My PS5 is already in the cupboard after getting it for Christmas

A reader explains why his PS5 has already been unplugged after Christmas, and why he’s disappointed by the launch line-up of games.

So Christmas is over and, as I write this, 2021 almost is as well. It’s not been much of a year, especially as the light at the end of the tunnel has been covered up just as we were getting to it, but I guess at least it was better than 2020. That’s at least true generally anyway, I’m not sure about for gaming specifically.

2020 wasn’t bad for games because most things that were nearly done by the time the pandemic started managed to get out, while this year it’s been games where a larger proportion of work had to be done from home and that’s caused delays and… disappointing end products. Especially for games like Battlefield 2042, that the publisher clearly told the developers to get out for a particular date no matter what.

But I’m not here to talk about that today. I’m here to talk about the PlayStation 5 I got for Christmas and why it’s not even plugged in at the moment.

I admit the title here is a bit of a joke, but the reason my PlayStation 5 is in the cupboard and not under the TV is because… it won’t fit. Seriously. This thing is massive and yet stupidly I never bothered to check how much room we had in our unit and so while it was out on the floor over Christmas, we’ve had people round the last couple of days so I’ve put it away so nobody treads on it.

However, while I haven’t put it away in disgust, I have to admit I am a bit disappointed with it. The first few days were great. Astro’s Playroom is the perfect introduction to the console and its controller, while Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was a lot of fun while it lasted, with some amazing graphics. My girlfriend was very impressed by it and we had a lot of fun working through it all, but it’s only about 12 hours long and now there’s not much reason to go back to it.

The other games I got at the same time were Demon’s Souls and Returnal which have been… heavy going. They are good. I’m a Dark Souls vet so I’m totally into them, but Cassie isn’t and that’s meant I haven’t played them much even before we had to put the console away.

They’re pretty hardcore games, and very difficult, which seems to me an odd choice for launch games. I guess the logic is that only hardcore gamers buy a new console at launch and more games were meant to be out this Christmas but got delayed, which isn’t Sony’s fault but means that most of the best games are super difficult ones. (I realise there’s also Spider-Man: Miles Morales but I’m not much of a Marvel fan so I skipped that – my understanding is that it’s also very short.)

Of course, there’s multiformat games but none of them seem to be particularly well enhanced for next gen consoles, so for that reason there’s not much of a push to upgrade from the PlayStation 4.

I wouldn’t say I regret getting the PlayStation 5, that would be going too far, but once the initial excitement ran out it has felt like a bit of a let-down. Before anyone starts reeling off a list of new games coming out soon, I know. I’m not selling it and I wouldn’t rather have an Xbox Series X. But I would say it is my least favourite start to a generation, as the thrill of the new really only lasted until the end of Ratchet & Clank (or somewhere around halfway, if truth be told).

I don’t know when I’ll get it out of the cupboard again. My girlfriend goes back to work before me so definitely then, when I can get some quality time with it. But right now, I can’t say I particularly miss it or the thought of all the reorganising I’m going to have to do under the TV to fit the stupid thing in.

By reader Iceman