Got my SCUF yesterday. Exactly what I expected. Very well built and it looks exactly like the controller Sony should have made available.
There are three customisable profiles (very easy to set up on the controller itself) for the four back paddles and they work really well. A satisfying click to each of them. The two larger paddles are marginally easier to press so those are the paddles that will get the heavy duty functions mapped to them, but the smaller ones are good too.
Elden Ring is so good with the paddles mapped to the dpad and with the function already in game where you can hold down on the dpad to instantly go to your first item (e.g. health potion) it actually works a bit like how I’ve set up my steam deck for some games.
Being able to stay in control of your fleeing character whilst also selecting a potion and healing, all without taking your thumbs off the sticks, well, it’s pretty bloody good.
I’ve tried other games too. I have another profile with something close to my deck layout for Deep Rock Galactic, and generally any other game that requires frequent stick clicks (e.g. sprinting) will use the remaining profile and save me a lot of pain.
Comfort wise, well it’s a modified dual sense so it’s very comfortable. I chose to add some extra grip texture which isn’t quite as comfortable (at least not yet) but does feel more secure in the hand. Not that I ever felt the originals were going to fly across the room.
I went for the most boring colour options, just a nice understated black and white, but I can get more faceplates and extra doodads later if I fancy it.
I think the random dude a few posts above was trying to get away with not paying for the fps version of the pad which removes the Analogue and haptic triggers and requires SCUF to replace them with quick click versions of their own design. I’ve never really understood the sense in this but it seems like an in demand feature that costs extra to provide so I don’t think he was being particularly upfront in his criticisms.
The problem is that assigning the back paddles to triggers would presumably require them to be assigned to an analogue input which would seem unreasonable and unworkable. We don’t assign buttons to the analogue sticks for example. Microsoft Elite controllers have a solution for this, but those controllers are also pricy, and large, which may be a design factor.
I don’t regret the purchase at all. I’m really glad that I’ve finally got back paddles on the ps5. To me, they’re the most obvious accessibility option that Sony should be providing and it’s another example of how short sighted they’ve been recently. Introducing an add on for the the PS4 just as they’re hyping the ps5 and then not following through on the new platform is beyond frustrating.
