When the PS5 was first revealed to have customizable faceplates, my mind raced with infinite possibilities for unique patterns to mix and match. Two years into the console’s lifecycle, Sony has only released solid colors such as cosmic red, midnight black, nova pink, and starlight blue. All really cool and slick-looking color palettes but I always felt like PlayStation could still push it further with more variety.
As soon as they announced the gray camouflage collection, it immediately grabbed my attention. I always held back on giving my PS5 setup a new look because I felt like the default white it came in was already eye-catching enough. As soon as I unboxed the gray camouflage covers and plugged in the new controller, I was proven wrong and it immediately felt like I had a brand new console with me.
Integrated aesthetics
The first thing that grabbed me about the design was how well the grey and black colors mixed together. The base part of the PS5 console offers a shiny dark contrast to the camouflage that almost looks as if it was carbon fiber as a result. The same can be said for the DualSense 5’s clever design philosophy as well considering that it was modeled to look like the base console.
I also want to point out that I appreciated the fact that Sony went for a more grey color palette for the design rather than the military green that we’re all used to when it comes to the word “camouflage”. This gives a nice modern look to the aesthetics of the color palette and it becomes much more pleasing to look at in both bright and dark lighting.
A subtle design feature I’ve always liked about the PS5’s covers and controllers was how the famous symbols of PlayStation were incorporated onto the surfaces. I was happy to see how the gray camouflage collection carried this over. If you look closely, you can also see the iconic symbols within the design. As Sony releases new peripherals for the PS5, I hope they continue with this cool practice.
Hidden in plain sight
What more can be said about how great the DualSense 5 is? As someone with relatively bigger hands, I loved how the PS5 controllers look and feel. It’s undeniably the best controller the PlayStation brand has ever had.
The gray camouflage DualSense 5 retains all the familiar features we’ve come to love about the controller. The fantastic haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, built-in microphone, etc. However, I did notice that both the “Create” and “Options” buttons felt a bit more loose/ soft to push. I compared this to both of my default white DualSense 5 controllers that I got during the launch period which definitely felt more solid.
I’m not exactly sure if this was a deliberate design choice for Sony to make the buttons more pleasant to press. Personally, it felt a little weird at first considering I was used to the launch controllers for two years already, but it’s not anything game-breaking.
Other than that, the grey camouflage collection for the PS5 is genuinely fantastic if you’re looking to give your console setup a brand-new look. Probably one of the biggest selling points of this look is just how much harder it is to notice that pesky little dirt and dust on your controllers and console surfaces which sticks out like a sore thumb if you still have the default whites.
You can check out PlayStation’s official website to learn more about the PS5 camouflage DualSense and cover. If camo isn’t your thing, there are also other color options to choose from.