The second I placed the PDP Riffmaster controller in my hand for the first time, I was taken back to playing the original Guitar Hero 20 years ago. In a flashback that wouldn't feel out of place in Pixar's Ratatouille, the sleek, glossy plastic of the guitar-shaped peripheral reminded me of the hours spent gaining 5 stars in every song on expert - a skill I managed to keep to the release of Guitar Hero World Tour years later.
Capturing that amount of nostalgia into a PS5 controller doesn't come cheap, this is a $129.99 / £129.99 accessory at full price. Yet, not only does this chunk of wireless plastic manage to encapsulate the feeling of playing one of the best rhythm games for the first time, but its modern features makes it the perfect peripheral for Fortnite Festival.
Unlike the older Guitar Hero controllers of the PS2-era, the PDP Riffmaster is decked out with two sets of buttons at the top and bottom of the fretboard. There's also an analog stick hidden behind the headstock, and a range of PS5 buttons to make it easier to navigate through the console and Fortnite's various menu options.
These officially licensed additions, along with the wireless connectivity, up to 36 hours of battery life, and collapsible design, make it a contender for one of the best PS5 accessories. It's certainly the guitar controller my teenage Guitar-Hero obsessed self could only dream of.
Right out of the box, the Riffmaster takes after Rock Band's early controllers more than anything produced for Guitar Hero. The gamepad features fake pegs on its headstocks to mimic that of the real-deal, just like the original Rock Band guitar launched in 2007.
That game specifically used the Fender Stratocaster as its inspiration so, of course it was going to have aspects of its design different from the more playful look of the original Guitar Hero gamepad. The PDP Riffmaster definitely leans into more of its Rock Band inspirations (which makes sense as it's compatible with Rock Band 4), but fortunately, it keeps the colored markings you'll remember from back in the day.
PDP has gone for a more subtle approach with the design, using all-black rectangular buttons, each similar in size to an actual fret. The remnants of Guitar Hero inspirations are still there, as they each feature the green, red, yellow, blue, and orange color markings at the edge of each button, which also comes in handy when knowing what to press when selecting a playlist of tracks to play in Fortnite.
While the Riffmaster wears its inspirations on its sleeve, its differences are definitely for the better. The buttons are still nice to press, but no longer do they come with the loud, overbearing clicky sound the original gamepad was notorious for - at least, according to my mom at the time.
The fret-board of the controller is also collapsible, so it's a lot easier to tidy away amongst your other PS5 accessories than what I was used to 20 years ago. More importantly, the buttons and the strum bar feel nice and tactile, and in my ridiculous amount of hours spent playing the brand-new Sabrina Carpenter tracks in Fortnite, there was never any lag or miss-presses.
The whammy bar also feels fun to trigger, just like it does on a real guitar, and the free accompanying guitar strap means it's far easier to lift the Riffmaster up and play at a height more comfortable for my old-gaming pensioner wrists.
The only real issue I've come across when trying to level up through the Fortnite Festival Music Pass is triggering overdrive. Tilting the neck of the controller is meant to get overdrive into gear, but I've never actually managed to get it working. Instead, clicking left on the d-pad, located on the bottom right of the guitar, or the PlayStation button does the job, which is not ideal.
Both of these buttons are pretty flush with the controller and hard to feel for. The last thing you want to do when reaching for a new high score on Chappell Roan's Hot To Go is to take your eyes away from your TV to hunt for a button. There's been plenty of occasions where it's messed up my playing regardless of the difficulty, and it's a bit frustrating that a 20-year-old PS2 controller could get this right instead.
At least the existence of these PS5 buttons is a nice addition to the modern gamepad. In the olden days, you had to rely purely on the strum bar and the colored buttons to navigate your way through the Guitar Hero games' menus, which was extremely tedious.
Now you can use the buttons or the stick hidden behind the neck, the included d-pad, and the official PlayStation button instead. PDP even went through the trouble of including the capture and settings buttons of the DualSense controller, so you can even take a screenshot, should you want to.
Guitar Hero and Rockband both used songs that would make the most of this controller design, but Fortnite Festival's roster doesn't always feel like the best fit. There have been plenty of occasions where I was trying to play along to Anamanaguchi's Miku, where the rhythm felt a little off. This will make it a bit harder to get 'into the groove' of things, so I highly recommend sticking to more guitar-heavy tracks when they appear in the Fortnite shop.
The guitar controller nostalgia keeps on coming
If you aren't quite sold on the PDP Riffmaster, then you'll be happy to know Turtle Beach's PDP brand isn't the only one catering to Fortnite Festival (and Clone Hero) fans. CRKD, known for being behind some of the best Nintendo Switch controllers, has a Gibson Les Paul guitar controller up for pre-order right now, set to launch in June 2025.
Just like the original Rock Band controller, CRKD has gone for a more realistic approach, and actually partnered up with Gibson to produce a controller based on the iconic Les Paul guitar. For just $119.99 / £119.99, (similar to that of the PDP Riffmaster), you can get the Black Tribal Encore Edition officially licensed for Xbox platforms, which is also PC compatible. Sadly, neither this nor the Pro version works with PS5 as of now, so if you only play Fortnite Festival on Sony's pixel-pushing beast, you're out of luck.
That's unfortunate for us who prefer to play the PS5 above all else, as CRKD has added hall effect sticks, and even haptic feedback to the strumming bar of the Pro version, which sounds irresistible to my music-rhythm game obsessed self. Alternatively, if you specifically miss the era of Guitar Hero on the Nintendo DS, you could grab the CRKD Neo S Fortnite Festival controller, but it's also missing that PS5 compatibility.
For now, the Riffmaster is a PS5 player's best option to play Fortnite Festival and Rock Band 4. And if you're an extra bit tech savvy, you can even use it to play older Guitar Hero titles, and Clone Hero, through your PC - just don't blame me if you work out how and it results in all your spare time spent trying to 5-star Through the Fire and Flames on expert.
If you're already rocking it out with the PDP Riffmaster, grabbing one of the best SSDs for PS5, best PS5 headsets, and one of the cheapest PlayStation Plus deals will help get you the most value out of your current-gen Sony console.
