These are the questions I've struggled with while playing Mario Kart World. After an hour or so of existential dread and self-reflective navel-gazing, my conclusion is that a good kart racing game (and by extension, a good Mario Kart game) feels good in that races are hectic and slick with responsive controls. A good kart racing game is also never actually unfair, despite sometimes feeling like it 𓃲is out to get you, with mechanics designed to keep you in the thick of things even if you've fallen behind.

By these metrics, what I've s⛄een of Mario Kart World is certainly good. Zooming through the various tracks at 150cc is a colorful blast with plenty of shortcuts and surprises, and more than once I found myself managing a mad dash from 24th to 1st thanks to a combination of clutch items and clev𒁃er handling. The core Mario Kart experience of goofy racing punctuated by diabolical shells of varying colors is alive and well.

Tour the world

Mario Kart World isn't purely content to sit on its laurels by simply repeating past successes. As the name implies there's a whole vast world out there to explore that the new Nintendo Switch 2 game tak♒es every opportunity to enjo꧒y. You can seemingly safely ignore the game's larger world in favor of just plain old racing if that's what you really want to do, but you'd be missing out.

In Grand Prix mode, for e♔xample💫, you can do the usual four-map race as a continuous course by traveling from one race to the next. Knockout Tour is a somewhat similar concept with one single long race featuring checkpoints where players are – you guessed it – knocked out if they don't place high enough. And then there's Free Roam, which, well, allows you to freely roam around Mario Kart World's vast map.

I have spent time drifting across all Mario Kart World has to offer – with a small amount of time spent in Battle Mode, Knockout Tour, andꦇ even a local co-op GameChat session w𝕴ith three players where the single camera superimposed three different live cropped images above our respective karts – but it is Free Roam that I keep finding myself cruising back to. In part, this is absolutely by design, as basically every single moment of downtime between races or while rules are being decided lets me wander about, but it's also because of just how tempting Free Roam is.

Free as a Birdo

It's hard to emphasize the sheer scope of Mario Kart World's, well, world to anyone that hasn't been able to experience it for themself. The sprawling race courses are stitched together with connective tissue that bridges them into related groups which are then also stitched together. The end result is a massive map you can kart arou⛦nd in, explore with pals,🔥 and discover ways to unlock a vast array of collectibles from stickers to outfits and more.

I am not typically one to spend much time searching out cosmetics – new karts and racers unlocked for me by simply racing – and yet I find myself absolutely compelled by Mario Kart World's P-Switch missions. The classic blue switch can be found all over the map during Free Roam, and activating them initiates a mission with various objectives. Maybe you have to dodge enemies, maybe it's following a series of rails, or maybe it'🦄s something else entirely, and what awaits you for completing these trials is a sticker for your efforts.

For most games, in my experience, these sorts of missions are typiꦡcally only worthwhile if the reward is meaningful. And stickers, while appreciated, aren't really what I'dꦍ consider meaningful. Mario Kart World's P-Switch missions are fun and interesting specifically because they are otherwise largely brief, meaningless diversions in a big open world that dangles some kind of goal in front of the player through use of an important skill that transfers to traditional races.

For example, Mario Kart World lets players grind on rails and jump onto and off of walls. If you're not at least familiar with both, you're immediately at a disꦕadvantage during races as your opponents will happily and regularly use anything to get ahead. More than one P-Switch mission I encoun🎃ter is in some way a tutorial to get more accustomed to grinding, riding on walls, and sometimes both. With how brief they are, and how easy each is to restart, it's hard to ever get too frustrated with any of them despite the inevitable skill tests.

Any one of these major additions – Grand Prix, Knockout Tour, and Free Roam – would feel like a significant enough change to warrant a new franchise entry, and all three at once (on top of many, many other changes) makes for an almost overwhelming departure. At this point, despite two separate⛎ day-long preview events with a large amount of time focused on the new Nintendo Switch 2 game and now playing it at launch, I feel like I've still just only just scratched the surface of what Mario Kart World𝄹 has to offer.

While I now have the Nintendo Switch 𒁏2 and Mario Kart World both in hand, this review in progress is largely based on experiences during multiple preview events hosted by Nintendo ahead of launch. A final star rating will not be assigned until I've been able to have a goodly amount of experience with the new video game and, as such, this review may change significantly over time.

Be sure to check out our full list of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 launch games to get the most out of the new console.

Nintendo has a tough task on its hands. The Nintendo Switch 2 picks up where the third-best-selling console of all time has left off. The original Switch took the world by storm, introdജucing a brand new hybrid way of play that helped it swallow up casual, hardcore, and even some competitive markets. This is the kind of innovative hardware that Nintendo is known for, and it’s damn hard to replicate.

The handheld will officially launch on June 5, but I’ve been hands-on with it several times now, a🐽t public ‘Experience’ events and in private sessions. My full review will follow once I’ve had a chance to live with Nintendo’s successor, but right now, I’m impressed - even if expectation🃏s set by Nintendo’s innovative history may need to be tempered.

At its core, this is an easily recognizable experience, the same docking system, same control scheme, same ⭕feel. That’s not to discount the very-real upgrades in performance or the surprisingly adept mouse sensor controls, but if you were hoping for another Switch-level, game-changing innovation from Nintendo you’re going to be let down.

But you knew that already.

We’ve now seen and heard enough about the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 to almost forget the deadly silence Ninty held over the console for years on end. We know it’s not a whole new console, it’s a second-generation Nintendo Switch. I’m here to tell you how it actually runs in-hand, and whether cameras and mouse sensors are neat gimmicks for mini-games or actual functionality improvements. In short, things are looking good - but Nintendo has🥃 to stick the landing.

Design

Despite sticking with the same 0.55-inch thickness, the Swi💦tch successor looks and feels a lot more svelte than its predecessor. I couldn’t work out why that was until I spent a decent amount of time with it in my hands, but now it’ꦕs obvious. The whole thing has been stretched vertically.

The display and Joy-Con are much taller this time around, rather than sitting squat in your palms and digging in in the process. The new form factor isn’t without its drawbacks, I noticed that the plus and minus buttons are harder to quickly reach during gameplay and using the Joy-Con sideways requires more of a stretch to the thumbstick if you’re stuck with the dreaded right controller.ꦬ I struggled to stay nimble with this larger horizontal shape in multiplayer scenarios, so it will be interesting to see how younger players fare.

That’s paired with a new soft-touch matte finish that makes for a far more comfortable experience than the som💦etimes-sticky feeling of the shiny plastic Joy-Con of yore. This coating is applied across the Joy-Con themselves as well as the tablet. It’s sleek, sophisticated, and much more grown-up than the original device.

This is Nintendo, though, and the brand has dropped a dash of color her🧔e and ཧthere. Hints of the original’s iconic red and blue aesthetic are present around the thumbsticks and in the internal connection between the Joy-Con and tablet. In keeping with the more mature ethos of the handhelds as a whole, these are more muted than shiny and bold.

The rea🌞r hinge has been extended out across, almost, the full length of the tablet but I was surprised to see how skinny it is in real life. The Nintendo Switch OLED improved the stability of this hinge with its own wider implementation, but still remained durable with a whole plate of plastic to work with. Here, we’ve got a slimline strip that’s a little tricky to unlock from the handheld and sits on a particularly thin base. I’ll be keeping a close eye on the stability of the hinge when I get to my full review, but it could be a point of concern for those with younger players.

Overall, I’m a fan of the new Nintendo Switch 2 design. It looks like everything a second-generation handheld should, refined but still nodding back to its iconic mainstays, and feels like a major upgrade. Yes, it weighs a little more than the original, but that’s good weight, it’s the same thickness but it’s far more streamlined in the hanꦅd. It’s the difference between an ill-fitting and a well-tailored suit, cinched in all the right places to loo🅷k much better without changing the core form factor.

Display

I was concerned when I first heard that the new device wouldn’t launch with an OLED display as standard. Then I set eyes on it in person. The truth is, this is a surprisingly impressive LED panel. Finally, we’ve got a full 1080p panel in handheld mode, with a 279 ppi pixel density that tops the 236 ppi of the original model and 209 ppi of the Switch OLED. While its blacks aren’t going to be as deep as those of the latter model, it🍸s HDR support and increased sharpness still make for an incredibly vibrant, detailed experience.

The vividness of Mario Kart World’s shone bright in testing, and I was impressed by how clean finer details like the pockets and stitching 📖around Mario’s overalls appeared even in FHD. The 12๊0Hz refresh rate stretched across the larger 7.9-inch display is the cherry on top.

Of course, Mario Kart World is the best way to truly put this screen’s speed to the test. Actual gameplay is much smoother - but that’s a combination of the upgraded internals as well as the screen. Where that refresh rate comes into play is the smaller moments, the lack oﷺf motion blur around fast corners, the effortless glide of a Bullet Bill ride. Does it fundamentally change gameplay? No, and 🤪it likely won’t outside of the hardcore FPS crowd, but it’s a tangible improvement to the experience as a whole.

It remains to be seen what kind of impact this full-whack 🐓120Hz mode will have on battery life, alongside the increased brightness and HDR. These are real battery killers in other devices, so I’ll be getting the stopwatch out when full testing commences this week.

Joy-Con

There are three major changes to the ཧJoy-Con for this generation, outside of that larger design; magnetic attachment, the addition of a mouse sensor, and enhanced rumble.

The first makes for a mu✨ch improved connection system compared to☂ the rails used in the original models. Attaching the Joy-Con is as simple as slotting the colored panels on the side of each controller into the inserts on the tablet itself and snapping them into place. Detaching is a simple push of a trigger underneath, while pulling the controllers away from the main body. It's a sturdy connection as well, you can feel it when pushing that release button without pulling hard enough on the controllers themselves - they’re desperate to snap safely back into place.

I do have one concern, and it arose when I looked at the side of the tablet where these controllers actually align. There’s a fairly large connector protruding from within this cubby and, while it’s generally covered by the overhanging lip of the sides themselves, it still looks vulnerable to small fingers poking and prodding. I’ll certainly be﷽ keeping a closer eye on longer-term durability during further testing.

The next big addition is the mouse sensor. This is the Switch 2’s big reveal, the added feature that makes the next-generation handheld a true Ninty successor - that is, it does something new and cool that could either defi☂ne the console as a whole or fade into obscurity. The role the mouse sensor will play in the Nintendo Switch 2’s success will be determined by its support. If enough games use it for central mechanics, it’s certainly got the grunt to be an immeasurable asset. If it’s relegated to toggle-able mini-games and the odd shovelware escapade, it’s an expensive mistake.

As it stands right now, I’m impressed. I test the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming mice from all corners of the market every day and, while the skinn🐟y Joy-Con side means it’s not going to compete with true competitive rodents, I did have a better time than I thought I would.

I tested it in a reaction-focused minigame housed within Welcome Tour: avoid the spiky balls falling down the screen by gliding your spaceship around with the mouse. Tracking is nippy, acceleration felt well-balanced, and response is consistent. The slimmer form factor of a Joy-Con under your hand doesn’t feel nearly as comfortable as a fu🌠ll mouse during longer play sessions, and the skinnier R button has a particularly short stop that’s a little vulnerable to accidental presses, but the actual sensor part? That’s good to go.

My only question is how much it will get used. I rarely, if ever, play in tabletop mode and when I’m docked I usually don’t have a table in front of me. Yes, these sensors track impressively even on trouser legs, but time will have t๊o tell how willing players will actually be to stick with these controls outside of a desk-based setup. I can easily see myself coming up to a section in a game where mouse controls are required, wondering whether it’s actually worth swapping to a completely different control scheme.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is the best case I’🎉ve seen for it yet. Actually replicating a PC FPS experience on a console is tough, but this is the closest we’ve come. Time will only tell if more titles build around these controls in the same way, but if they do this could be a standout feature.

The refinement of the HD Rumble system was actual🍨ly one of the first things I noticed about the Nintendo Switch 2 when I first held it. S🐎wapping back and forth between the original controllers and the new generation, it’s obvious that some serious work has gone into fine-tuning these motors. There’s more nuance to these vibrations that feels less bold and more precise. While the original bursts to life with a big loud judder, there’s an air of subtlety here.

I’ll be honest and say I haven’t noticed a massive difference in the thumbsticks and face buttons. The sticks are slightly higher and wider, making for a slightly more precise feel over𒉰all, and it feels like the buttons themselves might be a little more forgiving on the thumbs than the previous generation - though I’ll need more side-by-side testing to confirm.

GameChat

I’m yet to fully explore everything GameChat has to offer, but I did get a look at the couch co-op opportunities afforded by the Nintendo Switch 2 Camera. Mario Kart World is the game under the microscope here, but it’s obvious even from one title that Nintendo is going for a more social experience. That’s an element of console gaming of which the brand seemed almost defiant in its neglect over the previous generation, barely supporting its own chat app and lagging behind competitors in its online matchmaking overall♓.

It seems the new console is going all in on video, and it’s got some neat tricks up its sleeve. Four-player couch Mario Kart sessions were enhanced with a live feed of each player’s face hovering just above their character in the race, with all four faces captured at once. The hardest part is making sure you find the time mid-race to laugh at everyone’s very-serious-concentration. Tracking is available if you’ꦚre the only player in front of the camera, but ꦗit’s still impressive to see the smaller implementations of Ninty’s new toy.

I’ll be testing online GameChat in its full glory more extensively once I’m in the review process, and will report back, but so far, camera quality looks like it does t🌸he job without blowing a budget, and the process looks to be fairly streamlined.

Home Screen / UI

Nintendo has kept quiet about its UI and home screen, even w🐟hile the Switch 2 was out on the showfloor at various Experience events. Put simply, there’s nothing particularly new going on here.

This is an instantly recognizable home screen with just a few buttons added along the bottom of the device. Smaller tweaks are noticeable - game covers feature rounded corners now, with a b⛄lue and purple outline highlighting each one, as opposed to the teal color we saw in the previous UI. The home screen also now features dedicated buttons for GameChat and Game Sharing, though the latter is also packaged in with the Switch and Switch OLED thanks to a recent update. It’s also nice to see that the Joy-Con mouse function can be used on the home screen, giving me hope for eShop integration as well.

Quick menus are still here, and if you pick up the Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller you’ll be glad to know you can remap those back buttons on the fly. This is an easy process, far quicker than it is on any other gamepad I’ve tried. Simply pull up the💖 quick menu with a hold of the Home button, select the button you want to map an✨d hit the control you want to set it to.

There are 🅷no new themes, that I’ve seen so far anyway. We’re still stuck with the standard black / whit🐭e backdrop.

Games

Onto the good stuff, the games. At launch the Nintendo Switch 2 has 24 confirmed tiܫtles heading its way, though only two are new first-party Nintendo titles built directly for the Switch 2 system; Mario Kart World and Welcome Tour. There’s only one third party exclusive on the docket, Fast Fusion, alongside a host of remasters, ports, and re-releases for everything from the Zeldas to Cyberpunk 2077 and Hitman.

On launch day, then, there’s not going to be much new to experience - especially if you don’t like racing games. However, there are a few games in this roster that give us an indication of where Nintendo wants its system to be positioned. Cyberpunk 2077 didn’t have a hope in hell of running on the original handheld, ♈and a few generations ago CD🐽 Projekt Red would have had similar chances of publishing it on a Nintendo console.

Nintendo hasn’t been opposed to less-than-family-friendly games being on its syst🐽ems for some time now, but it’s taken the Switch 2’s performance upgrades for enthusiasts to truly take note. I’ve had a Switch OLED since it launched, but I’ve also had a PS5 and a gaming laptop. Besides Stardew Valley, Oxenfree, and Dragon Quest titles, I haven’t played anything on the Switch t♈hat I can’t play on another platform; it’s more expensive and it doesn’t run as well.

I’m in a lucky positiᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚon. Most players will pick a device and stick with it - this time around, it looks like Nintendo wants to be that platform for enthusiasts as well as families. It’s undeniably impressive that giants like Cyberpunk 2077 and H🧔itman can keep their cool on a device as slimline and portable as the Nintendo Switch 2, especially running in 4K when docked.

If Niꦺntendo can keep up with upcoming blockbuster releases, the Switch 2 c💮ould well be in with a shot at becoming a primary driver for a lot more players.

This is just one sub-section of the library, though. The system is mostly backwards compatible, with a few 🃏original Switch games being left off the roster (likely due to Joy-Con limitations). Then there’s the remaster carousel, a ride we’ve all been on for a good few years now. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are the biggest Switch 2 games to receive their upgrade patches ready for day one, but it’s likely we’ll see more re-releases in the future as well.

Dock

Nintendo kept its dock in a little plastic♓ cage for most of its Experience events, but I was able to get up close and personal with the fan-filled hub before launch. I’ll be better able to report on temperatures and volume once I get the device into my own setup, but from myꦡ initial inspection, it doesn’t seem like the extra cooling is adding too much noise to the experience. I never noticed the fans whirring up during my time playing Mario Kart World or Welcome Tour, though I was in a room louder than most living rooms.

The dock does, however, allow us to finally output the Nintendo Switch 2 at 4K 60Hz, and features a more rounded design than even the OLED model offered. The hard, squat corners of the original are long gone now, and while the Switc🌳h 2 dock keeps the softer edges of the OLED release, it also extends into a rounded hump at the back as well. This is to house those new fans and adds a considerable 🤡amount of heft to the final footprint.

It’s not large enough to lose its spot next to most TV setups, but this isꦯ a much more substantial piece of kit overall.

Performance

The Nintendo Switch started showing its age long before it was eventually put out to pasture, so it’s the internal performance upgrades that will make or break the Switch 2. With a mysterious new chip and an unknown RAM amount, Ninty has maintained its silence around the actual innards of its new handheld. I’ve played Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, Met🦂roid Prime 4 Beyond, and Drag X Drive and one thing is obvious; we’re miles away from where the Switch dropped us off.

Perhaps the biggest showcase for these performance upgrades🅺 is Mario Kart World. It’s not the game’s increased 24-racer capabilities, its expansive open free roam mode, or the smooth glide of the action on-screen that impressed me the most, though. The biggest indicator thatౠ we’re now playing with a whole load more power came from the water.

There are a number of tracks that have you sloshing through canals and rivers, and a whole 𒐪ocean can be explored in free roam mode. The way these waves picked up and carried light while maintaining their smooth motion and fluid textures was a real eye-op🐲ener during my time with the Switch 2. Yes, splash effects are sparse still, and ray-traced effects aren’t going to rival those of high-end PCs, but even the rain looks better, and that’s pretty telling.

There’s no framerate information built into the Nintendo Switch 2, but watching it run next to a Nintendo Switch OLED reveals a palpable difference in smoothness aܫnd detail - supporters hold actually-waving flags in the distance, each corner and turn feels incredibly responsive, and fast-moving onscreen elements (even down to the fire erupting from your exhaust with a boost) are all much clearer.

The benefits are easily spotted in Metroid Prime 4 Beyond, where mouse controls will quickly reveal inconsistencies in any framerate counter. I only played a small amount of this title during preview events, but onscreen action looks far slicker and feels far tighter than, say, Doom on the original handheld. We’re not running an RTX 5090 here, I did notice a drop in that responsive high-fps feel around busier events - but it’s nowhere near the jaggedy levels of the previous generation console, I’d still mo🍰re than happily sail on past without a second thought.

These first impressions come from a selection of Nintendo-picked games, I’ll be back to provide a much larger picture once I’ve put the Switch 2 through its paces a little more in my review. At the moment, though, I’m excited about where this handheld is headed. If the last generation has taught us anything, it’s💫 that Nintendo knows how to optimize and if this is where we’re starting off the Switch 2’s future is looking bright.

The Nintendo Switch 2 has a lot to prove. That $449.99 / £395.99 launch rate has come under fire, not as much as its game prices, but enough to shine a spotlight on exactly what the system does dꦕifferently to its predecessor. It would be easy to look at the similar form factor and decry the Switch 2 for playing too close to its established rulebook and yes, this is an evolution rather than a whole new device. It’s a desperately needed evolution, and one that Nintendo has taken its time about delivering, but it's an iteration nonetheless.

It’s no bad thing.

The Nintendo Switch may have captured lightning in a bottle, but the Switch 2 is cranking up the generators and putting that electricity to work. The potency of new features like GameChat and the mouse sensors depends entirely on games to support them. For now, the hardware’s all there - Nintendo just needs to make sure there’s enough software to give these ele🐠ments some runway.

I’m yet to fully get stuck into the handheld, and there are some design elements that present early concerns, but from where I’m sitting two days before launch we could be in for an excellent eight years🎃.

Check out all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 games now confirmed for the system, as well as our full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 vs Nintendo Switch head to head.

The Rival 3 has always been a classic go-to for a no-frills, wallet-friendly wireless pointer. Sure, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming mouse models can run DPIs of u♚p to 40,000 with polling rates that boggle the mind. But if you don't want to part with more than three-figu💎res, this has always been a solid companion.

This budget-friendly rodent has had a glow up for 2025, with the SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 hitting the shelves at $59.99 / £54.99 and p🔯romising an improved battery life, reducedಌ click latency, upgraded PTFE feet, and extra software features. There are far more players in this arena compared to the original's launch, though, and with names like Razer and NZXT vying against cheaper brands like Keychron and Cougar, the SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 has its work cut out for it.

Design

One of the biggest new changes to this year's Gen 2 series is the increase in color options. The SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless now comes in both black and white as well as Aqua and Lavender. I've had them all on the test bench, though the white version has been out and about the most. The blue and purple options appear just a little brighter in SteelSeries' photography than they do in real life. I love the Aqua model in particular, but it is slightly darker than the sky-blue on the web♔site.

Still, both the blue and purple versions have a slightly more satisfying underside than the white model. This is a courtesy nod to the past, with a translucent design t🍸hat provides a glimpse into the g🐼uts of the rodent itself. The white version still features this panel, but it doesn't quite show the insides off as well. If you're chasing that retro aesthetic, even subtly, I'd certainly recommend a colored model.

All versions share the same foundations, though. A 120.6mm long, 67mm wide, and 38mm chassis keeps𒉰 things easily flickable dur🐻ing faster moments, while still providing enough space for a comfortable claw grip or even a palm grip if you've got slightly smaller hands.

This is an ever-so-slightly flat design compared to the 41.3mm tall 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed (39.1mm), both of which use more of a humped dome to stay comfortable. That means it's better suited to faster twitch-reflex motions, though doesn't quite fit a more relaxed posture. I've got rela🐈tively small hands and play with a claw grip most 🧔of the time, and stayed comfortable during longer sessions.

Underneath, the SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 has been outfitted with 100% PTFE feet for improved glide over the previous generation. It's not exactly light on those feet, though, and the additional weight of the battery mean🐼s it's a little more cumbersome than alternatives.

The battery compartment underneath the main hump works hard to keep things balanced, but there's still a noticeable drag from the rear. It wasn't enough to slow me down during even fast-paced single-player adventures like Doom: The Dark Ages, but it did feel a little woolly in competitive FPS arenas. The max weight (with both batteries inserted) is 106g, hefty by today's standards. For only $10 more, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Keychron M7 8K is fully rechargeable and weighs only 63g.

SteelSeries makes up for this weight increase in its build quality. This is a sturdy mouse indeed, without even a creak when squeezed on the sides or top and bottom. That's incredibly impressive for a $59.9ꦇ9 gaming mouse built out of solid plastic, especially considering it's a hurdle Keychr🦄on's cheaper mice sometimes fall at.

That dense build is complimented by a slightly textured surface up top, a design feature I've come to miss in this era of slightly clammy matte finishes. The slightly bumpy plastic provides excellent grip and avoids that sweaty feeling during longer play sessions. It reminds me of the surface of the far more expensive 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Viper V2 Pro, and it was the feel of that particular mouse༒ that had me running back to it time and time ag🎃ain.

Controls

SteelSeries isn't๊ looking to do anything particularly new with its control scheme here. Instead, you're getting everything you need from a modern gaming mouse without paying for any unnecessary extras. Two side buttons and a DPI shifter button in the center of the main clicks are all fully remappable, and function as expected.

Those side buttons aren't as easy to hit on this pointer, though. The front clicker tapers out into a particularly thin front-half, which doesn't hold up particularly well under faster movements. I've come to keep my shield throw bound to this button for Doom: The Dark Ages and I never felt like I could reliably hit it fast enough. The skinny button 🃏isn't particularly intuitive in the heat of battle, and the heavier force required to actuate can slow things down as well.

The scroll wheel is nicely notched and🎶 provides a defined step between each rotation that makes cycling through weapons particularly responsiv𒉰e without feeling heavy.

Software

The SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 is fully compatible with the brand's GG software, which houses all your keybindings, DPI settings, battery saving features, and sensor adjustments. This has never been my favorite program, Razer's Synapse feels more intuitively laid out, and the NZXT CAM program used to run the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lift Elite Wireless m💮ouse is much cleaner as well. It's better than iCue, though.

The Engine tab is where you'll find all your devices, with one page of settings to manage for the Rival 3. Keybindings are simple to set up, though the menu system for finding individual functions isn't particularly appealing and sometimes nestles commands in unintuitive spots. An easy macro editor sits at the top of this menu, though, so setting your own keyboard inputs is particul🌃arly speedy.

Han♏dy sliders allow for easy adjustment across polling rate, acceleration and deceleration, as well as the strength of your angle snapping, while toggles take care of the mouse's "High-Efficiency Mode", a super-low power setting, "Bluetooth Smoothing", which reduces jitter when using the slower connection, and "Wireless Stability Enhancement", for those using the device with a lot of other wireless connections around.

That's a considerable wad of controls for a cheaper gaming mouse, slightly extending pas𓄧t similarly priced options from NZXT and Razer.

Connection

While some cheaper 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:wireless gaming mice will keep your connection limited to either Bluetooth or 2.4GHz, the SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 is far more versatile. Both modes are available for speedy pairing, enabled via a toggle on the underside of the device. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cougar Revenger Pro 4K, NZXT Lift Elite Wireless, and Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed all stick to 2.4GHz only - even the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed drops the Bluetooth connect🌃ion, and that's $40 m💫ore.

This is an excellent turnout compared to the competition, though, and considering the Rival 3 still featured dedicated connection features like Bluetooth smoothing and wireless stability enhan𝔉cements there's some serious value packed in. I noticed far greater benefits from the latter, however.

Bluetooth smoothing didn't add any notಌiceable improvements over the stock experience in my testing, but I was experiencing a notable amount of connection dropouts and jittering ಌwhen using a 2.4GHz dongle connected to a busy USB-4 hub. There's no receiver extender included in the box, though I did see a dramatic reduction in this interference when using the dongle directly plugged into a laptop.

More competitive players may be intereste💟d in moving up to the Keychron M7 8K or NZXT Lift Elite Wireless for their 8,000Hz polling modes. However, the vast majority of users will be well served by the 1,000Hz cap on the Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2.

Battery

This is a replaceable battery affair, with two AAA charges supplied in the box. The SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 can run 🧔with either both installed (parallel, underneath the main dome) or one, for a lighter experience. I opted for the la🌟tter to keep things speedy in-game, and noticed battery draining at a rate of around 4% every five hours. Extrapolated out for constant use, that translates at around 80 hours of battery total.

SteelSeries suggests that running both batteries under the hood will provide 200 hours, so it makes sense that halving that power will further reduce your lifespan. It's also understandable that a single battery will feel the strain a little more by itself, which explains the drop to 80 hours here, instead 🍸of 100.

The Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 also accepts rechargeable AAA batteries as well, whicꦉh will keep those recurring costs down and prove more environmentally friendly as well. For $10 more, both the Keychron M7 8K and Cougar Revenger Pro 4K come with rechargeable batteries built in, lasting 140 hours for the former and 150 hours on the latter.

Sensor

The second-generation Steelᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚSeries Rival 3 Wireless uses the same TrueMove Air sensor as the older model. This is a modified Pixart 3335 and it's a little older than most of the gaming mice in my comparison pool. That 18,000 DPI is still going to serve the vast majority of players well, though the 400 IPS could make for less accurate faster movements if you're particularly speedy.

Everything is still nicely responsive, with tracking holding up across a variety of surfaces and genres. I never 💫noticed any inconsistencies in my usual 3,200 DPI setting, and only a slight amount of jitter once I started moving closer to 6,500 territory. For $59.99, this really is all you need though you are losing out on adjustable lift-off distances.

Newer sensors, like the Pixart PAW 3390 and 3950 (often found in gaming mice at around $60 - $90) allow you to personalize the point at which your mouse stops tracking when it's lifted from the desk, which can make for more accurate positioning when shifting the⛎ device to extend the cursor position on screen. A shorter lift-off distance meanꦛs better precision, with newer models extending to 0.7mm or 1mm. The Rival 3 Wireless is kept firmly at 2.4mm.

Switches

SteelSeries doesn't give us any names when it comes to the switches used in the Rival 3 Wireless. They feel fairly short, though, with a lighter actuation force than the Keychron M7 8K but less energy than the NZXT Lift Elite. There's a dampened feel to them that makes for a satisfyingly quiet response, but doesn't provide the same kind of protection against accidental presses that I enjoy in more expensive mice like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX.

Still, they hit when the moment needs it and I managed to sail through my usual roster of Apex Legends and CS2 runs witho🍰ut misfiring enough to become a problem, and all while still hitting twitch-reflex reactions. Would I prefer a crisper response? Absolutely. For $60, though, th♏ese are still fine clackers.

Should you buy the SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2?

The SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 is among the cheapest gaming mice I've tested recently, but it still holds out thanks to its versatile wireless connections, comfortable fo🐼rm factor, solid-value sensor, and impressive build quality. For $10 more, you can pick up the improved sensor, lower weight, and upgraded battery of the Keychron M7 8K, but you are sacrificing overall durability to do so. Or, you can take a gamble on the fantastic battery life and better side buttons of the Cougar Revenger Pro (though just don't trust that 4,000Hz polling rate too often).

Ultimately, if you're after a budget p𝓀ointer it's well worth keeping an eye on this device's sale prices. At $60 it's t🍃oo close to more sophisticated models' price points to be worthwhile, but as soon as it nears $40 or even $45, this is going to be a steal.

How I tested the SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2

I used the SteelSeries Rival 3 Wireless Gen 2 for two weeks, solo-ing the device for one week and testing directly against alternatives from NZXT, Razer, Keychron, and Cougar for another week. It saw action in Doom: The Dark Ages, Planet Coaster, and Fallout 4, with additional testing completed in Apex Legends and CS2. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming mice, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting down all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best left-handed gaming mouse models and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer mice and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Logitech gaming mice in the business.

Key Specs

Design

The Nacon RIG 900 Max HS may come with that all-black colorway that is pretty common amongst the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best wireless headsets, but its unique headband aesthetic makes it stand out amongst the sea of PS5 headsets I’ve tested throughout the years. Instead of just a plain, curved band, Nacon has designed a futuristic-looking product.

It’s not dripped out in bright🐓 colors or RGB lighting, but the main band is a thin steel sheet, with ‘RIG’ proudly plastered on top in a shiny, silver typeface. On either side, there are three cylindrical cutout shapes which can be snapped onto either cup to keep them attached. There are three of these cut-out sections in total, giving you different levels of adjustment. The metal band is also supported by a leather and fabric-coated stretchy second band, which isn’t densely padded, yet still manages to provide a light and comfortable fit.

While the headband is missing some extra padding, the cups aren’t. There’s plenty of cushion for the pushing, which, when combined with the reasonable clamping force, never felt uncomfortable even as a glasses wearer. The padding also makes use of both leather and fabric-coated mesh, and its large oval shape even managed to fit nicely around my Dumbo-sized ears.

The outer edge of the left cup is where you’ll find the majority of the headset’s onboard controls. That includes the mode button, multi-function button, volume control dial, power button, and the flip-to-use microphone which sits flush with the 900 Max when not in use. Begrudgingly, each button has the same glossy plastic texture, so it's hard to differentiate them from each other. That can be a pain when you’ve set up the dual wireless and have a phone call coming through, but the volume dial and its soft rubber texture are at least easy to find at a moment’s notice.

Arguably, my favorite aspect of the headset, the charging stand, also sports an all-black, sleek look. During my time with the 900 Max HS, it sat proudly underneath my smart TV, and became not just convenient for charging, but an ideal way to store and display the PS5 headset when I wasn’t racking up my trophies. My typical go-to pair of cups for my Sony pixel pushing beast, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5P, sit𒈔s at the edge of my Star Wars coffee table when charging, which puts them at risk of being attacked by my cat. But the accompanying charging stand helped keep the 900 Max HS sa♔fe, charged, and lent itself to its futuristic and funky aesthetic.

Features

Other gaming headsets like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G Astro A50 X, which also come with a charging stand (albeit, it’s also an HDMI switcher), don’t include everything you need to get set up, des🎃pite its premium price tag - but the Nacon RIG 900 Max HS has you covered. Straight out of the box, you get everything you🐠 need, from the headset, charging stand, 2.4GHz dongle, and even the USB-A to USB-C cable required to hook it up to your PS5 console.

Getting set up with the 900 Max was pretty easy. It took a matter of minutes to slot the wireless dongle into t🧸he charging stand, and then all I had left was to plug the USB cable into one of the free ports on my PS5. Instead of using one of the ports on the front-facing side of the console (mine lies horizontally), I made sure to use a back port and fed the cable through the back. Not only did this mean my PS5 gaming setup was less busy looking, but it also meant the front ports were free for quick and easy access for accessories like the PDP Riffmaster guitar controller, which I use on a day-to-day basis.

After everything was set up, I was able to make use of one of the headset’s best features, its dual wireless connectivity. With the 900 Max HS, I was able to connect the headset to my PS5 via a 2.4GHz dongle (that’s attached to the stand) and connect to my 🔯Samsung S24 phone via Bluetooth simultaneously. This dual-wireless feature means you can talk on the phone to friends in between Marvel Rivals matches, or just switch to your phone’s audio to scroll mindlessly through TikTok (an embarrassingly favorite pastime of mine) while waiting for y❀our friends to pop on Discord. Resentfully, as a millennial, I don’t get too many phone calls on any given day, so I did have to ask my partner to give me a quick call to see just how easily I could switch between modes with the onboard controls, and it turned out to be pretty straightforward. Like briefly touched on before, it will just take a moment to remember what button does what, as they all have the same glossy, plastic touch.

Performance

I wasn’t initially blown away by the sound on the Nacon RIG 900 Max HS headset. Don’t get me wrong, the drivers didn’t sound bad by any means, and in the early days of testing the bass, mid, and treble frequencies of the 40mm audio drivers sounded pretty balanced as I took to learning my new main in Marvel Rivals, Scarlet Witch. However, it didn’t quite have that bassy gut-punching drive that the hero shooter needed to make the end of matches feel truly nerve-wracking. That was, until I pulled out the Nacon app.

With the dual wireless connectivity, I was able to connect the headset to my PS5 via the wireless dongle (as it was plugged into the charging stand) and have my Android-based phone connected via Bluetooth. This gave me access to the app, which provides a battery life rundown, access to updates, settings, and the best part, customization. I always appreciate when a gaming brand has an app for their headsets, as it means I don’t have to run back and forth to my PC in order to get the best sound, and the Nacon app lets me do just that.

T✱here are three profiles you can save to the headset, and a range of audio presets from an FPS audio setting, Bass Boost, Voice Boost, clarity, and a custom option. Annoyingly, the ‘Bass Boost’ option actually made the lower frequencies a tad overwhelming, with tracks like ‘Burning’ by the band Hitsujibungaku (that I’ve had been listening to on repeat) sounding distorted, and not in a good way. However, with some tinkering, I was able to not only get that reverberating bassy sound that you can feel deep in your bones, but the app and the🧸 convenience of having all that customization at my fingertips cemented the RIG 900 Max HS as a contender for one of my all-time favorite PS5 headsets.

Much to my chagrin, the 900 Max doesn’t have Dolby Atmos or any other spatial audio support. So it was missing that extra immersive soundscape I’ve grown accustomed to when using headsets like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair Virtuoso Max wireless. That being said, whether I was returning to my sea-faring pirate adventures or powering up generators in Dead by Daylight, the 900 Max MS gave justice to everything I threw its way - especially with the app in play.

I’m still slow💃ly making my way through Clair Obscur Expedition 33, and its gorgeous, pseudo-classical score by composer Lorien Testard sounded impeccable through these PS5-designated cups. There’s no active noise canceling found with them, yet I was still able to get totally lost in the game’s hypnotic sound and atmosphere as the large oval padded cups were still able to eclipse my ears and keep everything contained. When not attempting to make my way through the RPG, I was chatting way to friends using the flip-to-use built-in microphone as we grinded through our Marvel Rival daily and weekly challenges.

As you can hear from the above sample, the microphone is the biggest letdown for the 900 Max HS. Any and all outside noise seeps into the mic despite its “noise canceling” claims, making my voice sound crackly and overall unpleasant. I was still audible during Marvel Rivals sessions, but when I got a bit too heated, which is easy to do when you main a healer like Cloak and Dagger, my voice became almost inaudible. This is unfortunate, as there are plenty of headsets with an MSRP half that of the 900 Max HS that manage to give you a high-quality mic, like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair Void Wireless V2, which has an MSRP of $119.99 / £99.99.

At least the handy charging stand𓃲 almost made up for the disappointing mic quality. When I had had enough matching up with bizarrely named strangers on Marvel Rivals, I hung up the headset on the stand, and it would conveniently charge overnight. I’m not a fan♋ of just leaving my headsets out in the open, especially when I have a cat that believes everything in its path is a toy, so this was a treat. Not only that, I didn’t have to remember to give it a charge, and so never had to deal with its up to 50 hours worth of battery as it was constantly ready to go.

Another neat aspect of the charging stand is that you can pop the 2.4GHz dongle out of it, plug that directly into your PS5, and keep the charging stand stored in another room entirely. This made the PS5 licensed cups extra handy for multi-platform gamin༒g, as I was able to move the stand to my bedroom nightstand or my desk without having to disconnect the low-latency 2.4GHz connection from my Sony console. Setting up the 900 Max HS with my OLED Steam Deck and my OLED Nintendo Switch was easy as pie via Bluetooth, and running through the latest Wonderland Whimsy Disney Dreamlight Valley update on the go sounded exceptional. As did the vibrant scores of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Sunshine via Super Mario 3D All-Stars.

🌱Should you buy the 🦂Nacon RIG 900 Max HS gaming headset?

If you’re fed up of charging your gaming headset and want an alternative battery solution without having to fork out the full cost of the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, the $249.99 / £209.35 Nacon RIG 900 Max HS is an ideal alternative. Sure, you won’t be getting the crystal clear microphone quality that SteelSeries and its audio tech is known for, or anywhere close, but the accompanying charging stand of the Nacon headset adds an extra level of convenience that almost makes up for its gaps in quality.

Similarly to SteelSeries, Nacon has a free-to-download accompanying app for the 900 Max HS headset, which takes the average sound produced by its 40mm audio drivers and elevates it to new, sublime-sounding heights. There isn’t a list of dedicated gaming presets to choose from, but with the app, you can t🥃ailor t♈he audio just to your liking and save your settings as profiles to switch between the next time you want to get stuck into your latest PS5 gaming obsession.

Had the built-in mic’s quality been up to scratch, the Nacon RIG 900 Max HS would have easily earned a spot as one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best PS5 accessories I’ve ever gotten my hands on. Yet, even with its lack of quality, its high-tier sound, transformative custo𒁃mizable audio settings, dual w♛ireless connectivity, and user-friendly charging stand still justify its high-end price, and place as one of the most convenient PS5 gadgets I’ve used to date.

How I tested the Naꦺcon RIG 900 Max HS gaming he♒adset

During the over two-week testing period, the Nacon RIG 900 Max HS wireless gaming headset rarely left my side. Whether I was gaming on my PS5, answering phone calls, or chatting to co-workers during important meetings, the 900 Max HS remained on my head. As a headset designed with the PS5 in mind, my main games of choice during the testing process were Clair Obscur Expedition 33, and Marvel Rivals. I also made sure to dig out Dead by Daylight and Sea of Thieves, to see how they measured up on the PS5 and PC versions. The 900 Max HS was also put through its paces on the Steam Deck when playing the brand-new Wonderland Whimsy update in Disney Dreamlight Valley, and to play our Switch testing game of choice, Super Mario 3D All-Stars on a Nintendo Switch OLED handheld.

When not racking up my hours in Marvel Rivals, I used the headset while catching up with the anime series Oshi No Ko, and the last season of You on Netflix. I also tested the headset while listening to Spotify across a wide range of genres, from Irish rappers Kneecap, to the relaxing dance tunes of ODESZA. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming headsets, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

If the Nacon RIG 900 Max HS doesn’t sound like the right fit, our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Xbox Series X headsets, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch headsets, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best PC headsets for gaming guides are full to the brim with

Instead, To a T is about asking serious questions in a silly voice. What does it mean to be perfect? What does perfect even mean? These are questions raised in the game's first minutes (through a song-and-dance routine that also inclu🌠des barking humans, no less) and explored over the course of five hours. After those hours are up, you may have some answers to those questions. You may instead leave only with mastery over diagonal sandwich speed-eating, or a lingering impression that trains are very cool. They are.

Take a walk on the wide side

To a T follows a 13-year-old – their default name Teen – as they navigate small-town life in the '90s. Teen's condition means there are light puzzle elements for even th💝e most routine tasks. While eating cereal, you control each arm and each hand individually, pouring both milk and King Pig cereal before navigating spoon to mouth. Tilting to fit through doors quickly becomes second-nature.

Later, you're asked to handle slightly more complex tasks – like outrunning a 🅘train on a busy station platform – but To a T never really tries (or wants to be) challenging in that sense. Sure, school is hard when science lessons demand mixing an exact formula and P.E. risks clattering into goalposts, but Teen is largely used to living with outstretched hands. The condition's novelty is intentionally buffed out quite quickly, and your expectations of the game – perhaps one where you're strung from one ludicrous situation to the next, forced to make do with uncooperative arms – soon fall apart, leaving you to lurch in the unknown.

To a T is less focused on giving you something to do with your arms, and more intent on telling a story. Teen is different, and coming to terms with that is part of the tale. But even then, itꦦ's a T-shaped piece of a much larger puzzle. There's something weird going on in town, and the game isn't afraid to step outside of Teen's perspective to explore that. One episode follows Teen's dog investigating a gut feeling that something isn't right, his interview subjects ranging from a ladybug journalist to a weight-lifting penguin. I'm loath to say even that much (this is one of those games where it's in your best interest to read as little about it as possible), but To a T only truly t🗹akes off when it moves past the initial premise and into the absurd.

Given the whole thing can be completed in a tight four hours – five if you take your time exploring, longer with a post-credits free-roam – it takes too long to find its groove, and the opening hour is deceptively simplistic and straightforward. To a T never quite gets a handle on whether it wants to📖 show or tell, and later episodes are spectacularly surreal yet lean heavily on cutscenes.

Stand by T

By that point, developer Uvula will have already worked its magic on you. Playing To a T is like standing in a warm spill of sunbeams and eating your favorite home-cooked meal all at once. Richer and more life-affirming than anything I've played in years, it's hard to describe the potency of joy that makes this so worth playing – though one scene, with a group of children struggling to explain ꧂how a beautiful sunset is making them feel, captures even that.

Much of the credit goes to To a T's seaside town setting, which is home to a mix of (mostly) regular humans and talking animals. A giraffe called Giraffe runs a food stand, while the local hairdresser is managed by one particularly inspired crab. Some birds can speak, while others are… just pigeons. It's closest in tone to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Animal Crossing: New Horizons, in which friendship comes easy and you can play for an hour and leave on first-name terms with everyone you've met. The only tripping point is the camera, which is often locked to one angle. This is great when you're being fed picturesque mushroom forests, but less so while trying to cross a road with limited depth perception. It's extra-finicky during platformin꧑g sections, which, while𝐆 infrequent, are incredibly clunky due to the constant wrangling it takes to keep your camera in check.

Yet even the camera is subject to Uvula's wonderfully weird, often meta, humor. During a shot of Teen's house, their mother speaks in jumbled symbols until she opens a window for you to hear. One turtle complains because a dog is blocking him from view in the cutscene.ꦕ Elsewhere, some animations last just long enough for you to realize they're being deliberately stretched out – like the seemingly-endless spew of vomit from downing a gross drink.

To a T is weird to its bones, and it's clear Uvula takes great pride in that. The whole thing is nebulous by design, and isn't so much a grand gesture of positivity as it is an ode to the little quirks you love almost without realizing. I love, for instance, the way Teen's umbrella is slightly wider than his mother's to account for 🎐being held at arm's reach. I love rain in gaming, and To a T has the very best. That might not sound like the sort of profundity a recommendation 🦂could hinge upon, but if you like rain for the same reason I do – the warmth and contentment it brings when you're on the inside looking out – then perhaps you'll get it.

T🦹o a T was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the pub🐟lisher

What to play next? Take a look at our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games for 2025 highlights!

This is a Raider throu💯gh and through, with a plastic chassis that doesn't match up to its price tag in quality, though with the price tag of a Titan. The test unit I've received currently goes for $5,609.99 via MSI's own channels - $300 more than last year's aluminum monster. Still, with a 4K display that truly will knock your socks off - and a blindingly speedy AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D / RTX 5090 pairing - this is certainly a single-player's dream machine.

Configurations

The MSI Raider A18 HX is the only mainstream gaming laptop model pairing the AMD Ryzen 9955HX3D processor with an RTX 5090 GPU. That💯's a potent combination, and considering I've found that AMD's processors are generally going a bit further than Intel's this generation, it could well be the gold standard for chunkier, performance-driven rigs.

That RTX 5090 is supported by the full 175W (and I've got the power brick to prove it), with 260W total power up for grabs across the GPU and CPU. That's the same as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2025 Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 from a GPU perspective, though the MSI Raider can give the CPU 85W of dedicated p✱ower compared t🌼o 80W on Asus's model.

In short, there'🀅s a hell of a lot of power going into this machine.

Configurations are limited to tha꧋t AMD processor, though there's a cheaper RTX 5080 version on the shelves as well. There's also an A2X model, which drops you down to an Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX GPU.

You're certainly paying for all that ju🍒ice. Like all MSI Raider A18 HX models currently available, the configuration I've been testing comes stacked with 64GB DDR5 RAM and a 2TB PCIe Gen 5 SSD (yep, this is the first gaming laptop I've tested with new-generation storage), and costs $5,609.99 at checkout. That's pretty much as expensive as you can get in today's market and a considerabl🐼e price increase from last year.

The RTX 4090 / Intel Core i9-14900HX 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:MSI Raider 18 HX I tested previously came in at $3,999.99 wꦍith the same RAM and storage amount, though an older Gen4 drive. For reference, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 / Nvidia RTX 5080 Scar model I reviewed earlier🃏 this month sits at $3,169.99.

Design

Just like last year's model, the 2025 MSI Raider A18 HX is chunky. This is still a cumbersome 18-inch behemoth with no time for portability, it's designe🦩d to ﷽sit on your desk and stay there for most of its life.

This is the same 1.26-inch thickness as the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18, 🔥though it doesn't benefit from the same slanted♛ front lip, making it appear stockier sitting on the desk in front of me.

The RGB lighting strip along the front has been slimmed down compared to the pr🔯evious generation, but its placement above an extra ridge of plastic means that the light show doesn't shine onto the desk below in the same way. Asus's RGB extends all the way around the perimeter of the laptop, giving the eq✤ually large machine a lighter feel, as if it's floating slightly above the surface on which it stands.

The main deck still feat🐈ures the angular cut-outs around the keyboard and trackpad area, nodding to the Raider's gamerfied design past but staying slightly more subtle than previous models. It's not the most business-forward design on the market - the Razer Blade 18 does a fantastic job of keeping its insides slick and suave. Instead, it's just toeing the line before becoming gaudy.

Like last year's model, there's still flex to the main chassis area, and considering 2025's release comes in at nearly $6,000, that's pretty disappointing. The whole corner of the lower deck bends significantly when manipulated or picked up and creaks slightly in the process. It's not enough to concern me in the short term, though it's not what I'd expect to see from a gaming laptop at this price point. After all, we're now paying 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:MSI Titan 18 HX prices for a Raideꦇr, and that rig had a far sturdieꦿr build quality.

The underside also remains largely unchanged from the previous release, with additional rubber grips on each corner further elevating the chassis and providing extra space for airflow below.ꦺ This is still a plastic construction (unlike the aluminum used in the⛎ Titan last year) all over, which is a little disappointing considering the final price.

There is, however, noticeably less scre♚en wobble on the 2025 model compared to last year's. I found that the 2024 version would jiggle with heavier typing, whereas the hinge on t🔯he newer release feels a little sturdier.

Display

MSI's 4K Mini LED panel is here to stay for another year, offering gorgeous color contrast and a super detailed handling of both HDR and SDR content. The panel itself covers 100% of the DCI-P3 spectrum, offering 1,000 ni💃ts of brightness, alongside a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and local dimming features. That's a high-end Mini LED display.

Like last year, MSI has gone a different route compared to most of the competition, though. This is a 4K (well, UHD+ if you want to get technical about the aspect ratio) 120Hz panel, boosting the resolution but lowering the refresh rate compared to most QHD+, 240Hz devices (like the Scar 18). That makes sense if you're running all your games in full 4K resolution - you'll rarely need more than a 120Hz refresh rate to keep your games lookᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚඣ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚing smooth.

However, things get a bit tricky when you take lower resolutions into account, alongside that premium price tag. Lowering𝔍 game resolution to take advantage of higher refresh rates (and therefore more responsive inputs) is often imperative in competitive s♐cenarios, but 4K panels that prioritize immersion often neglect this market.

Razer's gone all in on its own 2025 Blade 18, using a dual-mode display that can run at UHD+, 240Hz, or FHD+ 440Hz. A like-fo🎶r-like configuration of that💜 machine (albeit with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor) comes in at $5,199.99, just over $400 less than the MSI Raider A18 HX. It's a wonder, then, why MSI isn't going down this dual-mode route with its own high-end rig, it would have certainly gone a lot further to justifying such a lofty MSRP.

This screen isn't about pure speed, though; it's about immersion, and it nails the brief. 18-inch panels are already going to lock you into your game worlds much better than smaller 16-inch or 14-inch gaming laptops, but when colors are this vivid and details this sharp, single-player adventures pack a serious punch. If you're a solo adventure🍬r, investing more in a high-powered processor than a dual-mode screen is going to be the way to go.

