Summary
- Utilize haptic feedback to enhance combat, movement, and weapon mechanics.
- Incorporate haptics to deepen storytelling and emotional immersion.
- Embrace industry trends by leveraging DualSense features for a unique player experience.
The PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller is one of the few innovations in modern hardware that truly affects how players experience games. The combination of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers is already being used in shooters, RPGs, and platformers to simulate terrain, tension, resistance, and impact in ways that go beyond what rumble ever offered. With Mass Effect 4 deep in development and BioWare’s full attention focused on making it work, now is the time to leverage that immersive potential for the franchise’s return.
Unlike its predecessor, Mass Effect: Andromeda, which launched in a different generation with more limited input tech, Mass Effect 4 will likely be designed from the ground up with modern consoles in mind. That gives BioWare a rare opportunity to use haptic feedback to its full potential, not as a gimmick, but as a way to reinforce the emotional and physical responses that define the series' signature style of combat and choice.
Mass Effect 4 Returning Character Wish List
It's not clear how many, if any, original Mass Effect characters will appear in Mass Effect 4, but some definitely have more potential than others.
Mass Effect 4 Combat Could Feel Tangible
The combat style of Mass Effect 4 remains a mystery, but if it keeps the fast-paced verticality of Andromeda, haptics could serve as a useful physical extension of the game’s movement system. For example, jetpack-assisted jumps could deliver a layered vibration on liftoff, followed by a subtle resistance on descent to suggest air drag or landing impact. This alone would give traversal a more physical quality, which might help players read momentum and feel grounded in unfamiliar terrain.
If BioWare instead favors a return to the run-and-gun rhythm of the original Mass Effect trilogy, the focus could shift toward how individual weapons feel. Each gun class could feature unique trigger resistance, from the heavy pull of a shotgun blast to the lighter squeeze of a submachine gun. Overheating or reload sequences could interrupt the trigger function altogether, subtly reinforcing the idea that the weapon has temporarily locked up.
In Returnal, the DualSense controller uses different levels of resistance to distinguish between firing modes. A similar feature could work in Mass Effect 4, allowing the same button to perform different functions depending on trigger pressure.
Even powers and abilities could benefit from this design. Imagine feeling the increasing tension in the trigger as a biotic warp charges, or a shiver through the grips as a shield activates. Rather than watching effects unfold passively on-screen, players could feel the moment of power activation in their hands.
Mass Effect 4 Can Use Haptics for Storytelling
One of Mass Effect’s defining features is its narrative emphasis on choice. Whether it’s dialogue, major turning points, or final decisions that shape the galaxy’s fate, player agency drives the story forward. Haptic feedback can subtly influence how players interpret those choices.
A tense conversation could include nearly imperceptible vibrations that mirror the undercurrent of fear or stress in the scene. A calm moment might feel completely still, underscoring the peace at stake. These are not gameplay mechanics in the traditional sense, but emotional cues that deepen immersion without calling attention to themselves.
Haptics could also support environmental storytelling in Mass Effect 4. Weather effects like sandstorms or freezing winds could deliver different patterns of resistance and vibration across the grips, suggesting location-based tension without additional UI clutter. Even footsteps could change depending on terrain, such as metal corridors, rocky outposts, or shifting sands, further emphasizing how alien each planet feels.
Astro’s Playroom, a free PS5 title, is widely considered one of the best demonstrations of haptic potential. It replicates sensations like walking through mud, skating on ice, and swimming, all through vibration alone. BioWare could borrow from this example to enhance planetary exploration.
Mass Effect 4 Can Embrace Industry-Wide Trends
Haptic feedback is no longer a novelty, especially since Sony filed a Haptic patent to take the function to the next level. Games across multiple genres are now integrating it with real design intent. Final Fantasy 16, Horizon Forbidden West, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart each show how vibration and resistance can deepen combat, traversal, and even crafting. In this context, Mass Effect 4 does not need to do something entirely new. It just needs to do something that fits.
What makes BioWare’s situation unique is the pressure surrounding the project. With Dragon Age: The Veilguard underperforming by EA’s standards and the majority of the studio’s resources now behind Mass Effect 4, there is very little room for error. Haptics may not sell the game on their own, but they can help set it apart in a crowded space of sci-fi shooters and story-heavy RPGs.
If Mass Effect 4 ends up being a multiplatform title, Sony players should still feel like their version offers something meaningful and specific. With little else anchoring this phase of BioWare’s future, leaning into DualSense features could send the right signal. The studio still has time to show it cares about tactile design and moment-to-moment impact.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 87 /100 Critics Rec: 96%
- Released
- May 14, 2021
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Drug Reference, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- BioWare
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 4
- Franchise
- Mass Effect
WHERE TO PLAY
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