The PS5 Darkplates made me want to grab Sony’s upcoming black faceplates

My PS5 Digital Edition with the Darkplates 2.0. | Photo by Jay Peters / The Verge

I now stan the PS5’s original design

Sony has finally announced official PS5 faceplates in different colors, including red, pink, blue, purple, and — thankfully — black. But if you’re looking for an easy way to change up the PS5’s popped-collar aesthetic, you might want to check out Dbrand’s new PS5 Darkplates 2.0, which are more rounded and add a grille on each side.

Dbrand sent some to The Verge, and I’ve taken some photos of them on my PS5 Digital Edition so you can get an idea of what they might look like on your console. (Photos taken on my iPhone 12 Mini.)

I really like the matte black finish on the Darkplates 2.0. I feel it isn’t quite as conspicuous as the PS5’s standard two-tone look, and it matches well with the Xbox Series X and the black Nintendo Switch dock. And similar to what my colleague Sam Byford observed with the first version of the Darkplates, the plastic used for the Darkplates 2.0 feels sturdy — and I’m glad that’s the case since a set currently costs $59.05.

I’m less of a fan of the big grille that’s on each Darkplate. Dbrand claims on its website that the grilles make the PS5 run cooler. But I haven’t personally run into any overheating issues with my console when using the original PS5 faceplates, so I can’t vouch for whether the grilles make a meaningful difference.

Like Sony’s official faceplates and the Darkplates 1.0, there’s also an Easter egg on the inside of the plates. Sony etched a PlayStation icon microtexture featuring the PlayStation symbols, and the Darkplates 1.0 had Dbrand’s twist on those icons. For Darkplates 2.0, Dbrand opted to inscribe a lot of binary. I asked Dbrand what it means, and it said the binary is excerpts of the cease and desist letter Sony sent the company regarding Darkplates 1.0.

I expected to really like the Darkplates 2.0; I generally prefer black electronics, and I wasn’t a fan of the PS5’s design when it was announced. The color is great, but something about the overall look just isn’t clicking with me.

Maybe it’s the giant grilles. Maybe it’s how the Darkplates’ design exposes the light bar on the middle part of the console, which can be distracting depending on where I am in my living room. But maybe it’s just the fact that I’ve gotten used to the original design of the PS5. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still ridiculous, but to me, it’s what the PS5 is — popped collar and all — and I’ll probably be picking up a pair of Sony’s new $54.99 color faceplates in black so I can keep the original look but with a darker color.

When asked for comment about Sony’s new PS5 faceplates, Dbrand pointed to this tweet.