Remember about four months ago when every internet user and their dog was worried by the fact Sony had yet to unveil the PlayStation 5 user interface? That was a grand old time in the comments sections here on Push Square, but we finally managed to get over that hump in October with a surprise State of Play presentation that revealed all. Well, almost all. The likes of playtime tracking and questionable Trophy implementation were left for us to discover. A few months after the PS5 launch then, we want to know if you've incorporated these new features into the way you play. Are you using Cards to quickly jump into a game or firing up a multiplayer match from the home screen? Has Game Help aided you in solving a difficult puzzle? And are you sharing your screen with friends while playing other PS5 titles?
How Often Do You Use PS5 Cards?
It's tough to avoid the new PS5 Cards system, appearing every single time you press the PlayStation button in the very centre of the DualSense controller. This feature allows you to jump between certain activities, such as side missions in Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales or Archstones in Demon's Souls. The idea is to get you playing the content in question quicker than ever by circumventing open-world navigation or lengthy load screens that would have traditionally extended the time it takes to reach that particular objective. Cards can also detail roughly how long it will take to complete the chosen task as well as list the objectives needed to progress through an area. It's the developer's choice to take advantage of this feature, however. Not every PS5 game available uses Cards right now.
You don't need to already be playing a next-gen title to make use of the Cards system though — they're accessible right from the PS5 home screen. The idea remains the same though, Sony wants studios to serve up exciting content to its players from the moment they turn the system on. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, for example, allows many of its playlists to be selected before the game is even booted. Then you're in a multiplayer match in no time at all, skipping load times and advertisements.
The PS5 Cards system is in your face pretty much all the time, but how often do you actually use the feature? In the handful of weeks the console has been a part of your setup, have you been using Cards to quickly navigate the latest titles? Do you regularly kickstart an online bout from the PS5 home screen rather than loading into the multiplayer launcher and then selecting a playlist?
How Often Do You Use PS5 Game Help?
The PS5's new Game Help service is inherently linked to the Cards system, but we think it's an important enough feature to consider on its own. Select games, including Astro's Playroom and Sackboy: A Big Adventure, offer aid in certain situations if you become stuck. The feature is designed to cut out the middleman where players search the internet for walkthroughs and strategies, instead providing tips and tricks in the game itself. Simply select the task at hand from the PS5 UI and a video will be displayed in-game, detailing how to find a certain collectible or beat a specific enemy. It's an impressively quick and seamless process that even gives our own comprehensive and spoiler-free guides a good run for their money. A lot of effort on the developer's behalf is required to get them up and running for a game, however. You also need an active PS Plus membership to gain access to the feature.
So, instead of a quick Google search to find out what you need to do next, have you chosen to use PS5 Game Help as a replacement? How often are you using the feature? Will you now always choose to take advantage of Game Help rather than surfing the web for the answer you seek?
How Often Do You Use PS5 Share Screen?
The final PS5 feature we shall touch on is Share Screen, which allows you to place a friend's gameplay onto your own television set whilst continuing to do or play whatever you want. It's an evolution of what Sony attempted on PlayStation 4, now allowing you to keep playing games as well as observe what a buddy is doing at the same time. This has its uses in multiplayer matches as your teammate's perspective can be viewed alongside your own. Or, if you want to sit back and relax and watch a partner play your favourite title remotely, the option is there while YouTube videos take up the big screen. Uncharted: The Lost Legacy shows how it's done in the image above.
Again, though, are you actually using the PS5 Share Screen feature on a regular basis? Are you watching your friends' gameplay often enough to know how they'll react to certain situations or are you still very much in the dark? Would you use it more if a friend wanted to show you the latest PS5 game that you haven't purchased just yet?
Make sure to vote in each of our three polls, and then expand on your thoughts concerning the new PS5 UI features in the comments below.
Comments 88
Not paid any attention to the cards, maybe I will in future but I've mostly been playing PS4 games on my PS5. Haven't even thought about game help! I err.. tried to stream gameplay to a friend on a PS4 but apparently you can't do that, unless I am wrong?
So no, no, no.
The only PS5 UI I'm currently familiar with is the Amazon Canada website's page for the console that gets restocked once every 5 millenia
I do like staring at pictures of the home menu though
I'm sure I'll use the cards more for first party games, but so far I've only used them to quickly remind myself of what trophies im missing in AC Valhalla.
