PS5 Reviews Reveal Several Oversights, such as Lack of Quick Resume and External Storage Restrictions

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The first PlayStation 5 reviews have hit the web today, giving Sony fans an in-depth look at how the next-gen console works and what it’s capable of. But while early critical reception seems to be positive, there are definitely some quirks with its hardware and software.

One relates to the competition’s Quick Resume feature, which, as Microsoft explains, allows Xbox Series X|S users to “continue multiple games from a suspended state almost instantly, returning you to where you were and what you were doing, without waiting through long loading screens.”

Gamespot is reporting that the PlayStation 5 doesn’t have anything comparable to this. Despite the console’s blazing-fast NVMe SSD, PS5 owners will have to exit and sit through a cold boot every time they want to switch games.

Thanks to the PS5’s speedy SSD, that isn’t much of a wait, but it does mean that users can’t play multiple games at once.

“…you’ll need to find a save point in, say, Demon’s Souls if you don’t want to lose any progress when you decide to join your friends for a match of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War,” Gamespot explained.

We’re also learning that the PS5’s external storage support is kind of nerfed. According to Polygon and Push Square’s coverage, PS5 games cannot be stored on an external device, nor can save files.

“While you can move PlayStation 4 games backwards-and-forwards between the SSD and an external HDD, the same option does not apply to next-gen software,” Push Square noted.

The save file quirk seems particularly annoying. Currently, PS5 users can only move or back up save files through Sony’s cloud storage options – but those options are only available through a paid PlayStation Plus subscription.

Lastly, The Verge reported that the PS5 won’t support SSD storage expansion at launch. That’s extremely disappointing, being that the built-in storage only comprises 625 GB of usable space.

“[T]his is reserved for a future update,” Sony wrote.

Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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