The PlayStation 5 Slim is a half-generation upgrade of the next-generation console, PlayStation 5, which simply means that it only upgrades the appearance and some of the features of the console, with no significant changes in performance.
As a layman who is used to electronic products changing every year and has never been in contact with a home console before, this is the best opportunity for me to become a gaming rookie. Even though it was only a few days’ experience, it changed a lot of my stereotypes about consoles and console gaming, and opened up a lot of new worlds that I can’t wait to share with you.
What’s been upgraded on the PlayStation 5 Slim?
Let’s start with the changes to the PlayStation 5 Slim (we’ll refer it as PS5 Slim hereafter). As the name suggests, the biggest change in this upgrade is a more streamlined appearance. Compared to its predecessor, the new PS5 Slim is 30% smaller and weighs up to 24% less (digitally). It’s also a great way to fit into the modern home, where space is increasingly important – and of course you’re more than welcome to pretend it’s a powerful router. At the same time, the PS5 Slim Edition has changed from the stand that came with its predecessor, replacing it with a new horizontal stand. Of course, if you prefer to stand upright, you can also purchase the official stand separately. The new stand supports both the PS5 and PS5 Slim models, and is more sophisticated, easy to set up, and very stable.
On top of that, its front ports have changed, now upgraded to two high-speed Type-C ports (one of which has been upgraded to 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen2), and a separate disc eject button; the back ports are unchanged but slightly reordered; and the body’s fan design has been changed slightly. In addition to its appearance, another change to the PS5 Slim Edition is that although it is still sold separately as an optical drive and a digital version, unlike the previous “one-shot deal”, now even if you choose the lower-priced digital model up front, you can always add a standalone CD-ROM drive to install it and switch to the “optical drive” version at any time, which eases the decision-making process a great deal up front. Thanks to the PS5 Slim Edition’s independent four-panel design, removing and installing the optical drive is easy. At the same time, the PS5 Slim Edition’s digital capacity has also been upgraded to a 1TB SSD, which can hold two or three more 3A titles.
Although the same as a broad consumer electronics products, but I want to talk about the reasons for recommending it, next-generation consoles but have to use another perspective to discuss.
On the one hand, it has been three years since the release of the first generation of the PS5, although because of the specificity of the game console, the PS5 Slim Edition has not changed in performance, and players who already have the old model can replace it with a new one as they see fit if they have a higher demand for space; however, for new users, the more compact design, detachable optical drive and more storage capacity are also advantages that cannot be ignored, not to mention that its superb performance is not matched by its conscientiousness. With a price tag that doesn’t match its superb performance, there’s absolutely no need to reconsider the old model. On the other hand, the reason why it is called “next-generation” is because the upgrade of each generation of game consoles corresponds not only to the enhancement of parameter performance, but also represents a period of time in the field of gaming breakthroughs and presentations for the major studios, the development of the game to match the new consoles, adaptation and optimization of the time, and three years is just a node means that a large number of excellent works began to enthusiastically come out in this point of time and with the release of a new product just in time, it will not be possible for you to consider the old model. The timing of the release of a new product at this point in time is the best reason for outsiders like me to join the game, who have been stumbling around for a while.
Gaming experience
Now that I’m a rookie, I’d like to talk about the significance of the PS5 Slim Edition through two games I’ve been enjoying recently, Hogwarts Legacy and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. However, I would like to make it clear that the following is not a professional, rigorous review of the game, but just a sharing of emotions from a beginner user who has been opened to a new world.
Regardless of the fact that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has been praised by countless people for its realistic rendering of architecture, lighting and shadow, and even characters and worlds, it gave me a very surprising experience in the most conventional fight scenes. I didn’t need to intentionally combine buttons, even if it was just a bunch of random presses, the movements the protagonist performed were all different, and what’s more, there were sudden, but not abrupt, slow-motion highlights similar to those in a movie scene, all of which made the supposedly boring ‘fight after fight’ full of anticipation and unknowns.
This corresponds to the “leveling up” that I hated so much in my very limited and ancient gaming career, as my immense aversion to such repetition and tedium caused me to resist learning about and paying attention to anything related to games for at least a decade – believing that they just lead one from boredom to another kind of boredom. Unlike the stereotypical “puppet on a string” memories of the game, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 gave me a more intuitive sense of the oft-mentioned “game worldview,” which, unlike the original world of Legacy of Hogwarts, made me feel like I wasn’t mechanically advancing along with the game developer’s setups, but rather, that I was traveling through another parallel world. For example, at the end of a battle with a boss, the city that was torn apart by the fight would continue into the beginning of another storyline, and in between I could choose to either move quickly through the quest line or wander around unhurriedly, with citizens or firefighters popping up from time to time to call for help.
Being ‘pushed around’ at any point in time is extremely tiresome, so I refuse to be given more pressing tasks to perform in a game that is supposed to be a recreational experience, and games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 give me a whole new experience – if you’re tired of the real world, you might as well be reborn in another one. Rebirth.
And aside from the quests and plots, the huge and realistic game worlds also gave me a little bit of fun to go out and play. Thanks to the power of the PS5’s slimmer form factor, I was able to leap onto any tall building with ease and fluidity, and take photos of the city’s different perspectives as the time, weather, and lighting changed in a realistic way. There’s an extensive camera system built into the game that allows me to adjust the angle, movement, scale, and even focus, bokeh, and filters once I’ve found my spot, and then save the image – it’s ridiculous and punk.
All of this is just my experience at the moment, but the more valuable experience is the anticipation and imagination of the game’s future – how realistic the game can really be. I’m certainly not the kind of old-fashioned person who thinks that life is only meaningful when it comes to family and career, and I think that culture, art, movies and TV dramas are the most special embodiment of what makes human beings human, but before that, gaming was just a kind of “pastime” for me.
Now it’s different, I think gaming is important, it’s the light of human civilization, it’s a precious experience that every ordinary person deserves to enjoy and benefit from, it’s the hero’s dream for every tired moment we have. It’s a grand narrative, so grand that the PS5 Slim fits into it like a speck of sand, and yet it has to be said that the PS5 Slim is one of the best companions we have to experience this greatness.
