PlayStation 5 Users Could Receive Incredible ‘What If’ Gameplay Feature

Due to the ongoing shortage of parts, PlayStation 5 consoles are still hugely difficult to get a hold of. They’re not selling out quite as quickly as they once were, but you still need to be on the ball if you want to be the proud owner of one of these chunky lads.

To best see the capabilities of the PlayStation 5 and the DualSense controller, you need look no further than the incredible freebie that is Astro’s Playroom. If you found that impressive, the PlayStation 5 is only set to get better as Sony continues to roll out a series of major updates.

Check out these incredible customised PlayStation 5s below.

Recent PlayStation 5 patches have enabled users to adjust the console’s auto low latency mode settings in addition to adding a new variable refresh rate feature. That’s a lot of technical jargon, so let me move on to Sony’s upcoming rumoured feature which could be their best yet. If you’ve ever died in a game and instantly regretted the decision that led you to that point, this could be one for you.

A new document reveals that Sony has essentially patented a ‘what if’ gameplay feature that would allow PlayStation 5 users to watch replays of their gameplay complete with added ‘what if’ outcomes. For example, if you died during a boss fight as you attempted to parry a melee attack, the feature could show you what the outcome might’ve been if you’d perhaps dodged instead. How cool is that?

The patent abstract reads, “Methods and systems are provided for generating an outcome of a previous gameplay. The method includes providing access of a recording of the previous gameplay, the recording is one that was shared by a player for the previous gameplay. The method includes providing an interface that identifies one or more what-if scenarios for the previous gameplay. The one or more what-if scenarios being selected for inclusion into the interface is based on processing the recording of the previous gameplay through a machine learning model to identify what-if scenarios for the user, and options for what-if scenarios are provided to the interface."

Just because the idea has been patented, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be a success or ever see the light of day. This is certainly an ambitious feature though and one I think we’d all like to see in practice.