I spend an egregious amount of time playing on my PlayStation 5, so when T3 asked me to write up a list of mistakes that can happen to the best of us, trust me when I say I've been there and done that.
Sony's console is a brilliant bit of kit and with the PS5 Slim still new to the shelves, there are bound to be a bunch of gamers picking up the system for the first time. Here's a quick list of things to avoid to get the most out of your new machine, or even change something you may have overlooked as a long-term PS5 owner.
1. Overlooking Astro's Playroom
This free game packaged with the console is an easy one to miss, especially because it just looks like a fairly generic platformer. This isn't the case however, it is in fact the best possible showcase for the PS5's new capabilities, it's still the best example of the haptic feedback and adaptive trigers in the DualSense 5 controller.
It's the best free game since the original Wii Sports and a great one to play with the family, especially if they're less videogame savvy than you.
2. Not using rest mode
Especially if you prefer to get games from the PlayStation Store, you should get used to some large downloads on the PS5. These can be frustrating as you can't play a title online while it updates (or play it at all if it's installing for the first time).
Thankfully there's a way to both speed up the downloads and save energy at the same time. Putting the console in rest mode (under the 'Power' menu) will put your console on standby and let it focus on downloading new content. This is also a great thing to do if say you're downloading games overnight or at work and don't want to worry about overheating.
3. Ignoring the PlayStation Plus tiers
In order to play multiplayer titles online, you'll need at least a subscription to the 'Essential' tier of PlayStation Plus, but you might not want to stop there.
The Premium and Extra tiers are a great way to quickly get access to a massive amount of titles. It's not quite Xbox Game Pass levels of choice but there are still some excellent games on there like Stray and arguably the best game on the console, Ratchet & Clank: RIft Apart.
On top of that, there's also a massive selection of retro games and even some game trials for newer releases.
4. Not claiming the free games!
Speaking of PlayStation Plus, even if you're just on the cheapest subscription level Sony offers a couple of titles for free every month. They can be found in the PlayStation store and range from big fraanchises to indie gems. Of course with backwards compatibility you can also download the PS4 offerings to your PS5 too.
To give you a taster, in December Sony gave away the excellent LEGO 2K Drive while the big present for January is A Plague Tale: Requiem.
5. Not disabling unwanted features
The PS5 controller features a built-in microphone. This is used as a way to voice chat without a headset but also for specific sound effects in certain games. It can be a nice little immersion booster to hear noises from the controller but it's not always welcome, especially as it will often play even if the TV itself is muted. To fix this, simply hold down the mute button (below the home button) on your controller. You can switch between just muting game audio (including the controller speaker) or game and chat audio at the touch of a button.
Similarly, if the adaptive triggers are getting on your nerves, or you're finding it slightly difficult to depress them all the way, you can reduce the resistance or disable them altogether in the settings menu.
