Is DIY’ing your own pro controller worth the effort?
| Pros | Cons |
| Faily easy to remap Comes in a range of colours Well Prices | Lack of multiple profiles No front panel in base kit No written instructions could be confusing |
The DualSense controller for the PS5 is still one of my favourites to date when it comes to console controllers, it’s ergonomic, Feels easy to use and the adaptive triggers add an extra layer of immersion to Shooters and other games. But for competitive gaming, it left a lot to be desired until recently when Sony released the Dualsense Edge their competitive gaming-oriented controller but at an eye-watering £210 I knew there must be a more cost-effective solution on the market when it came to paddles and remapping controllers. Enter ExtremeRate and the Rise Remap 4.
The kit itself is a (mostly) no-solder PS5 remap kit that prides itself on being easier to install than many others on the market. It provides you with two paddles and 2 buttons on the bottom of your controller, which can be mapped to any array of the other inputs on the controller (more on this later however). But how well does it actually work, and can it actually help improve your game? Lets jump in and find out.
Installation
Its important to note before even ordering a kit that 1. this will require some disassembly of your controller. 2. Require a bit of soldering to get the full feature set from the kit and 3. Make sure you choose the correct kit for your controller.
In true Sony fashion, there are 2 different controllers SKU’s each one requiring a different kit and install guide for both the BDM-010 and BDM-020 so do check your controller using the handy tool on their website here and ensure you order the correct kit.
In the box you get a new backplate in your choice of colour, the remap paddles and buttons. a plethora of wires and connectors and a low quality screwdriver and squeegee for opening and closing the controller. Its nice to see you get everything you may need to get the installation done in the box.
Exactly how complex the installation is will completely depend on what controls you intend on remapping. the RISE kit is mostly solder-free. You can use simple in-line connections to connect to the X, O, triangle, square, L1, R1, L2, and R2 buttons. You can also map the four D-pad directions without using any soldering. if however you wanted to map L3, R3 (the sticks) or the touchpad a small amount of soldering is required though this is much less daunting than in sounds, helped massively in part by the very good instructional video they put together with timestamping to skip soldering if desired. I would have liked to have seen some written instructions here too as the video at times did go a little fast and a lot of scrubbing was needed to finally get the controller rebuilt. the process took around 45 mins including the soldering which for someone with a visual impairment (seeing small solder points is a challenge) and with very little electrical engineering skill is an impressive feat and a testament to extremerate and their ease of installation and great video guide.
Design
Once all installed it was time to sit back and admire my handywork. Now this may well have been my own fault for the colour choice but the first thing that struck me about the kit was just how out of place it looked due to the kit not coming with a matching front plate replacement so the stark contrast of White, Black and Grape is certainly a strange choice. It would have been nice to see a full front replacement too included in the box, though it can be purchased separately in a bundle or at a higher price to include the whole controller replacement would have been nice to see here.
The plastic shell alongside being aesthetic also gives you a significantly better grip compared to the standard shell due to the slightly rubbery and rough texture. this was certainly a pleasant surprise and makes losing your grip on the controller during a heated and sweaty multiplayer session. When holding the controller it’s easy to reach all 4 very tactile and clicky buttons that are a little easy to hit accidentally but this is certainly something you would be able to get used to over time.
Outside of colour, I think the kit itself looks good, adding a small bump to the back of the controller where the 2 paddles and 2 buttons are housed along with a map button and LED. its small enough to not feel cumbersome and adds minimal weight to the overall controller however due to its protrusion the controller will no longer fit in a charging dock so USB-C charging is a requirement.
Performance and Use
What good is a mappable controller if it’s hard to do? well, I am happy to report that remapping is one of the easiest and most painless processes I have had, holding down the setup button on the Rise system enters you into setup then it’s as simple as holding the desired button and paddles on the controller for a few seconds. that’s it, I love how simple this is to do because it means you can remap quickly for each desired game and this is key for 1 major reason, you are unable to save profiles to this device so for each game you want to use the controller for you need to remap each time. this is slow and cumbersome and a deal breaker for some who play a range of competitive games, in the future I would like to see this product with inbuild memory for a few profiles you can change between on the fly so as to not have to spend time remapping between games.
Did it actually improve my gameplay though? I think this is questionable but it certainly felt like an advantage while using it, the ability to keep both fingers on the sticks and jump in games such as warzone are integral to quick movements and faster reactions due to not having to move your thumbs from the sticks to press a face button for instance. Its not even competitive FPS style games that benefit from the remap, single-player experiences like Hogwarts Legacy benefited for me too with a rather confusing control scheme that can be remapped to make it even easier to switch spells on the fly without having to look down and remember which obscure button did the thing you needed.
It’s worth noting not every game benefits from the remap kit and can sometimes be a hindrance. Take Grand Tarismo for example where an accidental hit of the paddle can send your car handbrake turning around a corner! the ability to totally disable the remapping would be incredibly useful in this case and something I may like to see in the future.
Verdict
So can I recommend the Rise Remap 4 for PS5? I think the answer to that depends upon the gamer you are, if your looking for the upper hand in your favourite game and don’t mind getting your hands dirty modding a controller and remapping for every game at just under £40 right now this should be a no brainer. however, its lack of profiles for different games makes it a more challenging sell for many gamers who play a plethora of games.
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