Ports

The biggest upgrade to this year's port selection is MSI's move to Thunderbolt 5.📖 While last year's model offered two Thunderbolt 4 connections, we've got the new generation ports whirring away under the hood of 2025's iteration.

That means faster transfer speeds with an increased 80 Gbps bandwඣidth (compared to 40 Gbps) and an increased power delivery of up to 240W, more than double that🐻 of the 100W Thunderbolt 4. It also means you'll be able to connect a higher refresh-rate monitor (up to 540Hz).

These USB-A and Thunderbolt connections are split across each side of the 💝laptop, with two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2s on the left, and another o🐻n the right alongside both Thunderbolt options. The right side also houses the system's 3.5mm audio jack, while the left benefits from a full-sized SD card reader.

All your permanent connections are located around th𓆉e rear, which makes for a far tidier setup overall. It means that the massive power connector stays out of the way, alongside the HDMI 2.1 and Ethernet ports. It's a shame there isn't a Thunderbolt 5 to the rear - this would have been handy for dock users, and would keep the sides free for your mouse hand.

As it stands, the MSI Raider A18 HX still suffers from a lಌittle cable sprawl, but if you're using wireless accessories, the 2.4GHz receivers should🐎n't get in the way too much, and you're larger connections are all tucked away out of sight.

Keyboard and trackpad

SteelSeries has provided the keyboard for the MSI Raider A18 HX once again this year, but this isn't the snappy mechanical deck 🐲you might ex𝓰pect. Under the fingertips, this deck borders on mushy with a particularly soft landing position and very little travel. It's not a pleasant experience.

I was taken aback by the keyboard. This is a nearly $6,000 gaming laptop, and there's more flex in the main deck than the budget 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus TUF A15. It's a full-sized design, with a good-sized number pad, arrow keys, and function row, but I sꦛtill felt cramped. Doom: The Dark Ages requires fast muscle memory between the E and R keys, and I never felt like I had enough space to accurately hit either without mashing both.

There's a good amount of spacing, so it's not like the keys are necessarily too close together, but I expect the softer landing and low t♍ravel make them particularly easy to mis-hit when working through faster moments.

The trackpad is incredibly small for a gaming laptop of this size, and I'm constantly hitting the lower lip when zipping through Chrome tabs and spreadsheets. There's a decent snap to a harder press🧸 here, if a little heavier than I've used in the past, and my finger glides smoothly across the surface.

Performance

I keep saying this, and then another gaming laptop comes along and changes things, but as of this review, the MSI Raider A18 HX A9W is the most powerful gaming laptop I've tested. That means I now need to go back to my Asus ROG꧙ Strix Scar 18 r꧒eview and update a few things.

The Raider outperforms the Scar 18 in RTX 5090 gaming across the majority of games (though there are some drops) in both FHD and QHD resolutions, and steps things up when compared against last year's Titan and Raider models as wel⛦l. Would I have liked to see a better gen-on-gen performance increase from the RTX 4090? Absolutely, but it's clear Nvidia isn't giving ꩲus that this generation.

The 2025 iteration is on top compared to the RTX 4090 MSI Raider 18 HX, but the size of the leap is much, much smaller than I saw ♑in the move from the RTX 30-Series. All of the benchmarks below were recorded with dedicated GPU power in the device's top perf🐓ormance setting without frame generation. It should also be noted that Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmarks are slightly anomalous. I've run and re-run these tests and confirmed that no extra features are switched on - it seems this rig is just really good at running Lara Croft at FHD.

Increases in natively rendered framerates between generations remain🃏 only slightly raised across the majority of FHD and QHD+ benchmark runs. Interestingly, the 2025 MSI Raider A18 actually performs significantly worse in 4K Shadow of the Tomb Raider tests, even if it inches ahead with 86fps / 63fps in Total War: Three Kingdoms. This is the first 4K MSI gaming laptop to run into 60fps+ t♛erritory in Ultra settings on this title, but we're only just over that threshold.

These are still excellent results, proving the MSI Raider A18 HX A9W can handle pretty much anything you want ဣto throw at it. I'm going to keep digging on those strange Tomb Raider numbers, though, and will update this review if I find any evidence of a missfire.

Nvidia's DLSS tricks are less of a concern for an 18-inch powerhouse. In a slimline gaming laptop like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 or 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2025 Razer Blade 16, this focus on frame generation features makes sense. There's only so much power you can throw into a gaming laptop and still fit it (and its charging brick) into a backpack. Looking at the size of the MSI Raider A18 HX A9W's power supply and the thickness of this chassis, we don't need so many AI t♒ricks in here.

Still, without frame generation switched ✤on, I was only able to scrape around 59fps out of Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K RT Ultra. At full 4x MFG whack, things were hovering around a far more comfortable 86, with minimal intrusion to the play space itself. DLSS isn't the power feature Nvidia thinks it is in this chassis, but it's certainly a neat trick if you want to run demandi♎ng titles at full UHD whack.

Synthet♉ic benchmarks show a 34% improvement between the RTX 4090 2024 model and this year's RTX 5090 iteration in easier Fire Strike tests, with that rate falling to 4.7% in Time Spy. More impressively, though, the harshest test of the suite, Steel Nomad, yielded a 22.23% performance increase between generations.

That's not particularly reflec🔯ted in-game, but it ꦬdoes provide a little extra hope for future-proofing against more demanding titles to come.

Onto the CPU, and what a CPU this is. The AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D doesn't make its way into many gaming laptops, but it certainly tops the charts when it can. With a 9,077 PC Mark 10 score, it flies well over the head of the Intel Core i9-14900HX I tested in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 9, as well as the newer Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX inside this year🌠's Asus ROG Strix Scar 18.

Not only do we have a turbo-charged processor in here, but that Gen5 SSD absolutely sings as well. This is a big step up from the previous generation drives found in the rest of the market. MSI quotes up to 12,000MB/s read speeds, but I repeatedly benched just over 14,300MB/s in Crystal Disk Mark. Granted, that's a synthetic run with a relatively small amount of that 2TB drive taken up, but it's s🌺till well above the usual rates.

Battery

Battery life is ce💙rtainly not usually a strong suit of larger 18-inch gaming laptops. The size of the power brick can certainly attest to that. However, in the system's most power-efficient settings, running a few Chrome tabs for productivity, the MSI Raider A18 HX managed to run for well over three hours in my tests (three hours and 20 minutes to be precise). You'll lose that 20 minutes if you opt for Balanced mode in the same use case, with my test running shᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚort at just a hair over three hours.

I just about managed to scrape over the hour mark while gaming. This rig isn't built for on-the-go sessions, so you won't get the same kind of juice as the Asus RO♈G🃏 Flow Z13, for example. My Doom: The Dark Ages visual settings did have to slide down a little to accommodate, and there was a little stuttering - though not nearly as much as a weaker gaming laptop would have produced just a couple of years ago.

Should you buy the MSI Raider A18 HX (2025)

The 2025 MSI Raider A18 HX is an extremely impressive gaming laptop on the whole, but I wouldn't recommend it easily. It's certainly among the top rigs I've tested so far, but its Titan-esque price point despite its lower build quality is a major sticking point. The RTX 5090 under the hood does take us further towards 4K gaming at max settings, but not enough to warrant the additional cost if your sole intention is to chase the highest framerates possible at UHD levels. As long as there are c🌱heaper RTX 4090 MSI Titan machines on the shelves, this is a tough sell indeed.

That's not to take away from what the MSI Raider A18 HX does right. I'm going to have a hard time saying goodbye to ripping and tearing through Doom on this fa🐓ntastic panel, and the processor is an absolute blinder. Those benefits aren'tꦆ quite potent enough to offset the increased cost we're seeing from this generation of machines, though they're certainly worthy of an investor's (and future-proofer's) attention.

How I tested the MSI Raider A18 HX (2025)

I used the MSI Raider A18 HX as my sole laptop for both work and play over the course of two weeks. I started off by running my usual suite of in-game benchmarks, testing Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered, Cyberpunk 2077, and Black Myth: Wukong without DLSS frame generation. These tests were run across high and highest settings in 1080p, 1600p, and 4K resolution, repeated three times each with the final score taken as an average. Cyberpunk 2077 was tested with Super Resolution set to Balanced and Bl🌼ack Myth: Wukon♌g's Super Resolution was at 60.

I then further tested the RTX 5090's Multi-Frame Generation features in Cyberpunk 2077, running the game wit🐼h full ray-tracing in 4K 🌊with Super Resolution set to Quality.

Synthetic benchmarks were taken from 3D Mark's Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad runs, while the CPU was directly tested across PC Mark 10. I then tested the sequential read and write speed of the SSD using Crystal Disk Mark. Again,🐻 each test was completed three times, with the final score reflecting an average of all data.

I tested the battery in everyday conditions, measuring over the course of multip✨le work sessions and gaming sessions across all available power modes, though with display brightness always set at 50%.

For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming laptops, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting down all 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:the best Alienware laptops and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer laptops on the market, or take a look at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Asus gaming laptops available now.

What I will say immediately is that Honor is really changing the game in terms of what a non-flagship phone can be. This brand’s “Magic” product line is its star attraction, with the new 400 series taking more of a niche approach in the affordable market. Having always used Samsung’s flagship devices, I’ve always been a little hesitant to step down into this area of the smartphone landscape, but after three weeks or so of testing it every day, and comparing it to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming phones, it doesn’t feel like anything less than ꦑa flagship product.

For £699 for the Pro model, you’re getting an awful lot of pocket power. A 200MP camera, a 5300mAh silicon-carbon AI Battery, a 120Hz OLED display, and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor are all standout features, and they amount to a great all-round pꦦackage. It’s no slouch when it comes to gaming either, but I think content creators are really going to be the market this phone hits home with.

Design

Giant camera arrays seem to be an inescapable part of smartphone design in 2025, with everything from the latest iPhone to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Poco F7 Pro sporting rather inelegant lenses on their backs. The Honor 400 Pro might be the most guilty of all of them, and although this has been a♔n issue in the market for years now, it is getting a bit silly that a smartphone can’t lie even close to flat on its back thanks to these massive cameras.

If any modern smartphone feels like it needs a case, it’s this one. A giant 200MP camera is very in your face both when you look at the device and when you 🥃hold it in your hand. I’ve been sent the black model to test, which has a really velvety, muted back panel 🃏on its back. The glossy, shiny camera lenses then totally juxtapose that, giving the phone a very flashy “extra” aesthetic. It’s hard to really complain about a camera that overexerts itself if that’s what you’re coming to it for. I’ll talk more about the camera capabilities on offer here in a bit, but as amazing as they are, I do think to be considered as anything more than a camera phone, Honor should try and downsize a bit.

Maybe the camera feels so in your face because the rest of the phone’s design is shockingly slim. Honor has opted for a silicon-carbon battery to really enhance the thin design of this phone, and it’s seriously paid off. The sleek ♕edges of the display and subtle curvature of the back plate lean into that too, creating an impressively powerful yet very slight product at just 8.1mm.

The Honor 400 Pro is available in Midnight Black, Lunar Grey, and Tidal Blue, meaning you can personalize slightly. The Pro model I’ve tested is flanked b꧑y the 400 Lite, which arrived on the shelves a few months ago, and the mid-range Honor 400, whic𒆙h launches alongside the Pro SKU.

Features

For those who aren’t in the know, Honor is known for making Android devices that align themselves as an alternative to Apple’s iPhones. At least, Honor’s version of Android, MagicOS, can certainly feel that way if you want it to. I think that comparison is a little dishonest, though, because although MagicOS isn’t as open-ended as Samsung, it does have plenty of ways for you to customize it to your liking. Honor’s l🌠ast outing, the 400 Lite, definitely caught a lot of attention for offering similar camera specs and software features as Apple’s latest iPhones.

Like any phone launching in 2025, though, this thing is crammed full of AI gubbins that’s impossible to ignore. There are AI editing tools for photos and videos, there are AI camera features, there’s AI in the 5,300mAh battery, and there’s integration with HonorAI, Gemini, and Bixby. In fact, Google Assistant is actually buried by all of this to the point where an “Ok Google” does nothing. If you hold down the power button, you don’t even𝔉 get a turn off or restart 🥂option come up - you get a Gemini bubble asking you “what’s up”. This was even the case after I removed the Gemini app from the phone entirely, so it’s been annoyingly baked into the experience from the word go.

I do find it a real shame that Honor felt obliged to follow the AI pied piper that’s wh🦹istling its way through the phone market right now. As someone who has always been loyal to one of the biggest brands in the space, part of the reason I was now open to switching camps was because I saw where the AI obsession was taking Samsung. I completely understand that AI features are where the big tech companies are placing their bets just now, but smaller brands like Honor would be a much more appealing alternative for me if they’d just offer me the smartphone experience I’ve had up until this point, and check all of the additional, compulsory, and quite suspicious AI fluff at the door.

Thankfully, it’s not all AI doom and gloom. The Honor 400 Pro features a 6.7-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate - which is perfect for gaming and watching content𝔉 on the go. With a 2800 x 1280 resolution and 500 nits worth of brightness, there’s a great screen to enjoy🐭 on this phone. I particularly like the sunlight display enhancement feature, which has been particularly useful during the sunny Spring weather we’ve been enjoying in the UK this year. Powering that impressive light show is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile processor and a Qualcomm Adreno 750 GPU, which allows this phone to be a pretty great gaming competitor.

The 400 Pro runs on MagicOS 9.0, and Honor has committed just before launch to supporting it with six years of Android updates at a minimum. If you plan to use this phone for that long, you might want to opt for the Pro model, since it comes with a rather massive 512GB of storage. This is yet another reason I think the 400 Pro is going to hit home, and hit hard with content creators, because that’s so much room for high-definition filming and photographing. The reguꩲlar 400 version comes with 256GB, which is still going to be plenty for a couple of years of use.

Performance

As much as I’d love to just review the Honor 400 Pro just in terms of its gaming prowess, it’s hard to do so. That camera array really does overplay its hand, so much so that it feels like a statement of intent from Honor. This is absolutely a camera phone that can play games. This isn’t a gaming phone like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro is, for example. Still, that’s not actually a bad thing, because it’s very difficult to find anyone these days who only uses a phone for one se🎃lect purpose. Sure♔, you might specialize in one task over another, but the Honor 400 Pro lets you save a bit of cash versus an enthusiast-grade gaming phone (The Asus one I mentioned costs well over a grand), and get a bit of everything.

So, who does the Honor 400 Pro suit best, if not mobile gaming enthusiasts? For my money, content creators are the ones who need to know about this device when looking for their next upgrade. If, by that, you think I mean TikTok makers and Instagram influencers, you’re not too far off pace, but as a gaming content creator for YouTube, I’m bloody impressed with the package on offer for the money here. For reference, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best webcams, like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra, for example, are 4K beasts with that Razer flagship offering the largest sensor ever put inside a webcam. It captures images at 8.3 megapixels even when recording at 4K 30fps. Short of going for a very pricey DSLR camera, you’re going to be very hard pressed to find anything that outshoots the Honor 400 Pro’s camera system. For the next video essay I make, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I swapped out the Kiyo Pro Ultra that’s currently residing in my 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Elgato Prompter to exchange it for this phone.

The camera is just ludicrously extra for what most everyday users and mobile gamers need, but at a lower price point than a lot of flagship camera-first phones, it’s hard not to recommend it. It doesn’t matter if I was pointing right at my Dad’s cat’s face, or if I was taking a massively wide landscape shot. It didn’t make a difference to the quality if I zoomed in x3, and my shaky hands were disrupting things. The Honor 400 Pro produces excellent photos everꦰy time I ask it to, and I’m not even that good a photographer. I have to say, I’m not a big fan of AI features, even if being able to remove and replace things within images comes in handy. But when playing around with the camera both in videos and photos, I felt like I had enough control and that AI wasn’t getting in my way. Still, if you want a pure, non-AI-diluted camera experience, maybe a DSLR is the way to go.

The battery life of the Honor 400 Pro is impressive. Coming from a three-ye🔜ar-old Samsung Galaxy S22+, it was hard to ignore such a strong battery life that lasted me well over a day when I began testing the 400 Pro. I do think there’s more etiquette to be wary of here, though, because Honor has opted for the type of battery it has. This isn’t one to leave on charge at 100% for longer than you need to. To begin with, I was getting down to only 60% at the end of a full day of use, but now, a few weeks on, I get down to about 40% at the end of one day. Fortunately, some AI features learn from your usage and charging habits to optimize things for you, so take a look at these things if you get one for yourself. Either way, I’d argue that a phone this powerful that can last well over 24 hours is a good thing.

Although I still think there are more quality of life wins and a couple more convenient features in Samsung’s OS, MagicOS has impressed me. As someone who has never enjoyed Apple’s iOS, I was a tad worried that this version of Android was going to feel a bit too close to Tim Cook’s door. I was happy to see plenty of options and layout settings at my fingertips, though, and although it took a little while to find things and adjust, I’m happy with the way my phone is now set up and🌺 how it all runs. I do think there’s room for improvement, though. The feature where you swipe down the way on your homescreen is needlessly complicated compared to Samsung’s phones, for example. It sort of feels like it’s being different for the sake of it. Swipe down on the right-hand side of your screen, and you’ll get your phone’s settings and quick functions like device connections, brightness, torch, and aeroplane mode. To see your notifications and other reminders, you swipe down on the left. With Samsung, wherever you swipe down, you get a consolidated menu where you can access everything. This is a small example, but th🦄ere are a few things like that with MagicOS that I don’t feel really provide enough help to really warrant being rooted in.

Gaming benchmarks via 3DMark are pretty impressive for a phone that isn’t trying to make this its go-to use case. As you’ll see from the graph, the Honor 400 Pro slots above the Poco F7, but below the more specialist range of gaming-ori🐽ented phones. For an all-rounder that really puts an emphasis on its camera, that’s great value for money for anyone who spends a lot of time playing games natively on their mobile device. In Call of Duty Mobile, I was pleased to see a pretty smooth gameplay experience, and Honor’s gaming🌠 bar let me give it an FPS boost that didn’t seem to kill too much clarity.

In𝓡 cloud streaming games, the bright and vibrant display was perfect for portable gaming on a smaller device. If anything, I actually felt as though the Cloud Streaming services I was using weren’t giving me enough juice to make the most of this phone’s smooth clarity. Both in nostalgic 2D platformers like Celeste, and in more graphically dense games like Far Cry and Hunt: Showdown, the Honor 400 Pro conveyed every detail with ease. It sounds strange to say, but I like the USB-C port on the bottom of this phone, too. Compared to my older Samsung phone, it was so easy to slot the 400 Pro into the best mobile controllers and have them feel secure. Although I do wish the sound quality from the speakers was a little better. They’re plenty powerful, but they really feel lacking in detail when at lower volumes, and when you do boost them up, the higher frequencies really pierce through and can feel a bit uncomfortable on the ol’ eardrums.

Should you buy the Honor 400 Pro?

I think that if you’re coming to your next phone upgrade looking for a decent camera, you’re going to be missing out if 🌳you don’t consider the Honor 400 Pro. This is easily a camera phone first and foremost, but it’s not one that will be an extravagant waste of money for those users who might not need such a solid quality camera.

There’s great versatility and solid gaming perfo♌rmance to be had here which I think anyone who plays on the go will appreciate. The innards and display both lend themselves to mobile gaming.

That said, I think it’s streamers, content creators, and gaming video makers who will get the most bang for their buck here. With such an excellent camera in their pocket, they’ll be consolidating costs of other parts of their setup, and as someone w🅷ho reviews the best gear for streaming, that’s always going to be a win in my book.

How I tested the Honor 400 Pro

I used the Honor 400 Pro as my phone for close to a month before this review was written. In that time, I used it for e🧸verything from work, to general scrolling, to photography, to voice and video calls. I also used it for plenty of gaming, both natively and streamed from the cloud. I also put it thᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚrough some formal benchmarking in 3DMark.

I compared my experience closel♊y to my decades of using Samsung phones, and to the gaming phone reviews my colleagues have done recently.

For more on how we test the latest tech, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ hardware policy.

Looking to change platform? Check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming PCs, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best CPU for gaming, and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best VR headset.

The brawls in TMNT: Tactical Takedown, the latest from indie punk dev Strange Scaffold, are so action-packed and slick youꩵ almost forget they're turn-based at all, even though they take place on a tactical grid. You're encouraged to keep your turtle on the move as each turn more of the evil Foot Clan swarm in, and as the levels slowly remove and add new bits of stage. Turtle and foe alike are represented almost like tabletop miniature figures, but alter key poses based on the last action they take – or strike they receive – so you still feel plenty of momentum in how they move. (Yes, ollie with Mikey and that's the pose you get, suspended in mi💯d-air. Tubular.).

Cowabunga hunger

Strange Scaffold's take on the turtles is its own, taking a lot of cues from the bright colors of the '80s cartoon, combined with menus that have a distinctly comic book-inspired look. Picking up after both their sworn enemy and leader of the Foot Clan, Shredder, is killed, as🦹 well as their own mentor and father Master Spli♏nter, the teenaged team have gone their own ways. Until chaos strikes, and the Foot Clan attacks New York City en masse with a new leader, and they need to come together.

Wꦓith that said, you're only ever controlling one turtle at a time. While you can envision a version of the pitc⛦h that has you controlling all four, I think it's a smart choice to keep things focused. TMNT: Tactical Takedown really tries to avoid overcomplication, and keeping you dialled in specifically to how your single hero can attack and move means mopping up a wave of enemies can take literal seconds before you move on from your turn.

Each turtle feels radically different to pla꧅y as, even before you start swapping in alternate loadouts (which you can earn by spending currency rewarded for doing well). Michelangelo, as mentioned, is geared towards staying on the move, peeling through foes and leaving them hanging. Donatello, on the other hand, is about keeping foes at bay and controlling their movement using his tech traps like shock panels. Raphael, more hot-headed, can push and pull enemies to debuff them to take even more damage and hit them in groups. Leonardo, as the leader, uses his swords to duel – building stacks of damage-boosting and evasion buffs to stand his ground.

Learning how to best use these loadouts, and customizing some of the moves on the margins (essentially, two core abilities always come as a set, with two bonus moves that can be switched out more freely) is tremendous fun. And necessary, too. When you're on a roll, tearing through The Foot and seeing their miniature♋s literally scatter about the screen, you feel tremendously powerful. But with more enemies spawning in each turn it's easy to fall behind the curve as hordes pile up – and your shell will only protect you so much.

There are no real pur꧅ely defensive options, so the only ways to avoid taking damage is to take out enemies on the map or stop them from being able to hit you (either by stunning or getting out of the way). The play space is often quite tight by design, so there are only so many options once loads of enemies are present, and only so much damage you can output with the action points available each turn.

Somewhat addressing this is level mutation. Essentially, as action progresses, chunks of the stage behind you fall away൲, and new chunks appear. A 'GO' sign even appears, nodding towards TMNT's long history of beat 'em up brawlers, which TMNT: Tactical Takedown seriously draws from, even if the form of play input is ostensibly different.

Enemies caught up in the red zone will fall away, so some clumps can be left in the dust – though they are 🐷often speedy enough to stay. Other stage hazards can be used to your advantage, such as pushing foes into falling debris or getting them to stand in the way of oncoming traffic. There's some leeway if it all gets too much with a life system allowing you to respawn, giving you three chances each stage. There's a score counter and a challenge to reach a 'rad' amount for each, which is quite fun to chase on replays, which gives you ample reason to avoid respawns unless you really need them.

Street level heroes

Across its 20 levels, there's only a handful of level environment types, often associated more closely with each turtle – the story has you bouncing between them, fixed for each stage. Mikey, for instance, skates through the streets above while Donatello tracks the Foot Clan's movements through the sewers. These inherently come with their own quirks. The streets have traffic, but also friendly hot dog vendors who throw delicious, healing sausage treats, while the sewer's waters can poi💧son turtles and foe alike should they stand within.

But there's not that much variation in how the stages progress or what they get you to do. Often they revolve around moving forward before stopping briefly to either holdout for a certain number of turns or dispatch X amount of a particular highlighted enemy type. Each level is pretty snappy, never taking more than 15 minutes and often much less – but each excursion to, say, the rooftops, functionally feels like the last. Only one stage, Algorithm Assessment, really mixes it up, forcing Donatello to defꩲend a single larger-than-usual room in the sewers, an excellent way to play around with his defensive combat style.

Though the rooftops and subway system theoretically lend themselves to more opportunities to knock enemies off the map for instant kills, in practice – with every area a small arena – this is a valid strategy almost constantly. Big kicks are the not-so-secret weapon that sort of undermines TMNT: Tactical Takedown. As long as an enemy gets knocked off a map, they will instantly be KO'd, and the action point cost of push moves are always relatively low. A lot of other skill options can be unnecessary compared to just punting – which is pretౠty satisfying, don't get me wrong – stopping other inventive skills ꦫfrom really shining.

With the sheer number of enemies constantly swarming, if you don't leverage the likes of big kicks you'll just get stomped to death. Nothing feels as rough as bei💟ng surrounded by six enemies all piling on the damage while a spinning full-heal pizza lies just out of reach. You get to grips with optimal play quite quickly out of necessity, learning how to simply use moves to take out most enemies at a total cost of 2 AP or less. The whole game only took me around five hours on a first playthrough, but I was seeing the wireframe by the second half.

There are some other issues that undermine the joy of expressive play – a shame as that's where TMNT: Tactic💛al Takedown is at its most tubular. A final sequence that intriguingly smushes together narrative and mechanics completely alters your loadout and restr🍌icts your play a bit too much, making me just wish I was back playing the turtles as they were in earlier levels. Some mechanical oversights also frustrate, like a preview line showing which enemies are able to attack a turtle on which grid square not always being accurate, or a level mutation appearing under my turtle during a boss fight the second I spend my final action point forcing me to instantly lose a life.

I love the way Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown feels to play as you run circles around legions of goons. There's an exciting inventiveness here that makes learning how it works a real thrill. But as a whole, it isn't quite able to capitalize on that vibe enough. I can appreciate a shorter game, but TMNT: Tactical Takedown's core ideas hold enough promise where I can't help but feel there's missed opp𓄧ortunities for more mission variety and depth. But while it lasts, it's a shell of a good time.

Teenage Mutant Ninja T🅠urtles: Tactical Takedown was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher.

Looking for more thinking? We've got our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best strategy games for you right here!

Yet, while Monster Train 2 certainly deserves that gloriously curved sequel number, this followup is really more of a Super Monster Train in the tradition of retro classics. Everything I loved about the original Monster Train is intact while feeling incredibly evolved. This is the kind of sequel that supersedes the original to the point where I'm not sure there's any point in returning – that first excursion now feels like it was merely laying down the tracks for this well-forged locomotive.

All aboard

The fundamentals are still much the same. Your task is to escort the pyre – the last embers of Hell – on your eponymous locomotive to its destination intact. Whereas the first game had you riding the tracks down to Hell, this time you're moving up the screen towards Heaven, in order to use the fire's powers to purge the encroaching Titan threat that threatens to throw both ཧsides of the divine coin into chaos. The remaining champions from Heaven, Hell, and somewhere in between must join forces to see it done, each successful mission getting them closer to liberation.

Each segment of the map is divided by battles – some of them boss-level fights – with stop-offs to upgrade your deck and therefore your monstrous powers on the way. After each cloudy dust-up, you always get a left or right choice with a handful of distinct upgrade stations each. Will you use some pyre shards to heal your fire back to full health or nab some possibly overpowered equipment? Veer towards upgrades for your battle units, or for your spells? Duplicate a top performing card, or permanently discard two that are holding you back? Monste🥃r Train 2 is always p♎resenting you with choices, and teasing you w🌱ith other equally valid upgrade pat🔯hs you could have taken.

The battles themselves are – again – fundamentally the same as in the first game. Your train is made up of four floors. The top houses your pyre, while the three below are where you can place your own monsters to fend off invaders who board from the bottom and ascend each turn (whether you've units alive on a floor or not). Things get chaotic as more foes, often beefier, board the further you get into a run, and it's up to you to bash them silly before your pyre can sᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚustain ꦉmuch damage. After you play your cards each round, damage is exchanged automatically before the next begins.

Each run's deck starts off relatively similar to one another, with base train steward units and the like, but depending on your clans of choice you'll quickly end up specializing to take advantage of each one's decks. Note the plural 'clans', too – one of the best aspects of Monster Train 2 is that while you only have one clan's champion with you, you never just pick one deck to set out with, you always have to pick two. Synergy is the steamy lifeblood of Monster Train 2, you've no choice but to constantly think about strategy in that way. Even trying to downplay the impact, say, the Pyreborne's Pyregel debuffs has on your Valor-focused Banished deck is stilཧl a decision.

It's a great way of getting you to think about how cards interact – effects often play off one another whether you like it or not. Understanding how these combos work and nudging your deck to take advantage of them ✃is how you'll p🏅ull into the station of your first wins, and is crucial for mastering covenant runs that increase complexity by making runs more difficult while also stuffing your conductor's cabin with more toys to play with.

Compared to the first Monster Train, each of the starting clans in Monster Train 2 are immediately more complex, which may make those used to some of the first game's simpler methods anxious – but it's weighted this way for a reason (past tactics do return, however). Whether it's the Luna Coven's powers that boast different effects depending on t👍he constantly changing moon phase, or the way Pyreborne builds up a stack of dragon's hoard treas🃏ure to cash-in for big rewards, there's a lot to juggle.

Having no choice but to grapple with all these statuꦿs effects early on helped me get to grips with how I was expected to get them to play off each other. Once I got used to them, I really didn't want to return to simple hack-and-slash decks with big numbers, knowing my digits could dial much higher with some devious adjustments to the formula. Even so, I'm still getting to figu🍸ring out some clans' mechanics well into double digit hours of playtime.

Making Monster Train 2'sไ mechanics even more complex are the addition of entirely new card types and customization options. Equipment can be attached to units in addition to upgrade tokens, and Rooms can also be applied to give, well, room-enhancing ✨effects ranging from flat stat boosts to ones that allow you to accumulate extra attack points or even money.

If that's not enough, the Pyre Heart that encases your pyre can be switched out to allow for additional effects ranging from the option to pay to duplicate cards at stores to giving ♒some cards you stumble upon a starting upgrade token (which, for me, can hinder as much as it helps – but ಞI bet if you get lucky this one really goes hard).

Naturally, as a roguelike, your deck starts modest each time you pull on that train whistle for another stab at, well, stabbing (and burning, and crushing, and…). The beauty is seeing the many, many combinations combine into something that you feel verges on gamebreaking – until the next boss crushes you and puts you in your place. But, usually, not without the wince-worthy feeling of being so close.

Pick a card

There are so many possibilities and diversions you'll rarely chase the exact same synergies twice, even setting out with the same clans. Stumbling upon a new game plan always feels great. Simple early combinations may see you using the Pyreborne's Pyregel with the Luna Coven's spell-boosting Conduit buffs to rack up the damage, or using the Banished's Valor alongside Mageblade and Condu﷽it to turn your units into spellslinging tanks.

Soon enough you'll be racking up upgrade tokens to sand off the edges of top-tier spells. One run saw me forcing a damage boosting and damage shielding card to repeat back into my hand on each use for a low cost making my units near untouchable. Another had me using a smidgestone in concert with overgro𝄹wth equipment I'd grafted onto my units to have them beef up every turn with literally no limit to how big they could grow (because they would simultaneously always be tiny – Schrodinger's size).

All of these ꦐwonderful synergies do have one slight downside – enemy unit𝄹s also come with stacks of their own special abilities you need to be aware of. Often you can tell at a glance with damage previews what you're dealing with, but as units get more complicated it can sometimes feel like a chore to parse out exactly what you're up against, constantly having to hit the 'see more' button to expand the list of effects. Or, more often than not, chancing it.

At the very least, vital boss effects are indicated in the pre-battle splash screen, so you're never not aware of anything big. Monster Train 2's bulging suitcase of special p🐼owers is to its benefit more often than not, but it can be overwhelming in terms of the sheer amount of data.

Beyond just throwing yourself back onto the tracks for repeat runs there's plenty to chase as well, from a legion of unlocks, to playing with mutators, 🍨escalating covenant difficulties, and even dimensional challenges. I really love these challenge runs, as they're great ways of forcing you to play with particular set-ups and special rules that can make you feel overpowered as much as they can be tricky – and do a great job at introducing you to combinations you might not have thought of.

Monster Train 2 also features a greater emphasis on story than the original Monster Train which is to say, still not much. The visual novel style presentation is particularly basic, and the writing itself is not all that engaging. It's enough to remind you that the repeating set-up could in theory lend itself to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:a structure similar to Hades while not really being anything like it.

Oddly, story progression is tied to unlocking Pyre Hearts, done by achieving milestones like holding Frozen cards in your hand for long enough, or applying a certain total amount of debuffs. It's not a particularly thrilling way of progressing, as much fun as the Pyre Hearts themselves are to play around with – and feels like needless padding, especially when you have to slog through a couple that just don't fit your playstyle at all (debuffs feel like they progress so slowly).

With that said, swiping my pass for another trip on Monster Train 2 isn't something I need much excuse to do other than the simple pleasure of playing the game itself. With so many options in each run, I'm neve🌊r quite sure what to expect – runs where I'm certain I'm off to a bad start turning into crackling storms of synergy, and sometimes the overconfidence of a solid beginning becoming a nightmare. This journey's quick enough to have me reaching my destination, dusting myself off, and jumping right back on board for another – even if that 🦩means leaving my luggage behind.

Monster Train 2 was🅷 reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher.

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Blades of Fire finally solves these problems by being the type of brutal parent that'd literally snap my toys in two – perhaps less 'in conversation' than a stern talking to. Every we🐽apon you forge here will break sooner or later, and I can see this being the most controversial it's been in a game since 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The ꦦL✨egend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But this tough love was exactly what I needed. Breaking my weapons broke me out of my combat comfort zone. I couldn't even tell you what༒ it feels like to swing a claymore in Dark Souls, whereas in Blades of Fire I've had to learn to fight with claymores, sabers, polearms, axes, daggers, spears, oh my!

You're Aran De Lira, a blacksmith living in isolation in the woods who one day gets a visit from an old friend. Unfortunately, that old friend immediately gets his throat slit. So Aran goes on a quest of🎀 revenge against the tyrannical queen who's to blame for this, as 😼well as the generally miserable state of this brutal fantasy world.

Ah, but it doesn't stay miserable for long, and Blades of Fire's first pleasant surprise is the upbeat tone that blossoms shortly after that initial, er, throat-slitting. Aran is joined on his quest by Adso, a ཧpacifist type steadily putting together a bestiary of everything that's repeatedly smacking you in the face. Aran takes a shine to Adso immediately and their friendly dynamic is hugely refreshing in what too often is gaming's most grimdark genre.

There's still darkness aplenty. The game is practically drowning in blood, you face creatures that are pure nightmare-fuel, and I'd hate to meet the interior designer who thought chandelier♈s would be improved by looking like they have human fingers. But there's a pulpiness to the tone, a joy of adventuring, that's delightfully infectious. Adso will tell Aran about how he's drawn pictures of the enemy you're fighting, while it's still very much trying to kill you. "That's great lad!" says Aran, desperately📖 trying to stop his face getting sliced off "I'll take a look when I get a minute!"

Creature discomforts

Forests, deserts, icy areas, and castles have been done to death, even if they are particularly pretty here. Far more inspired are the creatures you meet in them. There's the master forger who lives in a gian🐷t flying ant. A purple ogre 'king' who seems nice enough, but would almost definitely like to eat you. As for what you're fighting, there's the usual soldiers in armor, sure. But there's also little enemies who use their swords as pogo sticks to bounce out of reach of your attacks.

Significantly less adorable are the warriors who slit their own throats and in the process somehow turn themselves into lethal spinning Crash Bandicoot-types in their final bloody moments. There's a gleefully nasty imagination at work here that 🦄make🔯s you want to keep playing just to see what the game will throw at you next. How did something so full of bizarre ideas end up with a title as woefully generic as Blades of Fire?

Kill a set amount of an enemy and you'll be able to craft the weapon they've been using against you. It's a great incentive to properly engage with combat. A cave full of morlocks tཧhat are instant death if you let the lights go out is absolutely horrifying. But the trident 👍forge scroll I got for knuckling down and slaying sixty of them was well worth it.

Forging is an elaborate process, complete with loving cutscenes of the process that even 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds fans might consider over the top. You have to choose what wood and steel you use, affecting things like durability, stamina cost, and the all important damage output. There's no shields here,♏ but use the right material and you'll be able to block a few blows with your weapon. And tempting as it is to use all your rarest ingredients to make a ferocio👍us monster-slayer, that could really screw you over when it comes time to repair it.

I imagine some of you read that last paragraph and decided there and then that you'll never play Blades of Fire. A pitꦑy, because weapon degradation is just the most obviously frustrating of the many clever ways it gets you to experiment with a wide range of weaponry. The game's UI makes it crystal clear whether an enemy is weak tꦫo your chosen weapon, will block a lot of its damage, or if you might as well be hitting it with a wet newspaper.

Sometimes I'd stubbornly try to brute-force my way through with a couple of weapons I'd grown overly fond of. But there's far more satisfaction to be had here when you take the time to engage with weapon-forging properly. It can slow the pace when you have to make yet another trip to the forge, or go on a tedious backtrack for crafting materials. But finally forging the right tool for the job and then introducing said tool to the correc🐼t monster's face usually made it all worth it.

Crushing it

It certainly helps that nearly every weapon is a joy to use, smacking foes with a hugely satisfying screen-shaking wallop, or slicing bits off them and watching their blood spray everywhere. Choosing which direction you attack from is far more important here than in the average soulslike, as is w🃏hether you swing your sword or thru𝄹st it. Tapping dodge once will move Aran, but you'll have to double tap for a dodge roll. That roll is more evasive, but also eats up time you could've spent on a counter-attack if only you'd been a bit braver. Despite blocking being a highly-limited last resort, parrying is still immensely rewarding, though I'd expect no less from the studio that taught Samus Aran how to parry in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Metroid Dread. It's🦂 a really 𒈔rewarding combat system to get to grips with.

And then there are😼 the heavy attacks. Oh, the heavy attacks! Executing them is where Blades of Fire starts to feel like consistently winning the lottery. Landing these killer blows feels tremendous, and watching a massive chunk of a boss' health bar plummet is basically why we play video games.

These attacks can be interrupted, and some of the heftier weapons take longer to wind up their heavy attack than 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Valve is taking with Half Life 3. But when the impact is as oh-so-sweet as this, it's worth it. Besides, all the swiftest weapons have heavy attacks too. Landing several charged strikes with a pair of ax💞es while a gigantic troll fails to get even a single hit on me feels incredible. That's another weapon I wouldn't have bothered trying if my tool of choice hadn't broken on me and forced my hand. Now I use my beloved axes all the time.

There's no levelling up, so combat is rewarded with enemies dropping crafting materials. Exploration is incentivised with hidden health u🏅pgrades, stamina upgrades, more crafting options for your weaponry, etc. All helpful stuff, and it doesn't hurt that scavenging every inch of Blades of Fires' maps for secrets is a treat.

You don't make a couple of Metroid games for Nintendo without learning a thing or two about Metroidvania design, and MercurySteam pro🌊ve once again highly accomplished at keeping secrets. They're constantly rewarding you for paying attention and thinking outside the box. Fall damage is a little ruthless, considering several discoveries involve guiding Aran off a ledge, but death is only punished with dropping your held weapon wherever you died anyway, and you can go pick it up whenever you like (it actually makes for quite a handy, if slightly ghoulish, waypoint marker).

The story's a fairly standard revenge tale, but entertainingly told with fun characters and a series of gloriously shit-eating villains worthy of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Yakuza games. Aran and Adso make for a great double act, too, though I did start to grate with Adso's repeated lines 🔯after a while. I should be dreading shimmying⛦ across a narrow ledge because of the deadly drop below, not because Adso is about to repeat the same 'hilarious' quip yet again.

Say no more

That's a mild irritant compared to one area which is almost ruined by a ghost who insists on coming along for the journey. "I'm more nervous than a ghost at an exorcism!" he exclaims. "I'm more nervous than a ghost at an exorcism!" he repeats a few minutes later. "I'm more nervous than a gho–" Oh good god shut up! Didn't we pass some sor൲t of law 🃏against repeated NPC barks years ago?

He earns a full two paragraphs of whinging in this review because he's one of the game's very few tonal missteps. Otherwise, I love how the tone jumps effortlessly between 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gory Game of Thrones nastiness one second, and Indiana🃏-Jones-esque excitement of 🎃being on an adventure the next. Th🎃e cute little skeleton lad that you escort in one chapter is a particular highlight, especially because that bony boy is thankfully missing a larynx.

I started Blades of Fire skeptical that a dark fantasy soulslike had anything new to show me. But not since Sekiro snatched away my shield and made me learn to parry has one of these games so successfully forced me to entertain a different playstyle. It's got the Metroidvania chops of their Nintendo Switch high-point Metroid Dread, the fantasy-horror imagination of their 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Castlevania: Lords of Shadow games, and a fantastic combat system that smashes them both. A great adventure that'll makꦛe you want to try every weapon it hits you with. Outstanding.

Blades of Fire🌼 was reviewed on PS5, with a code provided by the publisher

Check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games of 2025 list for what to play next!

The value on offer here is particularly strong. While the build construction and🉐 plastic material isn't the most comfortable🌠 or tactile on the market, the shape is fantastic, the sensor is speedy, and the controls are well-placed. If you're on the hunt for a tail-free rodent but don't want to break the bank, you'll find very few sacrifices compared to the flagships here.

Design

The Keychron M7 8K doesn't break the rulebook in its design, but it does add to it. The soft curve of the main chassis is supported by a ge꧙nerous thumb rest on the left flank and finished off with a soft-touch matte surface that feels fantastic under the hands. That means this is a comfort-first design, but one with a standard width and height for more nimble maneuvers.

It carries a larger footprint than many of the gaming mice in this mid-range, lightweight category but still manages to feel pliable under the fingertips. A total width of 77.1mm takes the thumb rest into account, which means it looks much larger than alternatives from Razer, Glorious, and Endgame Gear on paper. In reality, the actual grippable dome is far more streamlined. The Keychron M7 8K measures 124mm in length, which is again a touch larger than the 113mm 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Glorious Model O 2 Mini and 122mm 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed.

Much of that extra space, however, has been pushed towards the front of the device, with longer ma꧋in clicks. That means the rear curve still easily slots in underneath the palm with space to spare, and I was still able to pivot the device from side to side in a claw grip.

That's an impressive combination of comfort and freedom of movement that I rarely see in mice that verge towards the top end of the size scale. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Turtle Beach Kone II Air, for example, goes all in on its wider base at the expense of flickability. The low 63g weight isn't quite as nimble as the 55g 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cougar Revenger Pro 4K or Razer DeathAdder V3 Hypers﷽peed, but it's light enough to stay fast while 𝕴still providing a nice sense of grounding to each movement. In my opinion, it's just a few grams heavier than the sweet spot.

The actual co𝐆nstruction feels fairly solid, though I did notice some considerable creaking when pressure is applied to the sides. There's also a slight flex from the bottom panel (thou༒gh absolutely nothing from the top of the main dome) when pushed in the other direction as well. This is a cheaper all-plastic build, so it's easy to forgive.

The skates planted on the underside of the Keychron M7 8K aren't going to give the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alienware Pro Wireless gaming mouse anything to worry about, and don't provide the super-smooth glide you'd expect from a more expensive pointer. They do, however, keep things moving along nicely with minimal sticking. I did require a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:mouse pad for a better experience.

The Keychron M7 8K comes in black or white, both benefiting from the same matte finish and glossy side buttons. The white model I received is nice and crisp, though grime and dust do show up far quicker and take a lit♏tle work to remove fully.

Controls

The Keychron M7 8K packs all the standard controls you'd expect from a gaming mouse, though removes an🦋y side-to-side action on the scroll wheel that you'll see in some other models. Instead, the M7 comes with an additional clicker on the left flank, an angled third button that can be set up as a temporary DPI slower or simply configured to any other keybinding you choose.

I take as many buttons as I can on the side of my gaming mice, for both productivity and gameplay, so I'm always happy to see extras added. This third button could be difficult to hit if you have particularly small hands, due to its placement fairly𓃲 high up the length of the chꦑassis.

However, I have relatively little grabbers and was able to hook my thumb onto the angled portion of the button with ease. It doesn't take too much pressure to actuate either, which keeps it flex🔜ible for lighter touches without having to shift grip too far. The two main side buttons are perfectly positioned for speedy access without the threat of misfiring.

It's rare to find a third side button in gaming mice at this price point - none of the other models in this $69.99 - $99.99 comparison pool go beyond the traditional t꧃wo-button array.

Underneath, you'll find dedicated shifters for DPI and polling rate settings (as well as LED indicators for each). That's a feature I loved in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Keychron M5. Agಞain, it's rare to have on-the-fly access to polling rates no matter how much you're paying fo🗹r your pointer.

Software

Keychron doesn't rely on a download for its configuration software, instead keeping things light with an in-browser setup. That means no additional CPU usage and no annoying software updates and notifications. Everything is saved directly onto the M7's onboard storage and can be adjusted from session to se𒁃ssion, simply by running the .

The interface itself is neatly intuitive as well. Each of your configurable buttons are displayed on a graphic of the mouse, with keybinding options available on the lower half of the screen. Unlike the software packaged with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer mice or the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Logitech gaming mouse models, your c𝔍ustomized inputs aren't reflected directly on the mouse's graphic, which can make things a little more confusing, but they're displayed neatly in a♐ table below instead.

DPI settings can be configured in five stages, and adjusted in increments of 50. That's n🌞ot as fine a level of control as you'll see in more expensive mice, but it's certainly everything an everyday player will need. Each preset is assigned a color which is represented via 🐼an LED on the underside of the mouse as well.

Overall, everything is easy to find and I never ran into any issues setting up different profiles and presets, even when leaving the Launch🍌er website and reloading at a later date. It could be prettier, but I'll certainly take streamlined functionality over CPU-heavy graphics and ads any day.

Connection

Packing all three connection methods (2.4GHz, Bluetooth, and wired) as well as an 8,000Hz polling rate means the Keychron M7 8K beats the rest of its competition in this price range. The Cougar Revenger Pro 4K drops Bluetooth functionality and taps out at 4,000Hz for the same $69.99 price point and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed only uses a 2.4GHz connection for the same rate. Even at the $99.99 position, the Glorious Model O 2 Mini drops you down to a 1,000Hz polling rate while keeping all three connection options and the Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed kills Bluetooth and requires an additional dongle for super-fast polli🦋ng.

That means the Keychron M7 8K is set up particularly well within its price bracket and, while the higher polling rate will only make sense for particularly competitive players, the versatility of those connection options is a win for everyone. I can keep the 2.4GHz receiver plugged into my 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming laptop and run the pointer off Blue🥃tooth on my handheld (where ports are🐬 far more limited) or iPad, for example.

I never noticed any stuttering or lagging over either Bluetooth or 2.4GHz, even when battery levelsꦚ started to run down.

Battery

Keychron states that the 𒀰M7 8K can run for up to 140 hours on a single charge, a considerable improvement over the 70-hour lifespan of the previous M7 model. It still keeps the M7 8K from the top of the testing pool, though it does beat a number of $99.99 options out there. The Cougar Revenger Pro 4K taps out after 150 hours and the Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed can run for up to 280 hours (though that is on a replaceable AA battery).

Still, I haven't had to charge this pointer once in my testing, which is more than I can say for some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best wireless gaming mouse models I've had my hands on.

Sensor

The Keychron M7 8K comes with a Pixart PAW 3950 sensor under the hood, capable of tracking at up to 750 inches-per-second across up to 30,000 dots-per-inch. That's a solid mid-range spec sheet, and far more than you'll usually see from a mid-range model. The Cougar Revenger Pro 4K taps out at 26,000 DPI / 650 IPS, as do the more expensive Glorious Model O 2 Mini, Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Endgame Gear OP1 8K.

Keychron makes this sensor a little confusing on its site. There is another M7 model available without the 8,000Hz polling and a weaker PAW 3395 sensor (26,000 DPI and 650 IPS) and, confusingly, some of that model's specs have been pulled through to the 8K's listing. If you are looking at additional retailers, it's well worth double checking the listed specifications to make sure you're picking up the 3950 model. It will give you access to that faster polling sure, but also a lower 0.7mm lift-off distance option and better power handling. You can read more about the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:PAW 3395 vs PAW 3950 and 𓃲wꩵhat it realistically means for each mouse as well.

The PAW 3950 runs beautifully sitting inside the Keychron M7 8K. Faster in-game mouse movements are tracked perfectly, representing as close to 1:1 🍰movement as you can ask for beneath the $100 threshold. Ramping th꧂ings up beyond my usual 3,200 DPI, action is still smooth thanks to the ripple control feature and even motion sync doesn't feel too woolly here.

Switches

Huano 80M Micro Switches sit inside the main clicks of the Keychron M7 8K, delivering a crisp clack with a robust feel behind it. They're slightly heavier than the shorter stops I'm used to in more competitive mice, but repeat presses are still swi♑ft and easy for the m𝓡ost part.

That extra heft does make itself kn꧙own in faster moments - I often found myself staying stuck to the bottom of a press for a little longer than I would expect to in particularly competitive scenarios. They're far from mushy, though, and have 𝕴a satisfying thunk to them overall.

Should you buy the Keychron M7 8K?

The Keychron M7 8K is a relatively affordable gaming mouse that doesn't shy away from the features more mainstream gaming brands will sell you at a premium. While its switches won't keep up with the competitive needs of its 8,000Hz polling rate, there's plenty of headroom for faster players an🐻d a lightweight body to accommodate faster movements and twitch-reflex shots as well. The additional ergonomics in the thumb rest play beautifully into slower moments and productivity use-cases, while still keeping the main body of the mouse skinny enough to remain nimble in a claw and fingertip grip.

At $69.99, the K7 8K has some considerable competition. It's the same price as, though much more widely available t🐻han, the Cougar Revenger Pro 4K and the Razer Viper Hyperspeed. If you're stuck꧙ at this $70 budget, the Keychron M7 8K wins the battle. It's better for more competitive players thanks to its lower weight and higher polling rate, while still catering to more casual markets better with its ergonomic design, extra side button, and versatile Bluetooth connection option.

The Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed is the gaming mouse that threatens the M♑7 8K the most, though. Before Keychron came along, this was the best value wireless pointer I'd tested. With its lower battery life, weaker sensor, lack of Bluetooth, and $30 higher price, that might be about to change. I'd stick to Razer if you're after extra sensor functionality, there are some neat Synapse tricks in here. However, if you're going for sheer value while cutting the cord, Keychron is the new name to beat.

How I tested the Keychron M7 8K

I used the Keychron M7 8K for all my daily work and play over the course of two weeks, testing specifically for competitive advantage in CS2 and Apex Legends and otherwise using the device across the tail end of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and South of Midnight. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming mice, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting down all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best left-handed gaming mouse models available now, as well as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming keyboards and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming headsets for a full setup refresh.

If the new Claw 8 AI+ is indeed a reincarnated🐭 white wizard, then that probably makes the original MSI Claw Gandalf the Grey. I could get even more unbearably metaphorical by saying it died battling the Balrog (an industry filled with fierce Ryzen Z1 Extreme rivals) so that the latest r𓆉evision could enter the scene with a bang. It’s simply a more refined version that packs the right punch and wears a new 8-inch display, and that helps better justify its $900 / £899 price tag.

At the same time, I still think MSI’s premium asking price is a bit of an issue. You’re at least getting something that places a decent performance gap between the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Steam Deck OLED and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Ally, sure, but the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming handheld battlefield꧟ will get a little bloody once the Nintendo Switch 2 drops. I’m not saying you should be comparin💃g a pricey portable PC to a mainstream console, but it certainly makes the conversation spicier.

Design

As the name implies, the Claw 8 AI+ is larger than its predecessor since it weilds an 8-inch 1200p 120Hz display. So, it’s not quite as large as the Lenovo ꦡLegion Go, but this has ultimately helped MSI stick to sensible design principles and protect important ergonomic factors. In other words, this device still feels like a handheld while offering up more screen space, and that’s quite an impressive feat.

MSI’s new handheld also has a new getup to match its size, which in turn helps it beat the “just a goth Asus ROG Ally” allegations. New “Sandstorm” coverings at the ꦯfront that give it a two-tone effect, making for a nice change from most black and while options out there. Other than ♉that, most of the other differences apply to the back, with some slightly different ventilation grills and tweaked back buttons that ditch the weird point angles in the name of flatter comfort.

The face buttons, D-pad, menu toggles, and RGB-accented sticks are all pretty much the same as last time. That’s not necessarily a good thing since the directional pad is a bit of a nightmare and features very little pivot that’s further hindered by its convex cross-shape. The A and B buttons are also precariously close to the curvature of the body, which result♌s in a bit of a slippery feel. But the rest of the controls are pretty serviceable, and they’re not much of a departure from the standards set by the Steam Deck and ROG Ally.

I’m pretty surprised at just how similar the Claw 8 AI+ is to the original design-wise, especially since it’s rocking that larger screen. Scaling devices up without adding way more bulk or placing things🐻 differently is a skill, one that MSI has made sure to fully leverage when reimagining its first concept.

Features

As the handheld gaming PC scene matures, there are a few staple features that are becoming commonplace. Just like the new 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lenovo Legion Go S, the Claw 8 AI+ has twᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚo Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports at the top for charging and connecting other peripherals. Having a spare connector will potentially save you from messing with Steam Deck docks, depending on your setup, as you’ll still be able to connect the 65W charger and output to an external display.

Under the hood, you’re getting a few premium extras too. Hardly surprising given that this handheld costs $900 / £899, but that does at least translate to anti-drift hall-effect joysticks, a fingerprint sensor for extra security. What I will say is that the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Zotac Zone is starting to look a bit more like a l൩avish buy since it comes armed with pro-controller elements like adjustable triggers and customizable thumbstick dials, and it does feel a bit like you’re paying a premium for specs rather than features here.

Not that I’m mad about the Claw 8 AI+ boasting a 32GB LPDDR5x RAM and a 1TB SSD alongside its new Intel Core Ultra 7 258V chip. In fact, I’d rather pay more for raw performance than portable parlor tricks, especially since in this instance they result in a handheld wo⛎rth buying. It also proves that there wasn’t much wrong with the original Claw beyond underwhelming performance levels, and it should be a sign to portable PC makers to be more careful about specs pairings.

That said, the caveat currently haunting every handheld PC like this is Windows 11. Sure, the plus is that you’re getting the versatility of a full-blown rig and can jump into virtually any storefront you like from the get-go, whether that means downloading Game Pass newbies, grabbing Epic Game Store freebies, or tackling your Steam𓆉 backlog. However, the optimization just isn’t there, and until Microsoft decides to finally throw us a handheld-friendly version of its operating system, the experience is going to feel like an awkwardly shaped tablet.

MSI, like every other handheld maker out there, includes management software to soothe Windows 11 wounds. The included Centre M app isn’t terrible by any means, and I’ve certainly experienced worse alternatives to SteamOS. What I will say is that it does feel as much like a middleman as every other variant out there, and it actually just uses the Xbox overlay for quick settings rather than iꦛts own tailored menu. This approach means you’re missing out on a streamlined way to access settings in a console-like way.

Performance

2025 is actually off to a weird start when it comes to handheld performance. The Lenovo Legion Go S was technically the first “next-gen” portable to arrive on the scene, but rather than pushing frame rates to new heights, it instead offers up an 🎃fps range comparable to the Steam Deck OLED. So, you can imagine my delight when I discovered that the MSI Claw 8 AI+ actually provides the sort of boost I’m craving from new devices, which is surprising since we’re talking about an Intel chipset.

Starting off with my usual trip to Night City, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ handles C𓃲yberpunk 2077 respectably. Again, I was looking for performance that outpaces the Ryzen Z1 Extreme since that chip represents top-end mainstream handheld performance. Thankfully, Intel’s APU doesn’t remotely disappoint when paired with 32GB LPDDR5 RAM, as the handheld hits a 40fps average at 1080p with low settings enabled. That’s before we even get to upscaling assistance, as you’ll gain more frames by leveraging XeSS or even FSR where available.

Hitman 3 paints a similar performance picture, as the Claw 8 AI+ hits around 43fps at 1080p. It certainly🎶 feels like there’s some headroom to play around with settings and even crank resolutions up to 1200p here, and 🌺that’s novel if you’re currently using something like the Steam Deck. At the same time, 800p is going to scale nicely on a screen at this resolution, and that’ll mean hitting even higher frame rates

In my go-to test games, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ sits behind the Zotac Zone, but there’s not too wide a gap between the two handhelds. It’s certainly not as big a difference as with the first Claw, as that seemed to stand in the same ring as the Steam Deck. Although at 1080p, the Zone’s Ryzen 7 8840U APU still sits a bit ahead of the Ultra 7 258V, so Intel hasn’t quite m🐻anaged to beat AMD.

It's also worth noting that while the Zone packs a slightly harder punch thanks to the Ryzen 7 8840U, it's not really available to buy in the US. It's easy enough to find in the UK, bu🌳t the fact that the Claw 8 AI+ is readily available works in its favor, especially when your other option is the Asus ROG Ally X.

I find that with handheld PCs, even marginal frame boosts can make all the difference. Getting big new releases to feel smooth on portable devices takes a lot of sacrific💮e, and when you’re paying next to a grand for a premium machine, there’s an expectation that there will be fewer trade-offs. That’s exactly what I was looking for in the MSI Claw 8 AI+, and it thankfully (and perhaps surprisingly) rises to the challenge in even new shooters like DOOM: The Dark Ages.

The Doomslayer’s third outing makes for quite a nice test scenario, and I had a lovely time smashing through hordes of hell using the Claw 8 AI+. In terms of feel, the handheld provides a nice set of controls that are easy on the palms over longer sessions and aren’t cumbersome des𒐪pite framing an 8-inch screen. The triggers handle as nicely as a regular gamepad, and the t⛄ravel is just right for preventing weird off-balance presses.

Running The Dark Ages on a handheld is ambitious, no matter what you’re using. That is to say you won’t be hitting near 60fps most of the time. What you will get, though, is a perfectly playable 30fps experience with some dips here and there. XeSS in performance mode helps the Intel chip keep frame rates relatively stable without dam🦋aging the visual experience too much, as does FSR, and you’re ultimately getting a portable that can run a 2025 shoote꧅r with heavy-duty visual effects built in.

Of course, pushing a handheld in this manner is going to give battery life a kicking. Under♚ load, the 80Wh battery was able to keep ticking for over two hours, which is largely in line with devices like the ROG Ally X. Of course, if you play something a little less demanding, or just scoot around Windows 11 in between sessions, you’ll run♋ for much longer.

Should you buy the MSI Claw 8 AI+?

The Claw 8 AI+ is a high-spec handheld second wind for MSI, and the 8-inch portable is one of the best premium handhelds out there right now. The portable’s new Intel chip packs 🔯the sort of punch I’m looking for in 2025 compared to existing Ryzen Z1 Extreme options, and while it could end up being outpaced by proper next-gen contenders when they eventually arrive, nice extras like an 8-inch 1200p screen, hall effect joysticks, and beefier specs make this a fierce alteཧrnative to the Asus ROG Ally X.

That said, $900 / £899 is a pretty big ask, especial🅷ly since the Nintendo Switch 2 is inbound with Nvidia DLSS tricks that make playing Cyberpunk 2077 possible. Naturally, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is ꦯfor players who care more about proper native performance and elevated visual settings, but it does hammer home the fact that portable PCs can be an expensive niche that aren’t priced to take on mainstream handheld consoles or offer up better value.

I also want to stress that if the Zotac Zone were available in the US, I'd be tempted to recommend it to premium players instead. That AMD Ryzen 7 8840U chipset goes the extra mile in terms of raw frame rates, and extras like the adjustable triggers and an OLED display make it a nice pick for near $1,000. But alas, it's only seemingly available in Europe and🤡 the UK, so unless you reside there, I'd look to the MSI Claw 8 AI+ for the same kind of cash.

How I tested the MSI Claw 8 AI+

For two weeks, I put the MSI Claw 8 AI+ through its paces in several test scenarios involving games like Cyberpunk 2077, Hitman 3, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Doom: Th🤡e Dark Ages. Throughout testing, I also assessed the controller's features like integrated controls and 🍌connectivity, as well as took note of aspects like battery life and average frame rates to compare performance to similar portables.

For more information on how we test gaming handhelds, take a peek at our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ hardware policy.

The device's priorities align it with the world of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming phones more so than everyday flagship handsets🐬. There are some noticeable s🌠acrifices in camera quality and other quality-of-life features like wireless charging, but that's traded out for impressive battery life, a slick display, and a solid (if slightly older) chipset chugging away under the hood.

There's power, grace, and style in this device, and while it lacꩵks gaming-specific software and hardware features it could well give Nubia something to t🐻hink about in the value department.

That said, this isn't a US phone. It's possible to have one shipped to the states, but there's no guara🎀ntee that it will run on major carriers🧜.

Design

The Poco F7 Pro keeps things streamlined with a sophisticated monotone design that keeps things interesting🌸 by varying texture rather than color. That's in stark contrast to the bold yellow aesthetics of previous releases, but one that sits inline with the move towards more understated gaming form factors in recent years. I received the black model, though a crisp silver and stꦿriking blue are also available, which also comes with a dark gray silicone case in the box.

This is a flat-backed phone but it's certainly not harsh. In contrast to the similarly-proportioned 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:RedMagic 9S Pro's hard angular co💯rners, the Poco F7 Pro has a neatly rounded design that saves the palms and keeps aesthetics soft. Turning it over, the glossy section towards the top also features a circular pattern running underneat♛h the glass cover, adding an extra level of dimensionality.

That glass only extends down slightly pꦯast the camera bump, wit🉐h the rest being covered in a soft-touch matte finish. That saves fingerprints from completely ruining the experience (they will clog up the top panel) but also gives the phone a comfortable base to grip onto. It's a little too smooth to provide high-quality grip (I certainly wouldn't hold it over the toilet), but it's easily cleaned and keeps the rear panel from feeling clammy during longer sessions.

The perimeter is constructed from alu♏minum but it's not the shiny, scratch-likely casing you might expect. Instead, the matte finish from the back extends around the edges, providing a soft feel that resists scuffs and fingerprints nicely.

Poco has also refreshed its durability with the F7 Pro. It now featuresജ a solid IP68 dust and water resistance rating, keeping it safe at depths of up to 1.5m for up to 30 minutes. That's a rarity in the world of gaming phones, where brand usually prefer to keep exhausts open for enhanced cooling (which removes any chance of a seal). On top of that, the display and back glass are both Corning Gorilla Glass 7i.

Display

Up top we've got an inc🥃redibly crisp 3,200 x 1440 resolution OLED panel, with all the HDR functionality and high-speed refresh rates you could ask for. Thi𒁃s is a particularly vibrant screen, offering rich colors and allowing for more muted tones with striking detail and precision.

That's a QHD+ resolution that punches with the best of them, matching only high-end flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Xiaomi's own 15 Ultra. Considering those are both four-figure models, and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro that sits at the top of our gaming phone rankings only cloﷺcks in at 2,400 x 1,080, that's excellent value for money.

It's also incredibly bright - too bright to use at full blast in anything other than direct sun. I'd take that over a dim display, especially considering it still manages to maintain both brightness and uniformity at a solid price poi♋nt. Throw in full HDR support from Dolby Vision and more and you've got yourself an impressive screen.

That's without taking the 120Hz refresh rate into account, a feature y🍬ou'll pay top dollar for in other models. This is a variable refresh rate, but it's not quite as smart as other installations. There's an adaptive mode, but it basically cycles between idle 60Hz settings and more power-hungry 120Hz gaming applications. You can, how🎶ever, customize exactly which apps ramp things up to 100, which keeps things battery-friendly.

Cameras

The Poco F7 Pro doesn't push its cameras as hard as more mainstream flagships, but your Instagram isn't going to suffer for it. The main 50MP wide camera captures impressive detail with a particularly strong color range on display. In good light, there's a fantastic dynamic range to theౠse shots, with finer details of more complex subjects shining thr🐈ough accurately and without a processing fuzz on top.

Darker shots hold their own as well, mana𝔉ging to pick out an impressive level of detail from shadowy areas, and balancing saturation and black levels well.

The ultrawide gets a little spicier,༺ introducing slightly more fuzz around the edges and losing some of the finer details of subjects. Keeping your shots clear is a little tricky without the autofocus, though it's pretty easy to adjust most framing on the fly.

Software

The Poco F7 Pro runs on Android 15 and HyperOS 2, the same as Xiaomi's more premium flagships. The interface is nice and clean, it's pretty much the same as any other Android home scree🔥n and menu system, with only a few pre-installed apps occupying the second page. One is a simple Poco news feed, another is a dedicated Xiaomi Mi store app, and the Opera browser is installed as well. Then there's your usual roster of pre-installed capers, from🔴 Amazon to Booking.com.

Everything is where I would expect it to be,🌳 with plenty of wallpaper, layout, and drawer customizations available. That all runs nice and smoothly as we😼ll, I never noticed any jittering on the screen when moving between menus and apps, there were no translation issues, and deleting the bloatware apps was quick and painless.

You're also gettin🅰g access to Xiaomi HyperAI's software tools, including image editing, speech recognition, and interpreting functionality. On top of that, though the phone also comes with Google Gemini pre-installed, which functions as it does anywhere else🥂.

I didn'𝓰t find any quirks or bugs with the software or AI features in my day to day testing, and everything remained reliable and solid throughout the period.

Unlike Asus or Nubia's gaming phones, the Poco F7 Pro doesn't come with any gaming-specific software features. The former devices ship with dedicated apps to manage your game libraries, settings, and screenshots, while also providing finer controls over fans and performance. If you're🀅 looking to get the most out of that Snapdragon chip, that kind of flexibility can take you pretty far.

Gaming

The Poco F7 Pro uses an older Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which means it's always going to be outpaced by the likes of the Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro with its Snapdragon 8 Elite. Its 3D Mark benchmark numbers also put it below the previous generation Asus🔴 phone and, more nota🏅bly, the RedMagic 9S Pro. This latter device uses an overclocked 'Leading Version' of the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip to edge ahead in the numbers game, while only costing slightly more than the Poco F7 Pro.

That's not to say this is a slouch, in fact I'm pleased with this value💮 proposition overall. The Poco F7 Pro handles more demanding moments of high-performance games well, never stuttering ඣduring my PUBG and Call of Duty Mobile tests and handling large board states in MTG Arena particularly smoothly.

While it scores lowest out of this particularly competitive pool of phones (Asus sits among the top contenders on the market, and you're certainly paying for that power), those numbers still translate into perfectly playable framerates. Sure🤡, you can push the limits of newer, bigger releases with a more expensive phone, but the Poco F7 Pro can handle all your usual thumb tappers and then some for far less cash.

There are some hardware features missing from more dedicated gaming phones. With no touch capacitive or physical triggers at the top, Call of Duty shots are a little slower and less comfortable here than on the Asus ROG Phone series. A centered USB-C port means this phone is far friendlier to some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best mobile controllers, though, a massive bene꧟fit over Asus's bizarrely placed connection.

Battery

Powering all that is a 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, an imp෴ressive leap from the Poco 6 Pro and a larger battery than the 5,300mAh Ultra model. It translates to solid all-day usage, though does so at the expense of wireless charging functionality. When using the phone casually day-to-day I could easily get through all my usual YouTube viewing, gaming, emails, and doom-scrolling - sometimes with🎃out having to charge until the next day. Running the phone with its screen on for more dedicated testing also didn't disappoint.

The device ran non-stopꦰ video for around 15 hours and lasted between eight and nine hours when gaming (different tests completed on different games kept these results more varied). That's impressive consid🐻ering some dedicated gaming phones can rinse through their batteries in just a few hours.

Should you buy the Poco F7 Pro?

If you're in a territory that supports it, the Poco F7 Pro offers excellent value as an all-in-one gaming phone. You're not paying flags🃏hip prices here, and while there are some hardware and software sacrifices compared to high-end gaming phones, the Poco F7 Pro ticks all the boxes as far as everyday stability and gameplay goes.

With a gorgeous OLED screen that punches well above its price tag, a battery life to be jealous of, and a streamlined, subtle form factor, the F7 Pro can easily slot into your daily life while still giving your games a little more ♏grunt than they may see from similarly priced Samsung Galaxy A-Series devices or App💙le's older releases.

How I tested the Poco F7 Pro

I used the Poco F7 Pro as my daily driver for two weeks🧸, using it alongside the RedMagic 9S Pro and iPhone 15 Plus for an additional tw♍o weeks after that. I used the device as I normally would any phone for both of those two dedicated weeks of testing, noting battery life, any OS glitches or stutters, charge times, temperatures, and camera quality. On top of that, I performed more demanding battery tests running the phone with its screen at 50% brightness. I primarily played Magic: The Gathering Arena and PUBG during my gaming tests, but also stress-tested in Call of Duty Mobile and performed synthetic benchmarks across 3D Mark's suite of tools.

For more information on how we make our recommendations, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

We're also rounding up all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming tablets and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming earbuds if you're after more mobile play, or check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming handhelds for extra portable options.

Medieval Dead

After Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods ended with the Do♑om Slayer beating both God and Satan to death, I wasn't entirely sure how the stakes could be raised. The developers skip that issue by going back to a prequel set prior to the events of Doom 2016, that previously alluded-to period after the Slayer has ended up on Argenꦑt D'Nur (i.e., planet of the Space Vikings), and become their ultimate attack dog in the ongoing war against the demons of Hell. But the uneasy alliance with the angelic Makyrs has resulted in Heaven demanding that the feral Doomguy be fitted with various mind-control devices to keep him in check. Never fear though, the game is eagerly teasing him bursting out of these chains from the moment they're introduced.

There are some curveballs in the plot; a new faction of Lovecraftian witches and eldritch Old Gods is introduced, but these things are more interesting in concept than execution, usually just resulting in reskins of existing enemies rather than milking these ideas for all they're worth. Besidesℱ, Eternal has already made it clear that Argent D'Nur is doomed to become a dead kingdom of ghosts and platforming challenges, so what are we meant to invest in?

Side characters lik♋e King Novik and his daughter Thira are given the thinnest of characterization, yet the plot hinges on their actions and the lore of Argent D'Nur to a great degree. You've really got to meet the game more than halfway to give a damn about them, not helped by the plot's bizarre pacing and tendency to leap ahead in such a way that I often wondered if I had somehow skipped a cutscene without realizing.

And all of this is to say nothing of the fact that The Dark Ages is a whole lot less funny than previ🌌ous Doom games were. The Slayer furiously smashing his way through every problem to the exasperation of his quest givers made him rightly beloved in previous games, as well as having the soul of a thirteen year old boy, his bedroom littered with comic books and electric guitars. Here he feels like much more of a blank slate, usually just following the instructions of the Sentinels without any discernible feelꦛing behind the mask.

Despite plenty of areas featuring regular soldiers and citizens, t♚he Slayer's larger than life presence never really plays a factor – there's nothing quite like Doom 2016's intercom destruction or Doom Eternal's keycard section. Only a single late game gag involving a gatekeeper comes close, but even that fꦇeels tamped down, a welcome laugh in a narrative that otherwise presents Doomguy at his blandest in years, the characteristic rage that defines the character rarely seen or felt.

Welcome to Hel

So what motivation does Doom: The Dark Ages have to offer? Well, going sightseeing through a series of heavy metal album covers is always fun. There's a level spent inside the carcass of a giant that comes to mind, with some appealing grisly optics when you pause to take in the scenery between massacres. And while levels on Argent D'Nur are generally less interesting, those set in Hell and on the home turf of the Old Gods are more intriguing on the eye, even if the layouts 🦩make less sense than ever in an attempt to hide collectibles. More broadly, the aesthetics of cyborg dragons with laser wings fighting demons on skull ships against a burning sky will always be entertaining on some level. There's too much gnarly flamboyance hard-coded into the DNA of modern Doom for it ever to be truly boring.

But we also have to address the music. Mick Gordon, composer of the previous two games' soundtracks, did not return for The Dark Ages in the wake of various business disputes – and that loss is palpable. The OST here is functional but unmemorable, serving as a 🦹mere backdrop to the action rather than elevating it. It's tragic when held against Gordon's pounding, snarling, grinding compositions, which revved like petro💎l engines and were so good at dragging you into the rage state of its protagonist as to become memetic for it online. The songs in The Dark Ages feel like elevator music by comparison, and the lack of Viking Metal is a missed opportunity so obvious as to be baffling.

Horde and Shield

A new franchise entry must offer new ideas, and so Doom: The Dark Ages has a focus on melee combat, downplaying t🧸he verticality of the previous games that allowed you to leapfrog foes and spring around arenas, instead introducing a shield and parry mechanics, with several melee weapons. You regain melee charges by parrying attacks, while using your chainsaw shield to close distances and occas💎ionally throwing it to clear crowds.

It's… interesting, as co𓂃ncepts go, and though I like the shield when I'm going full Steve Rogers on a horde of draugr, it's when I'm playing protracted games of patty-cake with tougher enemies that things get boring. Parry, smack, parry, smack. Even ꩵGlory Kills have been tossed out, which doesn't help with Doomguy's apparent loss of moxie – now he can't even be bothered to beat a demon to death with its own leg anymore! Some may appreciate the greater focus on close-quarters, but those who enjoyed the springiness of prior entries will inevitably find themselves nostalgic for the dusty wastelands of Mars and the simple joys of the double jump.

Still, things got better when I abandoned brawling as a rule and just invested in the gunplay, which is as punchy as ever, partly due to a couple of standouts in the arsenal. A weapon that shreds skulls and fires the resultant bone shrapnel is worthy of celebration, and if anything from The Dark Ages deserves to survive into future games, I'd be happy for the throwable shield to be a mainstay, which is always fun to watch slice through crowds before soaring back. I also don't object to the new bullet-hell eleme♓nts, which push you 🔯to keep a fast pace, rapidly dodging projectiles before leaping in to vaporise a Revenant with a spray of buckshot.

Drag-on

The other gimmicks Doom: The Dark Ages introduces are recurring vehicle sequences spent piloting either the aforementioned cyber dragon or a skyscraper-sized Atlan mech. These are things that will obviously look impressive in trailers, but I quickly realized that both were experiences to be more endured than savored. The dragon levels are peculiarly stiff, made all the clunkier by a weird obsession with timed dodges and a lock-on system that ironically locks you in place.

Meanwhile, giant mechs remain the riddle that video games are still unable to solve, as the Pacific Rim fantasy inevitably shatters when you remember it’s not very fun to pilot something that moves like a glacier. Oh, and there's also some stationary turret sequences that are barely worth mentioning, firing mindlessly into a crowd that poses no threat to you whatsoeve🍷r. All these divergences from the core gameplay are usually fairly brief, so they don't offend too drastically, but it's a shame that the best thing I have to say about them is that they're mercifully infrequent.

The last thing to mention is that the newer missions lean larger than ever before, as The Dark Ages has numerous levels that are more open-ended, rather than a series of linear combat arenas. The game isn't quite open world, but it's not uncommon to be dropped into a broad battlefield speckled with encounters and collectibles you tackle in💃 order of preference. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what this innovation is supposed to add to the experience, as it doesn't really change the way you play except to add a bit of a commute on certain levels, trudging back across fiery wasteland to grab the one action figure you missed the first time around.

A history of violence

Let's be clear about this: is Doom: The Dark Ages better than the Doom 2016 reboot? No. Is it better than Doom Eternal? No. Is it still a decent game on its own terms? Ye-es, just about, but that's mostly due to what elements were carried forward from previous entries rather than what's unique to this one. When I got into the groove of sweeping through battlefields and staying one step ahead of snarling hellhounds, I co💯uld feel the old blood beginning to surge again. I'd sidestep an imp's fireball even as I fired an explosive payload into a mancubus' midriff, never even slowing down as I barrelled through the raining viscera.

Yet every moment of triumphant action is thrown off when you come up against Doom: The Dark A🌞ges' innovations, which are largely well-intentioned misfires – clattering about in a giant mech that refuses to get out of first gear, or a cutscene wherein two piles of scar tissue in armor grunt about lore while Doomguy waits nearby for somebody to tell him to kill something. If you want more of the modern Doom experience, ultimately Doom: The Dark Ages will oblige – just understand that you're not getting the best that the Slayer has to offer.

🧜Doom: The Dark Ages was reviewed on PS5 with a code pro𒉰vided by the publisher.

Check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games for 2025 list for what's next!

Key specs

Design

The Sennheiser HD 550 isn’t sporting a fresh new look. Its wired design takes after the HD 560S, featuring the same all-black colorway and oval-shaped, open-back earcups. In fact, they look so similar, I’d be hard-pressed to tell them apart if they were sitting next to each other. That’s not to say the HD 550 doesn’t look on point. It has that minimalistic and sleek aesthetic that Sennheiser is known for, and its subtle inclusion of its logos at the edge of each side of the headband, and perched upon the open-back silver girls, feels in-keeping with the headphone’s more mature, audiophile target audience.

The most noticeable aspect of the HD 550’s, which I really appreciated, was the velvety padded cushions, which feel like the epitome of luxury. Typically, I prefer a leather-like coating, like the one found on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ste𝕴elSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, as they tend to be more comfortable and don’t send me into sensory shock, like with some itchy fabric-coated alternatives. However, I was pleasantly surprised by just how cushy the HD 550’s felt after multiple hours pressed against my face. At just 247g, its lightweight nature will also be a contribu𒁃ting comfort factor, and Sennheiser noted in their briefing that the tightening force has been reduced with this headphone iteration to improve on comfort even further. But I can’t over-empha🌳size how much I missed the velvet-like feeling the second I had to move on to testing my next headset.

The HD 550 has one major difference between the best gaming headsets, wired or wireless, and that’s the open-back design on either cup. Instead of the audio drivers being relinquished to circulating air (and audio waves) between themselves and your eardrums, with this gaming pair of headphones, the audio travels at the back of each driver, and sounds off from the silver-colored grill on either side. This makes them pretty unusable if you’re recording any audio for a podcast, or want to chat away to friends over Discord. Which was disappo🌳inting given the HD 550 comes with a 3.5 to 6.35 mm screw-on jack adapter, which fits perfectly into my go-to audio interface, the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2.

Any microphone you own, like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Shure MV7i, is gonna pick up the audio from the open-back speakers, so using them outside of gaming, or music-listenin♎g is pretty much a no-go. This isn't just an issue with the HD 550’s specifically, as it’s a flaw of the open-back design in general, and goes with the territory. But it’s also worth acknowledging that if you happen to game in close quarters with a friend, or your partner like I do, anyone else in the room with you is going to hear what you’re listening to, whether you want them to or not. However, this open-back design comes with a huge plus, as it offers up a more natural soundscape to your games. Or as Sennheiser puts it, they allow you “hear details you’d never noticed before.”

Features

I went in originally expecting the Sennheiser HD 550s to rival all the wired headsets I’ve used in the past, at least in features alone. But the HD 550 isn’t really a gaming headset. There’s no RGB lighting options, no audio customizability or presets, and naturally, no Bluetooth or 2.4GHz connectivity options as found on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best wireless headsets, so you can’t chat away to your pals via Discord without being at the mercy of wireless. In fact, there’s no microphone at all.

The HD 550 is instead a beginner audiophile headset, which can be used with the PS5, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, or any gaming platform with a 3.5mm jack compatibility, which can offer up audio playback, and that’s pretty much all you get. If you only play single-player games, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, or Lost Records, then this will suit you fine, as you don’t need much else besides being able to hear the complexities of a great soundtrack, character dialogue, and the directions of footsteps, and that sort of thing. But I’d argue that a gaming headset (even of the wired variety) is always going to be a more ideal pick up than an average pair of audiophile headphones due to the conjoined wealth of features at play, which can get you far more value out of your pricey pixel-pusher.

At least for your $229.95 / £249.99, you do get the wired Sennheiser HD 550 headphones, a carrying bag﷽, and a 3.5mm to 6.35mm jack adaptor, which is better than nothing. I always prefer anything that starts to delve into the higher range of pricing for gaming accessories to come with some storage, whether that be a draw-string carrying case like this pair, or a hardened zip-up alternativ൲e.

Performance

When I was sitting in on the brief for the HD 550, the Sennheiser rep noted that they were not in the business of making gaming headsets, but that this pair of cups was great for gaming, “why any audiophile headset is good for gaming.” Naturally, that should mean that as audiophile headphones make everything sound more grandiose and detailed, they should do the same for games on consoles like the PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch, and anything in between.

After multiple weeks with the HD 550s as my headphones of choice, they definitely made everything sound incredible, that’s for sure. Like with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best PS5 gaming headsets, I first chose to see how the headphones dealt with Marvel Rivals, a game where hearing dialogue and the frenzied calls of characters’ Ultimate moves was a necessity to ensure a victorious match. The wide 6 Hz – 39.5 kHz frequency response made everything from Squirrel Girl’s “squirrel stampede” shouting to the charming dialogue interactions before every match sound as if they were happening right next to me, and that’s without any spatial audio tech support to be found.

On the PC version of the game, everything sounded just as clear, and I had the added bonus of being able to adjust the volume on my desktop, as there are zero onboard controls with the HD 550s. Not so much as a volume wheel. On the PS5, you can adjust the volume through the console’s settings, but even when set to full, it still felt a bit on the quiet side. With no voice chat to test, as there’s also no microphone, I then sought to see how these dealt with a game that features music pretty prominently, with Don’t Nod’s Lost Records. The second part of the game was released during those weeks of testing the HD 550s, and felt like an ideal modern game to take the headphones for a rest drive, due to its importance placed on music from the 90s era, like the Cocteau Twins’ ‘Cherry-coloured Funk.’

In the end, I much preferred using the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair Void Wireless V2 for Lost Records, if I have to be honest. Namely, due to its compatibility with Dolby Atmos and surround sound, which brought areas like the dusty old bar, the 🍎Blue Spruce, to life. That being said, the natural sound of the open-back design added a bit of depth to the original score of the game, which made tracks like ‘The Abyss’ sound more unnerving, which suited the supernatural elements of the game’s narrative. There wasn’t a loud, booming bass like with headsets with larger 50mm drivers, but everything frওom the low, mid, and high frequencies sounded balanced, with no audible distortion even at its loudest on the Sony console.

April was pretty stacked with new releases perfect for testing, as Clair Obscur Expedition 33 also dropped during my time with Sennheiser’s latest headphones. The score by composer Lorien Testard evoked the same wistful feeling I had when discovering Nobuo Uematsu’s music for the first time, and so it felt incredibly appropriate to see how it fared on tech intended for audiophiles. When exploring the bizarre underwater depths of the Flying Waters area, the dance-like beats came through nicely and balanced through the speaker drivers. I was missing that punchy bass quality, which I heard on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5P, but every important audio queue in battles was as audible and clear as day. This didn’t mean I was any better at dodging or 𝕴parrying than with my go-to gaming headset, of course, b൲ut that’s unfortunately a skill issue, and not an audio one.

Lastly, I made sure to make them my headphones of choice when not just gaming, but catching up with shows on streaming services like Netflix and Crunchyroll. For some reason, I hadn’t yet finished season two of the anime Spy X Family, but the HD 550’s were easily plugged into the 3.5 jack into my DualSense controller, and made Anya’s adorable cries sound as charming as ever. I also made sure to plug the headphones into my turntable, and give it a listen while popping on game soundtracks.

Normally, I’d stick with my fancy Edifier speakers, but as I know a lot of audiophiles prefer a wired setup when listening to vinyl, it felt like the right thing to do. I’m not a fan of being at the mercy of wires, especially as my soda is on the other side of the room from my music and gaming setup, but the OST to games like Vib Ribbon, or Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon sounded bright and full. Again, I just missed that overtly-loud booming bass that makes headsets like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair Virtuoso Max one of my favorite PS5 headsets.

Should you buy the Sennheiser HD 550 headphones for gaming?

At $229.95 / £249.99, the Sennheiser HD 550 feels awkward to recommend. By all means, it’s a high-quality wired pair of headphones, and its wider frequency range brings out the extra nuances of soundscapes of games from Marvel Rivals to Clair Obscur Expedition 33. However, I’m hard pressed to recommend it for anyone for gaming, unless you’re looking to start your audiophile journey and also want something to use for your PC, PS5 or Nintendo Switch on the side, and have the cash to spare.

Gaming headsets and headphones are entirely different entities, with their own set of features and design choices that lend themselves to what you’re actually planning to use them for. While I entirely appreciate looking at gaming headsets through an almost purely audio quality lens, especially as someone who comes from a background of studying music, gaming headsets should have a certain number of features that make them ideal, for, well, gaming. As of typing, there is a plethora of headsets, like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Barracuda X, that bring not just a wired connection to the table, but Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, and a detachable microphone, and despite its age, it still sounds utterly fantastic even in 2025.

With the HD 550, I don’t see the value in spending more for less, unless you’re a hardened audiophile, or want to be one, and value sound quality above all else. Otherwise, alternatives like Razer’s Barracuda X are available for under $100, which is especially important at a time when gaming tech is getting more expensive by the day. If you’re a music nerd and want a pair of headphones that you can pop into your record player and also into your DualSense, then I can see the HD 550’s being an entirely valid 𝓰choice. But the general gaming🦩 public is not going to notice a drastic difference in sound quality, which makes the $229.95 price feel a little hard to justify.

Even just as far as open-back options go, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair Virtuoso Pro also produces a natural and balanced sound, but has an MSRP of $199.99. It’s also wired but provides a “broadcast quality” omnidirectional microphone, and its audio can b𒐪e customized through iCue, with various presets available, designed with gaming and 🍌streaming in mind. Of course, if money isn’t an issue, and you want an alternative to Sennheiser’s HD560S that’s more optimized for comfort and sound, then by all means add this to your gaming and music listening setup. I’m just not entirely convinced there’s enough value to gain from the HD 550 when there’s plenty more affordable, and feature-heavy wired headsets out there today.

How I tested the Sennheiser HD 550 headphones

For over two weeks, I tested the Sennheiser HD 550 headphones for gaming by making them my new go-to pair of cups for my PS5, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and every device imaginable. During that time, when not completing Tape 2 of Lost Records on the PS5, or playing through Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, I was using the headphones to complete my daily tasks in Marvel Rivals, and rack up as many MVP matches as Cloak and Dagger as I could on the PS5 and PC.

During times when I actually put both the DualSense controller and my Steam Deck down, the HD 550 became my go-to pair of headphones to catch up with anime like season two of Spy X Family, and get through the last season of You on Netflix. I also used them to listen to game soundtracks I had on vinyl on my AudioTechnica record player, to get that full audiophile experience. Additionally, I used the wired headphones with my PC to listen to Irish rappers Kneecap on Spotify, alongside the OST to the game, Lost Records, which became a running theme of this review. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming headsets, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

Our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best PC headsets for gaming are full to the brim with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best headsets for Nintendo Switch, and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Xbox Series X headsets, if you’re after a pair of cups with one of your beloved gaming headsets in mind.

Empyreal is a straight♉forward, single-player, loot-based action RPG, with a clever mix of hand-crafted levels and semi-randomly generated enemy encounters. It's a well-trodden formula, but there are some neat twists that make the core gameplay loop relatively fresh. One immediately unusual feature is the enemies' moves being telegraphed with both the move's name and an orange bar filling up over their heads, letting you know exactly when an attack will come. This gives you a neat moment-to-moment tactical slant as you bal🍌ance your own attacks with defensive manoeuvres and parries based on this crucial information. It works very well against one or two foes, but can become overwhelming when you're surrounded by four or five enemies all attacking at different times, especially from off-screen.

After the initial story-building levels, the core gameplay loop begins. You select a cartogram, which tells you which of the four🌠 main biomes you'll be playing in (which are unlocked sequentially as you progress), which boss you'll be facing complete with its attacks listed, and the potential loot you can snaffle. And so you play through often beautiful, always complex, hand-designed levels, hunting for loot-filled cubby holes and shortcuts. After several big fights, you find a teleporter to take you to one of the many bosses, each featuring a neat introductory cinematic. Beat the boss, snag the loot, and head home to tweak your loadout and identify new cartograms offering new levels to play. Each run takes about 10-20 minutes, which is very pleasant, and actually a great fit for handheld play on Steam Deck.

Story-wise, you're a mercenary exploring the mysterious, monolithic Ziggurat, which is a gigantic structure on an alien world built by an ancient civilisation… a🍨nd said to be holding something prisoner. It's mostl🔯y in ruins, however, with waterfalls, ferns and gorgeous broken stonework.

The more you play, the better it feels too, beginning as a slightly dreary-looking third-person game and ending up channeling Metroid Prime's Chozo Ruins, though it's not quite in the same league as that game'🎃s exquisite atmosphere, let's be clear. Nonetheless, even with its nice lighting, long draw distance, andℱ detailed textures, it runs decently even on a lower-range graphics card like an Nvidia RTX 2070. And again, Steam Deck fits it beautifully, running commendably well even on default settings.

Top bants

There are some branching dialogue options with a 𒐪few NPCs in the hub area, and depending on how you speak to characters and fulfil their wishes, there are♐ alternative outcomes. My ending was… shall we say 'not so good'. On the way there is some strong scripting, with pleasingly blunt banter between your character and the barman, and NPCs occasionally pop up in the levels themselves, which keeps making the journey feel pleasantly curated despite its semi-random elements.

Combat-wise, you start with a glaive, which is essentially a bladed polearm for melee attacks. There's also a shield and mace combo, which is centred around well-timed parrying, and a cannon too. The cannon's gunplay changes the gameplay almost completely, incorporating an interesting skill-based reload bar that lets you choose which ammo to fire next based on when (and whether) you can time the reload – a little bit like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds. Get it wrong and you'll be stuck with no bullets for a moment. It's an enjoyable system but I found the shield and mace the most intuitive, even if it does lack the 🎶glaive's dash ability for getting out of trouble quickly. You can charge a dash, but that's often too cumbersome in a pinch, especially as animations need to finish🦩 before you can start a new move.

The game isn't big on navigational aid. There's no map to 𝓡tell you where you are, where you came in or where you should be headed, which can make for some frustrating moments as you feel like you've explored everywhere yet still can't find the teleporter to the boss. You can learn the levels as their layouts are set, but there are several different routes to the boss in each biome, so it's many hours before things start to get truly familiar.

It also isn't the best at explaining its systems. You get an on-screen tutorial whenever you encounter a big new feature or switch weapon type for the first time, but otherwise it's not always clear what the stats you're tweaking will actually do in gameplay terms. Advanced buffs like 'Steadfast' that save you from death if lethal damage hits when your health is beyond a certain point sounds good, but when the health consumable Sh♏ield IV kills you if you use it while steadfast is active (arguably when you need it most), the game can feel unfair – especially when you didn't think Steadfast was even active at the time.

On a plain

I did feel the game hit a plateau about 15 hours in. You are told what you need to do to progress, and the story is essentially waiting for you to complete this task. However, doing so requires Level 30+ cartograms. It'll likely take you some 20 hours to get level 30 equipment (which is the level cap for items), and even then you'll need to secure specific yet randomized cartograms in order ♌to even attempt to progress. When the game is so hard, even maxing out your gear doesn't guarantee success, so you can easily spend 5-10 hours in the gameplay loop, trying and failing over and over again. At first, the game falters as your progress hits this roadblock, but then surprisingly really hits its stride as you learn its systems and finally get the job done, climaxing in an impressively dramatic conclusion.

I hit credits after 31 hours, which is about twice as long🌳 as the devs expect, so it really might just be me – though New Game+ with its Level 60 enemies awaits if you still want more. The sense of achievement as the final boss falls is immense, though on balance those few seconds of absolute, pure exaltation probably don't outweigh the hours and hours of attrition. For me there was no question of giving up. The game got a hold on me and I couldn't put it down until it was finished – the hours just melt away while you're playing it.

It feels like Empyreal would work really well as a multiplayer game, but interaction with other players is currently limited to the cartogram trading post, or gifting a fallen player's ghost 1-3 Rese🐽t Spheres, which are basically 1ups. It's resolutely a single-player game, which at least means you can pause it properly whenever you like. A rar꧒ity these days.

There are so many loot-based action RPGs, it is difficult to say this is the one you should play next. But I found it far more welcoming than the recent Hyper Light Breaker (which I reviewed in Eꦯa📖rly Access), and better-looking too. Being a budget title at $29.99/£24.🌜99, Empyreal's production values aren't quite as high as some other current-gen games, especially when it comes to the character models, and it does feel a bit too serious and drab for its own good most of the time despite superb graphical detail if you study static screens. But it's worth playing, especially for the later runs when you finally start to swing the stats in♍ your favor. This game is all about the buffs.

Empyreal was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the pub🐼lisher.

Check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games calendar for what to play next!

The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming keyboards can be pricey, but considering you can pick up a much better feel and sound just a little further into the $100 price range, there's signifi🎃cantly highe🌄r value out there.

Design

The Acer Predator Aethon 330 wants to stand out on a desk, and it does so with the help of an all-white (more cream) form factor, plenty of Predator branding, and a set of blue WASD keycaps. The actual chassis is a much crisper color than the caps themselves, which look a little dulled by comparison and pick u✨p dust and debris particularly easily.

The aesthetic is relatively stylized by the standard of modern tastes. The Predator logo is stamped across the space key and the main legends use a stamp-like typeface that feels a little🐼 outda𝔍ted.

Still, the plastic baꦛse is impressively sturdy considering the price and there's no flex to the main top plate either. This is a well-con꧟structed chassis in the budget price range, though you're missing out on the sound-dampened designs of only slightly more expensive models.

The result is an incredibly loud typing experience. Clicky switches aside, there's a significant amount of reverb and echo around the main deck area, so everyday ty🎶ping is blighted by constant pinging.

I'm glad this isn't a simple stock black keyboard, though. The slick white🍃 chassis and sturdy build quality suggest a slightly higher price tag than some would expect from a wireless model, though it's not the best implementati🌠on of double-function keys I've seen.

RGB is a big win for this deck. While some cheaper models pack lacklustre LEDs, these shine incredibly bright and manage to stay uniform even across longer legends. It's rare to find this level of lighting power at a lower price point, so those going all-i♐n on RGB displays will be well served.

Keycaps

This being a smaller 60% keyboarꦜd means that pretty much every key on the right-hand side has a double-function of some kind and, with the large fonts and gray printing, things can look pretty busy. The caps themselves have the thinner construction of an ABS make but the grainy texture and doubleshot main legends more commonly associated with PBT.

I can't find any information on the actual material used, but the surface feels like PBT under the fingertips, while holding the thinner response of ABS when actually used. The fact the caps can flex fairly easily when removed from the main deck leaves me to believe these are in fact ABS with a textured finish, though it's an impressive implementation. They certainly feel more comfortable than the shiny, slippery keycaps I recently tested on the far more expensive 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair K70 Pro TKL.

Switches

I'm not a natural fan of clicky switches, but if you don't mind a loud typing experience and prefer as much auditory feedback a𝐆s possible you won't be put off by the Kailh Blues under these keys. The switches themselves actuate at 1.9mm with a strong tactile bump, travelling a full 4mm in total. That's good for everyday typing, there's no need for a forceful push here, and it's easy to fly across keys with a much lighter tap. However, they're far from the most satisfying clackers on the market, and certainly won't be right for those after a deeper, thoccy experience.

In the Acer Predator Aethon 330, these switches feel particularly꧒ hollow and scratchy. With the thinner keycaps, lack of sound dampening, and softer feel, they have a lethargic bounce past the point of actuation and can feel mushy ℱas a result.

Software

There's no software associated with the Acer Predator Aethon 330. RGB lighting is configured directly on the board, with preset cycling available via a function layer. There's no way to set your own keybindings with on-the-fly macro programming, and the dual-functions that are explained in the ღmanual are only indicated with ANSI layout keys, even when shipping in ISO.

Controls

As a result of th🌠at lack of software, your onboard controls are significantly limited. Yes, this is a 60% keyboard with all the usual dual-function controls, but there's no media control legends printed onto the deck and no mention of playback or volume settings in the manual. RGB can be shifted between 19 different settings, brightness can be raised or lowered, and speed can be s❀hifted, but that's about it.

I wasn't expecting the world considering the price point, especially in the UK. However, you do get far more functionality from other brands' budget models. While you might be more limited to wired devices, and it's worth remembering this is only a Bluetooth connection, devices like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Cynosa V2 feature full software support for macro settings as well as dedicated media controls. Even Razer's more premium 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Huntsman Mini offers more functional controls in this 60% form factor, and it's𒁃 regularly available for less than the Acer Predator Aethon 330 in🥃 the US (though not in the UK).

There's a🦩nother problem here. A dual-function has been doubled up. Hitting Fn and the question mark key essentially kills y🍸our access to arrow buttons, which would usually be accessed via a secondary layer. The problem is that the question key also shares its functionality with the up arrow, which means this directional button can - essentially - never be used.

In a super fun twist, while those arrow buttons are enabled, the question mark is also🌠 out of bounds. Hitting shift and then the key simply highlights a portion of text. That's not something I've ever seen before.

Connection

The Acer Predator Aethon 330 does have one trick up its sleeve that cheaper gaming keyboards in the US (and similarly priced models in the UK) don't. That Bluetooth functionality makes it a little more versatile than the wired-only RK Royal Kludge or Redragon decks that would otherwise offer bet🌳ter value overall.

This is a slower connection than the 2.4GHz you'll usually find on a gaming deck, and it's not fast enough to keep up with the rest of the market. However, if you play slower strategy or simulation games it's certainly enough to see you through. The Bluetooth connection was solid during my testing, though its ran🉐ge is limited.

Actually setting up a new connection is a little hit and miss. The onboard controls didn't always work for me, simply flashing the RGB lighting without even pairing half the time. Once it's all up and running, though, there's space for three connections and an easy keybinding to switch between them on the fly. I preferred to use the 1,000Hz wired connection during most of my gameplay, tho🍸ugh.

Battery

Acer doesn't publicly state its battery life anywhere, but I managed to squeeze just under 30 hours of juice out of the device while running it without any RGB lighting. With those powerful LEDs on at full whack, I just about made it through a day of use. That's far from competitive, while 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:wireless gaming keyboards are generally more expensive than this, there are models o🍌nly slightly above that $100 price threshold that perform much better.

The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair K65 Plus Wireless is only $50 more than the Acer Predator Aethon 330 is currently available for in the US, and packs a 266-hour no-RGB battery life. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cherry MX 8.2 is $40 more in the US and🥂 I managed to get through just under a week of work and play on a single charge.

In the UK, things are a little ౠdifferent. The £49.99 price tag on the Aethon across the pond works particularly hard to keep it relevant. You'll struggle to find a wireless deck from a mainstream brand for that cash, let alone one with a battery life that can compete. The Redragon K596 Pro RGB taps out at ten hours for around £60 - £70.

Typing

If you're a clicky-switch fan you'll enjoy the clack of these Kailh Blues under your fingertips - this switch design is favored among typists for its speed and low pressure requirements. That's all true of the Acer Predator Aethon 330, these are low-resistance clackers that only require a slight push to actuate down to their tactile click. They're far from the fastest on the market, and I found myself regularly dropping🌺 a press accidentally, particularly on the space bar.

Still, that speed meant the Aethon 330 kept up more expensive 60% decks like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alienware Pro Wirele🐓ss gaming keyboard and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Falchion RX Low Profile in my typing speed test, even scoring a higher accuracy score than the heavier Aꦆlienware model.

The scratchy, mushier feel underneath that actuation point, and the louder reverb across the deck as a whole doesn't make the overall typing experience all that pleasant. Even if you're a fan of those clicky blue switches, there's too much going on elsewhere around the deck to truly appreciate them. The tex🍸ture of the keycaps does make skating across the deck a little more comfortable than I had initially expected, though.

Gaming

Relying on a Bluetooth connection for gaming didn't give me the reaction speed I needed for particularly competitive endeavors, but I was able to get some good twitch-reactions in with a wired setup. Those clicky switches made for a nice, spee💝dy approach to Apex Legends and CS:2, even if their tactile bump is a little restrictive when it comes to repeat presses.

If you're mashing keys, you'll want to find yourself a deck with a linear switch feel, asꦡ the actuation notch here slows down speedier hits considerably.

The lack of software-level keybinding and macro settings was a little frustrating for more complex combo moments, especially if I u♛sually rely on a turbo-key for repeated movements in certain action-adventure titles. On the whole, though, the Acer Predator Aethon 330 functioned well in-game, with only a few missed inputs here and there. If you're playing slower titles you'll be fine, though anything ranked will need a more sophisticated deck.

