Review: PS Access Controller – an innovative and expensive game-changer

Sony released PS access controller The PS5 launched this week is designed to make gaming more accessible for people with disabilities or mobility issues. This caps off years of progress for the platform holder, which has seen it win awards for its groundbreaking accessibility innovations in titles like The Last of Us: Part 2 and God of War Ragnarok.

Given the nature of this product, we felt it was important as a publication to deviate from our usual review style. As such, we enlisted the talented Sam Greer to share her personal experience with the product, because we know everyone will have a different relationship with the console. We hope you find her ideas insightful and interesting.

To find out why I love new Sony products so much PS access controllerA little context: I suffer from benign hand tremors. I don’t talk about it in public very often, partly because it’s relatively minor compared to other, more serious disabilities. Over the past decade it has gotten worse and worse. While the important things were affected (like basic ability to hold a cup of tea without spilling it), it also affected my ability to play games.

You don’t quite realize how many games rely on precise controls until you can’t do them. For me, the vibration and lack of fine control in my hands makes it very difficult to coordinate pressing the buttons and using the analog controls. Shooting through action games in particular has become a real challenge since my fingers are constantly twitching and shaking. Fast-paced competitive games with “twitchy aiming” like Apex Legends have become essentially impenetrable. I also have a hard time coordinating button presses. Getting my fingers where they need to be is one thing, but buttons that are too hard or too sensitive cause me to constantly hit things at the wrong time or not at all. Armored Core VI (which I’ve completed twice now) became quite a challenge due to the difficulty of using all of the controller’s buttons. Even writing this review is taking much longer due to constantly pressing the wrong keys.

On my computer, I got a lot out of swapping out the regular mouse for a vertical one. With a vertical mouse, my hand is at rest, which means I’m not required to do any precise movement with my fingers, and moving the mouse depends more on my arm. It has extra buttons positioned under my fingers so I don’t have to move to access them. It helped a lot. So when Sony talked about the Access Controller, my curiosity was piqued. I haven’t found a trackpad replacement for most of my gaming and the most enticing part of the Access Controller was the promise of being able to keep my hand in a resting position, with all the necessary buttons underneath. Will this make coordination easier and more convenient?

Sony sent two controllers for review, and the Access Controller can be used with multiple devices, including the standard DualSense. This speaks to the versatility that Sony is aiming for, but it’s nothing compared to how impressively customizable the device is. Each button can be swapped out for another of a different size or shape, making it concave or convex. It comes with three types of joysticks that each feel completely different to use. All stickers are rubber stoppers that can be moved so you can easily draw your layout the way you want. Not only is the box full of impressive options at your disposal, but praise is to be given for the ease of swapping things out thanks to the gentle switch release and magnetic handles. The joystick lever can also be extended/retracted at any time so you can adjust it to make it more comfortable.

Regular PS5 DualSense controller users will also be happy to hear that not only does the Access Controller come with a long USB-C cable (which is a bigger deal than it should be), but that its battery life is much longer. I’m used to charging my DualSense after every gaming session, so having access to an entire week without any charges was pretty nice. Maybe it’s the lack of haptic feedback but I’ll be quick to admit that I missed quite a bit and appreciate the longer battery life a lot. Even the packaging it comes in has been carefully designed, with a single retractable paper strip making it possible to open the box with one hand.

At first glance, you can see that it was designed with a completely different mindset than standard controllers. This is not a device that you hold in your hand, it is something that your hands sit on. Even the large central circle is its own button, pressed with a light press of your palm. Admittedly, this would likely require more space than most consoles, though I was able to sit comfortably with two controllers on my lap, so I didn’t need to hunch over a desk or table.

That’s only half of it. The other half is the software side, assigning button layouts through the controller’s “profile” system, where you can create, name, and assign multiple layouts to slots (which can be clicked via a button on the controller’s base) as well as to different controllers together. There is clean logic to how Sony has structured this interface with plenty of fail-safes necessary since players will be changing inputs but I have to say the hardest part was interacting with this. It’s inevitable given the amount of options, and the ease of accessing this menu at any time largely makes up for the hassle. However, I had to spend a lot of time in this menu, trying and tweaking layouts, then jumping into a game to try it out, realizing what was wrong, and then returning to the menu to make more changes.

