I've played a much wider variety of games than I normally would have.

You're right though, the jump between generations is getting less and less noticeable. N64 to Gamecube was like night and day.

I got the PS4 Pro having not bothered upgrading from a PS3. At this point there was so many good games to play. I was so impressed I got the PS5 a year after launch. I'm really disappointed as the games have lackluster compared to my time on the PS4.

Honestly the only console that I see is worth having is the Switch. Other than that I play on the PC and now Steam Deck.

I don't have a current console gen (if you discard the Nintendo Switch) but I don't want to skip it, I want a PS5 but granted I am not sure I'd get it if it wasn't retro compatible with the huge backlog of PS4 games that I have... Even the Xbox with the game pass is feasible to me (something impossible to think for me, I have always been a Sony and Nintendo user).

I don't think I've played anything exclusive to the PS5. Not worth buying in my opinion.

I have played stuff exclusive to the switch, I mostly dislike it though. I'm not sure why, I think it's that they don't compete because they have us with their catalogue and I dislike their business practices, selling gimmicks and vaulting content. Especially given most of the switch games are port of Wiiu games then it probably is skippable.

I'd agree, should have skipped.

No. Honestly. I own one, but I haven't been able to play it for reasons relating to my work and I've got a lot of buyer's remorse about it too. That really sucks, but I really don't feel like I have missed out on much as far as gaming goes.

My gaming laptop has been more than a viable alternative. I really wish I hadn't been so impulsive with the purchase of my PS5. I genuinely feel like it wasn't worth all the struggle it took to get it, and the financial loss/burden/degradation that it caused.

I've been considering selling it, for some time now, but I'm having trouble committing...

I'd love to hear your stories/advice, for any of you in a similar situation.