Should you buy the Acer Predator Aethon 330?

In short, probably not - especially if you're in the US. Where the price currently sits at $99.99 the Aethon 330 doesn't just not offer enough value against the budget wireless market, it also comes with too many control sacrifices and outright problems. There are a number of gaming♏ keyboards only $20 - $50 more expensive than this that offer far more features, faster 2.4GHz connection speeds, and sound-dampened buiꦉlds.

In the UK, things are a little more complex. The lower £49.99 price tag is certainly enticing, it's extremely cheap for what it is - a wireless 60% gaming keyboard with solid RGB functionality. I'd still only recommend it to those who like a blue clicky switch, need to spend less than £50, and want the versatility of a Bluetooth connection for productivity purposes while still flashing those LEDs during gamepl♕ay.

How I tested the Acer Predator Aethon 330

I used the Acer Predator Aethon 330 for all daily work and play for two weeks, testing in both Bluetooth and wired mode. I primarily used the deck for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and South of Midnight, while performing more specific tests in Apex Legends and CS:2. I fully charged the device on unboxing and ran the battery down multiple times during this process, both with RGB lighting fully enabled and switched off. I completed three one-minute tests on TypingTest.com, taking the average score across all as my final result. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting down all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best membrane gaming keyboards if you're after something a little cheaper, or check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best hot-swappable keyboards and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer keyboards for a larger investment.

It’s unusual for a sequel to change perspective from the original, but the big news here is that Revenge of the Savage Planet is played in third-person, leaving some fans of the original’s first-person perspective pleading for a rethink in trailer comments. While the developers have heard the feedback and are looking into providing this as an option in a future patch, it's difficult to see how it would work in practice. Some of the🌠 3D platforming is so precise, you need to see your feet and where they’re landing.

The change has given your silent protagonist a lot more personality. Click L3 to sprint and you run like some kind of space-faring Captain Jack Sparrow, slipping around on goo-coated surfaces like Bambi on ice. There are plenty of fun animations after respawning and planet-hopping, and falling too far results in some wince-inducing spine bends. It's been implemented very well and world traversal becomes increasingly enjoyable as the stabilizers come off after the first few hours and you're let loose to explore these impressively large, alꦿien worlds.

The plot is simple. You’ve been cryogenically frozen in order to send you a few hundred lightyears from home, awakening as you crash land on a strange, alien world. Trouble is, as soon as you’re revived, you learn ꧒that the plan has changed and you’ve been fired from the mega corporation funding your journey, and so you’re basically on your own. You can still use all the tech that was sent with you, which is good, but it’s scattered across not only this planet but several others too. It’s down to you to retrieve all your gear, explore the planets, and learn about the bigg🐬er picture – as well as find out who the mysterious character is who contacts you out of the blue on the video screen in your home base.

The platforming and shooting is coupled with documentation of the planets, with a Metroid Prime-style scanning module for your space suit allowing you to scan flora and fauna, learning about your surroundings with some quips and puns in the details for fun, while also revealing enemies’ weak spots. But rather than just attack these for massive damage, you’lᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚl also need to capture creatures and send them back to the lab for testing. While the game implies some nasty vivisection, the critters are then put back together afterwards, which is nice, but odd considering the game absolutely revels in icky, goopy death for pretty much everything you encounter. There are 'Alpha' versions of critters too, which are bigger and meaner, and🔴 capturing them can unlock new abilities.

Dark stools

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dark Souls’ influence is still felt as you have to collect your dropped loot after you’ve died. Thankfully, the game always places it somewhere accessible rather t🌄han exactly where you died, so you don’t have to wade into lava to retrieve the thing you lost after dying in the hot re𝔉d stuff. Neat. What’s also neat is the way every death leaves behind a little blue marker with a number on it, so you can see how many times you’ve kicked the gunk bucket.

The environmental sound effects are lovely, making you really feel like you’re in a jungle if you put on some decent headphones. Excellent, too, are the footfall samples, which change depending on the surface you’re walking on. However, while the music is as polished as you’d expect from a modern production standpoint, the battle music really grates after a couple of hours. Thankfully it changes a little based on the planet you’re on, but when it’s triggered even by just one small bug attacking you, you’ll be hearing the same guitar line a lot, so be warned you might find yourself heading to the optionไ menu to switch off the music.

Similarly, your smart-talking robot sidekick’s dialogue can be a bit much to handle at times. The menu lets you reduce the frequency of its speech, or disable it altogether, but if you do that you will miss some important story beats. At present there are two voices to choose from, though an incoming patch will add many more. So far, the two voices appear to be manipulated versions of the same audio files, rather than entirely different voice actors, so the language and humor is u🐻nlikely to change much based on the incoming voice pack. The robot just isn't very likeable. It isn’t cute, and it's quite obnoxious in its commentary on what you're doing. That said, it isn't as dreadful as it first seems, and by the end it is useful enough.

In fact the start of the game pushes itꦆs wackiness and irreverence in your face far more than the second half… unless I just became desensitized to it, which is entirely possible. Bogeys, poos, vomit, satirical Ts and Cs, cartoony gore… it's not that it's written or performed badly; it just feels like noise detracting from what would otherwise be an enjoyable adventure. The production values of the in-game advertisement videos are impressive, but the satire simply isn’t as funny as it thinks it is. That said, after the first 10 hours, I have distinctly more fun as the game becomes more involved and incorporates strong environmental puzzles and traversal challenges into 🅠the good-looking game world(s).

The game is visually rich, especially in jungle scenes. At times it's a technical tour de force with massive draw distances that still display enemies, collectibles and even player-placed electricity-conducting goo even when they’re far, far away. Even on a now-aging Nvidia RTX 2070 graphics card, the game can run on ultra at 1080p with a smooth frame-rate, only juddering in a few scenes, and only really having trouble rendering the wide-open plains and distant, scalable cliffs of the fourth planet. Even then it’s still perfectly playable. It also runs on Steam Deck, though it’s not as smooth as the 2070 on default settings. Still very playable, and it does suit handheld play, even if your adventurous ambition lasts longer than the battery𒅌.

Number Two

A big bonus is the split-screen two-player co-op mo♈de, with online co-op available too. The split screen runs impressively smoothly and games like this are always more fun with a second person. It also means parents can play with their childr𒐪en, helping them through the harder moments while still allowing them to enjoy the full experience.

Even so, Revenge of the Savage Planet isn’t totally child-friendly. There💝 are some middle finger swears in there, a satire of an X-rated phone service, references to your mom sleeping with someone, and the game’s attitude towards the death of the various creatures is a little… disturbing.

Fee💎ding an entire family of big-eyed bugs to a tree doesn't sound so bad, but the game seems to revel in their deaths. It's mean-spirited and more sensitive children might get upset. There’s no way to complete some tasks without killing cute critters, often leaving their eyeballs rolling around in the mess, which then burst when stepped on, coating you in ocular goo. Some kids will howl with delight, of course.

I found the creature capturing side-quest the most interesting and enjoyable element of the game. Most enemies have a weakness that can be exploited to get them in a dazed state, at which poi🐎nt you can use an energy lasso to reel them in. They're then zapped into a wormhole that opens up, and deposited back at your laboratory.

Not only does this give you a nice zoo of attractively-animated critters that you can pet back at your home base, it also unlocks new skills. You can also unlock and buy new furniture for your base with in-game currency, providing a nice customization element, and there are new outfꦬits to find and wear too. All welcome.

Skilling spree

The game comes alive the more skills you have, and locking them all away behind busywork is arguably to the game's detriment. It's a slow start, but when you have the means t🐼o go anywhere and do anything, the element of exploration is so much more satisfying. The game engine is versatile enough to allow you to make a trail of conductive gloop and use it to power nodes from an electrical mushroom, and searching for the nodes is properly engrossing and rewarding. There are elements of Super Mario Sunshine’s FLUDD when you do this, but it’s not overplayed, just adding a neat little technical trick into the action.

As the credits roll and you listen to someone singing about the joys of getting paid for defecating during company time, you'll feel like you've been on a long and challenging journey, but not a truly great one. I finished it in some 14 hours, and while there’s plenty left to find and finish up aft♛er that, the challenge wanes as you can see where the remaining collectibles are and (eventually) grapple literally anywhere, so all that carefully-curated game design goes out the window – at least if you allow it to. But that is after the bulk of the game has been beaten properly, and there's certainly some great challenges making up the finale, designed for those who have mastered the core gameplay. If only the whole game was as r📖obust as the last few hours, it would be much easier to recommend.

There’s no questi🧔on Revenge of the Savage Planet comprises a lot of busywork dressed up in snot and large draw distances. There is enough variety to the gameplay to keep you entertained, though it always feels like you’re just skating on the slippery surface of what could have been a classic.

The combat never feels particularly satisfying, except for when you capture a tough new critter, which feels great. The planets are impressively grand in their scale and ambition, and the 🥀experience is impressively bug-free, from a technical point of view if not zoologically. Polished, slick and pretty, it can nonetheless feel mundane, inane, and mean-spirited – resulting in a slightly uncomfortable and uneven gaming experience. Cue gloop on head and… cut.

Revenge of the Savage Planet was reviewed on PC, with a code🌞 provided by the publisher.

Looking for more multiplayer? Check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best co-op games!

We've all had friends waxing on about the benefits of vertical mice, and I've considered joining the gang a few times over the years. I never quite pulled the trigger but, after two wee♎ks with this lop-sided fella, I can see the benefits - in some li⛎ghts.

While it may have the 8K polling rate and extra control features of some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming mouse models, the M5 isn't going to replace an FPS-first pointer for most players. In som🦩e sessions it even presented more p💟roblems than it solved. However, if you're tired of cracking your wrist after longer gaming sessions, it could be worth a look.

Design

This is the first time I've used a vertical mouse, but it only took about an hour of use for the upright position to fee🎐l natural. The wider base and increased pressure on the base of my thumb? That took a little longer.

Actually holding the Keychron M5 feels comfortable enough, though perhaps not immediately so compared to the hundreds of flat mice I have in my cupboards. This isn't a magical win for ergonomics - instead, its design places pressure on different places around the hand.

When I'm using a regular gaming mouse (I'm testing against the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX here) I notice a strain around the sides of my wrist. After a few hours with the M5 that pressure is more noticeable around my thumb and the base of my hand. When I swap between the two I can feel different parts of my wrist relaxing and tensing - neither is more cജomfortable than the𝐆 other overall, but each offers something different.

It's the role that my thumb has to play that trips me up the most🔥. While the M5 offers a generous rest on the left side, and a sturdy middle port💫ion to grip with the rest of the palm, I'm squeezing the device a lot more than I would with a regular gaming mouse. That's due in part to the shape, I'm no longer sharing the load between my thumb, pinky, and a couple of fingers, but also the size.

Accuracy isn't the name of th🍷is game, maneuvering this larger, taller monster around finer aiming scenarios is a nightmare. The extra heft of a 95g chassis, reliance on thumb movements, and wider base meant I'm miss-clicking a lot more in Google Chrome, let alone Apex Legends.

The whole thing just feels too clunky to truly be wieldable in an FPS or even a faster action-adventure scenario. That much was obvious when I first started testi༺ng, but it's also remained true as I've grown used to the weight and shape of the chassis itself.

The actual ch🃏assis isn't decked out with anything particularly special. This is a cheaper-feeling plastic build with a hollow air to it and a non-descript all-black aesthetic. Visually, it could be from a top brand like Keychron or it could be Amazon Basics, I wouldn't know by either looking at or feeling it. That smooth material also gets a littꦓle clammy during longer sessions. Creaks are audible when the sides are pushed, though the plastic base never flexes.

Keep in mind, though, that this is a $69.99 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:wireless gaming mouse with an advertised 8,000Hz polling𝓀 rate and 140-hour battery. I'll forgive a basic design if the features are all there.

Controls

The Keychron M5 benefits from all the usual side buttons you'll find on a regular gaming mouse, ꦉbut also adds an additional scroll wheel on the left flank. The two, slightly glossy, side buttons are ea💛sily reachable, though the front clicker takes some readjusting to nail, and it only takes a small flick of the thumb to engage the notched wheel as well.

You don't normally get two of these on a gaming mouse, so ℱI had to get pretty creative thinking up ways to use it in-game. It functions beautifully as an additional accessory in sniper situations in pꦑarticular. I can keep my main scroll locked to my weapon wheel while scope-zooming on the other. That's really the only time I found myself using it. Though it's going to be a dream for video editors, it could have been far more useful had it also featured a scroll click.

Software

Keychron doesn't rely on a full install for its customization options, everything is readily available via its . This is a simple interface that hides its in-depth features behind a basic coat of paint. It doesn't look l꧑ike it's ready to take on Raze⛎r Synapse or Logitech G Hub, but it's certainly winning in what it actually offers.

Keybinding and macro recording is easy enough, each taking up their own tab and offering a simple, intuitive process for setting up. Inputs are selected from a graphic at the top of the page, though these aren't updated on🉐ce a keybinding is set, whichꦿ can make it difficult to cycle through different profile settings.

DPI is adjustable in increments of 100, all along a sli💞ding scale. There's no option to manually input your own numbers here, but the position can be fine-tuned with +/- buttons along the side. Each profile can house five DPI settings, with each one assigned to a color that displays under the mouse itself. Interestingly, the polling rate gets the same treatment.

This✱ is the first time I've seen a gaming mouse allow you to cycle through different report rates on the device itself. Each stage (125Hz through to 8,000Hz) is represented by a different combination of red, white, and blue LEDs in a separate indicator portion on the bottom of the mouse. That's a super easy way to ಞkeep track of your settings, especially when the software boots up fresh every time.

You've also got access to lift-off distance settings with both 1mm and 2mm options available, asꦰ well as a shorter 0.7mm toggle (more on that later). Debounce time can ♊also be configured across all five main keys, giving you a seriously detailed level of control over speed response.

All of those settings are saved directly onto t🍌he mouse so it's truly a🌳 set-and-forget experience.

Connection

For a cheaper gaming mouse, the Keychron M5 certainly outdoes itself in its wireless connections. Not only are you getting 2.4GHz, Bluetooth, and a wired port in here (the similarly priced 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cougar Revenger Pro 4K and even more expensive mice like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed drop Bluetooth) but there'🅰s up to 8,000Hz polling rates available🌺 straight out the box.

With no need for an additional dongle to make the most of these speedier response times, Keychron certainly has one up over the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer mice in the polling department. Of course, that's only going to be a wi🌜n for the most 🧜competitive among us - very few players truly require full 8K rates. Still, it's handy to have in your back pocket when picking up a cheaper gaming mouse.

Unfortunately, that 2.4GHz connection wasn't the most reliable in my testing. Despite still having pl🧜enty of battery left, I noticed the Keychron M5 stalling out every so often, spending a few seconds stuck before catching up. This was p🍸ersistent even with every other receiver and Bluetooth signal removed from the setup.

Battery

This is an insane battery life. I normally charge all my gaming mice to 100% beඣfore running their batteries fully down. It's been two weeks of normal play and I'🦹m still at 45%.

Keychron estimates that its🐎 rodent has 140 hours to live, and based on my usage that feels conservative. Of cour🦹se, this is box fresh so mileage is going to deteriorate over time, but that's true of every mouse I test and very few make it through the whole testing period without needing a charge.

It's also true that this is at 1,000Hz (though there were a 𓄧couple of hours of 4,000Hz and 8,000Hz gameplay in there). If you keep to higher polling rates you're going to see a significant drop in battery life.

Sensor

A Pixart PAW 3950 sensor keeps everything rolling here. That's a slightly boosted version of the sensor I was expecting from a $69.99 device. Most budget-conscious gaming mice use a Pixart 3395 (even more premium models like the $149.99 / £134.99 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alienware Pro Wireless gaming mouse opt for this weaker version).

The 3950 can run at up to 30,000 DPI with a 750 IPS tracking speed. That gives you slightly more room for high-sensitivity moments (though nobody is going to be reaching the top end of that DPI chart) and more headroom for reliable tracking at faster mouse speeds. The 3395 I usually see in gaming mice tha🤪t don't use their own sensors, or modify Pixart's, runs at up to 26,000 DPI and 650 ꦍIPS.

Of course𝓀, most players aren't going to notice the difference between these two sensors from seꦬnsitivity and tracking speed alone. There are other benefits present here that are impressive for the price.

The Pixart 3950 also benefits from that lower 0.7mm lift-off distance, which can be helpful if you're playing with a higher DPI and need to quickly readjust more freq🌱uently. It's also a more efficient sensor overall, which helps ensure that rob⭕ust battery life as well.

The 3950 also maintains the 𝄹key feature benefits of the older sensor as well, with angle snapping (for more rigid movements free of smaller jitters) and ripple control (for keeping high-DPI movements smooth).

Everything ran smoothly in the Keychron M5. The sensor kept up with faster gameplay moments well, matching high-speed movements with strong accuracy and keeping motion free from any stutter. My wilder panic-sw🧸eeps in Apex Legends felt 1:1 with the mouse's actual position, even at high speeds.

Switches

The Keychron M5 uses Huano's switches under its clickers, with a satisfying snap and a noticeably heavier feel compared to more esports-focused 💎models like Logitech's Lightforce switches or Razer's Gen 3 Optical clackers. I like the heavier feel in this iteration, though. The angle of the main clicks m🔯eans they could easily be accidentally pressed if a shorter.

I naturally prefer a shorter, crisper switch, and the M5 can run the risk of feel🍬ing a little holꦗlow, especially around the side buttons. However, considering the size and shape, these feel like well-tuned switches overall.

Should you buy the Keychron M5?

The Keychron M5 is a very capable gaming mouse if you don't like the strain of a regular-shaped device and don't play particularly competitively. While it's too heavy to truly be considered a competitive device, and its larger form is too cumbersome to twitch into finer movements, it's comfortable and speedy enough for longer single-player sessions. I did note some𓃲 2.4GHz connection dropouts, and the shape isn't a cure-all for wrist or hand ache. However, if you're already used to a vertical pointer and want a new device that can take on your Steam library just as well as it can your ꦿspreadsheets, this is a fantastically priced device.

How I tested the Keychron M5

I used the Keychron M5 for two weeks, running the device for all my daily work and play (currently Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and South of Midnight). I also stress-tested the mouse in Apex Legends and CS2. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming mice, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also rounding up all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best left-handed gaming mice on the market, as well as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer mouse models and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Logitech gaming mouse models available as well.

This shift in focus from everyday hybrid work and play might not be for 🅰everyone. You're getting a lot of power here, and you're paying for it. The 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a more expensive iteratio𒈔n than last year's, but if you're after a true portable powerhouse there's plenty worth investing in here.

Configurations

There are three 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 configurations currently available; two RTX 5070 Ti models (one with 2TB storage and another with 1TB), and an RTX 5080 flavor. That's a slight power jump from the previous generation, which catered to the entry-level and mid-range end𝓰s of the market. While there's no RTX 5090 option under this hood, a shame since this generation is so w𝓀ell-geared towards slimline efficiency, I'll take the choice between an RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080 over the RTX 4050 - RTX 4070 span of the previous range.

That does mean those after a cheaper, weaker configuration are left out of this generation. Prices on the RTX 5070 Ti model start at $2,499.99 and will ♐increase slightly if you opt for a larger SSD under the hood, a tough pill to swallow considering the RTX 4060 2024 model starts at $1,599.99 these days and is regularly on sale to the low $1,000s.

Asus runs both the RTX 50❀70 Ti and RTX 5080 at 110W in Turbo mode, with a base 85W boosted up by an additional 25W. The RTX 5080 version packs 16GB GDDR7 while the RTX 5070 Ti drops down to 12GB. You're getting significantly more VRAM under the hood with the RTX 5080 compared to last year's RTX 4080, and u👍pping headroom in all configurations compared to the top-shelf RTX 4070 G14 from last year with 8GB.

Like many of its competitors, Asus has gone with an AI-forward processor for this generation, and I'm pretty happy to see the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 whirring away under the hood. While that NPU isn't going to do much yet, this is still a particularly impressiv൩e Zen 5 processor with a max boost of up to 5.1 GHz, 12 cores and AMD Simultaneous Multithreading essentially popping you up to 24 threads.

Outside of numbers, though, it's the same processor I came to worship inside the brand's cheaper 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus TUF A14 at the end of last year, beating the AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS of last year's Zephyrus G14 in that 💜much cheaper rig. Inside the new 2025 Asus ROG Zephyru☂s G14, the AI 9 HX 370 doesn't quite reach the same heights as the A14, but still gives more traditional models a run for their money.

Design

There's really not much separating this year's Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 from the previous model. Asus has stuck with the ultrabook, Macbook-like aestheꦡtic that the 2024 series kicked off, with a sleek light silver color and cool aluminum chassis. In a time when most slimline gaming laptops are able to go even skinnier, though, the 2025 G14 bucks the trend.

At 0.72 inches thick when closed, this is a chunkier build than last year's 0.64-inch model. That's a strange move, considering the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2025 Razer Blade 16 has been able to squeeze down to 0.69 inches, and that's with an R𒁏TX 5090 under the hood. A few inches isn't going to hurt ergonomics or portability too much, but it's still disappointing🗹 considering this is a gaming laptop that lives and dies by its low-profile energy.

That's not to detract from just how good looking this mac💎hine is. It's the same as last year's, but it's stiဣll the best design I've seen on a gaming laptop yet.

Like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer laptops, this is a CNC-milled aluminum alloy base with an anodized finish in either Eclipse Gray or Platinum White. It's incredibly sturdy, offering the same strength I only tend to see from Blade machines 𒀰with absolutel🅰y no flex to the main chassis and a slick matte finish to top it all off.

It's a softer design than a Blade, though, with more rounded corners, larger keycaps, and Asus's "Stealth Hinge." That's basically a hinge that sits just behind the main body of the laptop, rather than above the top plat𝓡e. It no longer raises the bottom deck when opened like previous models, and retains the more streamlined movement of last year's model.

The display itself has absolutely no flex to it, which is easier to achieve in a smaller panel but no less impressive, and while scuffs did appear on my Platinum White model (more s🐲ilver than white)ꩲ they were easily wiped off. That's one benefit Asus has over Razer here, fingerprints aren't be a problem.

Yes, that Slash Lighting array is still here, and I'm st🌺ill mad about it. I love the Zephyrus design, but the first generation that does away with these LEDs will be my favorite. It's essentially a strip of programmable lighting that can run up to 15 customizable cycles, match your music, or blink for notifications.

It's incredibly annoying when it pops into my peripheral vision every now and then, and otherwise invisible during use, butও it adds weight, draws battery, and contributes to the final price. You can turn it off pretty easily, but you've already paid for it.

Display

The 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 sticks with the same OLED 120Hz panel as t🌱he previous generation. That goes above the 2560 x 1600 resolution more commonly seen on 16:10 gaming laptops these days, and into full 2880 x 1800 with a 243 PPI. The display features an advertized 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, with 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut an♋d peaks at 500 nits of brightness.

There's no major upgrade here, and while the screen does still offer a nice level of vibrancy and particularly strong handling of cooler tones it doesn't benefit from the local dimming of a Mini LED panel seen among other 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus gaming laptops. It's still a certified HDR display, but darker tones aren't as impactful as they are on more precise screens. Considering the♌ price increase we're already seeing 🌱on this generation, though, I'm glad Asus hasn't pumped more into the finer details of this screen.

Warmer hues can sometimes overpower the scene with a slightly over-saturated look that was particularly noticeable in Horizon Zero Dawn 🌠Remastered. This means a loss of detail in some areas overall. However, more natural scenes offer a striking range of color, especially in green and blue tones, with a more faithful reproduction overall.

There is the 120Hz problem. That's a refresh rate I'm more used to seeing on 4K gaming laptops, not those running Q🌼HD+ displays. Razer can go the full 240Hz whack with its own screens, giving you far more headroom for finer mouse movements and higher framerates.

Ports

Ports ar🎃e split between the left and right sides of the G14, with the left housing your HDMI 2.1, USB-4 (Type-C), one of the USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-As, and a 3.5mm audio out.

Curiously, Asus has added a lightning bolt icon to this USB-4 connection. It's not the official Thunderbolt stamp (it strikes in an opposite pattern), but it's ꦺlarge enough to be confusing nonetheless. This is an AMD build so there's no Thunderbolt compatibility in sight, which makes this an extremely odd addition.

The right side hosts a regular USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C as well as another USB-ꦅA, and the MicroSD reader. Having these connections split on either side can create a web of cables when everything's hooked up, but it's a common setup on smaller gaming laptops.

This is the same sprea😼d I saw on the 2024 model, though Asus has added support for power delivery on that right-hand USB-C rather than limiting it to just the USB-4 on the left.

Aside from the cables spilling out both sides of the machine, I had everything I needed here and while Intel builds will give you access to slightly faster Thunderbolt 5 connections these days there's still plenty of support in that USB-4. If you're looking to run multiple high-speed 4K monitors, though, you'll need to ditch the machine entirely in favor of Intel. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 stands in with Thunderbolt 4 support here.

Keyboard and trackpad

Again, this year's Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 doesn't make too many changes to its keyboard and t෴rackpad. The only major shift is the addition of that Copilot key in the bottom right co𝔉rner.

Both the 2024 and 2025 models are advertised as offering 12.24% larger keycaps (I'm therefore assuming that's over the older releases that featured different overall designs). Both decks use switches with a 1.7mm travel distance, ma🌳king for a satisfying but still-speedy𒀰 response.

There's a nice clack to this deck, with an energetic bounce that can't be taken for granted on chiclet-style laptop keyboards. Everything feels nicely springy without even a hint of mush, making for a vastly more tactile experience than cheaper alternatives like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus TUF A15. No, it's not as rich a feeling as the new scဣissor switches in Razer's 2025 lineup, but it's still comfor𒊎table, fast, and lively.

Key spacing is a little wider than you'll find ♈on other 14-inch gaming laptops, with a smaller speaker allocation on each side than standard. However, that makes for a far more accurate typing feel overall. I typed at an average of 96 WPM with 96% accuracy, which is pretty standard for me.

The only hurdle I faced when maintaining that average was the slightly sticky feel of the aluminum palm wrests, which sometimes stopped me being able to quickly reach to centered keys across the deck. Very few gaming laptops have an answer for this, though the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alienware M16 R2 improves on the experience with a soft matt♍e finish if it's a particular frustration for you.

The trackpad features a solid amount of palm rejection, which you'll need to rely on considering it's fairly large for this form factor and located close to the bottom lip of the keyboard area. It's smooth and responds well to taps and swipes, though does require a﷽ little more labor for a full click than others.

Performance

The 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a much more powerful gaming laptop t✱han last year's model. That much should be obvious from the jump to an RTX 5080 at the top-end of the configuration sꦏcale, compared to the RTX 4070 inside the previous generation. In synthetic 3D Mark benchmarks, that translates to a 30% increase in Fire Strike and 42% increase in Time Spy performance.

If you're set on the form factor, display, and brand that's fantastic news. While it's going to cost you a lot more than the RTX 4070 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 ever did, the efficiency of those RTX 50-Series GPUs mean big power can hit smaller chassis🌄' sizes. That's exactly what the Zeph needed. Compared to the Asus TUF A14, which taps out at an RTX 4060, there's no competition on sheer performance,

Things get a little spicier when comparing against larger models with older GPUs. The Razer Blade 16 an🦹d Alienware x16 R2 both paced well ahead of the RTX 5080 G14 with older RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 GPUs under the hood. They're larger, yes, but these are still slimline rigs with less cooling than chunkier alternatives.

It's a slightly u💙nfair comparison, though. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 performs incredibly well for a gaming laptop of this size and thickness. It's not easy matching up to larger machines running RTX 4090 graphics cards, but the fact that this smaller rig inches close is impressive in itself.

The same is true across in-game benchmarks.

The RTX 5080 G14 still leads against last year's RTX 4070 model, with larger gains in more demanding titles and higher resolutions. While꧒ it's towards the bottom of my comparison pool, though, I'm still impressed.

Native rendering isn't the feather in Nvidia's cap anymore, but the RTX 5080 inside the smaller G14 still managed to perform at around the same level as the RTX 4090 in the larger G16 was last year and took on the RTX 4080 in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alienware x16 R2 as well. That's in FHD r🀅esol🅘ution, the gap does widen slightly at full 1600p. However, considering you're usually trading a significant amount of power in a 14-inch machine compared to these 16-inchers, that's a solid result.

More demanding games can struggle to keep up without any assistance (more on that in a second), with Cyberpunk 2077 dropping to 70fps in FHD and just scraping under the 60fps barrier in QHD+. Still, the sacrifice down to a smaller form factor compared to this generation's G16 is still relatively negligible. The system even performed better than its 16-inch counterpar𒊎t in Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered benchmarks.

Within its class of slimline gaming laptops, thꩲen, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 puts up a fair fight in both the FHD and QHD arenas. That might not have been possible without the additional efficiency features of the RTX 50-Series mobile card, which enabled Asus to pack the full RTX 5080 under the hood rather than tapping out at the much weaker RTX 4070.

There's more in this arsenal, though, and the 2025 G14 might be one of the new-generation gaming laptops that benefits the most🍸 from Nvidia's shift to a DLSS-first des﷽ign.

This isn't exactly a marmite feature; you either hate that Nvidia is pushing frame generation or you'll take it where you need it. Ultimately, there's no denying that the technology unlocks greater performance ceilings for slimline devices. Where the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 was struggling to hit over 60fps in more Cyberpunk 2077's native QHD RT Ultra settings, it cooked up to 149fps with Quality Super Resolution enabled.

That's smooth gameplay that simply wouldn't have been possible on previous generation slimline devices. As I tend to with Cyberpunk's 4x Frame Generation support, there was a little odd flickering around neon signs and some minor ghos♔ting around faster movements, but I'll take that on a super-portable🌌 laptop rather than choppy framerates.

Battery

I was all excited about ꦚbattery life when I started testing RTX 50-Series gaming laptops, and with its portability-first design I was expecting the 2025 G14 to lay its cap on this spec. There aren't massive gains here, thou🌊gh.

I managed to run Indiana Jones and the Great Circle in Balanced mode for around two ho🌄urs, with that dropping to just over one hour in full-throttle Turbo mode. That's a slight increase on last year, which tapped out after around two hours of gameplay.

I did, however, notice that more demanding games were more reliable when run on battery power alone this time around. I'm normally sitting through stuttering frames and spotty movement whenᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ testing a gaming laptop's battery life, but things were nice and smooth here, especiallꦅy after a few graphical tweaks to lighten the load a little.

Should you buy the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14?

The RTX 5080 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 comes in at just over $3,000, with the RTX 5070 Ti version sitting at😼 $2,499.99. That's more than last year's model, shifting the G14 away from the mid-range and into premium territory. Thankfully, the performance, display, build quality, and overall feel all justify that ꧑price increase. It's just that the G14 is a slightly different gaming laptop now.

I celebrated last year's model as "a gaming laptop for all," but the 2025 release doesn't quite fit the same criteria. This ﷽is a high-spec machine with a luxury build and a solid display, not quite the everyday hybrid of the previous generation.

It's an investment, but it's a worthy one. If you're after a slimline laptop foꦕr daily work while you're out and about, but still want to crank Cyberpunk 2077 to three-figure framerates in the evening itꩵ's a fantastic proposition. You're spending less here than you would on a similarly specced Razer Blade 16 and picking up a more compact form factor.

If, however, you're more concerned with power𝓰 over portability, th🌞e jump to a larger 16-inch chassis is worth considering.

How I tested the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14

I used the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 for just under two weeks, running the laptop for all daily work and evening gameplay.ꩲ I split my time between using the device as-is, while also connecting it to a separate monitor setup every now and then. I performed nine 3D Mark synthetic benchmark tests, running Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad three times each and taking my final scores as an average. I applied the same methodology to my PC Mark 10 benchmarks as well.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total Warܫ: Three Kingdoms, Returnal, Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered, and Black Myth W♈ukong were all tested using in-game benchmark tools in both 1080p and 1600p (with the exception being Returnal at 1440p) and at High and Highest settings. Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth Wukong were run with Super Resolution settings at Auto and Balanced respectively. I also tested DLSS Frame Generation features in Cyberpunk 2077 with Super Resolution set to Quality and a base 1600p resolution. All in-game and synthetic benchmarks were recorded in the system's Turbo mode.

I ran🧸 the battery down from 100% at 50% brightness while💙 playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle twice, once on the Balanced performance preset and again on Turbo mode.

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I'm also hunting down all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Alienware laptop and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best laptop backpacks for more setup options. Or, take a look at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming PCs for a desk-based approach.

Sure, I feel bad when my party wipes in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3, or when the Doom Slayer gets destroyed by demons in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Doom: The Dark Ages. But I can't think of any other games where the entire time I'm playing I🉐'm turning over the idea of what it means to succeed in the task the game is challenging me to do, and what it means if I don't. Many Nights a Whisper is clear about your task from the off: spend a few days practicing your archery skills, and, whether your shot finds its mark during the ritual o🔥n the final day, your save won't persist for you to retry again. Developed by Deconstructeam and Selkie Harbour, this marks a new era of self-publishing for the studio (some of the former's other games, like The Red Strings Club and The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood were published by Devolver Digital).

Sling and a miss

Many Nights a Whisper is a breezy experience, a little over an hour – but it's the perfect amount of time to keep you sitting with the idea of this challenge looming over you. And just enough to also make you think twice about going back to see whatever the other ending holds. It encourages me, against my pro gamer instincts, not to do that, but to instead sit with the results, leaꦜving the other pa🐻th unexplored. This is a small game, but one that, by design, has bigger ideas pushing at the edges, leaving you to scoop up what seeps through and think about it for yourself.

Each day you, a chosen teen who has been trained and brought up in the temꦺple for the single purpose of performing this rite for your community, must prepare for the impending ritual that's held every ten 🐬years. You begin by talking with your mentor, turning over the task ahead and what it means for the community, but are then free to wander the limited space of the temple.

Sling strapped to your wrist, you simply click and💫 hold to take aim, charging the shot. Naturally, the further back you pull, the further your fiery ammunition wi🍬ll go, the shot arcing as it soars through the air. There's not a lot of indicators on the UI beyond that – even the button prompts eventually fade away as you get familiar with the repetition of the action. Pull, release. Pull, release.

Around the temple are plenty of torches to light,🐲 ranging from small ones within the garden itself to bigger ones spaced progressively further out – the community in which you live is 🤪surrounded by the sea. These help you become comfortable with taking shots, getting used to the arc of your ammunition, and how far you can reach.

Each torch, when lit, gives you a snippet of lore about the world as well, told through the medium of achievemenܫt descriptions. A single massive torch in the distance is the one you'll ultimately be aiming for. At first, it'll be out of reach. But, eventually, you can try lighting it ahead of ritual time, getting comfortable with making that fiꦐnal, ultimate shot.

Shot in the dark

You can practice for as long or as little as you like, telling your mentor when you want to turn in for the day. At night, you observe the wishes of the community in anonymous silence – like a church confessional. Each person will put a long braid they've been growing through a hole in the temple while they relay their desire. Any wishes you accept, by cutting their braid with a big knife will – they say – be grante🧸d if you manage to land the shot during the ritual. Anything at all. It can be a scary thought. Perhaps the sky was once red, your Mentor notes, before a wish was granted.

Every braid you cut will be added to your slingshot each day by your Mentor, a piece of all the people you've accepted working together to send your shot flying just a bit further. There's pleasant feedback in the motion of pulling the slingshot back too – as you pull back, it stops, and then after a second snaps just a bit further, your shot igniting in your hand. There are a few limits you can push past in this way with enough wish braids, even beyond strictly what you need to reach the final torch on ritual night. It feels great to land far-off shots, but, at the same time, the more power you wield, the hard🅰er it can feel to control.

Which wishes to accept, your Mentor tells you, is entirely up to you. But there's also the unspoken pressure that, not knowing how many days remain, you do need more braids to stand any hope of landin🧔g your shot on the big torch. You're not making these decisions in 🦋a vacuum.

Potential wishes run the gamut between thoughtful and selfish, frivolous and world-altering. Many wishes introduce ideas that build on one another. A child may wish for their arguing parents to love one another again – a simple comfort you could grant them by accepting their wish. But then, a girl may ask you to force a boy to fall in love with her. What's the difference between the former and the latter? And will you promise the gift of a flu🐟ffy pink cat to someone else?

Wish upon a flame

But also… was the sky really ever red? Or is the idea just completely unbelievable? Do you really buy into this faith? How much do you have to weigh the responsibility of granting a wish itself with the comfort you may bring to an individual by the simple act of accepting the desire into your slingshot? What's the harm? One night passes and I accept no braids at all – an act commen🔜ted upon by my Mentor the next morning, telling me that it is of course within my remit to accept what I please but also reminding me that I do need to improve my slingshot.

I'm certain my choices weren't consistent, but I stand by all of them. I try to lean on accepting what I deem to be morally good and broadly unselfish, but I can't resist promising to deliver on the odd spicy request. I may need to be silent🐎 (part of the ritual you have the choice to occasionally break), but that doesn't mean I can't kick my feet and twirl my hair silently – please, spill the tea on your revenge fantasy.

Then comes the night. I've heard all the wishes, feel each one in my bow. I've hit the shot bang into the ritual torch time and time again. But that was in my casual wear, under the warꦐm sun. Now, at night, in the dark, things look different – the flickering torches leading the eye to my final target altering the perspective I've grown used to. All I can do is pull back and give it my best one final time. Does it land? Does it need to land? Either way, the game is over – but the struggles remain the same.

.

Many Nights a ဣWhisper was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher🍸.

Liked Many Nights a Whisper? Then you might like this – Of the Devil takes what I love about Ace Attorney and Danganronpa to create a cyberpunk legal mystery like little else

You are Nina Pasadena, an Insurance Commando and former criminal. In 🌺essence, you are cryogenically frozen and then hidden on spaceships as they go about their business. If pirates attack, it's up to you to eliminate them and free the ship's crew. Also, the crew are all cats. You will encounter many felines over your time in Skin Deep, including the chef Tornado, scuba diver Casiano, and the rancher Dusty. Once you've met these cats, they'll often email you in between missions, feeding you tidbits of information about their lives and dreams.

Ships that you are embarked on have a particular piracy problem. The pirate group known as the Numb Bunch wants you dead, and specifically targets ships that you're aboard. It's up to you to figure out why. I won't go any deeper into the story than thꦇat to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say the pirate leader has a bone to pick with you.

The missions themselves are consistently fantastic. The ships have vents to crawl through, trash chutes that can flush you into space, airlocks, and eminently breakable windows. Often, these will be locked until you find a code, but finding these is far from onerous. Your eyes are equipped with a zoom function that's less of a standard zoom and more of a CSI-inflected "enhance!" button, allowing you to read notes from clear across a room. Notes are stored in your memory palace, accessible by holding tab. 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:After the notep꧒ad jamboree that was Blue Prince, it was a welcome break.

Ships of Fools

Explor💃ation of the ships isn't limited to their interior either: getting chucked out into space doesn't cue a frantic race back inside for oxygen. Thanks to Nina's third lung, she can survive in the vacuum in nothing but her overalls.

This leads to some fantastically open levels where, for instance, if a door is barricaded and 𝓀you don't have the requisite keycard to open it, you can simply pop outside, float around to that room, then smash the window to gain access. Special mention should be given to the fact that the ships are wildly different from one another: one is a floating wind power plant (just go with it), another an icebreaker (just go with it again), and yet another a floating fast food restaurant, complete with a drive-through window that you can man yourself (yeah, I don't know either).

Each ship has a set of secondary objectives. One is always, as far as I can tell, to find a hidden cassette tape like we're playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, but others include being tasked with repairing a mech to use against your enemies, or opening a weapon🤪s cache with a mining laser. The former, in particular, gave me Shogo: Mobile Armor Division flashbacks, as I stomped around the cargo bay annihilating the elites that had forcefully shoved me off this mortal coil multiple times in the last half hour.

In between missions, you'll occasionally do interstitial sequences such as visiting Little Lion, your former friend and contact in the criminal underworldꦓ, or infiltrating aജ space pirate convention. It's goofy and allows for a nice break after some hair-raising escapes. The latter, in particular, made me laugh out loud multiple times – I spent a great deal of time perusing the convention's various stands, advertising various inventions like a jammer keypad that was the size of an SUV.

The pirates,✃ too, are very entertaining. There are many ways to approach them: you could become a ghost in the machine and simply pickpocket their Cat Keys, allowing you to free their purring prisoners. You can stealthily take out the standard pirates by bashing open a window or making an airlock explosively decompress. You could also, if you prefer, throw pepper at them, stunning them, then pounce on their back before slamming them into various stations and consoles around the sh♒ip like they're giving you the world's deadliest piggyback ride.

If you do decide to take them on, you'll need to eject their heads from their bodies afterwards. They're equipped with devices called Skullsavers, which can sustain their heads, allowing them to float to regeneration pads and regrow their body before reentering the fray. Ejecting their heads gi🙈ves you their Skullsaver, which you can then flush out of an airlock, a trash chute, or indeed, a toilet. The Skullsavers talk to you throughout, sometimes threateningly, sometimes pleadingly, but they're all going on the same g🐬rim journey. If you keep the Skullsaver in your inventory but don't have it equipped, you'll still hear their muffled protestations, which is a nice touch.

Enemy variety is gradual൩ly increased over the course of the game – you can expect to fight the standard pirates on every level, but they'll gradually be joined by other units including engineers, who can lay landmines,♏ and elites, who provide much stiffer resistance. Honestly, a little too stiff. This isn't a game where you'll have a gun most of the time, and you can't kill elites by breaking windows or opening airlocks, so taking them down is annoyingly tough at times. Their health pool is more than double that of the standard space pirates, and they can't be pounced upon, either. They're an annoying little speed bump that interrupts the game's otherwise impressive flow.

Fuel for the imsim fire

As an imsim, you'd expect the game to give you a huge variety of toys to play with, and you won't be disappointed. Items range from the mundane (mugs) to the sci-fi (the duper, allowing you to make𝓀 a copy of most physical obꦅjects, including the all important Cat Keys).

Many of the items serve secondary purposes, some of which I hadn't discovered until the game's last few levels. For example, the pirate walkie-talkie, which you use to call off alerts, ca💞n be smashed against a wall. This makes it spark: create a leak in a fuel line, wait for a pirate to investigate, and then chuck the sparking walkie-talkie, resulting in a quick demonstration of chemistry and thermodynamics, as well as a quick freeze, with the walkie-talkie and the flammable gas annotated to demonstrate exactly what you've done.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of item interactivity inherent in Skin Deep: you can use soap and banana peels to trip up and stun pirates, make flammable clouds with deodorant, and distract enemies with cat toys. My favo🥂rite combination of tools was the humble lighter and various flammable objects, which I used to have many a pirate BBQ.

To make it plain how chaotic and joyous a lot of the combat can be, let me tell you about the time I defeated pirate reinforcements on a space radio station. After finding notes stating that playing music in the DJ Booth was deafening everyone on the ship, 🥂I dug out an old electronica reel and loaded it up. With music blasting throughout the ship, no one could hear me. I laid an ambush in the drive room staircase,💯 trapping them with a grenade. In the ensuing chaos, I took out two of the trio, with one being taken out by a rocket from his comrade, before making my escape. It's that kind of game.

Another feature that gets titrated into the game is having to call in a rescue pod for the cats. To do this, you need a signal lamp, which you'll aim at a beacon and flash SOS. This summons the pod, into which you deposit the cats before retrieving some weapons🥀 from inside it to fight a wave of pirate reinforcements. I use shotguns, rifl𝓡es (that look like Sten guns, fact fans), and a curiously lethal thing called an Autopistol to take out my enemies. Honestly, guns are perhaps the least interesting part of combat – they feel fine, and are pleasingly silly, but after using deodorant and sparking electronics to MacGyver my way across the ship, they just tend to feel a little dull.

Getting into out-and-out combat isn't something that I'd tend to encourage either, at least without laying an ambush first. You're very fragile – if you die, an auto༒matic defibrillator w꧅ill jumpstart your heart and stun nearby enemies, but if you die after that, you're done. Due to the general chaos in Skin Deep, you'll probably find yourself kicking the bucket a reasonable amount, and it's here that probably the most frustrating element of the game rears its head.

You can save during missions at various terminals, but the game only autosaves at the start of each mission. If you die and haven't saved, then you're cooked. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if the game didn't crash when saving fairly regularly. Trying to load this save would then just give me a console readout displaying information about the crash, forcing me to start the whole level again. Each o⛦ne only takes about 20-30 minutes to complete on average, but it's still extremely annoying.

Back to the Future-past

As you might have surmised from having to use a signal lamp and Morse code to summon a rescue pod, the game is solidly retrofuturistic. At times, it feels like I was playing a game set in the Red Dwarf universe, all '80s (and o✃lder) electronics juxtaposed against futuristic space travel. Other times, it felt like No One Lives Forever, with Nina's one-liners being such a great throwback.

The music, too, is a real joy. The ship that carries pirate reinforcements blasts out a synthesized version of t⛦he Wellerman sea shanty, the game's title drop is accompanied by a full Bond-style intro sequence, and a stakeout mission is accompanied by slinky Pink Panther-esque jazz, tipping the scales even more into retrofuturism. Even the title itself sounds like a film from the 1960s.

Despite the bugs and the paucity of autosaves, I do strongly recommend Skin Deep. The frustration that I felt after each crash was certainly intense, but these bugs will be ironed out given enough time. The game itself is beautifully imagin💖ative, f𒊎un, chaotic, and, once again, stylish in the extreme. Get in the cryo-pod, it's time to fight some space pirates.

Skin Deep wa꧅s reviewed on PC, with a code provided by th🐲e publisher.

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At $119.99 / £119.99, Cherry is undercutting a lot of the more expensive flagship decks on the markets. A full-sized Razer deck can cost you north of $200, but if you're after a softer typing feel and high-end mechanical switches Cherry's looking particularly strong right now. No, it doesn't feature the customizable switches of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming keyboards on the market, but ▨in the right hands it could well be a perfect fit.

Design

The Cherry MX 3.1 is simultaneously familiar and distinct in its design. The all-white top plate and keycaps are instantly recognizable from previous releases like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cherry MX 8.2 and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cherry XTRFY K5V2 of y൩ore. And yet, peering just underneath that is a silver aluminum chassis unlike anything I've seen on a gaming k♈eyboard before.

A dappled metallic finish keeps things interesting, but not as visually striking as the windowed RGB lighting on e💧ach side. It doesn't exactly shine onto the surface below, so it never catches my eye when I'm using the keyboard face on. It's still a nifty look, though, and shows how far Cherry has double down on🔯 its looks after its fairly boring earlier releases.

The main deck plate and sides are all constructed from a solid plastic, with those s😼ilver panels at the top and bottom being aluminum. There's an oddity to this design, though, that helps the Cherry MX 3.1 stand out. A hollowed-out channel runs along the top and bottom of the deck via this metal plating. At first I thought this was a cable management runner, but it looks like it's purely aesthetic. It's a neat stand system, though I would have preferred built-in feet to the easily losable screws included in the box.

Build quality

All of that makes for an interesting split between angular looks and soft feel. That plastic🍒 is pretty harshly cut on the sides, and the cut-out for the cable at the top is similarly boxy. However, the ABS keycaps, and switches overall, feel particularly smooth under the fingertips.

Everything is solidly put together, with a strong top plate only slightly yielding to pressure when I actively force 🐭it down. The aluminum chassis keeps everything sturdy on t🍨he desk. I'm not used to having a full-sized model in the center of my space, but it managed to survive all my mouse knocks without shifting out of place.

There's also a particularly satisfying amount of sound dampening going on inside the chassis. That means I ๊experienced absolutely no switch pings or echoes during my testing, and every bottom-out feels cushioned with a bouncy spring back to full height.

Keycaps

I'm impressed with these caps, and that's not something I often find myself saying about ABS models. Rather than feeling shiny and oily, like the cheaper clackers on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair K70 Pro TKL, they simply feel comfortable and smooth. I naturally pre🌊fer a more textured PBT, but this is a rare instance of ABS not feeling like a cheap-out.

Ergonomics

Unlike more compact 60%, 65%, or even TKL gaming keyboards, 𒊎a full-sized model comes with its own ergonomic benefits. Keys are well-spaced on the Cherry MX 3.1, which means I'm not hunched over a small selection of clickers, but sitting comfortably with my🐈 shoulders nicely apart. I find that with smaller models, while they do allow for wider mouse movements, I'm often reaching too far over to the left to compensate.

Rather than using inbuilt f❀olding feet for elevation, however, Cherry has op🐎ted for a set of two screw-in toppers. They're installed by plucking the existing covers out of the keyboard and simply twirling the taller feet in. That does leave you with two extra parts, small enough to lose pretty much instantly.

I'm not a fan of this method. While the feet themselves are sturdy, and the screw design means they don't fall out from under the keyboard when pushed up and down the 🌠desk (like regular hinge models), they don't provide as much elevation as I've seen in other decks. There's also only one height option, whereas most models offer two.

Switches

The deck I've been testing uses Cherry MX2A Silent Red clic🍌kers, your classic red linears with a slightly a slightly shorter 1.9mm of pre-travel and 3.7mm total travel (compared to the previous generation MX Reds).

That means they're swift, soಌft, and smooth, with a relaxed feel that lends itself well to both typing and 🌼gameplay. This is the second generation of Cherry switches, offering factory lubrication and contactless motion to avoid the scratchy feel that plagued many before them, while also moving over to a new spring design that maintains uniformity in rapid keypresses.

That's what Cherry's said at least. I've noticed significantly less rattle and scratching in my time with these clickers, and a nicely energetic return to full height as well. While the landing can sometimes err on the side of mushy, as is common with shﷺorter linears, it's a comfortable e🍷xperience if you're opting for a quieter switch.

I still cannot, for the life of me, work out why Cherry's keyboards aren't hot-swappable considering the brand is one of the biggest♊ manufacturers of individual switches on the market - but there we go.

Software

The Cherry MX 3.1 relies on the Cherry Utility Software for basic key mapping and RGB settings. This is a li💧ghtweight program with no ads, no heavy CPU loads (accounting for 0.1% during my usage), 🐷and simple, streamlined access to controls. It's refreshing after wading through SteelSeries' marketing or Razer's nested menus, though with simple mechanical switches and no wireless connections there's not a whole lot you can do with it.