Well most of the games I played only show the trophies in those cards but I used it once or twice to go straight into a speed run level in Astro.
I think that maybe when more first party games start using them it will be easier to not forget about them.
@Total_Weirdo same.
But tbh I've also been playing mostly third-party and PS4 games so most of the time the cards only show the trophies.
The cards were fairly useful to jump to missions when playing the 2 Spider-Man games, but the only other PS5 game I have is Dirt 5 and I don't use cards for that.
I haven't even seen the help menu displayed yet, so I guess I'm either looking at the wrong times, or I've accidentally disabled it. The PS Store suggests that Miles Morales supports help guides, but it never showed.
Outside of using the card system once or twice on Astro's Playroom I didn't use it again, its a neat feature but I simply don't play games like that, same with game help.
I think the share screen might get more use as games actually release for PS5 so either me or my friends have games the others may want to see but for now its not getting any use
How many of these votes are coming from people not owning a PS5? Haha
Game help is genuinely useful when I'm trying to get collectable based trophies for games like Astro's Playroom. I see myself using it for platformers and open-world games
I use cards sometimes, but it's mostly on the game that have dedicated, fragmented levels like Sackboy and Astro's Playroom. The only time I used the game help was Bugsnax when I needed some quick help figuring out how to capture a creature or defeating the giant melon boss.
Share screen is something I used quite a bit on the PS4, because it allowed my buddies and I to quickly show off and/or test games we had with one another. It's a really cool feature made even better on the PS5.
I wish you could turn them off completely, they are quite annoying. As is the automatic following of games and news.
About 6.72 times on average
I've tried out the hint system in Sackboy a couple of times. It's surprisingly helpful.
But I've been playing Yakuza 7 for how long now and kind forgot about the features. 😅
I think a lot of these features will come more to the fore when they're used by more titles. I liked the way Activities were implemented in Astro and Spider-Man for example, but the implementation has been a little bit poor outside of that. Similarly, Game Help is great in Astro and Sackboy, but we haven't seen it implemented much elsewhere.
I probably wouldn't have used Share Screen anyway personally, but that's just an individual preference thing.
Used a grand total of f*&k all of these new features. Why on earth watching someone else play a game, whilst I'm playing a game is a good thing, I'll never know.
The other features I might consider using in the future, but, probably not.
Rarely using any of this stuff yet. I do occasionally use the cards if I know it'll save me time jumping into the game, if I have limited time to play. Definitely still using my phone for game help though, when I do bite the bullet and succumb to looking something up... Glad these features are there, but yeah, not so much using them...
I used the "Continue Story" card in AC Valhalla to launch the game every time. It basically skipped the splash screens and the main menu and went straight into my last saved game, saving me some 30 seconds. It's kinda crazy that that's a big difference now
I’ve never seen game help or how to use it. It’s a buried feature that I’ve tried to use, but I never found it. It sounds cool, but I don’t know where to use it.
Game cards are something I’ve been trying to use more as they are a great time saver. I think you should be able to acess the main game card even easier or customize them and have an easy access one set by you.
Na haven't used them at all yet, hopefully more Games will take advantage of it, but at the moment there more annoying than anything. Think the tips will be useful with some games, don't think they are used on demon souls but might be wrong. When it was announced I thought that I would use it more but it's still early days so hopefully get more use in the coming years
It's great for jumping straight to levels that need more doing. I'm finding it a great feature. Right up my passage as they say.
Im the only one my pals with a PS5 at the mo so the share screen feature is completely redundant for me until that changes.
Most of these features are pure gimmicks! Only time I used help was to get astrobot plat and the other time I used cards was on Miles to do some side mission
Don’t have a PS5 just yet. That’s what I had to go with on this poll.
I havent used a single one of them, and dont really intend to. I wish I could turn the cards off though or at least reduce their size.
No, no and no.
If only there was a way to disable them and declutter the UI.
I haven't used any of them. I do like the new interface but I hate the new party system. I've gone from using party chat almost every time I played a game to maybe only 3 times since the change. That is one feature they should have left alone it was fine the way it was now it is way to complicated to start a party.
