Month: September 2026

The Marvel’s Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense, Claw Marks and All

Hardware Review · Purchased September 16, 2026 · $114.99 CAD via EB Games

DualSense Wireless Controller, Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow Limited Edition
Photo credit: PlayStation.com

The Setup

I need to correct myself here: I originally had my eye on a third-party pro controller for this slot, but then Sony dropped the Marvel’s Wolverine Limited Edition DualSense lineup to coincide with the game’s launch, and that plan went out the window immediately. The Battle Yellow version, styled after Wolverine’s Battle Reborn suit with slash marks torn across the shell like his claws just raked across it, was too on-the-nose for me to pass up. I picked it up at EB Games about a day after launch, once the initial pre-order rush had died down.

Living With It

Underneath the paint job it’s a completely standard DualSense, adaptive triggers, haptics, the works, and it performs exactly as well as any other one I own. What sells this edition is purely the aesthetic: the claw-slash graphic cuts diagonally across the whole shell in a way that actually looks like damage rather than a printed decal slapped on top, and the bold yellow really does pop next to the muted grey and white controllers that make up the rest of my collection. It’s a genuinely striking piece sitting on a shelf even powered off.

Being a limited-run licensed controller, it commands a premium over a standard DualSense for zero functional upgrade, which is the same complaint I have with basically every special edition I buy and somehow never stops me from buying the next one. Stock also moved fast; by the time I got to a store a few of the other regional retailers carrying it were already sold out of the yellow version, so if a specific colorway catches your eye, don’t wait around.

Close-up of the claw-slash detail on the Marvel's Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense
Detail of the claw-slash graphic. Photo credit: PlayStation.com

What I Liked

  • Claw-slash graphic looks genuinely sharp in person, not like a printed sticker
  • Bold Battle Yellow finish stands out on a shelf full of standard controllers
  • Same excellent adaptive trigger and haptic feedback as any other DualSense

What I Didn’t

  • Premium price for zero functional difference from a standard DualSense
  • Limited run means popular colorways can sell out fast

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A great-looking tie-in controller if the design speaks to you, and it landed at exactly the right moment to catch me off guard and empty my wallet.

Where to Buy

The Astro Bot Joyful DualSense, Round Two of Buying a Controller for the Paint Job

Hardware Review · Purchased September 12, 2026 · $114.99 CAD via PlayStation Direct

DualSense Wireless Controller Astro Bot Joyful Limited Edition
Photo credit: PlayStation.com

The Setup

I already own the original Astro Bot DualSense from the game’s 2024 launch, so buying the newer Joyful Limited Edition when it showed up on PlayStation Direct this month was purely a case of not being able to resist a second colorway. This one leans into a brighter, more playful palette than the original’s launch design, tying into the game’s ongoing post-launch content rather than the base release itself.

Living With It

Functionally it’s identical to every other DualSense on the market, which is exactly what you’d expect and exactly what you want from a cosmetic special edition. The adaptive triggers and haptics work as well as ever, and the only real difference between this and my existing Astro Bot controller is the paint job and the accompanying box art. The new design does read as more vibrant and toy-like in person than the original’s cooler blue-and-white scheme, which fits Astro Bot’s tone better if I’m being honest with myself about which one I actually like more.

Buying essentially the same controller a second time purely for a different paint job is not a purchase I can really defend on practical grounds, and I’m aware of that. But between this and the original, I now have a small matched pair that looks great sitting side by side on my shelf, and sometimes that’s just the whole point of a purchase like this.

What I Liked

  • Brighter, more playful colorway than the original Astro Bot DualSense
  • Same excellent adaptive trigger and haptic feedback as any other DualSense
  • Looks great displayed alongside the original as a matched pair

What I Didn’t

  • Zero functional difference from a standard DualSense, purely a style purchase
  • Hard to justify owning two Astro Bot controllers on any practical grounds

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A great-looking controller if you’re already invested in the aesthetic, but there’s no pretending this was a necessary purchase.

Where to Buy

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, a Horror Game Built Entirely Around Shutting Up

Game Review · Purchased September 5, 2026 · $13.19 CAD via PSN

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead key art
Photo via PlayStation Store

The Setup

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead has been sitting on my wishlist since it launched a couple years back, and a PSN sale in September finally got the price low enough to pull the trigger. Developed by Stormind Games, it’s a third-person survival horror game built directly around the film franchise’s whole gimmick: stay quiet, or the things hunting by sound will find you.

Living With It

The sound-based stealth mechanic is genuinely well realized as a core system. Every action, from walking to opening a door to knocking over a can, generates a visible sound radius, and learning to move through environments while consciously managing your own noise output creates a very different kind of tension than most horror games bother with. There’s a real discipline to it: rushing through a section almost always gets you caught, and the game rewards a slow, deliberate pace in a way that fits the film’s whole ethos perfectly.

Where it wears thin is repetition. Once you understand the sound mechanic, which happens fairly early, the game doesn’t introduce a lot of new wrinkles to keep that same core loop feeling fresh across its full runtime, and by the back half I found myself going through the motions of the same sneak-and-hide pattern rather than being surprised by it. The atmosphere and sound design carry a lot of weight throughout, and the asthma mechanic tied to the protagonist adds a nice extra layer of tension on top of the noise system, but as a whole experience it’s a shorter, mid-tier horror game rather than something with a ton of replay value.

What I Liked

  • Sound-based stealth is a genuinely well-realized central mechanic
  • Strong atmosphere and sound design throughout
  • The asthma mechanic adds a clever extra layer of tension

What I Didn’t

  • Core loop gets repetitive once you’ve mastered the sound mechanic
  • Doesn’t introduce much new to keep the back half feeling fresh

The Verdict

Rating: 3.5/5

A clever central mechanic that doesn’t quite have enough behind it to fill its own runtime, but a good pickup on sale for fans of the films.

Where to Buy