Each key is programmed through its own 'Action', a setup that adds an extra step over others but is easy enough to work through. From there, you can create a macro (though you can't save them to use across additional keys), replace the input, select a PC function or input custom text. Everythi♛ng is saved across a series of profiles, listed on the left.

RGB settings are clean and simple, offering a range of different presets for both the keys and side lighting areas as w💎ell as a slider for speed. Per-key effects are also available.

There's no ability to tie your profiles🌜 to specific games like you'll find i🧸n most brands' programs and no SOCD settings to configure either.

Controls

Full-sized decks are rarely lacking i💖n onboard controls, and the Cherry MX 3.1 has you covered for all the basics. You've got every key you'd expect from a full plank here, as well as dedicated media playback options and additional functions up top. This is where you'll find the volume settings - unfortunately, Cherry doesn't include a dedicated ꦇvolume roller or control dial like many others. Instead, that top-bezel space is shaved off and you'll be hitting that Fn key to change your settings on the fly (should you not wish to remap in the software).

Connection

This is a fully wired affair, with a USB-C port located inside of a particularly angular crevice in the top center of the deck♕. It's a simple plug and play deck, with a 1,000Hz polling rate and a braided cable supplied. It would be tough to find a full-sized wireless deck 🧸for a similar price point, and they're rare these days.

A wireless connection is great for keeping cables off your desk, yes, but it's primary benefit is portability. There aren't many players lugging a full-sized keyboard ඣaround with them these days, which is why you'll find more 2.4GHz and Bluetooth connections in more compact models.

Typing

This is a particularly comfortable typing experience, but not the most satisfying. The softer feel means less strain on the fingers over a long period of time but a less tactile thunk to each key overall. I typed for about 13 hours in one stretch during my testing, and never felt the fatigue I would have on something stiffer like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Endgame Gear KB65HE or 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3,𒊎 but I did miss that more robust swit🅰ch feel at the time.

I ave🌳raged a typing speed of 94 WPM with the Cherry MX 3.1 at the helm, running at 93% accuracy. That's slightly towards the lowe🔯r end of my usual scores, with precision taking the larger hit.

The comparison below takes a spread of the mechanical gaming keyboards at the top of their categories as well as a range of Cherry alternatives and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ducky One X (a similar-feeling full-sized deck, with inductive switches). Most notably, the Cherry MX 3.🌠1 comes at the same speed as the MX 8.2, but with a reduced accuracy.

Gaming

This is about as sim🌠ple as gaming keyboards come with no adjustable switches, debounce settings, or game mode features to play with. Of course, you're still getting the n-key rollover you'd expect from a deck in 2025, but that's about it.

It's certainly not u💛nplayable, but considering there are cheaper wired keyboards out there busting with more gaming-specific personalization options it's not the best value experience on the ma✱rket. This feels more like a cozy setup item than a companion to enhance your gameplay experience.

Still, I was able to strafe and glide like the rest of them in more competitive games,⛦ with easy macro and keybinding options in the software and snappy inputs registering at a tap. The full-size desig⛄n isn't the best for FPS titles, especially if you want to fine-tune your mouse's sensitivity for more precise controls (and therefore wider sweeps).

However, I was able to stay nimble in sin🐟gle-player adventures like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle while still enjoying a wide enough key spacing to reliably hit additional commands without any accide🃏ntal presses.

Should you buy the Cherry MX 3.1?

If you use your keyboard for work 80% of the time and for play 20% of the time, prefer a softer switch feel, and don't want keyboard clack ruining your audio, the Cherry MX 3.1 could well be a wise purchase. It's not got the chops of more substantial gaming decks like the $219.99 SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 or $179 Ducky One X (for a full-sized comparison), but it tic♔ks along in-game nicely with a basic set of keybinding and RGB lighting software controls at your disposal.

If you need a performance-focused keyboard for more competitive endeavors, I'd recommend something that prioritizes speed and tactility over additional controls and comfort. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid is excellent value, packing in Hall effect switches and a set of slick PBT keycaps at $169.99, or the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair K65 Plus Wireless at $159.99.

That said, Cherry is occupying a particularly lucrative price﷽ point here. There aren't many gaming keyboards nearing that $100 threshold, and even fewer doing so with a full number pad attached.

How I tested the Cherry MX 3.1

I used the Cherry MX 3.1 across both work and play for one week, while also comparing directly against the Ducky One X and Cherry MX 8.2. In that time I primarily played Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Fallout 4, while also testing in Apex Legends specifically. I also performed three typing tests, taking the average of all three as my final score for comparison. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

If you need to cut the cord, check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best wireless gaming keyboards on the market, or take a look at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best hot-swappable keyboards available for more switch options. I'm also rounding up the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best membrane keyboards for cheaper alternatives as well.

From the first arresting visual of an impossibly fractured Eiffel Tower, Montpellier-based Sandfall Interactive's debut title is quintessentially French in its Belle Epoque style in a world of perpetual yet beautiful decay. But it also imagines an alternative timeline of what 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Final Fantasy 16 might have been if it didn't sacrifice the series' traditions in the name of high fidelity and maturity, or rather if Xbox 360 cult classic Lost Odyssey got the chance to have a sequel. Ironically, the theme is almost the opposite to Mistwalker's exploration of immortality. Instead, the lives of the people of Lumiere are literally numbered as, each year, a mysterious god-like figure known as the Paintress paints on a distant monolith a number th💎at instantly snuffs out everyone of that age.

By the time the story begins, this number has counted down to 33, meaning a population where the old have long ceased to exist. Against such doom, the people are largely consigned to this hopeless situation, to the extent an annual festival is held to celebrate and say goodbye to those who are about to 'gommage'. Yet this also follows with an expedition made up of members whose number will be next making their last act of defiance to reach and kill the Paintress in a bid to break thiꦅs cycle of death.

A party of world-weary 32 year-olds who have all experienced unimaginable loss is then something of a change from the usually wide-eyed teenage protagonists of JRPGs, albeit with just as impeccable fashion 🎐sense.

But as telegraphed by all the failed expeditions that have come before them, this is also essentially a suicide mission. Those stakes are rammed home almost immediately aft༒er the prologue where upon arriving on the mysterious Contཧinent, your expeditioners encounter the first of the story's many rug-pulls, and it becomes apparent you genuinely won't know if everyone will make it through this alive.

Parry, je t'aime

The high stakes of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's story also translates to its hybrid take on turn-based battles. While its command menus look every bit as dynamic as 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Persona 5 or 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Metaphor: ReFantazio, and action-based inputs might have you thinking of Paper Mario, a more accurate comparison is 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (it even shares some FromSoftware elements like limited heals that only refill after resting at checkpoints, which also res🔴pawns enemies). That is to say it tests your nerves and every battle feels far from tr💟ivial.

While each part🌃y member has their own unique mechanics to get to grips with and there are more straightforward QTE prompts to boost an ability, the real challenge comes from defending yourself from enemy attacks by dodging or parryꩲing. The latter is evidently the more rewarding option not only because you deal back a counter attack but also gain AP as a result, which will prove an advantage when it's your turn to attack by allowing you to hit back with stronger, more costly attacks.

Countering party-wide expedition attacks are even more satisfying, since all three active party members dish back combined damage. The risk, of cou♑rse, is if you miss the precise timing you can end up taking quite a bit of damage, especially if you can't find the rhythm in a chain of enemy strikes.

Dodging meanwhile has a more generous window and if you misread an enemy's attack there's even a chance you can dodge again just in time. Once I humbly accepted I wasn't going to be a parry wizard, it became more tactical to dodge the long combos (these are even riskier si𝕴nce the counter will only trigger if you successfully parry every single hit) until I felt confident on which attack patterns I had memorized perfectly.

But what🦄 an absolute rush it is when you nail a parry. It also helps that several other less demanding counter mechanics – tied to certain move types – are later introduced so that you have other opportunities to deal damage outside of your own turn.

Similar to other RPGs, party members and enemies are also susceptible to elemental weaknesses or status effects, though ultimately they feel secondary to parrying. Apart from the occasions where enemies might absorb an element, I didn't feel it crucial to have the right attack or party composition for exploiting weaknesses, as you don't have a comprehensive bestiary to refer to, and it becomes more important to simply study the way an enemy is moving on scre♎en.

As your expeditioners are left visibly covered in dirt, blood, and bruises the more their health is de♐pleted, it really drives home how each hard-won battle is earned, and that these defensive mechanics aren't gimmicks you can opt out of – even lowering the difficult to story mode won't get you off scot-free. But these ofteꦰn lengthy battles are also rewarding in their generous XP, often enough to level up at least one of your party members, so it never descends into a mindless grindfest that other JRPGs can fall victim to. Each area feels like it has just enough battles to test you, rather than having you slog through hundreds.

To map or not to map

If battles are the most forward-thinking aspect of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, even its nods to old-school JRPG design such as bringing back a world map you can run around feels somewhat refreshing compared to the modern urge for content bloat. Given the already impressionistic abstraction in this world, where you find yourself exploring 'underwater' locales on foot and looking up to see environments floating and fractured in suspended animation, it's fair to say I never found the idea of realistic-looking characters on a diorama-sized map out of place. I almost wish this was something that 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth did instead of overwhelming me witꦿh open world distractions that get in the way of the story.

That isn't to say there aren't🔯 optional extras as there are still plenty of secrets to discover in both the overworld and the dungeon areas. There's interesting collectibles such as journal entries from past expeditions where you can find 🌳out how they met their untimely end, outfits and hairstyles for your party members, as well as treasure chests that make good use of the guns you can also free-aim with in battle to unlock. But the bulk of its most challenging optional content is also wisely left for the endgame (or indeed postgame), so that the 30-hour critical path isn't bogged down with optional objectives that turn out to be not so optional.

It does then strike me a bit odd that it nonetheless includes a form of social links, a modern JRPG staple, that occurs while rest✅ing at camp in the overworld, but which is also introduced relatively ಌlate.

The quality of these conversations are by no means poor but they also feel superfluous and s🎶tilted when there are already more naturalistically performed story cutscenes at camp showing the different emotional bonds between expedition members, usually after a hard-won battle or devastating revelation. When t෴hese also involve little more than speaking to party members one by one every now and again rather than any action you made to improve these relationships, it can't help but feel a bit tacked on.

Instead, one modern feature I would have p🐲referred is a mini-map for dungeons, as I did sometimes find my sense of direction disoriented when some routes to secrets inevitably loop you back to an area you had previously been, or especially as battles whisk you to a separate arena and, upon𒊎 returning to the map, I found I wasn't always facing the same direction as before. While flashing items you haven't yet picked up or new triggered dialogue indicate you're going the right way, it's not helpful if you have to run through that area the second time.

Encore, avec émotion

These minor criticisms however fall by the wayside when in the grip of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's epic story that examines big weighty themes like loss, life, and the will to keep going despite overwhelming odds. It's further turbo-charged with a beautifully sweeping score, its enchanting themes accompanied by heartbreaking French soprano vocals destined to linger in the same way as the music of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nier Automata.

But like that cult series, this is also no one-note hammed-up melodrama trying to force your tear ducts to work overtime. On the contrary, there's a reason to feel for every member of this exped🌟ition, and it's all anchored by a fantastic script and pitch-perfect casting that includes screen veterans like Andy Serkis and acclaimed voice-over talent like Ben Starr giving nuanced performances.

My personal standout would have to be Maelle, voiced by the excellent Jennifer English (also listen out for a couple of other 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 alumni), who has chosen 🐲to join this expedition despite being only half the age of its other members but holds her own with a sardonic wit.

Even as gloomy as the premise might seem on paper, it often breaks from the trappings of dark murky fantasy for a little more chromatic diversity. In understanding the best JRPGs, it's also not afraid to get a little weird and whimsical when it comes to some more peculiar creatures found on the Continent, including a large entity that also🧜 doubles – erm, triples? – as your land, sea, and air transportation.

Given the life-and-death stakes that you face, there is a certain magic when unexpected moments of levity result in a smile from your expedition members – that's the future you're fighting for after all. On the strength of this confident an🧔d captivating debut, I'm only assured that Sandfall Interactive has a bright future ahead too.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was reviewed on PS5 Pro alongsideꦉ some additiona🐠l PC testing, with a code provided by the publisher.

More like this? We've got a list of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for you! Looking for a different adventure? Level up with our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPG games guide!

Just like Life is Strange, the series that put Don't Nod on the map, Lost Records is split into episodes, and Tape 2 is the fallout of the first tape's crescendo. As each tape's titl𓄧e suggests, Tape 1 was the Bloom of a newfound friendship, and Tape 2 brings the Rage. It's a little rough around the edges, but the conclusion of Lost Records is everything I wanted it to be: full of heartbreak, gay kissing, dreamy pop ballads, and supernatural scares. As a finale to Don't Nod's new teen drama series, it's magnificent. Break out the waterproof mascara for this one, girlies.

Tape 2 follows the same structure as Tape 1. We see Swann and friends as teens during the 90s and also as adults in the present reminiscing on the summer they all met. This reunion 27 years later has been prompted by a mysterious package addressed to them all, its contents threatening to dredge up a past they would rather forget. There's a palpable tensio🔜ඣn between the women as the mystery of why they promised as teens to never meet again after that fateful summer slowly comes into focus.

The past has its invisible tendrils curled around them, and this meeting - which in the first episode signified a step towards healing - might actually be the opposite. In Tape 1, we saw these snippets of the present as an ominous sign of what's to come, but now we see a group of w🙈omen who all have their own - often conflicting - ways of dealing with their shared traumatic past.

It's excellent drama, and is just the first of many incredible ways Lost Records depicts the friendship dynamics of women, especially teen girls. Tape 1 was filled with the girls goofing around, angsty band practice, and dr🌠eamy sunsets. This tape is different. We see the gang get angry, rebellious, and even violent. The ominous pit the girls find in the woods has them firmly in its grip, and its power is beginning to 🅠seep into their lives. Lost Records understands that teen rage, especially from a group of girls fueled by a supernatural force, is fierce, and beautiful.

Grrrl Power

The girls' fraught relationship is heightened by the game's decision-making dialogue system. In the first tape, I felt there were no 'wrong' answers, feeling at ease picking dialogue options even when my opinion differed from the gang's. Here it's different. The situation has changed. In Tape 2, I really di🌞d feel like I was messing up my responses. I was a teenager again, not sure how to help, or what to say to make things better. There's a moment where Swann and Autumn have a conversation about the car park concert. We feel differently, she regrets the whole thing, but I don't. I bumble through my choices and pick dialogue options in a panic. I want to tell her how I feel and stick to my convictions but am also scared about pushing her away. It's heartbreaking.

It feels inte🅠ntional on Don't Nod's part, and incredibly evocative. In this episode, the game continually pushes you out of your comfort zone. It perfectly communicates that friendships are messy and complicated. You might say the 'wrong' things, or get an outcome you didn't want, but it's always in service to the story. The game has multiple endings based on your choices, but, surprisingly, none of them feel particularly like 'good▨', 'bad', or 'true' endings, which is quite the feat.

Teenage dirtbag

Even th🃏ough we're well into the story by Tape 2, poking around environments is still a great way of learning extra story details. There are some new spaces to ex💦plore, but you also return to several of the same places from Tape 1. These familiar spaces house the same objects you've seen before, but given the story, they take on a more melancholy meaning.

The girl's woodland cabin, once filled with vibrant energy, is now cold and somber when Swann visits alone. Swann's own bedroom – which she's still packing away getting read♒y for her big move to Canada – constantly reminds you of a lost future. A note on a paperbac🌱k book from Autumn thanks Swann for lending her the book, and you know you won't be able to share books in the future. Swann's calendar, full of gel pen scribbled activities the girls planned that Summer, is now a reminder that you won't get to do them anymore.

The camcorder takes on a new meaning too. Instead of goofing around making music videos, or recording whatever Swann finds interesting, it's now a time capsule to remember. Looking back on what I've recorded in the game's camcorder menu♋ is bittersweet. The girls in the recordings don't know what's coming. What I chose to record in Tape 1 is different from Tape 2.

Before, I would try and capture more of the environment, building a portrait of a place. Now, it's purely about r꧅ecording the girls. Close-ups of faces, quiet moments in fairy-light bedrooms, and candid shots of the gang – my perspective has totally changed. I look back and wish I had recorded certain moments differently and focused on different things. It's a time before everything went to shit, for both the girls but also me as a player. It makes my heart ache.

Something different in Tape 2 isಞ that the camcorder is used in a more 'gamey' way. At one point you need 🌳to record a string of numbers, and then you can watch what you've recorded back to use those same numbers to unlock a gate code, which is cool. However, other experimentation doesn't quite land.

At one point biker jackass Corey hijacks the camera, and we see the girls running away from him through the camera's viewpoint as he gives chase. Controlling Swan, you need to jog away while not being able to control the game's POV. It's a cute call back to the handheld horror genre birthed by ꦬThe Blair Witch Project, but it's awkward and clunky here. It feels like Don't Nod agrees because after about 30 seconds it quickly gets tossed aside.

Another experimental part of the game is a sneaking section, which is wild for a Don't Nod game. In this part, Swann is trying to sneak into Kat's house through her bedroom window, which is cute in concept, but the result is a half-baked a💖nd awkwardly implemented mini-game which feels totally out of place. After several failed attempts, the game quickly moves on, quickly shuffling you to the 🎃next scene and pretending you succeeded.

This wouldn't be too bad, almost forgivable, but what left me feeling hollow was the consequence of my failed 'sneaking'. This misste༺p, in my playthrough anyway, cemented a major decision in the game's 'present' – which I won't spoil here – but it was a big deal. Having the girls make decisions based on my dialogue decisions feels meaningful, but for failing a sneaking section? Gurl, delete it.

Witching hour

Thankfully, these frustrations were few and far between, and thankfully my biggest concern going into Tape 2 was not one of them. One thing that I was worried about when finishing the first episode, was that Don't Nod would try and explain what 'The Abyss' was, or why it was created. But Tape 2 keeps it mysterious and ominous until th🌳e very end, which I love.

There's an abstractness to The Abyss, which leaves it open to many different readings. Trauma, bullying, body shaming, the throws of teenagehood – it's a force that threatens to swallow them whole. It's not quite obvious what the girls gai🌜n from it, but it's a force made stronger by the group's friendship. When I say 'girl power' in the context of Lost Records, it's not the glossy, faux sentiment that the likes of Katy Perry love to capiಌtalize on. I'm talking about young women taking back power because to be a teenage girl is to be powerless.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and particularly The Craft – teen girls and the supernatural have a long history together in media, and in the lives of young women and queer kids too. The 'call' of The Abyss isn't predatory, but treats the girls as worthy of its strength. As muc𝕴h as I appreciated what 2023's Goodbye Volcano High explored regarding queer teen drama, it's✱ just so different here. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is charged with a queer supernatura൲l energy that feels electric. This goes beyond bisexual lighting, folks.

It's why I'm also so happy that Lost Records isn't set in a high school, AKA the teenage hun🅘ting ground. By following the girls during the summer, they're free from the c💯onventions, rules, and hierarchies that make up the social fabric of high school. The girls live outside of the high school experience – the skaters, the burners, the nerds – they're bigger than all that. The teens still have to deal with the societal code of a small conservative American town, but setting a coming-of-age story outside of a high school feels incredibly freeing for a teen drama.

That doesn't mean that Swann, Autumn, Nora, and Kat are totally free from the throws of queer teenhood. On the micro level, it's navigating how to express their romantic desires as gay girls, but on the macro, it's being harassed by misogynist, homophobic men. It's an expression of 90s teen queerness that still resonates now. Their꧒ answer to this is to draw power from a dark supernatural force, but also from each other. Lost Records makes me believe that the four girls can do, qui💞te literally, anything, which is why it hurts so badly to see how it all ends.

It's rough around the edges in parts, but the overall sentiment is clear. With the story complete, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is dazzling. Female friendship, girl power, sapphic love – it's all here, explored in depth with care and consideration. Together with 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:last year's 1000xResist and 2022's Signalis, the sad sapphic games club is beginning to𒅌 bulk up. Romance, rainbows, and dreamy sunsets are all great, but we also crave defiance, rage, and violence – and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is ꦺexactly that.

Lost Records: Bloom & Raওge – Tape 2 was reviewed on PC via Steam, with a code provided by the publisher

Want to lose yourself in more great narratives? Check out our recommendations for the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best game stories!

The sauce hasn’t always been this sweet for Asus’s flagship 18-incher. Last year’s model struggled to keep up wi🗹th its predecessor in performance while still offering the same gaudy design. Things are slicked back and grown up this year, though, and the Strix Scar 18 shines brighter than even its new LED light strips.

Configurations

Asus has gone with the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor for its range of Strix Scar 18s this time, an impressive CPU running eight performance cores and 15 efficient cores at 24 threads꧙. The chip drops some of the fancier features of the Intel i9-14900HX, the breadwinner of the previous generation, but its hybrid dಌesign complements the streamlined nature of the RTX 50-Series better than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H, and adds more physical cores to the playbook as well.

That means it can push well beyond the capabilities of the 285H, which is just as well considering the machines I’ve tested with the smaller chip inside haven’t exactly threatened the💟 previous generation of full-fat processors.

Asus is giving us the choice of either an RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 in the US, with an RTX 5070 Ti variant popping up in the UK as well. This cheaper rig clocks in at a total 140W TGP, wher🐼eas the 5080 and 5090 can bump up to 175W.

There are cheaper 16GB RAM configurations available, but most seem to be using 32GB with a 1TB + 1TB ꧃SSD structure. Thankfully, the Asus 🔯ROG Strix Scar 18 makes accessing these internals even easier, with a fully tool-less connection to the bottom panel.

Design

I much prefer the look and feel of the 2025 Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 compared to its predecessor. I let out a sigh of relief on o💖pening the clamshell lid for the first time; that cheap translucent plastic is gone. Instead, we’ve got a soft-touch matte black chassis that looks and feels far more deserving of this lofty price tag. I like me a see-through gadget, but not whe💮n I’ve dropped thousands of dollars on it.

Asus gives with one hand and takes with the other, though. There are a few downsides to this redesign, and one new Marmite feature. That’s the AniMe Matrix display on the back, a series of white LEDs previously only stamped on Asus’s Zephyrus line but now turning up on the big guns. It’s a fully customizable array of additional lights that can run your own animations or text across the lid of the dis🐼play, but I also find it incredibly annoying.

Switched on, I ജcan never seem to ignore the flashes of random light that appear on the wall behind my machine and considering you’ll never see the full display when actually using the device it’s an unnecessary price bloat on an already-expensive machine.

You can switch it off to save your peripheral vision (asꦬ I did the moment I ♛saw it was on there), but you’re still paying for it. It’s tacky and I hate it.

There are smaller adjustments to the overall chassis that don’t scream quite so loudly, but did offer a few frustrations in my testing. While the previous generation (and most larger 18-inch machines) featured a small lip to the top of the main lid, this🤡 is completely flush.

That means there’s no tab with which I can easily pull the laptop open, instead I’m balancing my thumb along the top skinny bezel and hoping I don’t stick my 🔴hands all over the screen. That’s a minor inconvenience, though, the hinge is still smooth enough to open this way and the base is heavy enough to keep the mac🔥hine steady on a desk while opening with one hand.

Thankfully, Asus has toned down its internal branding. Last year’s model seemed to throw everything onto the chassis, with ‘ROG’ stamps plastered across the main inter𓆏nal deck. The new model is far more restrained, not just filling in the aforementioned translucent plastic, but removing branding from the🌄 inside altogether.

Instead, we have a sleek aesthetic that marries a very subtle ‘Est. 2006’ icon in light gray along the top of the rear shelf with an all-black, quiet design. Just watch for fingerprints - I’d barely set up the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 before I needed to get the microfiber cloth out, and this thing takes some elbow grease to keep clear from s🐟mudges.

The main chassis is still constructed from plastic, taking a lighter, cheaper route than the more d♕urable bodies of many high-end gaming laptops. However, the lid retains its metal structure, with a glossy ROG logo stamped in the same corner as before.

That massive RGB grill at the front of the previous generation has also been overhauled, with a slimmer strip of lighting hiding better underneath the front lip of the main deck and additional lighting added to the sides as well. It gives the whole device a floating aesthetic, projecting vivid colors onto the desk below where the previous model ♕felt a little top heavy.

Display

Up top, we’ve got a Mini LED ROG Nebula HDR panel, one of the best in its class. Asus simply states that this slightly upgraded display has “over 2,000” dimming zones, less specific than the 2,304 figure we were given last year - but we can reasonably 🦩assume it’s about the same. It’s about as good a contrast as you’re going to get without going OLED (a rarity on these larger machines) while still benefiting from the tailored brightness of an HDR panel.

Both single-lighting and multi-zone lighting options are available, with the former offꦺerinꦬg more of a uniform color reproduction at the expense of more dynamic, immersive visuals. I used the display at full whack for most of my testing, though, and it’s remarkably punchy.

It’s plenty bright, with꧟ up to 1,100-nits in the right conditions, helping to combat lighter environments and keep darker moments of gameplay easily visible without having to crank the gamma.

Asus has also added to its Ambient Contrast Ratio tech with the new generation, with two layers of screen tech working to reduce reflections and glare while also bumping up contrast and ensuring uniform viewing aওngles. The tech certainly works, with not even the sunniest of days bouncing back at me when gaming in a well-lit room. Of course, you’re getting the standard QHD+ r♏esolution and 240Hz refresh rate here as well.

Ports

Unlike most 18-inch gaming laptops that slide their ports around the back, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 keeps the side-loaded connections that we saw last🐽 year. I personally prefer rear ports in a larger machine that’s designed to stay on a desktop. It makes for a far tidier setup, without cables and receivers sprawled out on each side of the machine, and keeps your more permanent connections secure as well.

With the majority of the connections stuck on the right flank, however, the Scar manages🐟 to avoid feeling too messy when fully hooked up. All your permanent connections are in a neat row here, with power, Ethernet, and an HDMI 2.1 port up top. I have my laptop set up on the left side of my 💧desk, which means I can easily hide these cables down the side of the table.

I can, but I’m nervous about it.

That’s because the power connector is n🤪o longer angled to sit inline with the device and the sheer weight of that cord pulls on the connection itself. That’s concerning, especially considering I can seeꦇ the inside of the connection when it’s sitting at this angle, and hear the port shifting around when I move the wire. It’s a shame Asus has randomly decided to change its cord, but for now I just have to keep something wedged underneath it.

The left flank also features two Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports, impressive considering I’m more used to seeing a singl𒀰e Thunderbolt option and a regular USB-C, as well as a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 and 3.5mm audio jack. On the right, we have two more USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 connections.

You are dropping a USB-A option from the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alienware M18 R2 here, and dropping the Mini-Display Port and SD card slot. However, the upgrade to Thunderbolt 5 from Thunderbolt 4 means you’re getting faster speeds and the ability to output across three 4K displays at higher refresh rates instead of two. Last year’s 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:MSI Titan 18 HX and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:MSI Raider 18 HX both offer similar port selec♎tions, though again with the addition of a MicroSD card slot and the ⭕downgrade to Thunderbolt 4.

Keyboard and trackpad

There’s no fancy keyboard tech upgrades happening under the hood here, unlike the new scissor-switches in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2025 Razer Blade 16. Instead, we’ve got a classic membrane deck, but o𝓰ne that feels nice and snappy under the fingertips. There’s a little flex under the main panel (a little more than I would expect coming from a machine of this price), but everyday typing and gaming feels bouncy and responsive still. Key spacing is nicely balanced and each actuation jumps with an energetic clack that feels crisp and satisfying.

The layout is as you’d expect from an 18-incher, with a number pad and full-sized arrow buttons. Things are a little cramped into the center of the main base, which means the directionaಞl buttons are crammed into the central deck a little. Still, I’ll take ♔that over half-sized clickers any day.

Above the main area, you’ll find that classic array of Asus media controls and macro buttons. These are remappable in A🐟rmory Crate, but function as a volume control, mic mute, power preset toggle, and launcher for the software by default.

The large glass trackpad is shifted slightly to the left, allowওing for ample reaching space between the main keys and the number pad. There’s a serene glide to the pad with no sticking, and enough palm rejection to keep things accurate as well.

RGB, obviously, runs throughout and is fully configurable in Armory Crate itself. It’s not quite as slick as other 2025 models I’ve tested, dropping the slick, tightly controlled aesthetic of the Razer Blade and somewhat lacking the vivid color of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16. Lighting remains clear though, and with strong uniformity across longer legends🌊 - even if dual-legend keys suffer from using a single LED. Razer avoids this issue by adding an extra light to its caps that require two sets of inpu🌊ts.

Performance

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 is the most powerful gaming laptop I’ve tested to date, and that’s a sentence I haven’t said in two years. 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Last year’s iteration lost out to the MSI Raider 18 HX and MSI Titan 18 HX in this arena, and didn’t even top its predecessor’s benchmark numbers. The 2025 iteration blows it out the wate𝄹r and generally keeps its head above MSI’s numbers as well.

Synthetic benchmarks across 3D Mark Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad see t꧂he Scar hold pole position across all three tests, comfortably taking the lead in the first two easier runs and finishing up with a nose in front on Steel Nomad. That’s a strong baseline to work from, but things get a lot more interesting in-game.

The MSI Raider 18 HX does inch just a littleꩲ out in front when it comes to Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but there’s only a couple of frames in it. Considering the Scar wins every other benchmark run, this is an easy lead. Still, there’s no disputing the fact that its power isn’t a million miles away from the RTX 4090 inside MSI’s beasts.

That’s in line with the rest of the releases I’ve seen from this generation so far. The RTX 50-Series doesn’t want to turbo-charge your native framerates, instead it’s concentrating on efficiency. That’s why the relatively low temperatures during these runs are more interesting, while fans certainly whirred🦋 away in this Turbo Mode setting, the rig never grew uncomfortably hot and all vitals steered clear of bottleneck concerns.

Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong are the heaviest runs in this test group. The former was tested with Super Resolution set to Balanced mode, and at both RT Medium and RT Ultra. We♍’re able to stay well ahead of 60fps in both settings, making for smooth, responsive gameplay. But, taking the RTX 50-Series’ focus on DLSS settings into account, those numb▨ers can skyrocket.

Bumping Super Resolution up to Quality still left us ๊at an average of 67fps, but with 4x Frame Generation that shot all the way up to 212. Whether or not you use the AI frame buster is up to you, and it’s still more than playable without it in this larger 18-inch form factor. If you want the juiciest settings possible, though, it’s an extra tool in your arsenal.

The RTX 50-Series mobile scene requires a little re-framing of many players’ references. No, we’re not seeing the same generation-on-genera🥂tion performance upgrades from these cards, though there is more of a boost in this larger form factor compared to skinny machines like the Razer Blade 16 and Asus R꧋OG Zephyrus G16.

This is still the fastest gaming laptop I’ve ever had on my desk, though, and it comes armed with optional extra tech to supercharge that performance even further. That efficiency isn’t quite so important in this larger 18-inc📖h form factor. It’s unlikely you’ll need to rely on a longer bat🐼tery life or need these frame generation settings to hit 60fps with ray tracing in demanding games like you would with a 14-inch or 16-inch slimline device.

Should you buy the 2025 Asus ROG Strix Scar 18?

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 will run you around $4,499.99 / £4,699.99 for an RTX 5090 configuration, with lower-specced RTX 5080 models dropping down to 16GB RAM at $3,399.99 in the US. That’s a lot of cash, 🐟but if you’re after a stay-at-home desk-based gaming laptop with a ꦰhigh-end display, plenty of power, and a slick design it’s well worth an investment.

That is, of 𝔉course, assuming you want the latest components.

There’s a tricky problem with the RTX 50-Series at the moment. That lack of real gen-on-gen progression, and falling RTX 40-Series gami♛ng laptop prices, means value isn’t on their side. You can, for example, pick up a 4K MSI Raider 18 HX with an RTX 4090 under the hood for about the same price and upgrade your display to full UHD quality while still enjoying similar framerates. You won’t have access to Nvidia’s latest toys, but with that much power at your fingertips, native rendering and older DLSS tools could well suffice.

Further down the price🍌 range, the Alienware M18 R2 is around $3,800 with an RTX 4090 and Intel i9-14900HX. You’re not going to see as much performance out of this chassis, but it’s still a powerful piece of kit that can keep pace with modern games for nearly a grand less.

That may all change once older models are phased off 🅺the shelves, and if you’re looking to upgrade from an RTX 30-Series or RTX 20-Series device you might as well future-proof yourself. However, the jump from RTX 4080 or RTX 4090 gaming laptops isn’t as rewarding this time around.

Taken in isolation, though, the 2025 Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 is an excellent piece of kit. It’s the fastest, most powerful gaming laptop I’ve had my hands on yet and it comes with its own design improvements as well. There are a few niggling annoyances in ✃its cable design and plastic chassis, but overall it’s a must-see among its space.

How I tested the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18

I used the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 as my main laptop for both work and gaming over the course of one week. During that time, I used the laptop in full p🌌ortable mode, disconnected from a monitor and dock for four days, and hooked it up to a QHD panel for the remaining three. All of my gameplay was completed without this separate display.

I benchmarked across Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered at both High and Highest graphical settings in 1080p and 1600p. I also benchmarked Cyberpunk 2077 in RT Medium and RT Ultra in FHD and QHD+ with Super Resolution set to Balanced. Black Myth: Wukong was tested at High and Very High graphical presets, with Super Resolutio🍬n set to 60 and Ray Tracing enabled. Both Cyberpunk and Black Myth: Wukong were then tested with Sꦫuper Resolution at full whack, at their highest graphical settings, and with DLSS Frame Generation turned on and off.

Synthe𒈔tic benchmarks were performed in 3D Mark’s Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad, with the CPU tested across PC Mark 10. These tests were run three times each, with the final score taken as an average across each run.

For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming laptops, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also rounding up plenty more of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Asus gaming laptops and turning attention to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Alienware laptops and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer laptops on the market as well.

Key specs

Design

The Corsar Void V2 gaming headset’s design is pretty familiar if you’ve already spent time with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair Void Elite. The Void V2 comes with the same diamond-shaped cups, coated in a matt-black plastic finish. Both the densely padded foam cushions and the padded headband also come w𒊎ith a fabric mesh coating, which, while it is a bit of a cat-hair magnet, managed to keep its cool even after hours upon hours of sweat-induced sessions playing Marvel Rivals on the PS5 and PC.

The onboard buttons are minimal, with all being regulated to the left cup. There, you can find the power button, which can also be pressed again to switch between Bluetooth and 2.4GHz mode. Below that is a custom button, which canꦍ be remapped via iCue. Along the bottom edge of the same cup, you can find the USB-C port, along with a plasti🎃c volume switch that can be flicked back and forth.

The yokes also keep their design from their predecessor, attaching just to the back of each cup. This gives the headset a little more give, especially at the front-facing side, which is great in theory. Yet in practice, it meant cups were always putting extra pressure on either side of my glasses. If you aren’t a glasses wearer (lucky you), then this won't factor into your comfort levels. But 𓂃for me, it meant that my frames were pushed against my headset, making them sit at a weird angle.

Not only did my glasses get in the way, but the new placement of the RGBs also made me start looking for my contact lenses. For the Void Wireless V2, Corsair opted to swap the RGB-lip of logos of the Void Elite with two RGB strips. These strips sit at the front-facing edges of the headset, which, in low-lighting scenarios, bounced off the edges of my lenses. It’s worth noting that I don’t have that fancy green coating to my glasses, so that may help put a stop to seeing a rainbow lightshow in your peripheral vision when gaming in the dark. Fortunately, you can also pop up iCue and turn off the RGBs, but it does mean having your PC ready, as there’s no app equivalent for now.

Despite this extra pressure on my glasses, they weren’t entirely uncomfortable by any means. Their 303g chassis meant they felt light as a cloud on top of my head, which was a relief after recently spending time with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair Virtuoso Max Wireless and their 417g of added weight. Some light-weight budget headsets have the tendency to feel cheap, but Corsair brought along the high-quality I’ve come to expect from their premium headsets to this budget-friendly pair, and overall, the plastic form factor felt incredibly robust and he🐻ld up even after being in my clumsy grasp for multiple weeks.

Unlike the Razer Barracuda X Chroma, this budget headset doesn’t have a detachable microphone. Instead, the omnidirectional mic sits flush with the left cup until flipped down for when you want to chat to your bff’s on Discord, or during phone calls and video chatting. In t🐽he past, I’ve noticed headsets with a similar $119.99 / £99.99 price range can have cheap mics that flop around every time you move an inch, but thankfully, that’s not the case here. The Void Wireless V2 mic has a really rigid boom arm, and the mic itself features a textured grip to make it easier to grasp at a moment's notice. While unfortunately there’s no mic mute button, that grip at least made it easy to quickly grab and push the mic away so my friends didn’t have to hear my nasty eating noises when I wanted to have a quick bite during rounds of Marvel Rivals.

Features

The Void Wireless V2 isn’t bursting at the seams with features, but it does have pretty much all you’d really want if you’re ♔spending a little above $100, with some exceptions. Just like the Corsair Void RGB Elite, this is a wireless headset, and💫 that means it has Bluetooth and 2.4GHz support via its accompanying dongle, and that’s it. That still means you can connect it up to your PS5, Nintendo Switch (and upcoming Nintendo Switch 2), PC, and Steam Deck, so it’s not a huge loss. Yet, it can be a bit of a bummer to hear if you prefer your budget cups to have a 3.5mm connection and hate messing around with Bluetooth with your Ninty hardware.

I was quick to forget it lacked any wired connectivity options when it came to its audio features. The headset comes with custom 50mm Neodymium drivers, which I’d expect to find on Corsair’s high-end headsets, and not a budget pair like the Void Wireless V2. Not to mention, it also features Dolby Atmos spatial audio, which can be turned on through the audio settings of the PS5 or via the Dolby Atmos app on PC. So long as you're playing a compatible game, like Sea of Thieves, this unlocks the full potential of the powerful audio drivers, and pops the sound all around you in a 3D space, which is an impressive level of immersion to be found on such an affordable pair of cups.

Of course, as a Corsair accessory, with the Void Wireless V2 in tow, you can use iCue to tweak the audio settings and the updated RGB lighting. As briefly mentioned above, the Void Wireless V2 opts for two strips of lighting at the front-facing edge of either cup, instead of flashy lit-up logos of its predecessor. Through iCue’s built-in lighting effects, these can be changed to static colors, or you can pick through pre-made lighting types from a wave of rainbow colors, to a raindrop effect, which cycles through different blue hues. The customizability for such a small surface area of RGB lighting is appreciated, however, iCue is still just as frustrating to use as ever before, so I pretty much left them as is.

Having the RGB on by default will drain the battery faster than normal. But with up to 70 hours, you shouldn’t really notice a huge difference. The 70 hours of juice seems pretty accurate, as other than the full charge I gave the Void Wireless V2 right out the box, I only had to charge it once in over two weeks, and that was after multiple hours of Marvel Ri🐽vals, Dead by Daylight, my current-gaming obsession known as ‘Master Detective Archives Rain Code’ and listening to hours upon hours of music while working.

Performance

With custom 50mm Neodymium drivers in its midst, you can bet the Void Wireless V2 sounds the part. Not too long ago, I was taken aback by the Corair Virtuoso Max Wireless headset and the quality of sound that its 50mm Graphene audio drivers could muster, so it shouldn’t come as no surprise that the custom 50mm Neodymium impressed me, even in this more budget-friendly form factor.

With the brand-new season of Marvel Rivals around the corner, I used the Corsair pair of cups as I got in some valuable practice with the hero shooter, on both PS5 and PC. Racking up my kills as Starlord, and charging forth stampede after stampede of squirrels as Squirrel Girl were easy to do on the headset, which gave a nice balance to everything on screen. Whether it was the cheeky dialogue at the start of every match, Galacta’s high-pitched announcements, or the energetic and empowering score, the low, mids, and high ranges sounded clear as day. On PC, I could get the headset a little louder, and use one of the many audio pre-sets which helped get that booming bass I prefer, but it still sounded just as detailed and balanced on the PS5, even without any customization at my fingertips.

It was playing Dead by Daylight where the sound quality truly blew me away. During my two weeks of testing, the Blood Moon event was running, which changed the logo at start-up. The instant the updated DBD logo changed to blood red, this creepy sound effect was triggered, which made me jump off the edge of the sofa. The high-quality headset made the squelching audio sound so clear I had to take a moment to realise it was coming from the game, and that someone wasn’t sitting right next to me trying to give me a scare. Of course, this headset features Dolby Atmos support, which also helped make Dead by Daylight, and games like Sea of Thieves sound all the more immersive.

When running about my 2-manned sloop, the spatial audio made the creeks and sounds of the waves splashing against my ship sound like I was truly there. At this point, I can’t quite imagine taking to the seven seas without Dolby Atmos, and the Void Wireless V2 really helped bring Rare’s game to life. As did the quality of the omnidirectional microphone, which flips down from the left cup of the headset. Sure, for a mic on a $119.99 / £99.99 headset, it wasn’t going to give streaming microphones like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Shure MV7i a run for its money, but I regularly got compliments from friends on ho💦w clear, and easily I came through, even against the Razer BlackShark V2 🧸Pro mic my partner was using during the same Marvel Rival gaming sessions on the PS5.

As an omnidirectional mic, it will pick up sounds other than your speaking voice, which did becom🐼e a bit of an issue. If your PC, PS5, or Nintendo Switch is tucked away in a separate room from loud noises, then it won’t be quite noticeable. However, I had to turn down the gain of the mic𓂃 through the Discord app at its lowest possible setting to ensure it picked up my voice, and my voice only, especially as my partner’s PC is in the same room as my beloved PS5.

The only other issue that really affected the headset’s performance in any way was the cup's tendency to lean forward. There’s no noise canceling to be found with the Void Wireless V2, but each time the headset decided it wanted to lean slightly forward, it meant my ears weren’t completely covered, so I wasn’t able to hear the full power that the 50mm drivers can muster. A tighter clamping force may have sorted this, but honestly, I'm not a fan of its oblong-shaped ear cups. I know this headset is a step up from the﷽ Void Elite, and so it makes sense to have it carry on the same shaped cups from its predecessor, but had they included the large glasses-friendly circular cups of the Virtuoso Max, I’m willing to bet it’d have rectified the issue.

With the mic stuck to the headset, this isn’t one you can take with you out and about, though it might be tempting with its lightweight design. However, it still lent itself to listening to music, no matter if it was pop, or even nu-metal. I listened to a ton of Charlie XCX to see how the bass c♏ould handle the drops in tracks like ‘Von Dutch’, and there was no distortion, no matter how loud it got. The Void Wireless V2 also came in handy when catching up with season two of the anime, Solo Leveling, and brought the action scenes, and catchy opening and ending tracks, to life thanks to its trusty 50mm drivers.

Should you buy the Corsair Void Wireless V2 gaming headset?

If you don’t want to splash out hundreds of dollars on your gaming headset, Corsair’s Void Wireless V2 is up there with some of the best-sounding headsets out there right now. The brand has managed to produce a low-cost headset at $119.99 / £99.99, which still manages to pile on some powerful 50mm Neodymium audio drivers, spatial audio, and a great-sounding mic that I’d expect from their flagship headsets instead.

No matter if I was playing the PC, PS5, Steam Deck, or the original Nintendo Switch, the Void Wireless V2 made everything sound its best, and it was incredibly easy to set up to boot. I would recommend this more to PC players, however, due to its dependence on iCue for audio and lighting customization. Plus, if you’re already in the Corsair ecosystem, adding this headset into the mix will mean you can sync up all your lighting to your Corsair-branded gaming keyboard, and gaming mouse, while only having to rely on one software (outside of the Dolby Atmos app).

That being said, it is missing any wired connectivity options, making other low-cost headsets like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Barracuda X a valid alternative.𒆙 Sure, the Barracuda X is missing the booming quality of 50mm audio drivers, but its 40mm Razer TriForce drivers can still pack a punch. Better yet, you can regularly find it far cheaper than $100 during big sales events, due to its age. If you want a little more firepower, that RGB lighting, prefer oblong-shaped cups, and want the sound quality that rivals even the best Corsair headsets on the market, the Corsair Void Wireless V2 ticks all those boxes - just maybe give it a skip if you wear glasses every single day.

How I tested the Corsair Void Wireless V2 gaming headset

In the over two weeks that I had the Corsair Void V2 gaming headset, I racked up the hours in Marvel Rivals (especially as season two finally debuted), Dead by Daylight, Sea of Thieves, and Master Detective Archives: Rain Code on the PS5. As I lived and breathed the budget headset, I also played Marvel Rivals on the PC so I could accurately compare the sound across different platforms, and tested games like Counter-Strike 2. On the original Nintendo Switch, I played Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy (via Super Mario 3D All-Stars) and played Spiritfarer with the headset on the Steam Deck.

Outside of gaming, I also watched a ton of TV streaming apps, using the headset to catch up on the second season of Solo Leveling on Crunchyroll, and listened to a plethora of different music genres via Spotify - from Djo’s new album ‘The Crux’ to Charlie XCX. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming headsets, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

If the Corsair Void Wireless V2 gaming headset isn’t for you, check out our guides to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best PS5 headsets, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch headsets, and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Xbox Series X headsets to find the perfect pair of cups for your favorite console.

This is the threshold where some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming mouse models on the market come to play, and with a cheaper build quality and a💜 problematic 4,000Hz polling dongle, the Revenge🌃r is going to struggle.

Cougar Revenger Pro 4K:

Design

Cougar sent me both a black and white colorway of its symmetrical gaming mouse, and I instantly ripped open the white model first. It's a slick aesthetic, with a clean white chassis and jet black side buttons and scroll wheel quickly reminding me of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Endgame Gear OP1 8K, only without that cable sticking out the front.

The black version is more tame, after all this is the colorway many come to expect from their gaming mice, but it's still elevat🍨ed with a brassy 'Cougar' logo stamped on the side. That's the only piece of branding yo꧅u'll find topside, making for a nice relief from the RGB logos and etched stamps of other designs. The white model looks crisper, but it's certainly harder to keep clean. It's a magnet for the everyday grime of daily life.

Both pointers are covered with a soft-touch finish over plastic chassis', imitating the less textured surfaces of mice like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Viper V3 Pro and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alienware Pro Wireless. While ♛these pointers manage to stay grippy, though, the Cougar Revenger Pro 4K can sometimes slip. Grip tape is🗹 included in the box and I only noticed the rodent getting away from me during faster combat moments, but it's not quite as solid a surface as you'll find from more mainstream devices.

This is a cheaper gaming mouse, with (at MSRP) a $70 price tag, and there are signs. Squeezing the Revenger's sides revealed more creaking than I found on the similarly priced 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed and there's a considerable amount of flex when squeezed from the top a🎶nd bottom. These aren't going to impact your day to day play with the device, but do raise some concerns over longer term durability.

At 124 x 65 x 38mm, the Cougar Revenger Pro 4K is slightly larger than the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Glorious Model O 2 Mini in all regards, with a taller hump along the back offering better purchase for a palm hold in particular. It's roughly the same width and length as the Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed, but slightly lowers the maximum height from 41mm to 38mm. Tha🐽t's a slightly more well-rounded set of dimensions than either the flatter (fingertip / claw-friendly) Glorious model or the more palm-minded Viper.

I found it comfortable enough to run with my usual claw grip 🍌most of the time, with enough space at𝄹 the rear for finer pivot movements between the base of the mouse and my palm and a slightly indented left flank making for a secure hold overall.

What's perhaps more impressive is its weight. The Cougar Revenger Pro 4K squeezes everything down into a 55g form factor - that's lighter than the majority of models on the market at this price. Keeping things nimble on the battlefield is always a goal, but making sure that weight is balanced and sturdy can trip smaller brands. Cougar has navigated this line particularly well, beating the Alienware Pro Wireless, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX, and Glor🔯ious Model O 2 Mini in the weight arena whil🍰e still feeling grounded at the same time.

Features

With a Pixart 3395 sensor and Omron optical switches, the Cougar Revenger Pro isn't doing anything particularly innovative in its components. This is a classic 26K DPI / 650 IPS optical eye seen in a number of competitors' devices, from Alienware to Glorious, and it represents some of the best value for money on the market right now. A newer 30K DPI / 750 IPS Pixart 3950 has hit the shelves since the♛ heyday of this tracker, but at this mid-range position the 3395 represents the bests of both performance and affordability.

Those switches offer a deep, responsive click with a little more travel distance than more esports-focused pointers. That'𝔍s not necessarily a bad thing, on the contrary these clickers provide just enough te🐲nsion to avoid accidental presses while remaining fast and comfortable during repeat inputs. They're crisper-feeling than the mechanical switches inside the similarly-priced Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed, which can feel soft by comparison. That optical design also means actuation can run a little faster as well.

Polling rate is a bigger issue for competitive players, but if you're finding yourself climbing the leaderboards and don't want to splash out on a flagship speedster like the Viper V3 Pro or Logitech G Pro X Superlight it's worth noting you can bump up to 4,000Hz wireless polling. That's a happy medium for me, 1,000Hz will serve the vast majority of players just fine - the increase in speed as you climb that ladder will only be noticed by the top 1% of competitors. However, if you do want a little more juice just in case, Cougar readily provides without making you pay for unnecessary 8,000Hz rates. It should be noted now, though, that I do ha💧ve some concerns over that 4,000Hz polling mode.

Some more expensive mice can accommodate a wide range of polling rates from one dongle, for others it's a little more complicated. Like some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer mice, you'll need to use a separate receiver when scaling all the way up to 4,000Hz though, unlike Razeꦆr, it's included in the box. That's a blessing and a curse - you won't need to shell out for an additional accessory, but splitting the two receivers is a headache. I can only see myself losing one and being stuck with the other, and switching a full USB around every time I want toꩲ adjust my polling rate gets tiresome quickly.

There's a silver lining here, while the 4K dongle is huge and requires a cabled connection anyway (tough luck if you're trying to cut down on your wires by opting for a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:wireless gaming mouse), keeping it separate does make the Cougar Revenger Pro 4K more portable. Unlike the Rꦚazer Viper V3 Pro, which needs the full kit to work, i𒊎t's much easier to simply pack the 1,000Hz receiver when travelling.

Unlike many cheaper gaming mice from smaller brands, the Revenger Pro 4K does have its own software. This is far simpler than competito😼rs' options, but it does offer a clean and efficient interface for setting keybindings, fiddling with DPI settings, changing polling rates, and configuring lift-off dis🐽tance. There are also a few additional customization options for angle snapping and ripple control to toggle on and off as well.