I miss the trophy search that PS4 had. Still many features that PS4 did better. Basic sorting on the, store, app and website. Try finding the free Rockband 4 tracks now 😬 one big list 😢
I will not be using the first two but I might use the third when I get a PS5 someday.
Never. So far anyway.
These features seem cool in premise but they don’t add anything helpful so far. What I want is for Sony to fix the store issues. Not only on the console but also the app on my phone. Just doesn’t work well. Wishlist on console but not in phone app. Where is the demo tab? Why does it seem difficult to find things?? So many things to fix!
They were a nice idea, but I've yet to use any of these features and would have preferred a customizable UI and themes.
I would literally care if I had a ps5. Waiting for Liam to give one as a present for being a good direspectful biotch boy on this site.
I have never used the cards and now seem to get 'banner blindness' from them where I instinctively ingore them.
My biggest gripe by far of the new UI is not being able to put the PS5 to sleep without having to look at the screen. On the PS4 you could hold down the PS button and press X twice and it was off. One the PS5, the selected item on that bottom row of icons is always different so you can't intuitively / blindly go to the power settings. It's a small thing but pissed me off every time.
No one else I know has a PS5 so no screen share.
Didn't use Game Help, forgot It existed actually, instead Googling stuff because low and behold that's what I'm used to doing automatically, and the cards....eh. I can see how they are handy but they are a bit of disorganized mess so I find it quicker to use in game fast travel like in Astro.
I'm still learning how to navigate the thing. When I figured out how to turn the controller mic off and put the console into rest mode I was so excited.
Don’t have many native PS5 games, but I do use the cards for jumping into games of worms rumble and checking how far along I am on various trophies (if lucky enough they randomly show up). The fact only some show up, seemingly at random, needs to be changed.
Never used share play / screen though. Nor had need of Help.
I used the cards on Astrobot and that's it!Not used any of the other features either..
I would love to use it more, but it's just not intuitive yet. I think they should organize the cards by category. Right now the cards and their random order can be a bit overwhelming when trying to zero in on each card's purpose. They should make a tab for Social, Hints, Video Clips etc. It just came out so I'm pretty hopeful.
I use the cards every time if possible to load into a game as it is quicker.
Kinda forgot most of this existed, when I looked for game help once on demons souls I couldn’t find it
I fine them very helpful if you want to 100% a game. Think I used them in every game that has them.
Question 2 could do with an option for "I'd like to use it but I don't have PS Plus".
While question 3 could use the option of "what are these 'friends' you speak of?"
I've used activity cards for jumping into Astro's Playroom time trials and MK11 multiplayer matches. I've used game help for when I couldn't figure out how to capture certain Bugsnax. I've also tried out the PIP stuff in Share Play, it's super cool and I look forward to using it in a more practical sense in the future.
The only thing I really use much here is the cards - their great for keeping track of side quests, and the fact that they can show percentages is great for checking how much of a mission is remaining when the missus asks how much longer I'll be.
Never used any of them. I wouldn't use a share screen in general so that's a wash. The help feature, I forgot even existed. I've been through all the menus, looking for other things, and never even found or noticed it in there, and didn't remember hearing about it until now.
The cards are annoying and get in my way more than do anything useful. I even bothered going for the platinum on Astrobot since it's so small, I was so close, and wanted to play with the features. The cards didn't help at all, trophies were burried, and several times I had to drop to the home screen go into my network/user icon and go into the trophies from there because the quick bar just wasn't showing me or making it convenient.
I normally don't trophy hunt, that was just because I wanted to play with the new features. So far the UI is kind of a loss. It throws a buch of things I don't want or need in my face, while seemingly burying things I do want to get to. The home screen shows only the last few launched games. Pressing and holding PS doesn't bring up a quick shutdown menu like on every other console ever, but instead takes me to home, and yet pressing it again doesn't necessarily bring me back to the game. And every time I turn it back on from Rest, it's sitting at the annoying cards and I have to back out of them.
The UI is snappy. But it's really kind of annoying. At least put long-press for power menu back in place. It's worked that way since WiiDS360.
Prefer the PS4 UI by far thus far.
@Jaz007 Its not really burried, it just probably isn't obvious.
