Valve’s new Steam Controller isn’t perfect, but I’m buying one anyway

After my transient hands-on final 12 months with Valve’s new Steam Controller, I mentioned it might be my dream controller. I’ve been on the lookout for a controller with the customization and sheer perform out there on Valve’s Steam Deck whereas I’m enjoying video games on the TV. You, me, and a variety of different folks have been ready for this.

I’ve had the new controller in my fingers for greater than two weeks, and it is already altering how I play at residence. I used to make the Steam Deck handheld my go-to sofa gaming expertise due to how good it feels to carry, but the Controller has me docking my Deck to play on the TV as a result of it feels even higher.

I’ve spent hours crafting ridiculous combos in Vampire Crawlersblowing up bots in Pragmataand keeping off fearsome zombies in Resident Evil 2. For any sport I play, I can set any button or enter to be no matter I would like it to be, letting me make fully new layouts that robotically load each time I launch a sport.

Even higher, layouts created for the Steam Deck instantly switch to the identical spots on the Controller and vice versa. They ought to even work while you carry the gamepad to a buddy’s home and play on their machine. Go learn my colleague Cameron Faulkner’s story for extra on how the customization goes past some other controller in the marketplace.

Some issues I did not like as a lot, just like the place of the trackpads. But my quibbles will not cease me from dropping $99 on Monday, May 4th to order one for myself.

For me, all of it clicked into place after I normally pressed the R4 again button and the Controller instantly took a screenshot — the identical shortcut I’d already set on my Steam Deck. When all my different fine-tuned controls seamlessly carried over too, I noticed simply how helpful a first-party Valve controller may actually be.

Normally, after I put the Steam Deck on my dock and choose up a wi-fi gamepad, I’m settling for lesser controls. But with the Steam Controller and Steam’s in depth controller settings, it is as if I’m nonetheless holding the Deck: each button is precisely the place I anticipate it to be, endlessly and simply customizable, with my muscle reminiscence intact.

I’m glad it is seamless, as a result of the Controller is good. Like with the Deck, my fingers settle across the Controller’s grips, and each the joysticks and buttons are comfy to succeed in by thumb. Nothing rattles after I shake this gamepad. The D-pad feels extra strong, and so do the satisfyingly clicky new Steam and Quick Access buttons. (Quick Access is SW useful to have on a gamepad for little issues like adjusting quantity in a pinch.) The rumble feels crisper than on my 8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless, though Sony’s haptics on the TwinSense are nonetheless much better.

It’s additionally simple to get the controller working with my Steam Deck. You can plug in a USB-C puck that establishes a low-latency 2.4GHz reference to the controller (and magnetically attaches to the again of the controller for charging with a really satisfying snap). Or you need to use Bluetooth or plug a USB-C cable into the pad to play and cost concurrently.

One of my favourite options is a tiny color-changing LED on the prime of the controller to point its varied modes. White means you are linked through the two.4GHz puck, for instance, whereas blue is for Bluetooth. It even flashes pink when it is linked for an replace. Another charming contact: the Controller performs a Deck-like chime when it activates, and one when it turns off.

Valve says the battery offers you greater than 35 hours of gameplay, but due to the comfort of the puck, I have never careworn about battery in any respect. I do know some would like AA batteries since rechargeables degrade over time, but the comfort is a plus for me, the battery is definitely eliminated, and Valve says it is working with corporations like iFixit to ultimately promote replacements.

Sitting on my sofa — which, at most, is about 12 ft away from the puck below my TV — I have never noticed any discernible distinction in latency between the two.4GHz connection or Bluetooth. Even when switching between modes whereas enjoying video games the place timing issues, like Hollow Knight: Silksongany errors I made had been a ability concern, not Controller ones. I needed to stroll into faraway rooms to run into any notable latency in both wi-fi mode.

For most individuals enjoying video games at their desk subsequent to their laptop or alone on the sofa, both connection must be nice. Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais tells The Verge you will in all probability solely discover Bluetooth’s weaknesses should you’re attempting to make use of a number of Bluetooth controllers concurrently, or obtain video games on PCs the place the Bluetooth antenna doubles as an antenna for Wi-Fi.

One new function to the Steam Controller function is Grip Sense. Thanks to capacitive sensors, every of the Controller’s grips capabilities as a button. Like the whole lot else with the Steam Controller, both grip could be mapped to anything you need. In my expertise, Grip Sense usually prompts when the highest a part of my palm begins to twist across the grip, so that you do should be largely gripping the controller for it to work, making it nice for gyro controls. It was somewhat sensitive as a set off substitute in Resident Evil 2but I do not suppose that is the kind of factor most individuals will use it for.

The trackpads had been largely letdown. They’re not in a cushty spot for me to make use of extensively as a mouse; the few occasions I’ve tried, my contorted thumbs began to ache. Sure, the appropriate trackpad gave me barely finer management whereas combating zombies in Resident Evil 2. But I a lot want simply utilizing the appropriate joystick to intention. I did use trackpads in Vampire Crawlers as a mouse, to hover over some useful data I could not determine methods to see enjoying purely with gamepad controls. They’re useful to flick round a desktop, too. But, like with the Steam Deck, I will not be utilizing the trackpads on the Controller as a method to play mouse-based video games for hours on finish.

I additionally want the Steam Controller had a headphone jack, just like the TwinSense and Switch Pro controller. It’s simply a lot simpler to plug headphones into these controllers as a substitute of coping with wi-fi headsets. Plugging in USB-C headphones to the USB-C port on prime would not work for audio, I attempted.

And as a result of the Steam Machine and Steam Frame nonetheless aren’t out there but — and we do not know when they are going to be, past sometime this yearor how a lot they may value — we have not but reviewed it with these gadgets. I additionally solely have one Steam Controller, whereas Cameron has the opposite on a wholly totally different coast, so we did not take a look at a number of Controllers linked to a single puck. (You can join 4 per puck.)

Still, the Steam Controller may be very almost my dream controller. It’s an costly possibility at $99, particularly after I have already got a bunch of controllers that I may use. But none of these have the identical magic. The Steam Controller’s additional perks are sufficient for me to purchase one for myself.