All in all, it's a light and breezy software with simple controls and intuitive menu systems. It's not as flashy as SteelSeries Engine or in-depth as Synapse, but it gets the job done without tank🎶ing ✃your system.

The battery life is phenomenal. I was skeptical when I first saw that 150-hour figure from Cougar itself. That's the longest-lasting rechargeable 2.4GHz battery life I've seen in a mouse weighing just 55g, and it really does live up to that estimate. I ran the mouse for four weeks before that little red LED starting flashing at me, that's at between eight and ten hours on weekdays and three to four hours per weekend day. The hardest working gaming mice I've tested so far are the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K at 140 hours, the Alienware Pro Wireless at 120 hours, and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Turtle Beach Kone II Air at 130 hours, and the Cougar has them beat.

So what's missing from s🐬imilarly priced mice? The Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed ($69.99) can bump those speeds up to 8,000Hz, but you'll need to buy a separate receiver to get there, and adds 'Dynamic Sensitivity' to its sensor allowing for a more natural DPI curve based on your movement speed. The MSI Clutch GM31 ($69.99, though regularly on sale for less) comes with its own wireless charging dock. And the Endgame Gear OP1 8K ($74.99) can reach up to 8,000Hz polling though drops your wireless connection to get there.

Performance

Gaming with the Cougar Revenger Pro 4K proved pleasant and precise, with the low weight and snappy clicks offering 🌃both speed and precision in single-player and competitive titles 𒊎alike. The sensor holds out well, generally keeping up with faster movements, though not quite offering the resilience of the 888 IPS speeds of the Logitech G Pro Superlight 2 DEX.

That translates to a slightly heavier-feeling glide in faster momꦡents, but I only noticed the difference when lining up the same shots I have a thousand times before and direc൩tly comparing between the two speeds. We're also talking about (at MSRP) a $90 difference in price, so can't complain.

The shape 🎃and weight work to keep movements zippy while allowing for a fine🎃r tuning of aim in slower sniper situations, especially thanks to that slightly shorter length running into the base of the palm.

Switching over to the 4,000Hz dongle is no mean feat. The whole receiver neeꦕds to be paired to the mouse, which means removing all dongles from the PC, holding the left, right, and scroll buttons, and controlling the software with the space button. It doesn't take too long, but the on-screen instructions don't match the user guide included in the box (witꦇh each suggesting a different color for the pairing light and instructing for different keyboard buttons to be pressed). I got there fairly quickly, but it felt like a rocky process. There was little difference between the 1,000Hz and 4,000Hz polling rates in my everyday gameplay, at least - when it was working.

The first time I paired and played with the 4,000Hz dongle everything was fine, but after waking the mouse from sleep and trying again things got a little patchy. Even with no other 2.4GHz receivers plugged in (or Bluetooth devices switched on), the mouse🗹 would drop connection for about a second fairly frequently. At some points I could barely make it across the screen without input dropping out.

After ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚall that, you'll need to repeat the same pairing process to get back to the 1,000Hz receiver.

Should you buy the Cougar Revenger Pro 4K?

Taking that dodgy 4,000Hz receiver out of the picture for a minute, the Cougar Revenger Pro 4K actually offers a solid propositio🎉n. It's got one of the best batteries I've tested in a lightweight gaming mouse, glides and tracks well at a variety of different speeds, and offers 💫an efficient, intuitive software system. It's unfortunate that the 4K reception needs a little more work, hopefully via firmware updates in the future, and requires a finicky setup process that could prove frustrating.

It's also worth ꦜbringing us back to the fact that I haven't seen that $69.99 MSRP for some time now, with low stock levels at Amazon giving us some rogue prices closer to $100.

All of that to say, the Cougar Revenger Pro 4K could have been a fantastic gaming mouse, but it's lack of availability, cursed 4,000Hz wireless polling, and lower build quality in the face of similarly priced competition stops it from being an easy recommendation. If it pops back onto the shelves for $69.99 it will be worth investigating in the future, but for now I'd stick to the Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed at the same price, or spring for the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed at $99.99 / £99.99.

How I tested the Cougar Revenger Pro 4K

I spent four weeks using only the Cougar Revenger Pro 4K for all my daily work and play. I primarily played Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Fallout 4, and Avowed with the device, while also testing across my usual competitive roster of CS2 and Apex Legends. My DPI was set at 3,200 for the duration of testing. I ran the battery from 100% to 0% at a 1,000Hz polling rate and, used the device in both this and 4,000Hz polling settings for as long as possible. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming mice, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting down all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Logitech gaming mice and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best left-handed gaming mice for more options. Or, take a look at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best mouse pads for gaming to complete your setup.

The very nature of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB means it already has a tough fight ahead in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best graphics card pit. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll fare better than its 8GB counterpart since its choice of VRAM configuration is going to irk enthusiasts and shoppers making comparisons. But, if you ful🐷ly believe that GPUs should boast double the memory as a minimum, you’re going to pay at least $429 for the pleasure, and that MSRP only applies if you grab a vanilla variant.

Before you ask, there is no Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Founders Edition, so if you want the 16GB card, you’ll be looking at custom models. I’ve been testing the Palit Infinity version for this review that should stick to the green team’s MSRP, but if you’ve ever tried to shop for a new GPU over the past five years, you’ll know that recommended retail prices are never guaranteed. I’d keep that fact to hand as I talk about both this card and any other in 2025, as even if a model comes out swinging, it could end up being bludgeoned 💝by availability and pricing blows.

Specs

It’s getting harder to call 60-class GPUs like the RTX 5060 Ti ꦐentry-level, but unless Nvidia eventually releases a 50-class Blackwell segment for desktop, it’s one of the lowest spec cards of the generation. Armed with a GB206 chip, this specific model scales things back with 4,608 CUDA cores, 144 Tensor, and 36 ray tracing units, so a significant drop ▨from what the RTX 5070 is packing.

The important thing to keep in mind ♚is that 60-class GPUs are usually billed as 1080p or 1440p models. The assumption is that you won’t be doing any heavy UHD gaming on the RTX 5060 Ti, even though Nvidia has somewhat switched up its messaging compared to the 40-series and doesn’t use specific resolutions as a selling point. That doesn’t mean playing games at 4K is off the table, but you’ll be relying more on AI upscaling techniques like DLSS 4 than ever.

VRAM is normally a sore spot for 60-class cards, which is exactly why there’s a 16GB version of the RTX 5060 Ti in the first place. It’s widely argued that even the cheapest graphics cards should be rocking more than 8GB since new releases munch more memory than ever, but your mileage will fully depend on specific game op🍨timizations and your resolution of choice.

I’d certainly prefer it if the bar started at 12GB since that would provide some wiggle room for future shenanigans and line up with RTX 5070 specs. Nvidia has instead elected to provide a 16GB model, and it is using faster GDDR7 modules like the rest of the Blackwell range. I reckon the green team could have appeased most players by arming the 70-series model with 16GB and reservin𓆉g the 12GB setup for a single 5060 Ti version, but perhaps that’s in the green team’s mid-generation refresh plan.

As for power, the RTX 5060 Ti comes with a 180W TDP, making it one of the least hungry Blackwell GPUs so far. That means you’ll get away wi❀th using a 450W PSU, which could save you a few pennies if you’re adding the card to an exis𝐆ting rig. I can see this specific model serving as an easy generational jump for players still maining something like the RTX 2060, and keeping wattage requirements low is going to help the card make its way to smaller builds.

Design

In the absence of a Founders Edition, it’s up to AIB partners to cook up appropriate RTX 5060 designs. Palit's take on the new Nvidia GPU directly targets players looking for a small form factor card that avoids skimping on cooling, but the result is something that’s still longer than the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070.

I’m noticing a trend with card designs this generation, and Nvidia is making brands look a little✤ silly, albeit unintentionally. The main issue is that even powerhouse GPUs like the GeForce RTX 5080 Founders Edition are pretty compact thanks to a new split PCB approach, but AIB partne♏rs are still largely using the same shrouds and fans as before.

Palit’s RTX 5060 Ti is still respectably compact, measuring in at 117mm x 292mm, so it’s a nice choice 💛for SFF builds regardless. You also won’t have to wrangle one of those Nvidia 12VHPWR dongles since this model sticks with a g🌄ood old 8-pin connector. Still, I’m a little sad that all the sleekest cards right now happen to be Founders Edition models that are by and large not available to buy or don’t exist in the first place.

The Palit RTX 5🙈060 Ti wears a fairly minimalist plastic shroud. You’re getting no fancy pants RGB here or anything that could provide cause to aim for a higher MSRP, and honestly? I’d rather every brand followed suit if it meant providing appropriately priced cards. Plus, the GPU is armed w💃ith a tri-cooler setup, so thermals, theoretically, shouldn’t remotely be an issue.

Features

Modern-day graphics cards live and die by their software-based features, and the RTX 5060 Ti benefits from being part of the Blackwell family. By opting for this latest model over something like the older 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:RTX 4060 Ti, you’re💖 getting access to the latest version of Nvidia’s AI upscaling suite. For many players, DLSS 4 will be the main reason to buy a new GeForce GPU since it’ll boost fps via Multi-Frame Generation and dynamic resolution techniques, all while keeping latency low. But there are naysayers out there who’d say such techniques are a faux performance hike – an argument that is growing within enthusiast circles.

I’d personally keep two things in mind when it comes to DLSS 4. The first is that while it’s now compatible with over 75 game💖s, it’s not going to rescue you from low frame rates across your entire Steam library. In Nvidia’s ideal world, every new outing will launch with Multi-Frame Generation support that will effectively fill in the gaps and allow you to hit higher resolutions than before. That could happen, but I don’t want anyone thinking it’ll be there by default to save the♕ day.

My other reservation is that while I do think DLSS 4 and its new Transformer model can predict frames pretty accurately, it’s not flawless. Finer details can still be susceptible to weir༺dness and end up slightly skewed, and no one can speak for any hiccups that future adventurers could potentially experience with the feature switched on. It could be the case that developers and the tech itself simply get better at mitigating any visual glitches as time goes on, but again, it’s not a guarantee.

Those potential caveats a𒊎side, DLSS 4 is going to be a godsend for some entry-level builds. Multi-fr♔ame generation can effectively help your rig hit minimum specs for new games and even switch ray tracing on without turning things into a slideshow. The “Multi” part stems from the fact that Blackwell GPUs can generate up to three extra frames for every single natively rendered image, resulting in an fps boost.

Normally, this would come with a latency risk, but Nvidia Reflex is on hand to combat any lag in conjunction with upscaling techniques. There is a new version on the way that’s going to help make playing even competitive shooters on the fastest 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming monitors possible with fewer caveats, but I’ll have toꩵ wait for that to land before knowing how much it’ll benefit cards like the RTX 5060 Ti.

Performance

Off the back of a few days of putting the RTX 5060 Ti to work, I can confirm that it will outpace the RTX 4060 Ti without any DLSS backup. Based on my experience with Cyberpunk 2077 alone, you’re looking at a 27% upl🐈ift at 1080p, and I was pretty impressed by the jump from 104fps to an 185fps average in Hitman 3 with ultra settings applied.

Nvidia’s claim of “over 100fps” largely holds up, and even Marvel Rivals managed to clear the bar by hitting a 107fps average. Naturally, enabling ray tracing makes all the difference, as the effects will knock your Night City trip down to around 52fps, while Hitman 3 just about manages an even 60. I wouldn’t really advise messing witꦺh fancy lighting unless you’re either into dialling back other settings or making use of DLSS 4, and if you’re comfortable with doing the latter, it ꦫwill provide you with pretty lofty frame rates.

To keep things consistent with my other GPU benchmarks, I set DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation to x4 where available and💮 Super Sampling to “balanced” while testing the RTX 5060 Ti. By doing so, I was able t🧔o get Cyberpunk 2077 to run at 186fps at 1440p with ray tracing enabled. Not remotely shabby, seeing as I could have played around with a few settings and probably optimized things to hit around 240Hz, matching higher premium gaming monitor refresh rates.

Multi-Frame Generation really saves Hitman 3 at 1𒁏440p with ray tracing ꧅on too, ramping things up from a measly 39fps to 195fps. DLSS also came in handy when playing Marvel Rivals since it cranks up QHD frames from 75fps to 227fps, and while I’d perhaps leave it off if I was playing competitively, I couldn’t smell any latency issues during casual matches.

On that note, I play Overwatch 2 competitively fairly regularly, and if you do too, I can conf♛irm the RTX 5060 Ti has the chops to hit 600fps with 1080p low settings enabled. That’s perhaps not a shocker since it’s not that demanding to run, but I always make a point of seeing if a card can keep up with my preferred specs. FYI, that’s without DLSS involved, and if you’re confident Refl🌺ex can prevent things feeling a little funny when upscaling, you could probably bump settings a bit or try 1440p.

If it’s a 4K experience you’re after, you should probably start with the RTX 5070. That said, the gap isn’t as wide as you might think between that $549 GPU and the RTX 5060 Ti. The new 60-class card can hit 34fps in Cyberpunk 2077 without DLSS on, which doesn’t feel worlds apart from the 5070’s 48fps average. Plus, if you ac🧸tually make use of Multi-Frame Generation and switch ray tracing on, you’re going to be hitting aro🍌und 124fps, and while the 70-class model can touch 160fps, the difference might not be worth $120 to every player.

On the temperature side of things, you won't remotely have to worry about things getting toasty when using the Palit model specifically. That triple set♉up kept things largely under 60°c / 140° Fahrenheit a majority of the time, and the highest I could get it to hit under full load was around 72°c / 161.6° Fahrenheit. I can't speak for other brands, but this Infinity model should keep nice and icy in most scenarios, which gives it a better chance running all those demanding games yet to come.

Should you buy the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti

Instinctively, I feel like most players shouldn’t buy the RTX 5060 Ti, but not because it’s a bad GPU. The first 60-class Blackwell graphics card provide✤s a nice performance uplift compared to the 4060 Ti, and those DLSS 4 abilities are there for those who want an easy frame rate boost. Ultimately, it’s a decent GPU that has arrived at a🀅 bad time, and its success will hinge on both availability and third-party pricing.

If you’re rocking a 1080p or QHD setup, and you’re not planning on aiming for 4K anytime soon, the RTX 5060 Ti will cater to your needs. Just like last generation, ray tracing is a bit of a stretch with other settings at ultra, but this is the first 60-series😼 GPU I’ve tested that could provide technically playable results at 1440p without relying on AI upscaling.

My main concern is that if there aren’t RTX 506💧0 Ti models available consistently at Nvidia’s MSRP, the GPU risks losing any value incentive. Sure, it might be able to pull off some nice 4K tricks using Multi-Frame Generation, but I’d never dream of telling you to pick one up if it ends up only available for over $500. That’s the RTX 5070 and RX 9070’s territory, and vendors have no business pricing up cards in that manner.

Even if the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is freely available at $429, deciding whether it’s the right GPU is going to be tricky. The 8GB version will naturally be less futureproof since 𒀰future PC outings could munch more memory, but I’d argue that if you’re going to stress out the card with higher resolutions, you’ll likely end up using DLSS anyway, which cuts 💞back significantly on VRAM usage. Does that mean you’d be better off spending $379 on the base version? Perhaps, but only if the RTX 5060 doesn’t swoop in with surprising performance next month for $80 less.

Here’s the TLDR – I’d hold off on picking up any new-gen models for now unless you absolutely need a new graphics card. That includes the RTX 5060 Ti, but if your GPU suddenly dies on you this year or you’re able to say “one banana” in between frames when playing newly released adven🌌tures, this 60-series card will help you easily run everything at 1440p for under $450 (if it can stay at that MSRP).

How I tested the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti

For a week, I used the RTX 5060 Ti within my main PC to both casually play games and run benchmarks. Duriꦍng that time, I used Cyberpunk 2077, Hitman 3, Total War: Warhammer 3, and Marvel Rivals specifically to measure average frame rates at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, while also assessing general performance with DLSS 4 AI upscaling on and off. In addition, I also took note of factors like peak temperatures and design elements so as to compare the card to rivals and other models ꦰwithin its price range.

For more informati🐻on on how we test graphics cards, swing by our fu⭕ll GamesRadar+ hardware policy.

Magnetic switches can be found in some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming keyboards on the market, but Razer's been working on these analog clackers for a little longer than most mainstream brands. With the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer keyboards running these adjustable keys right at the start of th✅e boom, the Huntsman V3 Pro Mini benefits൲ from plenty of experience.

Design

In its 60% layout, the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini drops a lot of the additional controls of the standard 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Huntsman V3 Pro we reviewed last year. However, the compact form factor suits competitive players much b🍸etter. You're getting far more space on the desktop for wider mouse sweeps at lower DPI settings and keeping your shoulders in line for better comfort during 🍃longer sessions.

This still feels like a slick deck, though it still steers clear of the iconic chunky chassis and sloped front of previous Huntsman generations. Instead, we have a skinny base with a slight wedge to it towards ♊the rear - a far cry from the heft of earlier releases. That makes for a far more luxurious look and feel overall, though, especially in the newer crisp whꦜite colorway I've been testing.

Even the Razer logo stamped in the middle of the front lip looks suave thanks to this trimmed design. While the bezels are slightly thicker than the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini, they give the RGB LEDs underneath plenty of space to glow. In white, the effect is particularly impressi🤡ve, with super vivid lighting giving the keys on top a floating eff🦂ect that I haven't seen in many other decks.

Those LEDs shine through a set of particularly tactile doubleshot PBT keycaps with impressive strength, remaining uniform across longer legends as well (something the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid struggles with). Combine that with the rough texture of the keycaps and everything looks and feels p🐼articularly smart here.

That's supported by a robu🌸st chassis, with an aircraft-grade aluminum top plate displaying zero fle🐲x no matter how hard I push and a slimline plastic underside that keeps its cheaper material feeling luxurious with an embossed finish.

Two feet flip out from underneath, providing enough elevation to remain comfortable (and I say that as someone who likes a particularly high keyboard) 🥀while remaining strong enough to stay in place while the board is moved back and forth along a desk surface. Only larger keys suffer from any kind of wobble, and the half-Enter design means this is largely reduced to just the space bar.

I just wish Razer had padded its chassis a little more. Most gaming keyboards these days come with sound-dampening foam in between the internal plates, serving to reduce the clack of ♔each keypress and provide a more muted audiꦛtory experience. Coming off the back of testing several keyboards with these layers installed, the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini sounds a little hollow by comparison.

Switches can rattle and echo across the deck even with smaller pushes, which is a far cry from the thoccy experience of something with more padding, like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Endgame Gear KB65HE.

Features

These aren't your regular adjustable switches. Razer first dropped its analog clickers back in 2021, with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Huntsman V2 Analog. Back then, very few gaming keyboards were offering customizable actuation points, let alone dual-trigger inputs. With the boom of Hall effect decks like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3, though, Razer's market niche has widened and itꦗs Gen 2 Optical Analog swit🌳ches need to keep up.

What's 🦩the difference? Put simply, a Hall effect keyboard measures a magnetic field whereas Razer's clickers work purely using light. Razer argues that magnets can become disrupted by changes in te💃mperature or other magnetic forces, whereas its Optical clickers offer a more precise input. I've never noticed any magnetic interference on any of the Hall effect keyboards I've tested so far.

Razer's Analog sꦰwitches do everything Hall effect models can; a dynamically resetting Rapid Trigger mode for super-fast repeat presses, adjustable actuation points to fine-tune exactly how sensitive you want each switch to be, and dual-step actuation for mapping two commands to the same key. You'll find those features in pretty much all magnetic decks, but Razer takes things a step further.

Unlike Hall effect keyboards, there are additional Analog modes available. The💮se allow your switches to mimic a controller's more varied inputs, say through a thumbstick or trigger. With a quick press of a button, you can immediately♐ assign WASD to these analog controls, and see in real-time how your buttons now work more like a thumbstick than an on/off keyboard switch.

The result is immensely satisfying and made a real impact on my Indiana Jones and the Great Circle gameplay. Being able to creep up behiജnd Nazis is always fun, and that fine-tuned control makes even the smallest of moveme♚nts possible on this keyboard.

Actually mapping everything from your actuation points to your keybindings is done through Synapse, a sometimes finicky piece of software that benefits immensely from a clean, intuitive layout. Being able to visibly see each switch's actuation point on a sliding scale as I pressed it made tuning my controls to my naturಌal typing force incredibly easy - far easier than on other decks.

Setting up dual-step actuation is a little more hidden, burying the feature a couple of menus deep into individual keybinding settings. I found it within a 💮few minutes, but it was the only feature I was searching for within Synapse. Straight out of the box, though, Razer provides a factory default setting that could make the Hunt𒁃sman V3 Pro Mini my favorite 60% gaming keyboard.

I love me an arrow button, so sacrificing them on these more compact models hurts. Razer maps the right-most cluster of keys to arrow buttons using dual-step actuation. A simple tap gives you a directional function, and a full bottom-out gives you the originally intende🌃d input. That's a game-changer, and considering it works so intui🌟tively straight out the box it's a must-beat feature for any 60% competitor.

There are also a number of secondary functions printed on the front of keycaps on the right-hand side, giving you acc🐠e🌠ss to media and navigation buttons as well as brightness settings in a more traditional Fn control scheme.

This is a fully wired deck, as are most adjustable keyboards, so you're dropping the 2.4GHz connection of wireless options like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Glorious GMMK 3.

Performance

There are very few gaming keyboards out there that don't offer the speeds 99% 🌞of players are going to need for both solo adventuring and competitive endeavors. We're passed the days of slow inputs now, especially when it comes to wired models. The Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini is a speedy deck, though it doesn't pack the high polling rates that tournament-focused options offer. While the Corsair K70 Pro T𒅌KL can run up to an 8,000Hz polling rate, the Huntsman is limited to 1,000Hz.

That's not a setback - only the top 1% of players will even notice speeds moving faster than 1,000Hz (you can find out more about why you probably don't need an 8,000Hzꦕ gaming keyboard). Instead of adding to an already pretty high final price with꧂ unnecessary marketing gimmicks, though, Raz🌠er has implemented actually useful features that make a real tangible difference to gameplay.

This is the only series of gaming keyboards that I've tested that can accurately translate the experienꦕce of using a joystick int💛o its keys. Whether I'm skulking through Ancient Egyptian tombs in Indiana Jones or navigating the streets of Forza, I came to rely on analog inputs for a more precise, intuitive, and ultimately more fun experience on a keyboard. Some hoops need to be jumped through to get everything set up, but it's an experience like no other once you do.

However, these switches do feel different under the hands. If you don't like the tighter tension behind most Hall effect clickers, the more mechanical-feeling Razer Analog switches might be a better bet. While they do suffer from additional rattle compared to SteelSeries' or the Inductive Switches inside the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ducky One X (another Hall effect deck that feels more mechaꩲnical), there's less of a ꦕ'stuffy' feel to them overall.

They're not my favorite-feeling switch in the world. With the lack of dampening and the additional rattle from the clickers themselves, the typing experience doesn't feel as satisfying as that of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Azoth or SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3. It's certainly workable, though, and I quickly found myself adjusting to t🍒he new sound and feel.

There's a quirk here that some may find annoying, though. That RGB lighting is fantastic, but there is a whine. It's far from loud, in fact, I can't hear it when I've got a laptop whirring away next to me and the regular sounds of my ty🥃ping and mouse clicks. I can pick it up in quieter moments, though, a high-pitched buzz coming from the deck itself. As soon as I hit the Function button (which kills ꦦthe lights on everything other than the keys with additional functions) it stops.

Should you buy the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini?

The Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini has its flaws. Your ears may not appreciate t♓he rattly switches or that RGB hum, but your handsღ are certainly going to fall in love with the textured keycaps, robust switch feel, and fantastic analog features. Throw in super intuitive arrow buttons whenever you need them, vibrant RGB lighting, and a clean, luxurious white colorway and the V3 Pro Mini might just be the best 60% gaming keyboard I've tested so far.

That means it's got to beat the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Corsair K70 Pro Mini Wireless, a mechanical deck with hot-swappable switches and space for up to 50 onboard profiles. These are two functionally different decks, yet they both hold the same MSRP. Corsair's is built for speed, with an 8,000Hz wired polling rate (2,000Hz over a 2.4GHz connection) whereas Razer wants to give you more functional options to play with. If you don't want the extra customization of adjustable switches and would prefer the flexibility of a wireless connection instead, it's still the best option for you. For most players looking to add to their setups with new and uniqu⛄e features, though, Razer's got the edge.

Whether or not you buy the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini over a more traditional Hall effect deck depends on whether you'll actually be using those analog switches to their full potential. If you don't plan on using them, or your Steam library doesn't require that kind of finely tuned input, the similarly priced 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid might be a better fit. It offers a better typing experience overall, with more controls in its TKL form factor, all while still offering the 🎃majority of Razer's adjustment features.

Still, with this feature list and design, the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini does enough 🉐to easily justify its price tag aꦓnd earns a spot among my top recommendations.

How I tested the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini

I used the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini for one week, using the device for all my daily work and play during that time. I tested using Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Forza Horizon 4 to fully explore the potential of those analog switches, while also running my usual tests in Apex Legends and CS2. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also rounding up all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best wireless gaming keyboards and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best hot-swappable keyboards for more customization options. Or, for something a little cheaper, check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best membrane gaming keyboards on the market.

It's going to take a lot to break the crown of the Razer Blade 16, with its high-end display, luxury chassis re-design, and RTX 5090 benchmarks sitting in my testing tables. It's the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming laptop for those after a luxury slimline 🙈16-inch form factor, a battleground that both brands have trodden well. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 I've had on the bench for the last couple of weeks flounders in a few areas. Its RTX 5080 GPU has a lot to say, even if its Intel Core Ultra 9 285H doesn't, and if you're willing to listen there's a solid proposition on the table.

However, it's the smaller details th🔯at make all the difference this far up the price scale and considering Asus isn't too far away from Razer's own lofty MSRPs, that crown is staying firmly 🤡on Sneki's head.

Configurations

Asus has gone with Intel for its slimline Zephyrus G16 gaming laptops this year, sticking with the brand's Core Ultra range. I'm not overwhelmed with joy at that decision. My experience with the previous generation Core Ultra 1s wasn't the best - they consistently performed worse than the more gaming-focused i9-14900HX and AMD's Ryzen AI 9 series. With the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2025 Razer Blade 16 taking AMD's side, t🍸hinꩵgs are going to get interesting.

This time𒀰, however, they've got the added efficiency and slight grunt boost of the RTX 50-Series GPU, with the G16 sporting everything from the RTX 5070 Ti up to the RTX 5090. At the cheapest end of the spectrum, that leaves you with a $2,799.99 / £3,399.99 pr🤪ice tag - slightly cheaper than the $2,999.99 / £2,699.99 base price of the Razer Blade 16 in the US and slightly more expensive (albeit with slightly different internals) in the UK.

The model I'm testing sits in the middle, with an RTX 5080 GPU, 32GB RAM, and a 2TB SSD - a configuration that isn't listed exactly on Asus's site, but comes in at $3,599.99 / £3,399.99 with a RAM boo𝔍st to 64GB. This is a heavy-duty machine, so there are no cheaper 16GB RAM options and only one 1TB SSD configuration on the shelves right now.

Overall, Asus is just rubbing shoulders with Razer in its pricing, which proves troublesome when we look at some spe🍌cifics of the build and feature list.

Design

There's very little distinguishing the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 fro🐽m its previous 2024 model on the outside. The new aesthetic that hit the line last year has remained, with a sleek strip of LEDs scorching through the center of the lid and replacing the traditional matrix o🌠f dots that had existed prior.

This "Slash Lighting", as Asus calls it, remains simple and smooth (and fully customizable in the Armory Crate software), though I did turn it off almost immediate🌠ly. Like last year's model it's infinitely better than the panel of blazing LEDs featured on earlier releases, but it's still annoying when flashing against whatever wall you're working near. Still, if that's your thing it's a slick light show with handy music🔯-matching and notification-flashing settings.

The similarities between 2025 and last year's model continue through the weight and form factor. This is the same streamlined chassis desi𒀰gn we saw last year, with its ultrabook / Macbook-esque look and feel. At 13.94 x 9.69 x 0.59 - 0.69 inches it's also exactly the same thickness as last year's model, weighing in at the same 3.4lbs / 1.95kg.

Asus didn't need to slim down its G16, it was already one of the thinnest machines on the market, matching Razer's new Blade 16 with even last year's device. It makes for a sleek machine that can eas🍰ily fit into productivity scenarios just as easily as it'll run your favorite games. In fact, the only thing separating🐻 the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 from its predecessor at first glance is that Copilot key on the deck.

The keyboard sits above a nicely large trackpad, well centered between the palm rests to avoid any accidental clicks when working at an angle. There's a little more flex to these palm rest areas than I expᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚerienced in this year's Razer Blade 16, though the keyboard itself remains springy.

The overall build quality feels similar to Razer's but not as luxurious. Yo♕u're still getting a CNC-milled chassis constructed from aluminum alloy and available with either Eclipse Gray or Platinum White (I'm testing the former). It's a sturdy machine, but the top lid presents with far more flex than Razer's solid brick, and the display wobbles significantly more when opened. It's by no means lacking in its build quality, and it doesn't command the same lofty price tag as a Razer rig, but it's just not at the same ultra-premium level as its main competitor.

Display

Asus has some stiff competition. The Razer Blade 16 boasts the best display I've ever used on a gaming laptop, and the Zephyrus G16 doesn't quite challenge that title. Taken in isolation this is still an impress💦ive OLED panel, boasting 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 range, 500 nits of brightness, and a 1M:1 contrast ratio. That's slapped up on a standard QHD+ 240Hz screen, with Dolby Vision HDR and Nvidia G-Sync thrown in for good measure.

It's crisp, v⛦ivid, and nicely realistic in its color representation, but it doesn't offer the same vibrant punch as Razer's screen. That said, I did notice less reflections on🃏 Asus's device, with a less glossy panel offering better resistance to glare in lighter conditions.

I was also surprised to see something I haven't in a long time; a moving screensa🔯ver. This is part of the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16's OLED protection, preventing the image burn-in that sometimes occurs with these types of screens when left on a static picture for too long. It was nice to watch a screensaver again after all these years, but there are more high-tech measures in place as well.

The machine also uses a pixel shifting process to ever so🏅 slightly move items on the screen when it's static, keeping up that protection even if you opt to keep your display switched on the whole time. This is enabled in Armory Crate, alongside a setting to avoid the flickering sometimes seen in 💖OLED panels when running on a low brightness.

Ports

In total, you've got three opportunities for a video-out connection here (an HDMI 2.1 and Thunderbolt 4 on the left, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C with Di🐻splayPort on the right) with two ﷽USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A connections (one on either side). These are accompanied by a UHS-II SD card reader on the right and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left.

It's nice to have both USB-A and USB-C options on both sides, though a docking station would be limited to only plugging in on the left. Thunderbolt 4 does also open you up to slightly faster and more reliable transfer compared to A♓MD's reliance on USB4 in꧟ the Razer Blade 16 as well, even if you're sacrificing one of the Blade's three USB-As in the process.

Keyboard and trackpad

Asus has slightly widened its key spacing on the new ROG Z♛ephyrus G16, the 1.7mm gap now matches the 1.7mm travel distance of the clickers themselves, making for a better-balanced keyboard overall. I never had any issues with the tighter spacing on the previous model, and don't notice too much of a difference in everyday usage here. Unfortunately, the arrow keys are still halved, making for less precise action overall.

Underneath those caps you'll find a set of nicely energetic switches, offering a satisfying travel and bouncy bottom-out. I was able to maintain my usual l🍸aptop keyboard speed here, and appreciated the cri💜sp feel overall.

Again, Asus falls𒁏 just short of Razer's premium finish, though. The clickers underneath aren't as rich or satisfying as the new scissor-switches in the 2025 Blade 16 - they lack the tightness I loved so much about the Blade's glow-up.

Of course, you'll also find pe𓆏r-key RGB lighting underneath, offering a strong, vivid display of bright colors in a range of customizable patterns. It's not quite as clean-cut or bold as Razer's, and there's more bleed around the edges of the caps, but it's still impressively uniform underneath ev𝓰en longer legends.

Just like last year, we've got dedicated volume buttons, a mic mute, and an Armory Crate launcher separate from the main deck. These macro buttons can also be customized using the laptop's software and sit inline with the glass power key on the right. That's a handy selection of additional controls, though it's worth noting that there are no playback options listed on the deck. Listening to music while working go🍃t a little more tricky while I was using the Zeph.

The good-sized trackpad feels smooth and responsive under the fingers, never dragging or registering unwanted clicks. Its bounce is tight and controlled wiꩵth a satisfying clack to a full-force press, and tap-clicks were always immediately registered in my testing.

Performance

I'll start this section off by saying that the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 offers enough speed and stability to reliably play in a slimline form factor. It's not, however♕, the best native performer on the market - not by a long shot.

The RTX 5080 under the hood of my test unit ticked along beautifully in lighter experiences, and scored blitzing framerates when DLSS was fully unleashed, but its native performance in more strenuous activities was disappointing. At FHD resolution, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 tucked neatly underneath last year's RTX 4090 Razer Blade 16 in Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmarking, impressively o🐈ut-performing the RTX 5090 in this year's Blade.

The story is the same in Total War: Three Kingdom; the RTX 5080 can't quite get the RTX 4090 off the top spot in native rendering, but does be𒁃at previous generation machines in similar form factors and performed better than this year's Razer device in my testing.

That story changes when the GPU has something meatier to chew on. The 2025 Zephyrus G16 sank to the bottom o𓆏f the pile in Returnal 1920 x 1200p testing, only just scraping past 100fps in Ultra settings. Cyberpunk 2077 saw a 24% decrease in performance from the RTX 5080 compared to the RTX 5090, and the system struggled to 🤪keep up in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered and Black Myth Wukong as well.

𝕴I'm not surprised, I wouldn't have expected an RTX 5080 machine to outperform an RTX 5090 rig, but compariso🌠ns against last year's figures require a little more squinting.

I said it in my review of the Blade 16, this generation isn't about reaching for the highest TGPs and the fastest framerates; it's about making that gaming experience more efficient and p𝓰ortable. That's where DLSS performance comes in.

At full native rendering at RT Ultra, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 was just knocking on 60fps in QHD+ resolution. Throw Quality Super Resolution on for extra shine and that figure drops to 48fps. However, I was able to have a much higher quality experience and still reach smooth framerates of 136fps with the new boosted DLSS frame generation꧑ switched on. As with the Blade 16, there's some ghosting aroun♎d certain fast-moving neon signs, but this isn't the desktop market we're talking about.

For a gaming laptop to throw up graphics looking this good at these kinds of speeds, some sacrifices are going to be made. The difference between gaming laptops and gaming PCs is that us laptop lovers have chosen to prioritize portability over pure performance - now we're starting to inch towards hav꧑ing it all.

DLSS-enhanced scores don't top those of the Ra🐓zer Blade 16's RTX 5090, but they do give us a good look at what the RTX 5080 can do in a slimline chassis.

The 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 suffered a 22% performance drop with an RTX 5080 at the helm compared to the Blade 16's Cyberpunk 2077 score. That's comparing the rates of two runs set to Ultra Performance super resolution and frame generation switched on. That still left me with framerates knocking on 200fps, though,🐲 something that wouldn't have been possible with the previous generation of mobile GPUs.

Unfortunately, I expect some of the G16's true potential has been cut off by the Intel processor ﷽under the hood. While it does score higher than last year's Ultra model, it's still well below the benchmarks of the good old i9-14900HX and AMD's AI-focused chips.

I performed all the tests above in Turbo mode, a performance preset that unlocks everything to run as well as it can - often at the expense of power and fan noise. While those fans can kick up a little during heavier moments, jolting to life to spin up when need💃ed before dying off again. They are far from the loudest fans I've ever encountered, though they are slightly more in-your-face than Razer's. My CPU averaged out at between 86 and 91 degrees during testing, with my GPU sticking to between 70-74 at its hottest. That's good going for a machine that doesn't blast air direct into your ear canals and still runs smoothly in the process.

Should you buy the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16?

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 remains one 𝔍of the more expensive slimline gaming laptops on the market, but if you're looking for a work / play hybrid it definitely hits the brief. While the RTX 5080 I te𝔍sted didn't quite give the RTX 5090 in the Razer Blade 16 anything to be worried about, it still held up well for play in both natively rendered and DLSS-heavy settings.

If you don't want to use Nvidia's extra features to add to your framerates, then the potentency of this 2025𓄧 generation is weakened slightly. With RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 configurations of last year's model still sporting the same aesthetic, form factor, OLED ꧋display, and port selection there's better value in the older releases still available.

The Zephyrus line is also slightly cheaper than Razer's Blade 16 selection in the US, so if you're looking to invest in a new-generation model with an OLED panel and a slimline, portable design, it's well worth considering. Ultimately, though, if money isn't an object and you're after the best experien꧃ce possible (with DLSS at your side), the Razer Blade 16 is still the way to go.

How I tested the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16

I used the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 both by itself and as part of a wider monitor setup for two weeks. Durin🀅g that time I also had the opportunity to test it side by side with the new Razer Blade 16 as well. I primarily played Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Fallout 4 during this time, but also tested across Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Returnal, Cyberpunk 2077, Black Myth Wukong, and Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered. As well as those in-game benchmarks, I also tested using graphics-specific 3D Mark runs and CPU-focused PC Mark 10 tests.

For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming laptops, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting down the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Asus gaming laptops overall, as well as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer laptops on the market. Or, for a look elsewhere, take a look at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Alienware laptops available now.

That’s exciting, because in the last year, the licensing parameters have shifted for third-party Xbox controllers, and as such, a wave of not-as-pricey wireless pads have arrived from brands like PowerA, Razer, Nacon, and PDP. I can tell there’s collective excitement in this briefing to see just what Scuf’s response to all that has been. I think we’re all imagining a new wireless Scuf 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Xbox Series X controller that’🌊s designed around excelle🔯nt FPS play but doesn’t have the venomous price of its aging Instinct Pro.

Except, there’s an issue. We get about five slides into the presentation about the Valor Pro, and I notice the host start to get a little nervous. He clicks to the next slide and reveals🅰 a detail that will flatten the atmosphere of the whole briefing, and you can sort of tell he’s been dreading it. The information on the slide tells us that the Valor Pro is wired-only, citing the reason that “it’s the way the majority of Scuf’s players use a controller”. Not only that, but it won’t be available in Scuf’s fully customized retail builder. Uh oh, I think. I’m not even sure the comparatively low MSRP of $100 / £100 will save this one.

Design

It was a shame when every journo and influencer in that briefing call breathed a collective sigh. You could tell t🐽here was disappointment in the digital air because the poor Scuf executive got bombarded with questions about “why it wasn’t wireless” and “if there would be a wireless version dropping soon”. He didn’t say for sure, by the way, but I’d assume n𒅌ot since these things need to be baked in from the start.

It’s especially sad that this was the lingering detail of the meeting for me because the rest of the Valor Pro’s features and design points are hard to ignore. It has four back buttons, a signature Scuf look and feel, and it’s got the makings of one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best PC controllers. So the question is, does it really matter to you that it’s wired-only? I do think back on Scuf’s reasoning and its claim that “most people” use controllers wired these days. As someone who reviews controllers for a living and has done for the best part of three years, I can say for certain that the majority of gamepads that launch these days are wireless, and the convenience of cable-less connections almost definitely outweighs the competitive side of the market that ca♑res about every millisecond of latency.

So, where did this claim come from? Even the older 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Scuf Instinct Pro could be us꧂ed wir🍌elessly, so what’s happened since that launched?

Regardless, the Valor Pro does sport some customization. It has a magnetic faceplate that you can pull off fairly easily and swap out for one of Scuf’s many options. It’s just a s🧜hame that it isn’t as fully customizable as this brand’s other products because that really is one of its strongest c🍃haracteristics. The grey and slightly transparent faceplate my review unit has does look pretty neat, although the see-through texture means I can see some branding and barcode stickers on the inside, which I must say, looks a bit rubbish.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this gamepad’sꦦ design is its grips. They’re girthy and have enough room to fit your pinkies on comfortably - more so than a lot of Xbox pads, I might add. They also have that rubberized texture to them that actually feels grippy. It resists your clammy hands and locks them into whichever game you’re getting stuck into.

Features

There’s a distinct lack of clickiness to the Scuf Valor Pro, but that may be a feeling that’s arisen from testing out a lot of microswitch controllers lately. I don’t think there’s any need to go full mechanical as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Wolverine V3 Pro has, but not having microswitch face buttons, D-pad,🌜 or bumpers does give this quite ℱa traditional feel. Depending on what you’re looking for, that may be a good thing, but when I activate this pad’s trigger stop switches and feel the speedy, clicky LT and RT actuation, I sort of wish there was more of that here.

The Valor Pro does sport four back buttons, and I love their shape. The second pair is integrated horizontally, and are designed for you to 🦹press with your middle fingers like th𒉰e larger pair next to them. The dramatic grooves do an amazing job of aiding your grip on the pad, not just making the back buttons easy to find. Interestingly, the P2 and P3 buttons (the smaller set) do feel a lot more clicky and don’t need much pressure to use. The P1 and P4 back buttons function like regular plastic buttons though, and take a lot more pressure to press in.

Tꦬhe facial components of this controller are actually quite small in relation to a lot of other Xbox products, which is an interesting design choice, but doesn’t really impact the ability to use it easily. It makes the whole controller feel a bit bigger as a result, so I’d definitely say this is one for the big-hand gang.

The thumbsticks are Hall Effect ones, which makes this the first mainline console product from Scuf to utilize anti-stick drift technology. Scuf said in its press briefing that it took longer than a lot of other brands to come to the table with a Hall Sensor controller because the company feels like they perform and feel differently than potentiometers. Sure, they can be a little more sensitive, but if tuned and calibrated, that’s actually a good thing because it allows for more accuracy in the FPS genre Scuf designs its controllers around. It’s disappointing then, that there are so few ways t🌠o personalize the thumbsticks on this controller. The out-of-the-box toppers are very short indeed, and while they’re indented, they have a slippery texture and don’t do much to help you stay accurate. The optional toppers are a touch taller but have the same slippy texture and a domed shape, so they’re not much better. To make matters worse, the deadzones of these sticks feel really large, and there’s no customization software or compa💙nion app you can use to adjust them. This feels like a glaring hole in this product’s defense, because these days, this is a basic right of passage for any pro controller.

As is a 1K polling rate, and at the time of writing this, Scuf has just pushed a firmware update to let the Valor Pro achieve it. With no companion software though, the process of changing to it is mighty complicated, which you can see from the instructional video linked above. Note also, that this 1KHz polling rate only works on PC, and you need to remember to deactivate it before going back to the Xbox Series X or S,ඣ where the polling rate will be that console’s usual 400Hz.

If you’re a fan of audio controls, the last thing you should be aware of is two scroll wheels on the bottom of the Valor Pro’s face. These sit just above a 3.5mm headphone jack, and they adjust your party chat and game volumes. You can store three profiles on the Valor Pro, and swapping back button assignments is as easy as holding down the function♎ button, the back button you’re assigning, and the desired function until you feel a rumble.

Performance

I’ll put my hand up and say that going into testing the Valor Pro, I wasn’t expecting to li♐ke it very much. Maybe that’s because I’m ou𒅌tside the “majority of players” Scuf designed this pad for. Whenever possible, I’ll play with a wireless controller. At the end of the day, it doesn’t make a massive amount of difference to me if there’s a wire tethering a controller to my PC or console, but the convenience of being able to move around freely offsets any annoying battery life issues. I’d rather be able to have the connectivity choice, and since Xbox is now offering that with other third-party controllers, I’d always consider one of those options first for their added versatility.

Then again, when I started using this controller to play third-person action games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows, I immediately fell in love with its comfort level and the chunky feeling it has in the hands. Coming straight off the back of my 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GameSir Cyclone 2 review, I was desperate for a controller that didn’t have the weight of a feather, and the Scuf Valor Pro satiated that craving immediately. In third-person scenarios, its weighty feel is great at adding power to Katana swings. In Middl𒆙e Earth: Shadow of Mordor the same was true, with every one of Talion’s sword swings and wraith stuns sending beautiful rumbly feedback into my palms. That’s an area that the Valor Pro really excels in, in my opinion.

What I didn’t expect, given that Scuf’s controllers are well-known for their Call of Duty support, is for first-person shooting to feel extremely sluggish. Again, I’m still reeling from testing out a few controllers with advanced TMR thumbsticks like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GameSir Tarantula Pro, but Scuf’s slippy, short, and deadzoned sticks feel the worst of any controller I’ve tested this year in FPS games like Hunt Showdown. Sniping accuracy was totally eroded by the Valor Pro’s inability to counter sway with tiny adjustments. This may be a preference thing, but when there are so many controllers out there these days that let you customize your thumbstick settings for cheaper than this, the Valor Pro becomes hard to recommend. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Manba One lets you do all of that from its onboard display, so what’s Scuf’s excuse for not at least g✅iving us a companion app?

Platforming in Celeste was equally as frustraܫting. Last week in my Cyclone 2 review, I was talking about how, thanks to TMR thumbsticks being able to register so many more positions on an axis, I never have an issue with diagonal directions in platforming when using them. The Valor Pro definitely didn’t hear me, because any time I was trying to use the thumbsticks to platform in Celeste, it was constantly misreading my inputs. The amount of pressure it takes to actuate the main back buttons also meant a few needless deaths.

In Dragon Ball Sparki🌌ng Zero, I had similar issues, and they stemmed from this controller’s lack of speed. Overall, the controller feels really good to hold because of its heft, but that m💦akes for a really slow gameplay experience in any game that requires fast presses or a light touch and sleight of hand.

Should you buy the Scuf Valor Pro?

If you mainly play third-person games, I’d argue this is a fantastic controller to opt for. It has amazing feedback, a great weight and feel to it, and it’s a heavyweight controller bred for players with larger hands in particular. If you’re a fan of previous Scuf controllers for first-person shooters, you may like the feel you find here, but it’s my personal call of duty to tell you that Scuf is just one brand in a bundle of amazing peripheral makers today. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:PowerA Fusion Pro i♉sn’t that much pricier and 🎶offers a much better shooting experience.

There are just too many caveats in recommending this controller, and that’s the issue. Because you need to be okay with it being wired-only, which feels like a serious step backward for an Xbox controller in 2025. You also need to have no desire to customize it, either in a companion app or in a physical sense like you would the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Victrix Pro BFG for Xbox. Lastly, you need to put to bed any desire 🌺to have a custom-designed Scuf controller, which I feel is one of the entire points of investing in this 🧔brand to begin with.

How I tested the Scuf Valor Pro

The Scuf Valor Pro went through the same testing gauntlet that I put all my reviewed gamepads through. I made it my main controller for all gaming activity over the course of about a week or so, I played with it in standard games that have become testing regulars, as well as new games I’m playing in my own time. That means I’ve experienced what the Valor Pro has to offer in loads of ౠgenres and titles. I compared my time with it closely to other controllers I’ve reviewed lately, as well as more recent Xbox options.

For more on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test controllers, check out the full澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

For more on Scuf, you might want to keep an eye on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best PS5 controllers, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best mobile controllers, and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Xbox One controllers.

That's right, this is a roguelike exploration puzzle game, and the debut from the Californian based indie studio Dogubomb. There's certainly no combat, unless you count an assault on your brain cells. The premise is rဣelatively simple: you're called to a family mansion at Mt. Holly to claim your inheritance – which hinges on you finding the 46th room in the house which only has 45. That means at least one secret lies tucked away, but what's genius about your first few attempts in Blue Prince is how quickly you find yourself stumbling upon many more. Documents to read, safes to crack, computers to trawl through, every newly opened door presents a fresh opportunity to be nosy.

Good manors

In fact, trading notes with fellow journalists, it's possible to stumble on different sequences of brainteasers and even multiple routes to hitt👍ing credits. Naturally, though, rolling those precious developer names is only the start, revealing more taxing and tricky conundrums to hunt down, which I'm still picking through. Crucially, even though it took me about 11 hours across 19 runs (well, 23 if you count my demo time too) to reach that first milestone, I'm still finding new mysteries.

Just like the set-up, the core of what you do is also incredibly simple to understand.ღ Entering through a lobby with three doors, the layout of the manor is always five rooms wide, nine rows deep. You've a limited amount of steps that decrease with each room explored. Coins can be scooped up to spend in stores. Keys and gems littered about grant entry to locked doors or allow you to draft special rooms. A sealed antechamber at the very back of the house promises some kind of clue to find the final room.

But how do you unlock the antechamber? Reach it, and it's blocked off in a way no key can open. Again, there's actually more than one way, and you'll begin to learn the secrets for ꩵhow to best place and move through these rooms as you go. While you can unlock some elements that carry over between runs, they're few in number. Mostly, the way you make progress in Blue Prince is by acquiring knowledge, be that strategies for how to place rooms, or by picking up and reading notes that give you greater perspective on what's really going on. Yes, this is one of those games best played with a notebook.

Before long you'll learn that the deeper you get into the manor the harder it is to progress. You'll come across more locked doors. And, rooms aren't unlimited – once placed there are no more copies. Completely avoid placing dead ends early, and you'll find yourself inundated with them later when you may need to manoeuvre the most. Instead, you'll want 🌄to worm your way through each day's blueprint carefully to maximize your options. Place a dead end storeroom early on, and it may present an item you can use throughout to make things easier, like a lockpick to give you a chance to negate key costs. Likewise🍨, placing a hallway in a cramped space you've already blocked off at the sides would be a waste. Decisions, decisions.

Above all else, visiting new rooms is always a priority. Basically every room has some kind of benefit you can leverage in the right situation – even ones not obviously advantageous usually have some boon. Documents you can rifle through might contain vital clues for how to access hidden areas of rooms or crack later puzzles. Even runs where you don't get close to getting into the antechamber can be hugely beneficial if you glimpse the right messages𝄹.

Family secrets

Some puzzles can even get quite meta, playing with aspects of space and time you 𒐪might not have even considered Blue Prince was concerned about at all. It's not a game to be underestimated. Crucially, though, despite the layers these puzzles can play with, everything is solvable in-game without having to share information online. Though trading cryptic notes with a friend can be a joy in and of itself, there's also plenty of delicious 'aha' moments to bꦜe had when it all comes together.