When you hit the PS button and the cards come up, there are tasks (usually the first couple cards), there is an option on these cards to show more details, which is where this information is. You can see it in action on Astro's Playroom.
Not every game has them though, for example there are none on Assassins Creed (it just shows the same broken progress card for the whole game).
It just looks cluttered whenever I hit the PS button. I use the chat card and party card but other then that I just want to remove the rest. The "News" card is *****, it's just advertising.
So it's just as I thought when it was revealed, just a bunch of convoluted features that are a cluttered eyesore, that are more annoying than helpful.
How about just let people play their games and get all this crap outta the way lol.
Are ya with me!? I said ARE YA WITH ME!?
😋
And while we're on the topic, OMG can we stop with all of this stupid horizontal scrolling in ALL things media. It's just awful
I use the game cards all the time, its just so quick. Go from red dead 2 to astros playroom into the level i want instantly. And then jump into my current spiderman mission instantly. I love it. Never did the game help but telling me the mission takes 10mins is a good feature of it also
I’ve spend a majority of my time on my PS5 playing assassins creed but I do have 30ish hours in Miles Morales. I haven’t really used the cards but I can see them working very well if it had an option to organize them.
For game help, not all games use it and I haven’t needed to use it yet but I am happy it’s there and I hope more/all games take advantage of it.
As far as screen share goes I don’t have any friends with a PS5 yet so I can really use it but it’s a cool feature (especially for competitive multiplayer games)
I looked at the cards briefly when first playing through Demon Souls and quickly realized they were rubbish. The other two features I honestly did not know existed and still can't say that I care.
I used cards once when a friend beat my time in an Astro Bot speed running level. But apart from that, I’ve completely ignored all these features so far. Might change eventually though as I get through more games.
People are missing out on PS5 share screen. Me and a friend use it frequently and it's great!
I've used the cards a couple of times found it quite good.
not used the game help yet so I'll have to check this out.
as for screen share, I will try this when my brother can get a ps5.
I personally haven't used any of the mentioned features as of yet. I only have friends with PS4's atm, so anyone who fancies some multiplayer from time to time feel free to add moi - HotstuffFred.
I don't even know how to work half these new features. Help and cards are a mystery to me. It took me a month to get the hang of turning it off!
I would rather they allow the menu screen to be customizable so I can decide what I see when I pause the game. All of these other features have their usefulness but are mostly gimmicky and shouldn’t be at the forefront. Simplify the UI - less clutter.
I never use the share screen because I'm literally the only person I know that has a PS5 (unfortunately) so I can't use this feature.
I don't use any of them Less is More for me The main thing i use is the quick press of the PS button and the icons on the bottom of the screen which I have put the fewest icons i could put there and that will do for me + I rarely even long press to go to the main screen to only to visit the Store on Tuesdays. It's all cool tho the UI but I just like it simple really. PLAY GAME, PUT ON REST MODE, SWITCH ON, PLAY GAME, PUT ON REST MODE, SWITCH ON...etc etc That is all I need
None of the games currently released need any help lol
The problem I see is if for example Valhalla used the cards more to jump straight to missions, is that I would miss many of the side missions you come across in your travels. Also I played Spiderman Remastered without using the cards, and I found I gained experience from swinging around and found it a lot of fun. Then I played and finished Mile Morales just by using the cards, my character didn't level up as much plus I didn't really feel immmersed in the gameworld since I barely swung around the city.
Cards are actually really good can load you straight to where you need to be, thing is most the games ive been playing are ps4 games i missed towards end of the gen which dont have the cards 😂 also does anyone know how to snap youtube/twitch like you do with share screen i remember doing it when first got ps5 and now cant seem to do it, did thet remove it?
Give it some time
It’s aesthetically pleasing but the UI is pretty frustrating at times. I always feel like I’m digging to get to what I want. I care about 3 things, getting in and out of a game quickly, getting to my trophies, and getting to power off quickly. All of those things now take more time than on PS4. I almost always mix up dashboard and quick menu, getting to trophies takes a while, and then getting back also take forever when before it was just a double tap of the PS Button. Cards are pretty much just in the way and never what I want, I really only care about trophy progression and usually that’s only I the cards when I’m NOT looking for it for some reason. Also maybe someone can help me out but is there any other way to pull your current game to the top of the trophy list without getting a trophy in that game bc I can find out how to do it
I feel like the cards are going to be a big thing for games like Destruction All-Stars and other online games with multiple game modes. Skip all the menus and jump straight to matchmaking in the mode you like? Why not.
