Summary
Console exclusives can be a good thing. They let developers leverage the full power of a single console and all its unique qualities without having to worry about optimising for other platforms. Of course, that isn’t always the most profitable or logical decisions. More games for more people is just as important.
That doesn’t lock you out from giving some unique features to a game, even when it is multi-platform. In fact, sometimes it’s even a good choice to give people a stronger choice between the platform they get the game on. These games took that lesson to heart, giving each platform a unique experience.
Death Stranding felt like a pipe dream for a long time until it finally wasn’t. Originally released as a PS4 exclusive, it eventually made its way to PC and Xbox, opening up the path to rebuild America to people around the world. Orignally having started on the PS4 though, it still retains many of those unique features.
The unique aspects of the Dualsense controllersare chief among them, with shaking the controller letting you lightly lull BB back to sleep. 3D audio plays a role as well, letting you really immerse yourself in the world in a way the others don’t quite support.
Certain features of the Dualsense controller are supported on the PC version, though this requires a wired connection at all times.
Before Bioware became a larger multiplatform developer, it was renowned for its PC games, like the original Baldur’s Gate. The studio is long shifted away from this now, with Dragon Age Origins the last of its game that holds this legacy.
Dragon Age: Origins released on both PC and consoles, though the PC version had some benefits on its side. The biggest of these is the tactical camera, letting you zoom out to give you a bird’s eye view of any area you’re in to get a better view of the battlefield.
Dragon Age Inquistion brings back a version of this camera, which is graciously available on console as well.
Okami originally released on the PS2, with the Celestial Brush techniques having to be drawn with the the analog sticks. This improved with the Wii version, letting you use motion controls to paint. On the Switch, the Celestial Brush finally feels like it’s found a proper home.
Unlike every other version of Okami, only the Switch has a touchscreen, letting you paint as if painting the brushstrokes yourself. It feels like a much more natural way of using the techniques, and can be activated at a moment’s notice by just touching the screen.
When Firewatch released back in 2016, it came to immediate fame. You’re not the main character, you’re just doing your job. There’s no hero here, no mystery to solve. It’s a quaint little adventure. On the Switch however, it has a fascinating little extra.
Walking a bit off the worn path, you can find the Forrest 64 game cartridge. This lets you play a unique 3D minigame where you run about the forest in third-person collecting emblems. It’s a lot of effort just for one secret.
The power of the Metal Gear Solid games, aside from their well-realised stealth and effective commentary upon the horrors of war, was how integrated it was into the contemporary tech of the time. It launched on PS1 initially, yet despite the many ports and remasters since, no version has had all the features of the original.
The Psycho Mantis battle has him reading all your inputs, forcing you to change the controller port. This has been recreated in various forms though. What has remained exclusive is the ability to read your save files. Psycho Mantis could recognise your other Konami games, and even tally up what style of games you liked to play.
The chokehold that Skyrim has on the gaming industry, and the modding community especially, is hard to undersell. And while mods can let you recreate just about anything you want, it’s only the Xbox 360 version that has a unique feature all of its own.
Kinect was a controversial, often under-utilised piece of techfor the 360, but being able to actually shout the in-game Shouts was an incredible, hilarious experience. It was by all means janky, but something you just couldn’t get anywhere else.
Square Enix was known, until more recent games, as having rather poor ports, and PC ports chief among them. Mobile games and their massive UI with locked framerates and lack of keyboard support. In a rather humorous twist though, Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster actually has features no other release of the game has.
Commonplace in its PS1 ports, FFZ was the first 3D entry, and that seemed to necessitate locking the ability to turn off encounters and speeding up the game.
That said, the PS Vita also had a unique Quick Recovery feature, though this returned with the Switch release.
The release schedule of Monster Hunter Rise was a fascinatingly staggered event. First it came to Switch, then PC shortly before the release of Sunbreak, and then finally to every other console. And amongst all of that, it is the PC version that held on to a single unique feature.
Filters. Whileevery version has photo modewhich lets you apply filters, only the PC version lets those be applied to general gameplay, as well as even a few unique ones that lightly alter sound effects too.
Resident Evil 4 is far-and-away the most well-known of the Resident Evil games, and has just about never not been available across its many releases. These releases mostly have parity, though the RE4 Remake has something rather substantial that no other release has, and that’s Virtual Reality.
In a trend for Capcom, the RE games are released everywhere, yet the VR mods are always kept exclusive to PlayStation, PSVR2 in this case. Which is deeply unfortunate, because it is an incredibly way to experience the thrill and horror of that world.
Gestures make up the bulk of communication in FromSoftware’s Soulslike games. A point in a certain direction, a little dance, squatting in pride. This is a unanimous experience across all platforms, though the PlayStation releases have fascinatingly always had a unique way of expressing themselves.
And it is a way most players may not even be aware of. The PS4 and PS5 controllers are motion sensitive, and twisting it in certain ways lets you perform prompts while holding Triangle. It is the most ineffectual system for gestures, though you can treat it as a form of roulette. You never know what gesture you’ll get.