Most of the time, randomness isn't a problem as there's so much you can find at all times. But, when you do find yourself chasing a solution that requires certain things to appear and they just won't it can grate – especially after you've pared down so many other threads. One room in particular can power others after a pu🔴zzle has been solved, but requires careful placement in order to do so. I only saw this room in the stack three times, and only managed to get it down twice, both when I simply didn't have enough space on the blueprint left to make proper use of it. A shame as Blue Prince is at its best when it feels like you have room to experiment.

There are a few ways things can just get a bit too fiddly – traipsing to the Outer Room to get a daily bonus day after day, for instance. Or having to grab specific random items and a workshop to ♏bash together brand new items. Again, fine enough when you've got so many directions to go, but once you get used🌱 to it and want to focus on a few specific mysteries, it can feel a bit rough. Likewise, while I'm still finding new things each run, I do find myself going through plenty of familiar areas – having to mouse across the same room again just to check for loose change and gems can get a bit repetitive when you've already seen the same room lots of times.

Importantly, though, none of those annoyances got in the way of reaching the end credits. In fact, I appreciate how freeform the puzzles are that come your way. It turned out that by the time I'd reached that point I'd already grappled with about half the tougher challenges for the mystery that lay beyond. My journey through the manor was co🎃mpletely different to anyone else I spoke to.

I'm still finding more that intrigues me as I continue to place rooms and expand my blueprints. Though this is more than an idea on paper 🍌like those architectural documents. Blue Prince is like little else I've played, a truly impressive new style of roguelike that puts its puzzling narrative at the fore, and is more than just a strong foundation – the whole house is rock solid.

Blue Prince was reviewed on PC, with a cod🔜e provided by t💧he publisher.

Want more runs? Our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best roguelike games will kick you off!

If that's not bad enough, Kaso-Machi is said to be under a curse that sloꦿwly kills all male yakuza who set foot in the town. Oh, and the mascot business? That already went under, leaving its sole employee, Pinky, to turn it into a love hotel. Michi has to get back the permits from the corrupt town mayor who has served near limitless terms, and take Pinky under his wing as he recruits enough mascots to make the titular agency thrive – all while sending enough money back to his boss to keep the knives from her throat. With a broom over his shoulder, Mic🌟hi is known as The Janitor – but even for him this is one heck of a mess to clean up. Doing so means combining a management sim with open world vehicle exploration. Not a common combo.

Like a mascot

Pinky isn't just a cute nickname, by the way. Mascots in this world are people like you or I – not cute suits. Pinky is a literal living, breathing mascot wꩲho resembles a giant severed little finger (a reference to yubitsume, the practice of cutting off your little finger in atonement often synonymous with Japanese crime cinema). With ties to the crime family of her own, Pinky is young but fierce, desperate to commit daring crimes alongside M🌺ichi and have a good time while doing it.

It's an odd design for a mascot, but Kaso-Machi – rundown as it is – is home to all sorts of misfits and oddballs. Thꦍe easier to love mascots, after all, have left town for greener pꦫastures with their mascot magic in tow. You'll end up meeting all sorts of strange characters, such as the eternally wet and crying To-Fu to the straight-faced business cat in a suit Salary Nyan.

Residents you befriend are just as eclectic, and can jump in to help at mascot events, f💦rom Mr. Mori and Tora, a train conductor and his feline friend who stand watch at the now dilapidated final train stop in the town, to an arcade game obsessed kappa who collects loose change on the cup on his head. There's a lot going on – Promise Mascot Agency is a heady mix between bizarre vibes and multiple gameplay styles that makes it like little else.

One thing Promise Mascot Agency isn't, however, is a straightforward followup to Paradi🦂se Killer, the vaporwave murder mystery that put indie developer Kaizen Gam꧑e Works on the map. Which isn't to say there are no throughlines at all. Promise Mascot Agency is just as visually striking, trading in the bright colors for a film grain showa era effect. Otherwise, the most DNA the two share is how eclectic and hard to pin down both are. Promise Mascot Agency wa♕s also .

Here, like in Paradise Killer, there is still a lot of exploration. However, in Promise Mascot Agency, it all takes place in Michi𓆉's trusty pickup trick as Pinky bounces around in the back. Growing your business means getting out and about in the open world Kaso-Machi, which is spread across a fairly large mountain with ports and farms surrounding it. Meeting mascots allows you to recruit them by offering them a range of perks from better profit percentages from 🎀jobs to time off, and meeting business-owning residents means you can start taking jobs from them.

Between them♒ all are numerous collectibles, like bashing down adverts for the mayor's re-electi💙on to, once you get the upgrade, scooping up garbage to clean up town. Everything you do increases your fans, and levelling up gets you access to higher paying jobs. Rinse and repeat as you earn enough money to keep progressing through story milestones.

Which can be easier said than done. While Promise Mascot Agency eases you in as you first explore the map, the knives of rival clans begin to come for Matriarch Shimazu soon enough, represented like a fuel gauge with a dagger constantly creeping closer to her. Sending money keeps them at bay, but even what feels like large amounts of cash early on barely moves the needle. Jobs take time to complete too, happening in the background as you send mascots off while you continue to drive around. While the final inches of the Matriarch's death meter takes some time to completely deplete, it c⭕an feel dicey as you wait for completed jobs to give you enough to 🔯buy just a little more time, rushing to an ATM to send the payment. It can be genuinely tense.

Getting the job done

Jobs themselves can complete automatically, but often your mascots will end up in trouble – a portion of their payment locked away unless you can successfully swoop in to rescue them. These take place as quickfire card games, where you have a limited amount of resources to apply your m𒊎ascot heroes – the friends you've made and helped power-up along the way. Always comical, these revolve around mundane incidents like mascots getting stuck in a "normal-sized door", streamers trying to get a rise out of them, playful dogs, or malfunctioning vending machines gone wrong. Whether categorized as Social, Engineering, or something else, different stats can help in different situations – and you can also cleverly use mascot heroes to keep drawing and playing extra cards.

The problem with all the above is that, to be honest, on a mechanical level, Promise Mascot Agency is really poorly balanced. Once yo🔯u've played for long enough, keeping payments going across to Matriarch Shimazu will suddenly go from being really stressful to essentially trivial (for me, around the time I unlocked merch drops for my most popular mascots), raking in more than enough cash for it to matter. Likewise, hoovering up enough collectibles to level up my mascot helpers means that they can easily overcome any of the mascot challenges; that's if the expensive items I can give mascots to lower the chance they'll run into trouble don't trigger (which is all well and good, as ꦛthese card challenges can get repetitive fast).

Even exploring becomes much more trivial after a couple of truck upgrades – one allowing you to literally target and blast most pick-ups from a distance. Similarly, you quickly learn that being as stingy with perks you offer mascots is for the best too, keeping them active longer – as their other stats will quickly balloon alongside the better jobs you🌠 take on. The management🦩 aspect of the game becomes meaningless. A power curve is one thing, but it meant Promise Mascot Agency suddenly went from really difficult plate spinning to near perpetual-motion with just the tiniest of nudges.

Still, even though the mechanical systems are flawed, that's not really what the game is all about. At its heart, Promise Mascot Agency is all about the vibes, and there it's nearly flawless. Rocking some fantastic Japanese vocal talent (including Takaya Kuroda as Michi, known as Like a Dragon's Kazuma Kiryu, as well as the likes of Shuhei Yoshida, Ayano Shibuya, Hidetaka Suehiro, and many more), the ⭕characters are the true heart of the game.

The story, while silly at first, manages to nail some real emotional beats, while spiralling out into a genuinely twisty crime conspiracy that balances grou𓆏nded plot elements with its magical mascot powers seamlessl🏅y. There's a real sense something sinister is going on as you drive through certain areas too, like empty and ruined apartment buildings abandoned after the town's mining industry fell apart.

Even though there's nothing particularly deep about tღhe way you manage your mascots or improve your friendship with the𒁃 citizens of Kaso-Machi, the act of driving around and helping them out does mean you feel like you get to them well – and that you're building a sense of community. It might be a town down on its luck, but despite corrupt forces trying to squeeze all it can out of its last gasps, there are real people – human and mascot alike – who want to make things better.

While I wa🐓s left a bit disappointed there weren't deeper mechanics at play, I finished up Promise Mascot Agency with plenty of fond memories of the new pals I had made along the way. That's one important promise kept.

Promise Mascot Agency was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by ওthe pu🎃blisher.

Up for a similar theming with more action? Check our ranked 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Yakuza games for plenty more!

At full price, the Lenovo Legion R27qe will set you back $199 / $199, which gives it an edge as a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming monitor contender. It’s not going to make any of the top 1440p options out there, like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Sony Inzone M10S or澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: Samsung Odyssey OLED G6, sweat, but its QHD 180Hz abilities could sway anyone looking at budget 1080p options in line with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Koorui GN02.

Simply put, the Legion R27qe offers that bit more panel pizazz than other 1440p models in its price range right now. I’m fully aware that Amazon brands can sometimes put models like this to shame by hitting a much lower MSRP, and there are some options by the likes of Koorui out there that are gunning for a similar market. But, from where I’m sitting, Lenovo’s 𒆙panel feels like the better fit, especially since it pulls respectable punches when it comes to competitive shenanigans.

Design

Out of the box, I do have an immediate gripe with the Lenovo Legion R27qe. The v-shaped pedestal stand is pretty similar to its more expensive 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Legion Y34wz-30 sibling, featuring a wireframe aesthetic that gives industrial vibes. The differences lie with how the pedestal fits to the panel, as you’ll have to use thumb screws rather than a clip-to-fit. The drawback serves as a reminder that we’re dealing with a sub-$200ও gaming monitor, but even some of the cheapest screens I’ve tested use a clip system, so price isn’t 🍰a valid excuse.

What I am pleased to see included is height, tilt, and pivot functionality. You’d be surprised how many screens in this price range dodge this, and it can save you from adding risers to your gaming desk that you don’t necessarily need or want. The Legion R27qe also has you covered with some basic cable management provisions too via a hole in the pedestal that feeds to the IO lip round back, which, in honesty, is all that even premium screens like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alienware AW2725Q have to offer.

Round the back, you’re talking about a fairly basic approach that dresses up the typical IPS display hump with angles. It’s actu﷽ally not the chonkiest screen I’ve used, but it’s still got a bit more heft than OLED alternatives. I’m not super keen on when ports are placed under a lip since it makes quickly plugging things in a pain from the front, but it’s somewhat excusable when a screen is trying 💟to minimize thickness.

One thing I do love about cheap monitors is that they oft✤en skip using those annoying joystick nubs for the OSD. The Lenovo Legion R27qe follows this trend by using five separate toggles for input, navigation, activating the menu, and power. I normally find that it’s easier to get to grips with this sort of system than a fiddly directional stick that will taunt you with mispresses and weirdly mapped s🔯hortcuts.

Features

Compared to more expensive screens, the Legion R27qe doesn’t offer much in the way of physical features. I’m not surprised by that, and even more expensive models sometimes skimp, but it’s worth keeping that in mind before jumping on Lenovo’s affordable panel. If you like the idea of having a USB hub and potentially even Power Delivery abilities that will h🐲elp serve as a Steam Deck dock, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

All of the Legion R27qe's main features are software-based. Lenovo’s panel will provide you with DisplayHDR 400 certification and VESA Certified Adaptive Sync, which are admittedly becoming commonplace across the gaming monitor board. Naturally, the🍒 screen’s 180Hz refresh rate and 0.5ms response time and a sellin𒐪g point too when paired with its price tag, even if it’s far from being the fastest out there overall.

Performance

IPS panels can really shine compared to VA and TN models, and the Lenovo Legion R27qe lives up to that. The display pulls off respectable colors and contrast that aren’t that far behind mini LED models but are going to feel lacking when it comes to HDR. Not really a shocker since smaller screens like this do tend to bo🔯ast lower brightness, and youꦏ’ll be dealing with 450 nits peak.

Before I get into my time actually playing games on the R27qe, there are a couple of things you’ll notice from the get-go. The first is t🧸he matte screen can’t quite bat away glare enough to survive next to a bright wind🌼ow, and I ended up having to adjust my blinds to avoid aggressive reflections. I did have to crank up the brightness to max to offset this a little, which did help somewhat, but you’ll ideally want to use this screen in a light-controlled area.

HDR isn’t ✱actually terrible on this display, with the setting producing some decent results in the likes of Cyberpunk 2077. Compared to SDR, the jump isn’t remotely wild, but Night City’s neon-soaked streets do boast a more realistic glow. The display has a respectable color gamut, 99% sRGB, and 90% DCI-P3, so that really helps High Dynamic Range come through despite lower panel brightness.

I’ve been replaying DOOM on and off ahead of The Dark Ages - a shooter that feels like a nice benchmark for darker worlds that benefit from better contrast. The menacingly red plains of Mars are more subtle on the R27qe than higher-spec OLED and mini LED models, but it still avoids portraying the hellscape as washed out. I’d go as far as to say that the colors are pretty respectable for an IPS panel, especially one at this lowꦡ a price point. I did struggle a 𒆙bit with viewing angles, though, as I immediately noticed dark spots whenever I shimmied even slightly away from center.

27 inches feels like a nice size match for 1440p, and the R27qe avoids appearing too soft at native resolution. Pixel density measures almost the same as the Alienware AW2725DF at 109ppi, but the pricey QD-OLED panel does a lot of heavy lifting to help gi✃ve the premium model a definite edge. That’s not to say Lenovo’s budget-friendly option looks bad, but it’s certainly easy to see where your money is going when switching to a traditional IPS display with LED backlights.

I’ve spent a lot of time this year using Dragon Age: The Veilguard as a test game, so I thought it’d be handy to run throug🎃h the intro and do a bit of monitor benchmark sightseeing. The blue hues of the cityscape are a little more muted but not anywhere near as much as I thought they’d be on a cheap IPS panel. Contrast is lacking, which in turn reduces the depth I’ve felt when walking within Bioware’s fantasy world, but I’ve not got any major gripes.

I usually end up playing Overwatch 2 at some point during monitor testing, and I’ve played the shooter a bunch in competitive matches using the R27qe. It’s safe to say 180Hz isn’t exactly speed demon levels of refresh rate, but hey, it’s still faster than average and is noticeably slicker than 144Hz. What I was really looking for was whether it could ma📖intain that speed reliably, and I’m pleased to report that it managed to keep Pharah flying at a consistent velocity. Did I downrank a little compared to playing at 240Hz and above? Perhaps, but the slight difference in responsiveness was probably less of a factor than just me getting my butt whooped.

Should you buy the Lenovo Legion R27qe?

For under $200, the Lenovo Legion R27qe serves as a solid 1440p monitor with some cost-cutting caveats. T🐈he drawbacks are all naturally tied to its cheaper IPS panel, but the display does punch above its price weight by offering up reliable 180Hz visuals that are respectably vibrant and sharp enough at 27 inches. You won’t be getting any fancy feature thrills with this screen, but that’s absolutely fine since you’ll have everything else to hand for some neat QHD gaming sessions.

How I tested the Lenovo Legion R27qe

For two weeks, I tested the Lenovo Legion R27qe as part of my gaming PC setup, putting it to work displaying games like Cyberpunk 2077, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, DOOM, and Overwatch 2. Those sessions enabled me to fully test the monitor’s refresh rate and resolution abilities while assessing brightness, contra🙈st, and HDR. I also took note of physical traits like height adjustability and design elements so as to compare them to different models both within its♛ price range and beyond.

For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming monitors, swing by our full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware policy.

At $179.99 / £179.99, Corsair isn't exactly at the top of the market here, but it's certainly pitchin💎g at a higher cost than some Logitech and Razer options. This is a keyboard built with speed in mind, and those hunting down a smooth landing with additional controls at the helm are going to have a fantastic time. While its switches won't be for everyone, and its software does hold it bac😼k, competitive players still have a home with Corsair.

Design

The Corsair K70 Pro TKL isn't doing anything drastic with its design - this is a simple black keyboard with a brus🎐hed top plate and a plastic chassis. Unfortunately, the first thin🌟g I noticed about the construction was the cheaper-feeling ABS keycaps.

These are very simple tappers, with the classic oil-clinging smoothness of that ABS plastic providing a sticky experience I wouldn't expect to see in a Hall effect keyboard at this price point. For reference, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G Pro TKL Rapid comes in $10 cheaper than 𓂃this rig, and does so with full doubletshot PBT.

Onto brighter things, though, the rest𓃲 of the Corsair K70 Pro TKL's build quality is sౠolid. That aluminum top plate holds firm under pressure, with no flex or creaks during more intense pushes, while the plastic casing remains sturdy as well. It's got enough heft to it to reassure you of its materials, and won't be knocked around during gameplay. Despite its wired connection, though, it's still light enough to fit relatively comfortably into a backpack.

The entire chassis is ever so slightly wedge-shaped, though there's a considerable overhand compared to keyboards with a heavier gradient. The bottom of the deck is slightly extended, but t🌺wo flip-feet provide a single extra height option (as opposed to the two I often see on gaming keyboards).

Both hinges feel sturdy, locking into place with a thud and offering a strong resistance undern🎀eath them. They also feature rubberized feet to keep everything in place, and don't buckle when pushing the 🉐keyboard forwards along a desk.

The included wrist rest feels particularly welcoming, with a densely packed foam underneath a satisfyingly texturized le൩atherette surface. It detaches magnetically from the main deck and held its position well during 🍃my testing, never breaking away from the keyboard when shuffling around.

This being Corsair, we've got a selection of bright RGB LEDs underneath each keycap, shining through with impressive uniformity across both short and long legends. I personally find Corsair's illumination to be a little too pastel-like for my taste, and that was certain🌼ly the case straight out the box here.

However, setting my own custom static cyan color proved that these LEDs can run nice and bold as well. There's a little bleed around the edges of the caps - so💫mething you'll notice mꦉore here than on the Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid.

Two of the additional cﷺ🅷ontrols also take advantage of this customizable RGB, though I'm not as big a fan. The translucent caps on the game mode and media buttons mean they certainly stand out nicely and offer an extra pop of color to your setup, but if you're going for a more slick aesthetic they do run the risk of cheapening the experience.

Underneath those clickers, the Corsair K70 Pro TKL features two sound dampening layers, one underneath the aluminum top plate and another under the PCB. That foam absorbs each keypress particularly well, but doesn't offer the soft thud of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Azoth or 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3, which both offer three years of foam. There's absolutely no echo around this deck, as is more common with Hall effect keyboards, but it's a relief after ye🌸ars of testing particularly rattly Cors𝓡air decks.

Features

The Corsair K70 Pro TKL is the brand's first Hall effect keyboard, and it uses MGX Hyperdrive m🌟agnetic switches to give you all those extra features. These are proprietary clickers, coming pre-lubricated and offering a linear feel with between 30g and 55g of actuatio🌊n force. That magnetic stem means the actuation point of every key can be configured from between 0.1 and the full 4.0mm, making for feather-light touches or more keys more resistant to accidental presses.

That's the same as the Logitech and SteelSeries' Hall effect decks, and a wider span than the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ducky One X (which bottoms out at 3.5mm) and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:NZXT Function Elite Mini TKL with its higher 0.6mm minimum sensitivity.

Of course, you've also got access to rapid trigger for super-fast repeat presses and dual inputs to map separate functions to the same key (one at a half press, for example, and another at the full bottom-out). SOCD is all here, in the form of 'Flash Tap', a feature that automatically ignores a directionally oppositional input when🦩 two buttons are pressed.

It's used for quickly changing direction without experiencing a la𝕴g for the split second both keys are pressed at the same time, but is heavily banned in most competitive arenas.

Actually making these adjustments is pretty exhausting. Very few keyboard software make this process smooth, though NZXT and Logitech do a particularly good jo🍎b and keeping things clean. iCue is far from these big leagues.

The fact that even the download for the software is hidden behind a checkbox opting you into marketing emails is a red flag. Not being able to update the firmware without the deck becoming com♐pletely unrecognizable to the software is another. Having only half th😼e keyboard image load into the main menu isn't a deal breaker, but it certainly doesn't make a good impression.

Using the software is pretty clunky and unintuitive. While trying to set dual-function key presses I was regularly left confused as to which key I was actually working on due to the sometimes inconsistent visual display up top. It all works, but it's particularly painful and consideriಌng there are far more streamlined platforms out there for less cash it's dampens the overall exper🌟ience considerably.

This is a fully wired deck, but that does mean more competitive players can take advantage of an 8,000Hz polling rate for a lower price than I typically see in wireless models. That's not going to be a major concern for most of us, though ▨- 🃏only a small group of the top 1% of players will actually notice or benefit from the increased speed. Instead, everyday players will benefit more from the massive onboard storage. There's space for up to 50 profiles in here - far exceeding the norm of between three and five.

That TKL form factor doꦦes open us up to more keys, with a full array of navigation buttons and good spacing around the arrows as well. There's also a particularly satisfying control dial in the top right corner, offering a s✅uper clicky scroll through a range of customizable controls, from volume to zoom. It's nicely raised above the rest of the deck for easy access as well.

Performance

On my Hall effect journeys, I've found that these magnetic clickers generally👍 feel a ꦜlittle softer than their magnetic counterparts, often dropping the clack of yesterday's switches. Corsair's clickers don't have the extra resistance behind them that sometimes feels a little woolly in other decks, but they do still feel lackluster compared to the competition.

Don't get me wrong, they're good linears. A keypress moves smoothly down the stem with impressive speed and feels responsive under the fingertips. However, there's a lack of tactility here that you'll find easily in other Hall effect decks. Interestingly, they've got a slightly harder push than the inductive switches of the Ducky One X, though with less action and energy underneath them. However there's far less thock compared to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Endgame Gear KB65HE's Gateron KS-27Bs - my c🐻urrent go-to for a satisfying magnetic feel.

They feel much flatter than🉐 the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 as well, losing the depth and tension that makes those OmniPoint 3.0 clickers so impressive.

All of that deflates the overall gameplay experience a little. I found it harder to judge my position across a key press in-game, and more difficult to train to specific actuation points. The board comes to life, however, in more competitive scenarios. At their 💟highest point of actuation, these are still incredibly fast switches and they'll serve anyone after a smooth, soft landing particularly well.

SOCD, rapid trigger, and dual-functions all work as expected, adding fun𝓡ctionality to the Corsair K70 Pro TKL that you won't find in regular mechanical keyboards. Th꧂is functionality comes in incredibly handy during both competitive and solo play. Being able to configure both walk and run to the same key kept my movement super streamlined, opening up more space for faster dodges and parries in the process.

Should you buy the Corsair K70 Pro TKL?

The Corsair K70 Pro TKL takes the brand's comfortably recognizable K70 keyboard and gives it a new lease of life with Hall effect switches that keep up with the rest of the competition. I would still only recommend it over the similarly priced (actually slightly cheaper) Logitech G Pro X TKL Rapid if you know you want your key presses to be as low-resistance as possible or if you need a plush wrist rest attached.

Both a♉re going to be down to your personal preferences - I like a little more tension und♓er each cap, but the linear tradition is one based on speed and Corsair does nail that brief better than most HE models.

However, the ABS keycaps I tested, poor iCue software, and higher price point mean the Corsair K70 Pro TKL will likely ♓stay out of the limelight for most players. The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 remains the best HE deck I've had my hands on so far.

While its wrist rest is less comfortable than Corsair's, it packs much more ene💞rgetic switches, higher quality keycaps, an additional OLED display, and a better software experien🍸ce. If you can spring the extra $40 for its higher price tag, it's well worth the upgrade.

How I tested the Corsair K70 Pro TKL

I used the Corsair K70 Pro TKL keyboard across my current roster of games, our dedicated test titles, and in all my daily work for a period of two weeks. I ran it across Apex Legends and CS2 for strict competitive testing, while also using it in my everyday Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Oxenfree 2, and Fallout 4 gameplay. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting down all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best wireless gaming keyboards and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best hot-swappable keyboards on the market. Or, for a look at the competition, take a look at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer keyboards available now.

This cyclical regimen should err on the side of tedium – and many times, it does. But Compulsion Games' stunningly rendered world of magic and wonder can be forgiven the sins of its stilted format. Powerful subplots and backstories prove the all-important scaffolding holding it all in place, revealing layers of meticulously researched history, supernatural lore, and Gothic iconography interwoven in a grand tapestry of its own. It goes to show that, while unlikely to become a genre trailblazer, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:South of Midnight shines brightest in its tiniest details.

Spinning a yarn

The world of South of Midnight is a deceptively massive one. Hazel's journey takes her from her Southern hometown of Prospero, into the Abysmal Swamp, across the Delta and the Appalachian Mountains, before landing in a distorted metaphysical realm resembling the swingin' streets of New Orleans – all within 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:a single day.

Instead of being governed by a sense of time ticking away, however, South of Midnight is framed as a storybook. Unseen hands turn the pages as Hazel or her companion, Catfish, bracket each chapter with a brief recap of events, turning the game into a story within a s𒅌tory. Being centered on folklore and urban legends, presenting South of Midnight as one such legend itself sounds clever on paper. In practice, however, it's my greatest gripe.

South of Midnight's chaptered format highlights pacing issues throughout, bringing the player's attention to how much or how little ground is covered in each. I spent five minutes in the fourth chapter compared to roughly two hours i𝐆n the ninth, for example. Since South of Midnight has no side content or collectibles other than lore pages and floofs, many hidden behind short traversal puzzles easily spotted while taking detours, the imbalanced chapter lengths are impossible to ignore or explain away. This is only exacerbated by another pitfall of the storybook framing in how the narrated chapter summaries give far too great an impression of time passing.

South of Midnight takes place within a single day, and a seamless, uninterrupted narrative flow might have squeezed every minute out of it rather than saving all the action for the last four chapters. Consequently, the heavy-handed tutorialization between the first and seventh render them somewhat superfluous. It's the kind of narrative filler you'd expect from a much bigger game, serving to entrench a strict gameplay structure – explore, combat encounter, explore, boss fight, chase sequence – rather than develop Hazel's st𒅌ory in a meaningful way. In fact, it takes eight chapters for the second of South of Midnight's four biomes to be introduced – but thankfully, those eight chapters are an absolute delight to explore.

💖United by a curated artistic vision governing everything from tone to costume and intricately designed monsters with hidden stories to tell, South of Midnight's visual elements are ceaselessly imp😼ressive.

Painstaking amounts of detail went into this 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:reverse-engineered 3D ꦆmodelled world, the stylistic influences of stop motion claymation evident in the environments around Hazel – and Hazel herself, when idle – never disrupting the smooth, 60 frames-per-second experience (though they can be toggled off entirely.) You see the themes of history, pain, catharsis, and magic infusing every aspect, mechanical and decorative, and everything is a metaphor꧒ for something far more harrowing. Decaying shanty houses sit abandoned in the swampy bayou, overgrown and rusted over. Meanwhile, Hazel’s sneering grandmother Bunny lives in a grand old plantation manor, a looming reminder of scars left by the slave trade that never quite healed.

The largely same-y level design feels somewhat simplistic after your fifth chase sequence in a row, but Compulsion's prowess for ܫenvironmental storytelling is what keeps South of Midnight front of mind long after the credits roll. This is a world haunted by pain, but it's also replete with magic. Urban legends and folk stories – "tall tales with hints of truth," as Bunny calls them in a lore page – play a part in forming the fabric of reality. It's t𒈔hrough re-weaving this fabric and unknotting points of Stigma that Hazel heals people of their trauma, reunites lost souls, and brings peace to troubled areas – but first, she has to put 'em up.

Fight and flight

Like any good action-adventure, the relationship between the two elements is an interesting one in South of Midnight. Exploration is carried out separately from combat itself, with each combat encounter taking place in an arena-like clearing identifiable for the floating green health sigil in𝕴 each. You can choose to jump in headfirst, or backtrack and try and find any floofs you might've missed if you'd like to upgrade your spells beforehand. The choice is yours; each biome is essentially one big traversal puzzle where all paths eventually converge.

Traversal itself is a beautiful experience. Each chapter comes furnished with original music, the lyrics often providing clues as to the nature of the crypti☂d or mythic monster you'll face at the end of it. While floating, dashing, and jumping across Prospero, the music may rise and swell to match the momentum of Hazel's 🌜movements, resulting in a beautiful flow state. Your brain switches off as you give into the fluid, platforming goodness, and let yourself get magicked away.

🐻The spells Hazel uses to aid her traversal – push, pull, weave, and summoning her doll companion Crouton – have combat utility, too, though it's safe to say that not all spells are as useful as others. Crouton is one of the game's greatest delights, a cuddly and lumpy little fellow who's as cute as he is ugly. Aside from squeezing into small burrows (to the surprise of many a tea-drinking fox or rabbit) to clear Stigma or gather floof bundles, however, Crouton is little more than a gimmick. I suppose he is just a teddy bear – what other story is there to tell? – but I can't help but feel he poses a missed opportunity outside of possessing enemies mid-cꦓombat.

In truth, South of Midnight's combat could be more complex in general. There's a relatively low skill ceiling, with a simple ability tree to invest floofs in for much-needed powerups. It's possible to fully upgrade all of Haze💙l's spells in a single playthrough, and some of the more advanced upgrad🌠es have me making quick work of enemy hordes within minutes. Pulling a Haint toward me before hammering it with a basic attack binds it up, rendering it immobile and vulnerable and usually taking a single combo to defeat it. I quickly get the hang of how to deal with more complex enemy variants – Larval Haints can have their projectiles thrown back at them, while another that spits a stream of high-damage goo can be baited into attacking its fellow Haints.

It's a shame, then, that the final boss battle consists of nothing but four rounds of Haint attacks interspersed with dodging some AOEs. Compared to the complexity of earlier bosses that each had a unique gameplay quirk to them – Huggin' Molly might be my favorite, closely followed by the Rougarou – ending my South of Midnight journey on such a mi🌳ddling note feels more than a little tone deaf.

Ultimately, 🌺though, I've largely enjoyed myself. South of Midnight is a beautifully packaged, easily-digestible morsel of Southern Gothic mayhem that only stuck in my throat a c﷽ouple of times. It won't move mountains for the horror community, nor does it stray far from the Xbox 360-era action adventure rulebook, but whatever South of Midnight lacks in innovation, it makes up for with unmistakable ambition.

South of M𒈔idnight was 🐭reviewed on Xbox Series X, with a code provided by the publisher.

If you've got a subscription, South of Midnight is available to check out right now. Take a look at our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Xbox Game Pass games for more recommendations!

The ha💞rdware’s all here, we’ve got a gorgeous OLED display returning for another year, a souped up keyboard that feels better than ever, and a slimline chassis to keep everything particularly portable. Under the hood, though, the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 isn’t as potent as the Intel i9-14900HX in previous generation models, and the RTX 5090 wants you to think of its benefits in terms of efficiency rather than brute force.

That’s going to be a tough pill for a lot of players to swallow, and it certainly gives the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming laptops of the previous genꦫeration an extra feather in their caps. This is the first RTX 5090 gaming laptop I’ve tested and, from what I’ve seen so far, this generation feels more like an experiment than the previous. That said, it's an experiment that will benefit gamers lꦕooking for a powerful, portable laptop.

Mobile devices may have hit their current power ceiling, so I can see why Nvidia’s had to get creative with ways to 🌠improve its experience. Considering the Razer Blade 16 I’ve been testing comes in at a whopping $4,499.99, this is one expensive roll of the dice.

A super-thin design

The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer laptops have always been particularly skinny. They’re solid black bricks designed to slot neatly into a backpack and withstand transport with a luxuriously durable build. This is that, but on steroids. At just 0.69-inches thick when closed, the 2025 Razer Blade 16 is just a hair thicker than the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2024 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 - only it’s packing an RTX ♔5090 under the hood instead of tapping out at an RTX 4070. This is truly the first time I’ve used a gaming laptop designed for high-performance gaming on the go.

That thinner frame makes travelling effortless - it’s still a little heftier than other slimline machines at 2.14kg but it’s still easier on the shoulders than 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:last year’s 2.4kg model. It’s a 16-inchꦏ gami🦩ng laptop I can pick up and carry with one hand, and that’s not to be taken for granted at this power level.

The main chassis boasts the same CNC-milled construction with a sand-blasted and anodized matte finish for that classic Razer f♒eel. That’s a luxury you don’t find anywhere else - every Razer laptop I’ve tested has shared the same uniquely tactile surface and of course, there’s zero flexing to be found.

A new thermal hood does extend the base of the 2025 Razer Blade 16 a little, but not beyond the lip of the main chassis. This extended bumper adds new ventilation to the system to help keep those 𓂃powerful components chilled, without adding to the height of the front or rear.

Everything else is as you’d expect it to be. The latest Razer Blade 16 carries a boxy but ultimately subtle aesthetic and that bright green Sneki logo blazes bright in th💮e center of the main lid. There are not garish icons, stamps, or cringey lines of text to deal with - just an understated block of metal hiding some serious power.

Under the hood

Intel is out this generation, with the Razer Blade 16 focusing instead on AMD’s AI-forward processors. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 sits inside my testing unit, with 12 cores and 24 threads to its name,༒ and running at a base 3.3GHz, jumping up to 5.1GHz at the top end. That’s the top spec CPU, but you can also configure the 2025 Razer Blade 16 with the slightly weaker AMD AI 9 365, with 10 cores, 12 threads, and a 5GHz max on the clock.

That CPU is our first sign that Razer is going🃏 for lean efficiency over raw power with the 2025 Razer Blade 16. It’s simply not as powerful as the Intel i9-14900HX you’ll find inside the fastest gaming laptops on the market, instead focusing 🌜its energy on making way for its neural processing to become relevant some day in the near future (it’s not quite there yet, my test system spends very little of its resources on these processes).

It does, however, outperform the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H inside the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Zephyrus G16, though time will tell how this matchup plays out when the newer 275HX model hits my testing bench. Interestingly, the cheaper 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus TUF A14 can ꦛpush that same AMD CPU a little further in PC Mark 10 benchmarks.

Razer’s had to trim its power supply to squeeze everything into that super-thin chassis, with around 155W TGP in the ♔RTX 5090 device. That’s a considerable downgrade compared to the 175W TGP in the RTX 4090 model from last year, and it does make itself known in performance.

The Razer Blade 16 can also be configured with an RTX 5080 or RTX 5070 Ti to bring that final cost down, with either 32GB or 64GB RAM. Razer is shipping the B🀅lade 16 with 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB SSD options.

The numbers

Native framerates in m🥀y testing pool rarely bump above 150fps, and unfortunately sometim🦩es don't reach the heights of the RTX 4090 I tested in last year’s release. Materially, we’re down in core frames-per-second across a couple of benchmarks, which I know is going to lift some eyebrows.

Here’s the kicker, though, I don’t know if chasing framerates further into three-figure territory in lighter titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider is what we need to be doing in the mobile market. This is still a machine capable of running demanding single player games in full resolution super smoothly. It’s disappointing that🍷 we don’t see massive benefits from Nvidia’s latest flagship GPU, yes - but that’s not what the Blade 16 is about.

Here are the numbers, all run without DLSS features and the ‘Performance’ power preset. The RTX 5090 inside the Razer Blade 16 2025 lags behind the RTX 4090 ཧin the pre🐷vious model in both Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Total War: Three Kingdoms; games where native performance means everything without a DLSS helping hand. The machine keeps pace with its predecessor in Returnal.

The 2025 Razer Blade 16 actually fared better in the competit𒆙ion when placed in the QHD+ are🌺na with more demanding games. At the full 1600p, it just about managed to beat the previous generation in Total War: Three Kingdoms and took a much larger lead in Returnal. Shadow of the Tomb Raider still didn’t see any benefits from the newer mobile GPU, though it still stuck close to previous benchmarks.

The RTX 5090 inside the new Razer Blade 16 isn’t a leap in native framerates - at best it just about skirts above the previous generation in a thinner form factor (albeit one with AMD’s AI-focused processor instead of Intel’s i9-14900HX powerhouse). Its pace is still impressive considering its thickness, and it does routinely outperform the super-thin Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 from last year - but the lack of any real push forwards in native speed is going to ruffle some feathers. Of course, I’ve yet to test the GPU inside a larger chassis with a more powerful processor and 🧸higher TGP.

Synthetic benchmarks tell a slightly different story. Here, the new RTX 5090 model stands tall over the previous RTX 4090 in easier Fire Strike tests, though does again bump underneath the older release in Time Spy. Considering it beats the much chunkier 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 9 in harder Steel Nomad runs, thou🔥gh, there's still grunt under this hood.

Let's talk DLSS

Nvidia🐎’s frame generation features have been divisive in the desktop market, that’s putting it lightly - at its worst, it’s been used to mislead on a marketing level. At times it does feel like a get out of jail fr🍒ee card for the brand, especially considering we’re not seeing much of a native leap between generations.

It can artificially speed up your games without requiring a chunky chassis, a big development for slimline gaming laptops - but it also increases latenജcy slightly and adds some distortion effects. For me in the mobile arena, and as a mostly n🧔on-competitive player, though, the tech brings with it a lean approach to making the most out of your games when raw power is always going to be more limited.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a DLSS darlin✃g capable of pushing the new transformer tech to its limits and spitting out some sky-high framerates at the end of it.

With the full ray tracing whack, super resolution at ultra performance, and frame generation toggled, the game was running at an average of 249fps in my testing. That did result in some smaller glitchy details, but I only noticed them appearing around neon signs in-game, which sometimes buzzed on and off. With that super resolution set to max out quality, I was still able to play at 148fps. Without frame generation in play, framerates dropped to the low 40s with this picture-🍃buffing feature enabled.

The 2025 Razer B🐷lade 16’s use of the RTX 5090 feels designed to innovate in form factor rather than power. Native QHD+ framerates are still above the 60fps 𝄹you’d need for a smooth single-player experience, but if you’re chasing revolutionary numbers with every pixel looking as best it can, you’re going to need to get Nvidia’s toys out.

That’s not what everyone wants to hear but, without carting a massive power supply around with you, it’s currently the best way to hit sky-high framerates. Unfortunately, if your games don’t support DLSS features you’re going to be stuck with na✨tive performance - and that presents a strong case for sticking with the previous generation and saving cash.

A more useful experience

Instead of focusing on that raw perfo🌸rmance, the 2025 Razer Blade 16 and RTX 5090 make a bold move. They concentrate more on efficiency and overall experience. It was that focus that had me running to do something I’m loathe to test in gamꦆing laptops; battery life.

These machines are doing a lot in a small package, so it’s easy to understand why they often tap out at around 45 minutes to an hour of choppy gameplay. The 2025 Razer Blade 16 has shrunk its chassis while also boosting battery life at the same time. While the most demanding games didn’t run well without power attached in my te๊sting, lighter titles like Lost Records: Bloom & Rage and Gears Tactics were chugging away for at least a couple of hours before the laptop died. That’s a considerable increase, even if you’ll still (even with DLSS enabled) need to pick and choose your mobile experiences.

Indiana Jones and Theꦰ Great Circle is a hungry game and doesn’t quite jump into the ‘playable’ category on battery power, lagging, stuttering, and requiring some serious downgrades in visual quality to run. However, I was able to tap out in Avowed with a zippy, responsive feel - not bad, considering just a few years ago I’d struggle to get more than five minutes into a light turn-based🤪 RPG without a freeze-up.

Not only that, but the Blade 16 is also one of the quietest gaming laptops I’ve had whirring away next to me. I’ve grown used to ear-splitting fans over the years - I’ve even heard ringing after powering off particularly offensive c🌊ooling systems. Compared to the previous generation, the 2025 Razer Blade 16 is whisper quiet.

That quiet performance, better battery life, and reduced fan noise wouldn’t have been possible without the extra efficiency of the newer mobile GPU. The RTX 5090 is here to round out the laptop experience now that TGP watts are shrinking to make way for more useful laptop experiences. 18-inch chunky behemoths are great for desktop-based play with 💦the option to move around every nowꩲ and then, but most players buy their gaming laptops for portability - and this feels like the first improvement to quality of life that I’ve seen in a long time.

OLED still reigns supreme

One of my favorite things about the previous-generation Razer Blade 16 was its screen, and the same OLED panel has returned in the 2025 iteration. It’s pretty much the exact same display, but considering it’s still the best screen I’ve used on a ⛄gaming laptop to date I’m glad the brand is sticking to its winning formula.

A 16-inch QHD+ panel running at 240Hz could be considered par for the course to the uninitiated, but once you see these colors up close in person it’s obvious that this screen is in a different league. Boasting incredible 🐬vibrancy, almost painfully vivid colors and contrast, and exceptional accuracy, the Blade 16 has both gaming and media editing chops.

An OLED screen means a contrast ratio advert🐟ised at 1M:1, but Razer’s panel also boasts Calman-verified color presets and Nvidia G-Sync 💖built in as well. That’s all great on paper - in real life, it’s breathtaking. The darker scenes of Fallout 4 and Returnal give the OLED’s true-black (and therefore excellent color vibrancy) the best playground, but it was Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered and Avowed’s rusty orange hues that had me particularly impressed.

The former’s wild landscapes offered a cacophony𝓰 of colors, all fine-tuned and beautifully saturated to fill the screen with their own characteristics in tandem. Even the slight coloration differences in Meridian’s stone walls were represented with plenty of detail.

While there’s some glare from that shiny surface, brightness was stܫrong enough to keep most encroaching daylight at bay - though its best workཧ was done at night.

A clear-cut win for laptop keyboards

While the benefits of the new 𒐪GPU are a little more nuanced than we’re used to from the previous generation, the new keyboard is an easy win. Razer has updated its deck with scissor-switches under the hood, offering a larger 1.5mm key travel and 63g of actuation force. They feel fantastic under the fingertips.

Every press offers an incredibly satisfying bounce with just enough tension to feel signꦅificant while remaining energetic in both work and play. The keys themselves are well balanced and placed within easy reach of the main palm rests, with a slightly smaller trackpad staying firmly out of the way when꧙ typing.

There’s a solid attention to detail on this deck as well, with dual-LEDs under each cap ensuring both main and secondary fu🃏nctions are illuminated brightly and evenly. There are a few new additions here, a Copilot key keeps AI assistance close by, while a new strip of macro keys line the right side of the deck.

That means we’ve not got dedicated clickers for simple functions like page up and down, which is partic🔯ularly handy during work hours, as well as toggles for the system’s Game Mode and different performance presets, and a mic mute. These can also be configured to different functions within Synapse, running M1 through M5 for personalized macro inputs.

Razer has also upgraded its audio, with four upward a♈nd two downward firing speakers, most notably spotted flanking each side of the slightly extended keyboard.

Some teething issues

This is a new device with stability updates to come, but there were a few issues in my testing. General everyday performance seemed to slow right down once or twice during use, with the cursor lagging significantly and longer load times even on lighter♔ apps. That was rare, and will likely be ironed out with updates once the Razer Blade 16 hits mass market shelves.

I managed to completely crash it once, when trying to run Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. And I don’t mean just a straight exit to desktop, I mean fans whirring all the way up before the system fully shut off. Again, this is likely the result of newer drivers needi🧸ng some additionaℱl work after launch, but it was surprising enough in a $4K machine to mention here.

Interestingly, all these issues sprung up only on my final day of testing, I should note that the system has been running fine otherwise - I’ve reachedꦬ out to Razer with my concerns an𓄧d will update this review accordingly.

Should you buy the 2025 Razer Blade 16?

The actual Razer Blade 16 of thi💦s new release is blindingly impressive, with its incredible display, super satisfying keyboard, thinner form factor and expansive port selection. The GPU of this release is going to divide the market. It’s not the fix for slimline gaming laptops that I thought it would be - in fact, it’s barely an upgrade over the previous generation in terms of pure native performance.

That said, we do seem to have hit a ceiling in what these mobile cards can do by themselves, and Nvidia’s DLSS additions bring their own unique benefits to the system as a whole. Improved framerates in chunkier games come at the cost of minor visual distractions, but I🍸 only noticed a little artifacting and some buzzing every now and then in my testing. If that’s what it takes to get 20🎃0+ fps in Cyberpunk 2077 while on the go in 2025, then here we are.

There are a number of compounding factors holding the performance of the Blade 16 back, from the lower TGP to the slimmer form factor to the CPU. Ultimately, this is a machine designed for gamers and creators looking for a better overall experience anꦍd have some serious cash to burn on it - the 🅘price doesn’t make sense otherwise.

If you’re looking to splash out on a new machine and want the best look, feel, and quality of life features (screen, keyboard, battery life, and form factor) that I’ve tested so far, you’ll be happy with this model. Think of it more as the same as last year’s but with some key external upgrades. If you’re investing in a performance-first device promising true ne🤪xt-generation power, I’d wait and see what chunkier machines with more powerful proces🌱sors can do with the new generation.

How I tested the Razer Blade 16

I spent just under two weeks with the RTX 5090 Razer Blade 16, using the device for all daily work and play during that time. I tested using both native performance and DLSS features where available, across Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Total War: Three Kingdoms, Returnal, The Talos Principle 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Black Myth Wukong, and Horizon Zero Dawn: Remastered. I also played Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, and Gears Tactics both powered and on battery. I completed synthetic benchmarks across 3D Mark’s Time Spy, Fire Strike, and Steel Nomad, as well as PC Mark 10’s CPU test. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming laptops, check out our full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting down all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Asus gaming laptops and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Alienware laptops available now, or check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming PCs for a more permanent setup.

Naturally, this premium quality comes with a premium price. The Virtuoso Max Wireless costs $329.99 / £280, which is pricier than nearly all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming headsets I’ve come across so far. For console players, particularly those that stick to the PS5 or Nintendo Switch, this price could be a big ask - as while it will bring out the rich and nuanced sounds of any game you through its way, all its customization, including its sound and lighting, relies on having access to software like iCue and the Dolb꧙y Atmos which are unique to PC and Mac platforms.

If you’re mainly in the market for a PC headset, and you don’t mind giving up tailoring your audio and lighting setup when switching to consoles, this is one of nicest that will grace your head. Sure, it’s also one of the heaviest, and the lackluster🐻 foam padding doesn’t do much to combat that. But the mild aches and pains are easy to forget when you hear and see all that the Corsair Virtuoso Max wireless headset has to offer.

Key specs

Design

It’s difficult not to get carried away when yapping on about the design of the Virtuoso Max Wireless headset. For this review, I was provided with the White SKU, and as soon as I got my hands on it, I couldn’t help but grin at the sight of its sleek, sophisticated appearance. This is mostly due to its hard-to-miss shining metal cups and yoke, which make this headset stand out from the plastic chassis of other PC headsets I’ve had across my testing bench.

Even the top of the yoke looks monumentally classy thanks to its Corsair embossed logo, which is almost as reflective as its LEDs are bright. The sleek design continues as the yoke attaches to the light gray leather headband, which features the Corsair text logo subtly engraved across it. It feels a bit silly getting this worked up over the look of a gaming headset, but it was refreshing to only test a White headset, but one that has such a robust chassis.

The high-quality build of the Virtuoso Max impressed me down to the gleaming metal cups, patterned control wheels, USB-C detachable microphone, and the match꧑ing light gray cushioned headband and ear cushions. Even the onboard controls don’t feel intrusive and contribute to the professional appearance by ꦦremaining tucked away on the bottom of either cup - which includes the wireless mode switch, USB-C mic port, action switch, custom button, and USB-C port for charging.

All of this fanning over the headset’s look was before I even flicked it on, which only ce♉mented it as one of my favorite gaming headsets in looks alone. The six individual rings of both cups light up white one by one, simulating the initial flickering of an overhead office light. Even without customizing them through iCue, these rings felt like a monumental step up from the Corsair Virutuoso RGB Wireless headset, which instead opts for customizable Corsair logos. The Virtuoso Max did take away one thing from its RGB counterpart, and that was the small LED ring on the detachable microphone, which adds an extra bit of flashy flair to an already great-looking bit of tech.

The LED on the microphone will light up red if you’ve purposefully (or accidentally) pressed the mute mic button. This LED-lit classy aesthetic is even represented on the accompanying 2.4GHz wireless dongle. The dongle has a Corsair logo, which will light up white when in use and light up red when it’s connected but the headset isn’t turned on, in case you need a little reminder.

This high-end premium design does come at a cost, and I’m not just meaning it’s brow-raising $330 MSPR. This is a heavy headset, and its tight clamping force doesn’t help in making it a more comfortable experience. I found myself regularly moving it across different areas of my head every half hour to help with blood flow and give my skul꧑l some relief. For me, it’s array of high-quality features make it a small price to pay, but if you have an especially sens🥂itive head or are prone to migraines, you may want to stick to a lighter headset alternative.

Features

The features of the Virtuoso Max are vast, but one of the first things I noticed during my early time testing the headset was its unique onboard controls. It has all you would expect of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best wireless headsets, including a ‘wireless mode switch’ that also acts as the power button. With simultaneous Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless, pushing this forward will not only turn the headset on but have you instantly connected should the 2.4GHz dongle be plugged into your PC or PS5. Holding the switch further another notch will activate Bluetooth pairing mode, and it is one of the fastest I’ve ever witnessed. Whether it was hooking the headset up to my Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch, both handhelds recognized the Bluetooth in seconds. Yet, it was the volume control wheel that really drew my attention.

Just to the side of the wireless mode switch, there’s an engraved metal pattern along the entire outer cup. This isn’t just for show and is there to give you a bit of grit as you turn the makeshift ear-wheel to control the volume. This volume wheel is one of my favorite aspects of the headset, as it feels far more convenient than feeling for any volume controls, which can often be small and hard to find on other headsets. It’s also incredibly smooth and satisfying to turn, and even after my two weeks of testing, I still feel like I’m on the set of a Kubrick sci-fi film whenever I use it to control my PS5 or PC’s system volume.

The rest of the left ear cup is home to a USB-C port for the detachable microphone. Cleverly, Corsair opted out of busying up the left side of the headset with more buttons and instead placed the mute mic on the bottom edge of the mic itself. This is noticeable the second you connect the two, as is the strong wired boom arm, which is one of the most robust I’ve used. Rather than the mic flopping around in your peripheral vision, which I experienced with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:OXS Storm G2 wireless headset, the Virutoso Max mic stays exac⛦tly where you put it.

On the opposite cup, you can find the custom button, which is used to turn on (and off) ANC if you hold it down for a few seconds, along with the action switch. The action switch ended up becoming one of my favorite controls on the headset, namely as it lets you skip music tracks in apps like Spotify - something I do far too often. Now, instead of begrudgingly having to make the effort to open Spotify on my phone or on my PC to skip a few tracks, I could just flick it back and forth and save myself some valuable time. The USB-C port for charging sits just under this button on the right cup, and its wheel can also be used to adjust your microphone’s audio monitoring.