This trial and error process was of course rather fun. There is a profound novelty in being able to arrange a piece of hardware to fit for you needs rather than modifying yourself to learn how something is expected to be used. It’s just a little time consuming is all. I’m hoping that once these items appear in the wild, players will exchange layout ideas to help each other more quickly come up with something successful, though unfortunately, there’s no way to share layout profiles that I’ve seen. Being able to switch it over the PlayStation Network would be a huge boon.

For the purposes of reviewing and getting to know the console, I simply played the games I normally play on PS5: Returnal, Armored Core VI, Dead Space, Ratchet & Clank, The Last of Us: Part II, God of War, and Demon’s Souls. Returnal and Armored Core VI, as you might expect given they are action games touting incredible difficulty as a feature, proved to be the most demanding but the obstacles really came from not being familiar enough with the setting (not helped by the need to make so many modifications). However, even after a few days, I was surprised at how quickly I was on board and able to enjoy having all my buttons instantly available without having to move my fingers at all. The standard Joypad configuration that I took for granted for so long now only makes sense on the merits of its familiarity rather than its actual ease of use.

After dozens of hours, the image above is what I’ve arrived at in all the games I’ve played. I have a profile for both ‘left’ and ‘right’ controllers, where the usual interface is split across both hands being able to rest comfortably over the entire setup. In short, it’s luxurious. Set up with my hand in a steady palm, pressing the buttons by pressing my palm or gently pushing my finger. Getting used to this after a lifetime of using the same control pad over thousands of games isn’t easy, and the muscle memory is still completely non-existent. However, I can honestly say that I’ve probably never felt so comfortable playing games. There’s no crab claw grip, no hurried fidgeting with switches or buttons, and no dealing with accidental presses of shoulder buttons. As a piece of hardware, this is undoubtedly one of the most impressive things I’ve ever used in all my time gaming. Designers have created a device that can accommodate not only the user’s weakness, but also their imagination and ingenuity.

Your mileage will vary, and as we noted at the beginning, my disability is relatively minor. I can’t say how others will handle it but I expect, given how well it specifically addresses my issues, and given the degree of customization, many others will be able to create a layout that meets their needs. Really, the access console feels like it’s one of a kind now. Although this does touch on some of my issues and concerns.

If you’re looking at the photo above of my ideal setup, you might be struck by the same thing I was: You need two access controllers. The biggest hurdle to using an Access Controller is the fact that you’ll need dual analog stick control for the vast majority of games. Access comes with only one joystick. To get a second device, you’ll either have to use it with an already owned DualSense, buy an extender peripheral that can plug into the device, or pair it like you did with the second Access Controller. Either way, playing games with dual analog controls (which I should point out is easy). a lot) You’ll need something extra which seems like a big ask for a peripheral priced much higher than the regular DualSense (at the time of writing, $89.99/£79.99). It’s new hardware with a wide range of tools, and the high price point isn’t a surprise, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hope that the default will accommodate a feature that’s essential to the majority of console video games. To achieve the perfect setup, you’re looking at spending a significant amount!

Which requires some scrutiny of how this device will perform in the long term: how committed is Sony to supporting it? The console holder has restricted the use of the PS4 controller on the PS5, so will the same apply when the PS6 launches in four or five years, rendering this accessory useless? What good does this do to the health of the industry if it’s a patented piece of technology that remains exclusive to one console? For this device to become the gold standard, it needs a rethink of its price point and a real show of commitment to its continued support.

Conclusion

Price aside, the two paired access controllers tailored to my personal needs are the most comfortable way to play games I’ve ever tried. What a joy it is to easily have choices about how to adapt to my disability and play games on my own terms. I’ve never had this freedom before. Which makes it even more painful that this accessibility remains behind a high price point. This is ultimately very expensive for the best console setup available, and it’s hard to know if this investment will be supported in the long term and into the next generation of consoles. If this becomes another obsolete peripheral alongside the likes of EyeToy, and is limited to one system, is the Access Controller really the answer to the problems of disabled gamers or another failure of the industry?

Hopefully Sony can address these concerns because I truly believe this is a much-needed, special alternative to the standard that has been around for almost my entire life.