MK11 already has cards for that but I'm still not confident enough to try playing it online lol.
I got a PS5 at launch. Been playing demons souls, Sackboy, Miles Morales, and astrobot And I didn’t even know about two of these things
They could take the pressure off the devs for game help by making it community led.
Will eventually use the Help feature, I just haven’t required it yet. But I’m awful at most video games, so I know it’ll come in handy. The shape screen looks like a great idea, I just am not social enough to take advantage of it. The mission cards are great and I use them often!
The card system is decent I use it from time to time
I can see the card system as being useful if you can skip loading screens and go straight back into the action at your last save.
Hint/help system sounds like a poor-man's web browser to me?
To be fair I am not sure I have played too many games which take advantage of this, Astrobot and MM did but I didn't really use them. I am about to start Sack Boy so I might use it more then but I doubt it.
I like the idea but i haven't seen it implemented enough in the games i've played yet to warrant caring
I didn't have ps5 yet but I will use ps5 card when it's convenient for me or when I'm collecting trophy, I'll use ps5 built-in help system rather than go to the web using my smartphone/pc, and lastly, I don't think I'll use ps5 share screen feature.
This is the first time I’ve ever owned a PlayStation.
Always had x box but couldn’t miss out on demon souls which is amazing.
I’ve used the game help feature on the bosses multiple times rather than look up on the internet.
I’ve found it very helpful tbh.
I quite like the Cards system, particularly for games where you can jump back and forth between areas. It's also quicker than waiting for the game to load, then hitting "load save" when the screen comes up.
It was pretty handy in Astro where you could just load into any of the areas from the home screen, rather than having to load up the game, then load the menu, pick the location and wait for that to take me there.
@Daleaf what makes them annoying please?
Never. They need to give an option to swap what long and short press of the PS button does. The screen that comes up now on short press is only ever seen because of PS4 UI muscle memory.
@MetalGear_Yoshi I hate the method for turning off the Playstation is now loads of clicks away and fiddly. The xbox you just hold the button and then the options pop up, although the rest of their UI is an absolute mess.
@Bagwag82 it's just that they are constantly there and take up pretty much bottom of the screen, it just looks a bit cluttered. It's nothing major but since I don't use them would be nice to have an option to disable them. As I said I will probably use them at some point but at the moment it's pretty much just trophy information, as in you have collected 30% of rings in demon souls and other trophy information that you are close to. Think once the developers use it for tips if you get stuck then it will be useful but atm its pretty much just trophy information.
I've never used them to be fair. I don't see the point yet.
If we're being honest, the new UI is worse than the PS4, isn't it? Anyone who didn't bag a PS5 yet, don't worry, it's not all that. It's quieter, loads some games a bit quicker, and that's about it.
Quick resume on XBOX is far better than the cards system on PS5.
I preferred the bigger tiles/thumbs for each game cover on the PS4, rather than the little ones at the top like on PS5. And the fact you can't sort into folders etc is frustrating. Why are you taking features AWAY?? Surely you should be addingto existing ones?
I have a PS5 but I didn’t want to respond to this poll because I don’t have enough PlayStation 5 games yet to make a real assessment. Maybe ask again in a year or two years?
help feature has been a wonderful addition. Cool to see how each developer will tackle how they use it. Demons souls the directions and hints are more vague than say sackboy's which are pretty direct...as should be.
The cards are great if you're in a rush. Also perfect when you got some trophies to clean up.
I wonder how much longer it will be before I can just walk into a store and purchase a PS5. I'm in no hurry, but wouldn't mind picking one up sooner rather than later.
@ISD1982 Totally agree mate. I got the XSX and PS5 and although you're right, the Xbox UI is all over the place it's main functions are easily accessible. The PS5 basic function are painful. It shouldn't take half a dozen presses to turn the system off (if you remember where it is). Imo the PS4 pop up menu was perfect. The UI as a whole wasn't but that particular idea worked.
A lot of people saying about turning the PlayStation off. I just turn my TV off, and the PlayStation goes into standby with no other interaction?
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