Meet Grifta: The Future Of Control

 Meet grifta, the modular controller funded through Kickstarter that’s coming to playStation to keep DualShock 4 company

When it comes to controllers, it’s usually a case of ‘go official or go home’. And with DualShock 4 comfortably winning the award for the best PlayStation pad ever made, this generation isn’t crying out for third-party control alternatives.

But what about a specialist device designed to complement not replace PS4’s pad of choice? That’s what Grifta, the ‘morphing gamepad’ that successfully met its Kickstarter target this month, is aiming to be.

The baby of inventor Paul Weatherstone, it’s a multi-format control system (compatible with PS4 thanks to the existing XIM4 adapter, which already lets you use keyboards and mice) designed to give you choices. With three different handle sizes (plus the mix for a fourth so you can create a custom grip), and the ability to switch the D-pad and buttons for left-handed gamers, Grifta’s the result of over three years’ worth of dismantling pads and approaching them from new angles.

It won’t make you better at FIFA, but Grifta is built to come into its own for the likes of flight or space sims, or first-person shooters. Mechanical switches and capacitive touch shoulder buttons (operated by nudging with the outside of your trigger fingers) impress, but it’s the ability to pair Grifta’s left hand module with a mouse or flight stick in your right hand that could really give you the competitive edge over rivals we tested it with the mouse set-up and can appreciate how K/D ratios could soar with practice.

Clip-on antlers with a trio of LEDs also turn units into motion controllers (custom input mapping means you could play GTA V’s first person sections like this), and for gamers unable to use pads because of disabilities this could be the ticket into the PS4 universe.