The features of the Virtuoso Max don’t just shine where its onboard controls are concerned, but it’s also decked out with customization in both sound and lighting. By downloading Corsair’s iCue software, you can make some little tweaks to the headset’s lighting brightness, turn on and off its ANC, assign whether each wheel adjusts the system or Bluetooth volume when turned, enable or disable voice prompts, disable the mic’s LED, turn up the mic’s gain or just glance at the remaining battery of the headset instead.

iCue is typically a bit of a tedious and frustrating-to-use bit of proprietary software, and that doesn’t change with the Virtuoso Max. But the fact I was able to actually change the image of the headset to the white SKU I was testing in the review was a nice added detail that made me appreciate iCue more this time around. Fortunately, changing the headset’s lighting was also straightforward, and just like with the 澳洲幸运5开ꩵ奖号码历史查询:Corsair K65 Pro Mini RGB gaming keyboard, yo꧂u have a range of lighting effects to utilize, from the bright blues of the “watercolor” lighting type to the more gamerified-looking “spiral rainbow.” For a nice added touch, you can set both cups to use the same effects or assign them individually, but for the most part, I stuck with the default white as they kept up the professional office look of white headset.

More importantly, it’s via iCue that you’re introduced to the first set of audio features. Through the app, you can use an equalizer to switch between different audio presets, create your own, or adjust your mic sidetone. iCue also contains a ‘SoundID Personalization’ feature, which provides you with an audio test to create a more personalized sound for your games. The next set of audio features comes through the Dolby Atmos app, which you have to download separately. You can select from a similar range of audio presets, which include game, movie, music, and voice modes, along with three custom slots to create your own personalised audio. Each mode comes with a range of audio settings to choose from, ranging from a detailed, balanced, or warm pre🍬-sets. Naturally, as a gaming headset, the game mode also has an extra performance setting that is designed for competitive games in particular.

Performance

This headset is, by large, a PC gaming headset. It’s compatible with the PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox consoles (if you have the Xbox designed version), but its performance lends itself to the platform. This is primarily due to the fact that if you want to customize the sound, you need to use Corsair’s iCue software or the Dolby Atmos app - neither of which you can access while playing your PS5, Nintendo Switch, or Steam Deck, which I also used for testing.

That’s not to say it doesn’t sound great when paired with Sony’s current-gen console. I tested the Virutuoso Max wireless gaming headset while playing hours upon hours of Marvel Rivals, Sea of Thieves, Phasmahobia, and my still ongoing adventures with Unicorn Overlord. At first, even at full volume, the headset was pretty quiet on the PS5, but this was easily remedied by ensuring I had downloaded the latest firmware update through iCue. Afterwards, the low, mid and high range levels of each game’s soundscape sounded more full and pulled forward, which was ideal as I like my game audio loud and in-your-face.

Galacta’s high-energy narration in Marvel Rivals sounded as clear as day through the cups, and the triumphant score of the competitive hero shooter𓆏 sounded fairly balanced. It was missing that boomy bass, but without an app version of iCue at my disposal, there wasn’t much I could do to fix that. This would be a common theme no matter what PS5 game I played - and while nothing ever sounded bad in any way, I can’t help but wish there was an easy way𒊎 to play around with iCue’s audio features on my Sony console. Fortunately, at least, with the Dolby Atmos options turned on through the PS5’s audio settings, I was able to witness the headset’s spatial audio through Sea of Thieves for the first time - which does wonders for Rare’s swashbuckling masterpiece.

Again, I didn’t have the full options as per the PC Dolby Atmos app, but I could still feel like I was truly below deck in my 2-manned sloop, as the creaking of the ship sounded like it was permeating all around me. This was even better on the PC, where not only I still had access to my pirate and my ship thanks to Rare’s cross-progression, but I also had access to the various audio presets through the Dolby Atmos app which made the Sea of Thieves audio design, and stunning ost by Robin Beanland sound more full-bodied.

Of course, on PC I also had the iCue audio settings to play around with. But no matter if I tried out ‘Bass Boost’ or ‘FPS Competition, they never sounded like they lifted the audio in any positive way. The audio presets in the Dolby Atmos app, however, were fun to play around with - and I got a lot of use out of the ‘detailed’ and ‘balanced’ options found within the movie mode despite it being designed with watching media in mind. These options also lend themselves to shooters like Counter-Strike 2, which I tested out primarily when it came to putting the Virutuoxo Max through its paces on PC.

Keep in mind, I’m alright at hero shooters. When testing on the PS5, the headset’s clear and detailed soundscape made it easier to hide away from any approaching rival team members while I lurked around as Cloak and Dagger, my new Marvel Rivals main character. However, it’s been a while since I had the edge in a competitive FPS like Counter-Strike 2. That being said, being able to place the enemy team around me and hear their footsteps, which were easy to make out through the high-quality custom 50mm graphene audio drivers, made me actually enjoy an online FPS. In fact, I even alluded to the fact that I want to play even more CS2 to the delight of my partner, when it’s not typically my online game of choice.

I also used the headset when playing the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck, and the higher-end of the Virtuoso Max’s sound lent itself to games like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Sunshine, which I played via Super Mario 3D Allstars. On the Steam Deck, I tested the headset while playing A Highland Song and was able to mater the music rhythm segments thanks to not just the high-quality Bluetooth connection but also the audio excellence coming from the cups - even without iCue or the Dolby Atmos app by my side.

The audio of the Virtuoxo Max, and its various audio customizations isn’t the only thing it has going for it. The detachable microphone was also a joy to use and is one of the best microphones I’ve used in a headset to date. Just like the high-quality mic of headsets like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer BlackShark V2 Pro or the SteelSeries෴ Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, the mic of this headset made my voice sound crystal clear. That’s even when frantically shouting as I was left behind in a derelict spooky house in Phasmophobia, the quality of the mic remained intact.

Where the headset didn’t dazzle and amaze me, however, was when I got down to its weight. Even after the first 30 minutes of using the Virtuoso Max I had to adjust where the 417g headband was sitting on my head to relieve some pressure. Sure, it’s padded, but it’s not the sof𒐪test foam, and it feels pretty rigid compared to what you want in a premium headset, especially one of the most expensive headsets at that. Luckily, I never experienced any pain around my ears despite the equally rigid feeling of the padded foam cups. I put this down to the fact they’re large enough that even my huge ears always felt enclosed and tucked away, and actually this was a benefit when the ANC was turned on as I truly couldn’t hear anything else going on around me.

Should you buy the Corsair Virtuoso Max Wireless?

The Corsair Virtuoxo Max wireless high-fidelity gaming headset is not a budget-friendly pair of cups, and I firmly believe any gaming big of tech that isn’t a console should be given extra scrutiny when it sits above the $300 price threshold. That being said, its high-end price feels almost entirely justified given the full magnitude of features and quality on display with this headset - from its robust metal chassis, its high-quality audio and multi-platform compatibility.

For PC and multi-platform players, this headset is an easy recommendation. Sure, PC players will get the most out of it as it relies on software like iCue and Dolby Atmos for audio and lighting customization. Yet, even without bringing out the extra booming qualities of the headsets bass, and turning its cups into a dazzling light show, it’ll still make your PS5, Nintendo Switch, and even Steam Deck games sound sublime.

For those who prioritize battery life, and want access to audio customization without just having to use your PC, an alternative like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史😼查询:SteelSꦓeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset would better suit your needs. It also has a similar ꦯMSRP of over $300, but if you’re lucky, you can find it discounted during Black Friday, and other big sales events. Unlike Corsair, SteelSeries’s free app means you can tailor t꧟he audio with your phone, and it’s hot swappable batteries will go further than the up to 60 hours of the Virtuoso Max wireless headset.

How I tested the Corsair Virtuoso Max Wireless

I spent over two weeks testing Corsair Virtuoso Max Wireless where it became my𒊎 go-to device day in and day out. During that time, I ran the premium pair of cups through a gaming gauntlet of hours upon hours of Sea of Thieves, Marvel Rivals, Counter-Strike 2, and some Fortnite and Stardew Valley for good measuꦇre. I also tested it out with the Nintendo Switch to play games like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Sunshine through Super Mario 3D All-Stars and while playing A Highland Song on the Steam Deck.

When not gaming, I used the Virtuoso Max Wireless to watch the finale of Severance season two, along with a plethora of TV shows on streaming platforms from Apple TV to Netflix. I also listened to playlist upon playlist on Spotify, testing it with the 90s alt stylings of the Lost Records game soundtrack, a bit too much Fleetwood Mac and a range of bands and artists to see hope it coped with a range of different genres. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming headsets, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

If the Corsair Virtuoso Max isn’t the right fit, check out our guides to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best PS5 headsets, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Nintendo Switch headsets, and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Xbox Series X headsets to find the perfect pair of cups for your favorite console.

I’m not thrilled about the Razer Handheld dock’s $79.99 MSRP. It’s not a monstrously expensive澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: Steam Deck accessory; options like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:BenQ GR10 will set you back just under $100. But that s༺pecific docking sta🍬tion at least invests in HDMI 2.1 and faster USB ports, whereas with the new Chroma-clad add-on, you’re getting largely the same specs as the Baseus 6-in-1 and an uncanny adjustable cradle to boot.

Of course, copying homework in this instance is a good thing, and it helps Razer’s 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Steam Deck dock entry get a lot right. Incorporating adjustability is pretty wise seeing as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Steam Deck OLED isn’t the only handheld on the block these days. Plus, the accessory maker has actually avoided🧔 some elements that annoy me with popular docking stations by Jsaux and other brands, even if I’m slightly underwhelmed by the add-on🎀 overall.

Design

Out of the box, the Razer Handheld Dock looks like an unassuming black box. I could easily mix it up with an old portable HDD, and you’ll have to squint to make out the embossed snake logo and brand name on the front plastic. That’s actually pretty in keeping with other gadgets by the accesso♛ry maker, as everything else aesthetically takes 🦄a back seat to help the integrated RGB lighting stand out.

The aforementioned RGB is hidden within a tiny trench at the bottom and underneath a diffusing strip. The approach means you’re not going to see any bare LEDs and the illumination is designed to coat the surface of your gaming desk with color rather than assault your eyeballs. It’s not the only dock that features those sensibilities, as the Jsaux RGB Docking Station uses ꦦthe same approach, but the transparent version I have doesn’t look quite as elegant since you can see diodes within.

Unlike most of Jsaux’s docking stations, the Razer Handhel💙d Dock keeps all its ports around the back, including Ethernet. That frees up ওthe sides so that you don’t have cables flanking the hub and cramping your tidy desk setup, but it does mean you won’t have easy side access to USB for wired controllers and other ad-hoc accessories. Most of you will likely be using Bluetooth gamepads with your handheld anyway, and nothing is stopping you from leaving a cable for that purpose plugged in.

You’ll also find the angled USB-C cable around the rear, molded into the center of the plastic shell. Razer has somewhat missed a trick by not including somewhere to rest the wire when it’s not in use, as it’ll sort of ❀just hang around like a tail. You can just feed it through the side opening and tuck it away, but this isn’t quite as nice as the dummy port provided with the Baseus model and BenQ’s dedicated channel for easy storage.

As for overall build quality, the Razer Handheld Dock is solid.🎀 It largely uses plastic to house its hub innards, but the adjustable cradle is aluminum covered in a surface-wide rubber pad. I’m thankful that there’s no exposed metal with this docking station, as you’d be surprised how many options have sharp edges that almost make contact with your device’s screen.

That said, Razer’s choice of textured matte plastic marks pretty♌ easily. Despite being fairly careful with the dock during use, I can see rub marks on the front of the accessory already, and I can imagine it’ll start to look a little rougher if you th🌜row it into a backpack consistently. Not ideal, but it shouldn’t be a huge issue if it primarily lives on your desk.

Features

It’s safe to say the whole point of picking up the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma is for its RGB abilities, and they’re definitely a cut above the competition. Just like other accessories by the brand, the gadget can pair up with Synapse, meaning you can sync all your accessories together in perfect harmony. That does only apply if you’re using it with a Windows 11 handheld like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lenovo Legion Go S,🥃 though, ♉so keep that in mind if you’ve got a Steam Deck.

If you are firmly on team Valve you’ll be able to cycle through color options using the right-hand button. That’ll let you pick from various patterns and pallets, but you’ll have to go through them individually rather than having an on-screen way to browse. If you want the full Chroma customization experience, you’ll want to use a Windows 11 gaming handheld, as you’ll get the full shebang ꦬon there.

In fact, you’re actually getting more than just Synapse and Chroma with the Handheld Dock, as the peripheral maker is boldly trying to tackle easily launching games on Microsoft’s OS. The software suite is similar to what’s included in the Android 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Edge, and it🐎’s more or less a launcher that doesn’t need the docking statio♉n exclusively to provide a console-like UI.

On the more physical side of things, you’ve got the Handheld Dock’s adjustable cradle. The large hinged panel can pivot to accommodate practically any portable PC you can think of. That includes unconventional devices like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ayaneo Flip DS, although that 3DS-inspired ma🧔chine does push the docking station to its limits. The thickest gadget most players ܫare going to be perching on this hub is something like the OG Lenovo Legion Go, but at least there’s plenty of wiggle room for newcomers in the future.

Performance

There are a few fundamentals when testing accessories like the Razer Handheld Dock, the first being whether it can reliable and consistently provide instant connectivity. I’m pleased, but not exactly surprised, to confirm that it will beam video output to your 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming monitor and connect to your peripherals at full speed without a hitch, all while keeping yourౠ handheld of choice changed with 100W Power Delivery. It’s a low bar, but you’d be surprised how many cheapie Steam Deck docks out there trip up when plugged in.

It’s worth reaffirming that the Razer Handheld Dock sticks with HDMI 2.1, so it sadly won’t help you hit 4K 120Hz. Instead, you’ll be locked to the same 60Hz refresh rate that most other Steam Deck docking stations provide, as the BenQ GR10 is still one of the only options out there that’ll do that. If you venture into laptop hub territory, or pick up something with DisplayPort 1.4, you’ll be able to ramp things up, but that’s not going to be so handy when connecting to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming TV contenders that support upwards of 144Hz.

Admittedly, if you own a Steam Deck or the new Lenovo 🌺Legion Go S specifically, you might not have much use for 4K 120Hz anyway. The Razer Handheld Dock is naturally only going to output what your portable is capable of, and even lightweight outings like my indie favorite of the year, FlyKnight, are taxing. The latter is actually weirdly running at 20fps since it looks like Runescape-inspired 2000s Soulsborne vapourware, but it demonstrates why HDMI 2.1 is really only beneficial when you have a beefier device.

A game that really helps all Steam Deck docks shine is Tomb Raider Trilogy Remastered, as 𓆏it’ll easily run at 4K 60Hz. The Razer Handheld Dock isn’t doing anything above and beyond when handling Lara’s revamped romp, but it’ll still serve as a way to play lighter outings like this like you would on a console. Plus, you’re getting some fabulous RGB lighting to boot, which helps the pairing feel more like a spectacle than other 💛hubs out there.

What I am sort of disappointed with is Razer’s Cortex integration. I act🐼ually think the management suite has a lot of potential since it’s far better than Legion Space. But, I couldn’t get the overlay to auto-launch when plugged into the Handheld Dock, and that feels like something that’d mak🌃e all the difference. Being able to just pop a Windows handheld on the cradle, pick up a controller, and easily browse my installed games through the app is what would have sold me on this setup, and I’m hoping updates will provide the console convenience I’m craving in the future.

Should you buy the Razer Handheld Dock?

It’s one of the nicest looking docking station🏅s out there for Steam Deck, but the Razer Handheld Dock isn’t a game changer. It’s largely singing from the same sheet as some of my other go-to USB-C solutions out there, and while it gets quite a lot right by doing that, I am slightly underwh𒆙elmed by what this $80 accessory has to offer.

If Razer can better integrate Cortex functionality between Windows 11 handhelds and its Handheld Dock, I do thin♊k the peripheral maker could be onto something. Otherwise, it risks only really catering to RGB fans with this add-on rather than Steam Deck and portable PC players looking for premium functionality and an enhanced experience.

How I tested the Razer Handheld Dock

Fꦛor two weeks, I used the Razer Handheld Dock as my main way to hook up the Steam Deck and other handhelds to external screens and peripherals. During that time, I used Valve’s device alongside the Lenovo Legion Go S to test SteamOS and Windows 11 compatibility while running games like Tomb Raider Trilogy Remastered, FlyKnight🎃, and Signals. I also assessed the dock’s RGB abilities compared to rivals by Jsaux while exploring how the accessory maker’s Synapse and Cortex further benefit the experience.

For more information on how we tes✃t Steam Deck do🌟cks and other accessories, check out our full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

"It's up to you" is the philosophy at the heart of Atomfall. Once you exit the bunker, leaving a grateful/dead scientist behind you (but not a Gratꩵeful Dead scientist), you have no guidance on what to do next. No on-screen text providing instruction, no waypoint telling you where to go, and no NPC imploring you to follow them. This is an alternate-reality 1960s rural England, where the (very real) 1957 Windscale nuclear accident was something much, much worse that necessitated a quarantine zone, trapping hundreds of people inside. Eventually, you might be able to piece together exactly what happened, and why. For now, all you can do is pick a direction and start walking.

Atom and Eve

You might have seen Atomfall d𝔍escribed as a brutal experience with a complete lack of hand-holding, and it is – if you want it to be. There's a wealth of accessibility settings on offer – a welcome sign of a game that is happy for you to blur the edges of its strong artistic vision, if that helps to make you feel welcome – and by choosing from one of the pre-baked difficulties or tweaking individual gameplay modifiers,🃏 you can mold things to your liking.

If you find that resources are too rare or too plentiful, that combat is too harsh or too easy, or that map navigation is frustratingly obtuse or provides too much guidance, you can adjust all, some, or none of these elements as you please. I don't mind admitting that my sweet spot includes waypoints for quest objectives, because even with this element, actually finding quests still requires some work on my part.

There is no chain of quests to follow until you hit the credits. That NPC with a funny mustache, that note on a corpse, or that bit of paper nailed to a tree might provide a lead. Follow that lead, and you'll soon find yourself on a quest, although 'quest' may not feel like the right word. Sometimes, the greatest compliment you can give a game is that it doesn't feel like a game, and this is often true of Atomfall.

So long as you're not trespassing on their territory, enemies will tend to warn you off getting too close before attacking. It's possible – likely, in fact – that you will stumble on places and objects relevant to a lead you haven't discovered yet due to the open nature of the environment. You're exploring, and existing in, a place with plenty to discover; but how and when you make sense of much of it is down to a combination of coincidence aꦰnd investigation. Curiosity is very much encouraged. It may have killed the cat, but felines' lack of opposable thumbs🐽 mean they can't wield maces and an array of other brutal weapons quite like we can. Your nosiness drives everything forward.

The interconnected open world maps, taken as a whole, make up an area significantly smaller than most open world games of recent years. But this 'less is more' philosophy works to the game's benefit. There's no sense of filler. Sure, there are fields with little or nothing in them, but they're always small and close to something new to be discovered. Similarly, the mutated 'ferals' are used sparingly. Rather than being thrown at you regularly, these creatures are rare and only ♉pre🦄sent in dark areas, making their appearances meaningful and cause for genuine caution.

UK, hun?

You may take a look at this and say 'So it's British Fallout'. A reasonable assumption, but no, in large part because Atomfall does so many things differently from Bethesda's franchise (and many other games). There's no XP for example, and 🌞no linear skill tree. Skill points are collectibles identified as Training Stimulants, and they're almost never given as a reward for quest completion. Like e💞verything else in Atomfall it's all about following what interests you rather than grinding anything out – skills, crafting recipes, they're all collectibles you have to uncover and then have to actually use to properly 'learn' them.

The freedom gifted to you in terms of where you can go and what you can do means that everybody will have a unique experience. The freeform approach feels incredibly unique, like little else I've played. Moreover, while Atomfall doesn't consistently lean heavily into humor, you'll have plenty of laughs before the end. This might be when you see a handwritten sign telling you to "piss off", or when an outlaw says "let's not have a barney". Mostly though, it's when you put together pieces that the developers have mischℱievously left out for you to play with, or when you create your own headcanon.

The village near your starting point is a goldmine for this stuff (I stole all of the toilet rolls from the pub for crafting materials, and I consider it the most evil thing I've done in any playthrough). One of my favourite examples is the murder investigation I embarked upon when stumbling onto a body. When I uncovered the murderer, I was asked to 'take care' of him. Instead, I decided to spare his life for a new lead and extra goodies… then I killed him anyway so I could double-dip on rewards from the original quest-giver. Later, I performed a triple cross by reve🍃aling the murder to somebody I'd been begged to hide it from for yet more benefits.

In truth, this is the lead with the most complex possibilities (that I've found, at least), but there are plenty of opportunities to work with two competing leads or characters simultaneously before committing to one. You can kill anybody - anybody - in this game, and things have been carefully designed so that there are often multiple ways to achieve objectives or discover leads. I appreciate that, but I also appreciate the fact that I was able to kill a bunch of enemies guarding some greenhouses and then eat all of their tomatoes just because.

Fission for compliments

It took meꦯ 15 hours to see my first ending. Thanks to the magic of multiple save files, after 22 hours, I'd seen five of the possible six (and I'm still trying 🍒to work out how to get that final one). That may sound swift for an open world game, but there are some important things to consider.

Firstly, the relatively brief playtime is absolutely to Atomfall's benefit, and ensures that things never become tedious. Secondly, I didn't lean into the most hardcore elements of combat and exploration, which could probably double those figures if going 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Stalker 2 mode is something that appeals to you. Thirdly, I've started a fresh playthrough, and alre🍌ady discovered plenty of fresh threads to pull at that tease a whole other route I could use to make it through the game.

Once my original playtime was marching comfortably into double figures, I was start♓ing to wish for fast travel (or at least, a bicycle), given the amount I was travelling backwards and forwards across the maps. The heartbeat management aspect didn't help. The more you physically exert yourself through running, climbing, or prolonged combat, the more your heart rate goes up.

Weapons be🌟come more difficult to handle, and eventually there's the threat of blacking out. This was never actually a problem in combat for me – I managed it quite well – but it did mean that I couldn't run everywhere at top speed on my way to the next objective (come on, admit it, you do it too). An occasional annoyance, but never something that stopped me enjoying myself.

Although Atomfall's marketing uses the word 'survival', this is slightly misleading. You restore health through found and crafted items, you'll find yourself grabbing every random item you find for materials, ammo can be scarce, and weapons can be upgraded. But there's no base building, no hunger or thirst meters, no need to sleep, and💜 no weapons that break if an enemy stares at them too hard. And that's 🧜exactly the way it should be, because it gives the world of Atomfall an edge while allowing it to remain a joy to explore.

Atomfall was reviewed on PS5, with a code provided by꧟ the pu🐼blisher.

Atomfall is a hard game to pin down. For the devs, "we like to think of it as X-Files in the Cold War Lake District"

First the positives. inZOI's character creation tool is something fans have been very excited about, and for good reason. Every item of clothing can be customized with your own textures, patterns and designs, and unrestricted color palettes come as standard. Wit𒈔h so many points to be grabbed and changed, building a Zoi feels like sculpting a masterpiece. (As with almost any character creator, inZOI still struggles with plus-size bodies, and there are almost no concessions for disability aids – but the team have made it clear they are listening to feedback and new features will be implemented as a result.)

Once I'd spent the customary hour-and-a-half creating my Zoi, marveling at the potential for self-expression, I spent another couple of hours building and designing them a home. The controls felt alien but intuitive; like learning how to paint for the first time as someone guides your hand. Features that in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:games like The Sims are available through hacks or mods, are integrated beautifully into the interface, from creating your own meshes to toggling free-placing of iteꦬms. Concepts like snap-roofing and adjusting walls still feel a little clumsy, but the bones of something bordering on design perfection are here already.

You can zoom out from your house and manage the city as a whole, too. You're able to control the 'Karma' of residents, the frequency of traffic, how clean the streets are, wh💟at kind of flowers bloom there. You're a town planner alongside your role as a Zoi-directing deity.

If you want to create things with unrivalled freedom, this game does it best, even now in Early Access. But the problem with inZOI is twofold. One, despite the director saying he doesn't see the game as a Sims rival, people will compare the two 🥂with good reason, which already sets the expectation. And two: in taking clear inspiration from The Sims, a series that has already been stripped of much of its original personality, inZOI misses the point of what makes these games fun. The Sims was once a tongue-in-cheek satire, full of quirks where absolute chaos reigned, and is now a sterile plaything laden with expansion packs and bloat. It's still fun, even as a pale imitation of its former self, yet inZOI has seemingly tried to replicate many of its weakest elements.

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Sims 4 is little more than an interior design program for me now. Build houses, decorate them, play the actual game for five minutes and get bored. 🦂That's the routine. And it concerns me that for all inZOI's incredible visuals and myriad unique design tools, it currently does little to entice players into the "playing with life" element.

Simulating but not stimulating

When the hours of building fun were over, it was time to give my Zois – a married couple – their first taste of life. The start of a happy family in this brave new world. Full of promise, I d🐭irect my Zoi to hug their husband, but she's instantly rebuffed. Even married Zois start off with an entirely neutral relationship, they barely know each other at all.

I try to speedrun intimacy with my husband, using a strange dialꦅogue system that is largely devoid of warmth, and we accidentally become business partners. I give up on him for a bit and go to t🌸he park.

Traveling involves your Zoi taking the subway, a sweet detail which does make the city feel more real, but once she arrives at the park, the lifelessness of inZoi begins to bubble up again. A Zoi's rigid autonomy can be fairly disabling. She refuses to hold a meaningful conversation with anyone else. She won't use the easels to paint, just deleting it from her queue. She won't really do anything until I send her to take a selfie. She takes one, but there's♏ no way to view it. Defeated, I send her home.

Five minutes after arriving, with her 'need' bars fully satiated, my Zoi keels over and dies. She'd been alive for a grand total of 4 in-game hours. The game doesn't tell me why she'd died, but gives me an option to "go back in time", which I gratefully take, only for her to die again and again. There's nothℱing I can do. Multiple hours of carefully curating the perfect characters and home, devastated in minutes.

I make new Zois and this time, they live long enough t🎶o find jobs – one an assistant professor and one a code developer. Unfortunatel💃y, the jobs are just rabbit holes, you sit and stare at the screen while they complete a full work day, and even bumping the speed up to max takes an eternity.

Once they get home you can eat, work out, or sleep. You can pick up a hobby, or make a baby, or meet someone new. There are options, but none of them feel particularly enticing. Your Zois soullessly meander around engaging in whatever action you've ordered with minimal personality or flair, and then stop. That's it. They also can't multitask and often get stuck in weird situations as a result. After visiting a restaurant ꧅my Zoi begin wandering the streets with about 10 other Zois al🐠l carrying plates of rotten food because they can't work out where to put them. It's quite eerie.

It's worth remembering that inZOI will only be launching in Steam Early Access and perhaps once it's been around as long as The Sims, we'll have a better overall game. It's not that inZOI is bad, but more that it proꦉmises so much and currently falls so short. With all the city management elements and lack of meaningful intera💃ction between Zois, inZOI sometimes feels more like Cities Skylines with an avatar than a true life sim.

For all of its charms as a robust and creative design tool that allows you to build eerily realistic people and place them in idyllic homes, what Zois deem as "living" i🌸s demonstrably lacking in life. inZOI in its current state feels like a soulless imitation of the worst parts of The Sims, 🐓and no amount of custom patterned sweaters will fix that.

inZOI was reviewed on PC, with a code provided by the publisher

At $299.99 / £299.99 this is among the most expensive gaming keyboards I’ve ever tested, matched only by Mountain’s modular Everest Max. It’s $80 more than the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming keyboard on the market, the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3, and drops the additional customization of Hall effect switches. That price is $50 more than the similarly hot-swappable Asus ROG Azoth, with a fraction of the battery life. Razer has a fight on its hands here, and only very few players are going to lift the trophy for theღ BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%.

Design

The Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% packs all your necessary controls into a Goldilocks 75% layout. There’s a reason this form factor has become so popular in recent years, without squeezing the alphanumeric keys and dropping function and navigation options, the BlackWidow can stay compact enough for wider mouse sweeps while still providing plenty of breathing space on the deck itself. Everything is beautifully well balanced, from the key spacing to the viewing angle on the OLED display occupying the top right corner, making for a particularly precise typing and gaming experience. Everything is slightly more spread out than the previous iteration, with the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer BlackWidow V4 75% dropping space between the main deck and the navigation / arrow 𒅌keys on the right.

Doubleshot PBT keycaps feel particularly sturdy under the fingertips. Razer is well known for the quality of its caps, and the brand has busted out its best for the BlackWidow. There’s a fantastiꦇc sense of grip to these toppers, with just enough texture to feel satisfying without impeding speedy movement across the deck. They also provide particularly vivid shinethro🍸ugh for the LEDs underneath.

The main chassis is constructed from an aluminum alloy top case with a plastic underside to the rear. That’s a solid enough material for longer-term durability, but it’s not quite as premium-feeling as the cold, hard metal of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Azoth’s top. The difference isn’t felt during everyday typing or tapping away in-game, but the BlackWidow did flex considerably under harder pressure, which is a🎀 little disappointing for a $300 deck.

I also noticed that dreaded space bar ping returning to▨ my setup. The last few years have seen gaming hardware brands packing their keyboarꦉds with the same kind of sound-dampening, echo-absorbing foam and mounts that custom decks pioneered back in the day.

The Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% does a similar job, with Poron gasket mounting and a single layer of foam underneath the main plate, but it’s not enough to💦 keep those twangs out of my ears. It’s bꩵeen a long time since I’ve heard it, and it’s just as difficult to ignore as it was when mechanical keyboards were in their heyday.

The Azoth triples the amount of dampening foam under the hood for a much softer sound. I should note that this ping is in no way extended across the board - for the most part, every key other than the space bar bottoms out with a crisp clack, it’s just that pesky l⭕ong fella. While sometimes a little pingy, these larger keys are well stabilized with barely any wobble.

Two feet extend from the bottom plank to provide a little elevation, but this is also a wedge-shaped c🎶ase design that packs extra height as well. This is a comfortable typing experience as a result, and while I did find the wrist 💫rest to be a little too high compared to the keys it’s exceptionally plush and sinks down with plenty of support.

That aforementioned RGB lighting is crisp and bold, offering its range of effects with a premium feeling of precision and clarity. There’s a considerable amount of power behind these LEDs for a bright, dynamic light show around the edges of the keys. Unfortunately, some longer legends suffer from a lack of uniformity in their underglow, which is particularly noticeable on the ‘Enter’ cap. This per-key RGB lighting is also accompanied by the slick side strip that I loved on the full-sized 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro for some extra style as well.

Features

Underneath those lovꦓely keycaps you’ll find a set of Razer’s third-generat🦋ion mechanical switches - orange ones, to be precise. These are the same clickers I used in the previous release, with a 3.5mm travel and 50g of actuation force. The entire deck is hot-swappable, though, with three and five-pin switch sockets and the process of switching out these clickers is smooth and easy with no stuck or bent pins.

Of course, if you just wanted that tactile typing experience you’d be checking out the cheaper model. Razer has packed its Pro device with wireless 2.4GHz and Bluetooth connectivity. By default, the 2.4 GHz connection polls at 1,000Hz butꦦ that can bump up to 4,000Hz with the use of the Razer Hyperpolling dongle inclu😼ded. That’s not the win many might think it is.

In reality, very few players need a higher polling gaming keyboard, it’s only the very 1% of the most successful competitive esports players who might even notice the faster rate, let alone benefit from it. This is largely a m𝕴arketing exercise. Instead, it’s more of an inconvenience having to contend with anoꦇther cable rather than simply running the BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% from a simple receiver, as the HyperPolling dongle requires its own USB-C connection. That kind of kills one of the major benefits of going wireless for most everyday players.

I’m wi🅘lling to guess a good slice of that $299.99 price tag has been sunk into the high pollꦚing rate, but there are still features here to draw in those looking for a more casual experience as well.

The OLED display in the top right corner is the clearest, brightest panel I’ve used on a gaming keyboard. The SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL Gen 3 and Asus ROG Azoth both use similar screens for checking onboard vitals, displaying med𝐆ia information, and running cute animations. While SteelSeries’ can run a little dim and Asus’s doesn’t quite offer the resolution I’d be after in 2025, though, the BlackWidow’s screen is incredibly crisp.

The display can show you your keyboard’s connection and battery information, system usage, audio waves and track titles, animations, or a still image. Meanwhile, a customizable control dial to the right handles volume controls, playback, brightn🔴ess, and app switching, with additional support for zoom and scroll functions as well.

All of that is sorted through Synapse 4, a system that’s not without its tantrums but played nice during my testing. Aside from the medi🔜a controls and display settings, this is where you’ll choose RGB effects, configure battery-saving features, and set up keybindings. Everything is neatly laid out with an ꦡintuitive menu system and collection of toggles, sliders, and tick boxes for all your usual personalization options.

Battery life isn’t going to hold up against the Asus ROG Azoth, even if Razer claims that it will get 2,100 hours of juice with all the extra features switched off (that would put the BlackWidow among the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best wireless gaming keyboards on the market). If I spent $300 on a gaming keyboard, I certainly wouldn’t be ignoring its features, though. In regular usage,🧔 with the display at 70% brightness, RGB lighting at 50%, and with default power-saving settings, I rarely managed to squeeze two days of use out of this device.

On average, it lasted around eight to ten hours before dying out - a particularly low🌠 life. I thought I had accidentally whacked everything up to 11 and set my polling rate to 4,000Hz when the ba✤ttery first plunged to 0. Unfortunately, this is a wireless keyboard that will likely spend most of its life plugged in.

There’s one notable absence fr𒆙om this feature set, one that I wouldn’t have brought up this time last year but feels surprising for a $299 keyboard in 2025. These are fully mechanical switches with no magnetic Hall effect features or🌊 analog dual-step actuation. These aren’t necessarily must-haves for a good gaming keyboard, but these newer switches are making their way into cheaper flagships across the industry. Razer has its own spin on the tech, but it’s largely relegated to its Huntsman range.

Performance

In-game, the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pౠro 75% feels exceedingly precise. There’s a strong bump to these tactile switches that gives every key press that extra level of tension that makes for particularly clean inputs. Combined with the excellent spacing and textured keycaps, I never missed a beat during my competitive sessions and still managed to stay comfortable and accurate when strafing arou🐲nd Avowed’s melee combat and parkour moments.

That heavier bump does make itself known during longer typing periods, which might grow a little fatiguing if you’re more used to a lighter switch. It requires far more force tha✃n the Asus ROG Azoth’s short linear feel, and if you naturally type fairly lightly you may feel that strain fairly quickly. I was able to type all day and then return in the evening for gaming without feeling it too much, though.

The extra heft takes a little getting used to if you’re used to bottoming out for actuation, but after learning the height of the bump the BlackWidow can be surprisi♊ngly speedy to navigate. I was hitting all my necessary keys just as fast as I would with a lighter key while still benefitting from the extra precision.

Wireless connectivity is rock solid, with no interference from the buzz of other 2.4GHz recei🉐vers I have in my setup. I also noticed that while my keyboard was often at low battery, a dwindling charge never interrupted this connection as it would with a cheaper deck.

Should you buy the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%?

It’s difficult to recommend any $299.99 / £299.99 gaming keyboard to the majority of players due to its particularly high price tag. It’s even harder to recommend one that drops newer Hall effect switches, lags in battery life, and puts a considerable amount of stockꦅ in a feature that very few players will notice.

There’s nothing materially wrong with how the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% functions - in fact, it’s a particularly comfortable deck with a slick, smooth typing experience, and an impressive digital display. It does a lot 📖of things better than other decks, its RGB is more vivid than that of SteelSeries and its spacing is miles better than its predecessor.

If you’re a professional-level esports player looking for a slightly heavier mechanical feel with a wireless connection it’s well worth a look. However, the vast majority of players are going to find significantly better value in the Razer BlackWidow V4 75%. It offers a very similar experience, albeit without that screen, for a considerab𒊎le chunk of change less.

How I tested the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75%

I used the Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro 75% for a period of two weeks, running the device for all my daily work and play during that time. An average day saw between seven and eight hours of typing with an extra two or three hours of gameplay in the evening. During that time I primarily tested across Avowed, Oxenfree 2, and Fallout 4, with dedicated testing in CS2. I ran the battery down multiple times during testing, measuring lifespans with various RGB and digital display brightness settings, across both 2.4GHz and Bluetooth. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming keyboards, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also testing all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best membrane gaming keyboards and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best hot-swappable keyboards on the market, as well as hunting down the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer keyboards available now.

Both mice launched at a hefty $159.99 MSRP - about as expensive as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming mouse models get. However, in its extra two years on the shelves, the Basilisk V3 Pro has💛 dropped as low as $95 and is generally found for around $110 day to day. Considering there's a $50 premium on the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K model, you'll need to really want that extra speed to proceed.

Design

This isn't Razer's light and zippy FPS-first pointer. The chunkier frame, wider base, and heavier profile firmly cement the Basilisk as a slower, more tactile device. It still feels fantastic under the hand, though, even coming straight from the flyweight 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX. At 112g it's not as easy to flick into wilder shots or quickly pivot to an approaching enemy, and I did struggle with the extra heft at first. However, the curvature of the main hump and the severe gradient to the front angle (tilting right) meant I was still able to maneuver this rodent with impressive speed. Yes, the weight drags more than you'll find in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Viper V3 Pro,🅺 but the excellent 🗹PTFE feet underneath mean each glide is still buttery smooth, making for a zippy experience overall.

It's not quite fast enough for competitive FPS gameplay, but it still packs the speed necessary to keep up with my amateur CS:2 sessions. Instead, the real benefit of that larger chassis is the blend of speed and comfort. Not only does the larger form factor lend itself to a more comfortable claw or palm grip, especially with that slanted front, but the generous thumb rest on the 💦left provides plenty of landing space for a strong hold as well. This surface is slꦉightly rubberized with a dotted texture for extra textural support (repeated on the opposite flank as well), which means I can easily keep the tip of my thumb in place while letting the rest of my fingers do the rest of the work. I'm normally relying on my wrist a lot more in a relaxed palm grip, which can strain over time.

The main chassis still features a nice amount of texture to its plastic cover, with a slightly bumpy design that promote𝕴s easy control within the palm and across the main clicks. I received the white version, and I'm in love with the aesthetic.

There's something much cleaner about white tech these days. I don't know if it's the fact that everything was li🥃mited to black or gray for most of gaming hardware's history, but the crisp, clean design of the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K feels particularly swish. That white chassis is cut up with angular black diagonals and curves across the top of the main hump, featuring a glossy finish that manages to catch any extra RGB lighting you have in your setup particularly well. It looks like a serious piece of kit, both in hand and on the desktop.

The brighter plastic also allows the abundant RGB lighting to shine at its brightest as well. While you can't configure them individually, there are three areas of LEDs stamped in here. The scroll wheel and Razer logo are the two areas you'll see the most of, but there's also a strip of underglow lighting around the base as well. This is one of my favorite aspects of the Basilisk design as a whole. I loved it on the cheaper 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Basilisk V3 base model, and 🍰its inclusion in the latest wireless iteration is ဣa particularly slick benefit.

Everything feels solidly built, there's no creaking under pressure from either the sides or the top and bottom of the device. Main clicks exhibit no wobble or extra travel, and the scroll wheel is secured in the center with no flexing either. There's only one niggling concern in the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K's construction, and it's more of an annoyance. This will only affect the white version, but the joinery on the underside of the device does allow smaller fibers from a mouse pad to cling. There's a fairly deep groove around the main control area, which picks up, and holds onto, these fibers♋ with particular stubbornness.

Features

The sensor, scroll wheel, and battery are the main drivers behind this refresh, promising faster top speeds with more functionality and for longer between charges. While it may have made its way into the name of the device, th😼ough, the sensor upgrades are likely going to be the least important changes to the feature list.

Very few players will need to get near even the 30,000 DPI offered on the original Razer Basilisk V3 Pro, let alone move past it and into 35,000 DPI territory. At most, the majority of users will tap out at around 5,000 DPI - I rarely move beyond 3,500 even in faster first person shooters. What's perhaps more impressive is that 750 IPS. In real world use, this jump means that the 35K Basilisk can track faster movements with far more accuracy than the 650 IPS tracker of similarly large mice like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Turtle Beach Kone II Air and the 400 IPS 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G502 X Plus.

Up top, each main✤ click features the same third generation optical switches as the previous model, offering a clean and snappy response with a speedy response and energetic d🍌ebounce. You'll also find similarly clacky switches underneath each other two main side buttons and the additional sniper button positioned towards the front of the device.

The scroll wheel is largely the same as in the previous release. Nicely notched when you need precision and free-spinning when time's of the essence, this is a hybrid design that carries over from the previous release. That means Smart-Reel is still in play, a more dynamic scrolling mode that automatically swaps from a Tactile (notch☂ed) to a freewheeling spin when moved fast enough.

It's a neat addition that I wouldn't necessarily rely on during gameplay (it's a little too sensitive, often moving into free-spin when I simply want a faster, but still controlled, mode) but comes in handy when browsing the web. The latter use-case also benefits from Virtual Acceleration, dynamically speeding up that scroll even more when faster movements are detected. The only difference here is there's ܫnow an adjustable slider that can be used to personalize these acceleration levels.

Of course, all that's configured in good old Razer Synapse. While it's not the most reliable of programs, the latest Synapse 4 release does let up on your CPU a little compared to previous iterations and holds a wealth of customization options that often span beyond tho♎se offered by competitors. Th⛄e Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K benefits from an abundance of different dials and sliders, all working to fine-tune your experience across sensor, scroll wheel, keybinding, RGB, and battery settings.

These are nicely laid out across five tabs, with an easy keybinding process to start off. Personalized inputs can be set a🍒cross 12 buttons - your usual side buttons but also an extra two side inputs on the scroll wheel, two buttons just underneath that, and a 'Sensitivity Clutch' (a DPI slower for moments that require finer control). Five DPI settings can be saved to the mouse itself, with a button underneath the scroll wheel toggling between different speeds.

The Basilisk V3 Pro 35K also features a DPI Sensitivity Matcher. Sliding your old mouse and the Basilisk side by side along a surface while running the feature will essentially transfer your DPI sensitivity from one to the other. I've used this with the Razer Viper V3 Pro in the past, and it's a bit of a 🍨gimmick. I'd expect it to only be used once, and it's not even particularly necessary for that initial setup either.

There are 13 zones of RGB Chroma lighting to play with here, and a range of differ🧸ent effects to choose within Synapse itself. Overall, the lighting is bold and vibrant, though you'll need to bump up the brightness to 100% to get the full benefit of that underglow effect.

That's going to have a noticeable impact on battery life. Sure, RGB lighting does generally run down a charge quicker, but I noticed a particularly speedy depletion on the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K with these LEDs at full whack. Razer estimates a 140 hour battery life on the new model. With my day to day use that would normally last me around two weeks but 🌌with all guns blaring I only made it to around ten days from a full charg𒆙e - around 80 hours. With those lights off, Razer's 140 hour suggestion rang true.

Performance

It took me a little while to get used to the larger form factor of the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K, having come to the mouse fresh from a series of ultra-light FPS-first pointers. I was a firm believer in the Logitech G502 Hero back in the day, though, and once that muscle memory kicked in I was away. This is a particularly smooth mouse to navigate both fast and slow gameplay moments with. The glide feels incredibly soft under-hand, which impressed me considering the feet themselves aren't particularl🐓y generous in size. Despite only taking up, maybe, 20% of the base they provide a nicely textured swipe on a mouse pad.

I did struggle on harder surfaces, though. If you use a more rigid mouse pad or you play directly on a desk top, I'd recommend something wi⛄th larger, deeper skates. The Baಌsilisk sometimes crunches across the desk top as it is and feels significantly more cumbersome without a dedicated surface underneath it.

Everything runs beautifully under the hood, though, with a slick sensor keeping up with every twitch of my CS2 gameplay and holding up against more frantic Avowed melee moments as well. The larger shape means I can't get into a more nimble fingertip grip for faster flicks and tweaks, but I still fꦫelt nimble in a claw grip. Surprisingly, I was never fatigued in this posture either. I would have expected to feel the strain on my p🏅inky and ring finger due to the extra weight of the Basilisk, but the contoured shape of the device lends itself well to both comfort and control for longer sessions.

The main clicks are super fast for simple shots, and repeat presses actuate nice and speedy with very little unnecessary travel in between them. That makes for comfortable spamming (pಞrovided you're in the right grip) and precise,🌄 well-placed headshots alike.

Should you buy the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K?

There's one problem with the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K, and that's that you can essentially pick up the exact same mouse for $50 less these days. The new release simply doesn't do enough to separate itself from the original, offering an extra 5,00🔯0 DPI that practically nobody will use and a niche scroll wheel adjustment feature that adds on to an already existing function. Sure, you're getting an extra wad of battery life, but considering the original already had plenty of other flagships beat there's little point to stretching a little further fo🥂r so much more cash.

If it was the first in its line, with no ancestor to worry about, the V3 Pro 35K may well be one of my favorite gaming mice on the market. It's certainly got the competition beat in its sensor specs, comfort, and additional features. Without its own benefits, though, the V3 Pro 35K feels a l𝔉ittle lost. If the features and design laid out above are exciting, I'd recommend sticking to the original for a be🍰tter value proposition overall.

How I tested the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K

I used the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro 35K for a period of two weeks, running the rodent for all my daily work and play during that time. I primarily used the device in Avowed, Oxenfree 2, and Fallout 4, while also specifically testing across CS2 as well. I ran the battery down from a full charge twice, once with full RGB and again with no LEDs at all, while also experimenting with different sensor and scroll wheel functions during both play and daily work. For more information on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how we test gaming mice, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also hunting for all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best wireless gaming mouse models as well as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Logitech gaming mice around. Of course, there are plenty more of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer mice to contend with as well.

Instead, Ubisoft shoulders that burden with more confidence, texture, and purpose we've seen since Assassin's Creed pivoted into RPG territory. There's ambition here – along with the risk-taking needed to realize it – and although Assassin's Creed Shadows can at times still feel too fami🌠liar, it proves more than worth the wait.

Double act

Set in the late 1500s, Assassin's Creed Shadows follows two protagonists – samurai Yasuke and shinobi Naoe – who team up to dismantle t🦩he Shinbakufu, a group of anonymous power brokers attempting to seize control of Japan. The bulk of the story revolves around unmasking and assassinating these targets, and is largely non-linear. You can choose to investigate one target before another – though a lack of level-scaling means it's easier to start with lower-level regions and work from there – and similarly decide whether to play as Yasuke and Naoe, who you c𒅌an pause and switch between at will.

From a mechanical perspective, the dual protagonist system is executed phenomenally. Both characters have vastly different strengths and weaknesses, which become increasingly important to keep in mind as the game gets more challenging.. Yasuke is a powerhouse in combat, capable of taking on entire garrisons, but watching the samurai pull himself 🐭over a short fence is hard to watch. Naoe is the opposite – she's far more fragile, but much better at stealth and parkour.

These differences make for an especially rich dynamic, where you'll switch between ൩both protagonists based on what each mission calls for. My time in Assassin's Creed Shadows was split evenly between both – I'd play Naoe to pull off slick assassinations in heavily-guarded castles that would be tricky to fight through head-on, then tag in Yasuke for tasks where open combat seemed likely. By divesting players' skills across two separate characters, Ubisoft is able to c💞onfidently lean into both the series' stealthy roots and the RPG-style combat that came later without sacrificing one or the other.

Combat itself is the best it's ever been in Assassin's Creed. Fighting as Yasuke, whether trading blows with a long katana or lopping off arms with a naginata, carries s༺erious heft; while keeping crowds at bay with Naoe's kusarigama (essentially a sickle and ball on a chain) almost makes it worth getting spotted by soldiers. Moving as either can be a little janky – you'll randomly half-climb a wall mid-fight or clip into enemy attacks during a fight at times – but parkouring as Naoe is far more fluid, thanks in part to a grappling hook that lets her scale buildings and otherwise-unclimbable walls.

Yasuke and Naoe's individua🗹l drawbacks are just as important as their strengths. Because no one character can do anything, there's a level of reactivity and emergence that's been sorely lacking in Assassin's Creed's do-it-all approach. Some of my most memorable moments have come from fumbling stealth as Naoe and having to scrappily fight through to the merchant I planned on sneakily knifing, or fumbling stealth as Yasuke (there🤡's a theme here) because the samurai's clunky tip-toeing turns heads from a mile away.

This freewheeling nature clashes with the narrative, though. Yasuke and Naoe's personal storylines are largely standalone, as is each Shinbakufu member's investigation, which means you're bouncing between 10-plus smaller storylines rather than sticking with one cohesive story. There are moments of excellence: Yasuke's revenge epic is delici🍌ously spaghetti Western in tone, and the protagonists have fantastic chemistry when they're together. A handful of pivotal scenes even trade the game's instrumental score for Japanese folk and rock tracks, creating a sense of stylish personality we've never really seen from the series before.

But the overarching plot treads water for the majority of its 30-40 hour runtime and, by its end, fails to bring its loose threads together in a satisfying manner. An open ending doesn't feel earned, and rather than a meaningful conclusion for either protagonist, you're left with a sneaking suspicion that Shadows isn't done ꦦwith your wallet just yet.

Likewise, Yasuke and Naoe's stories never quite c𒉰ome together. It's a real shame, because their moments together – whether in cloud-gazing conversations, late-night sake binges, or fawning at baby tanukis – make up some of Shadows' best bits. The same can be said for pursuing romance (each character gets their own suitors) and completing allies' personal quests – sneaking through castles and stabbing samurai is the grisly meat of Shadows, but it's these human elements that give it meaning.

Even Ubisoft's signature open world fare has a lot more purpose than we've seen before. The hideout system from Assassin's Creed Valhalla ret📖urns here, although it's closer in scope to a feudal Animal Crossing than the relatively passive village-building of Ravensthorpe. You're given free reign and a generously-sized plot of land: buildings can be placed wherever you like, and include a mix of practical facilities – like a forge for upgrading gear, or a dojo for training allies who can be called to help in a fight – along with purely decorative options. You can also 🧸keep any animals you pet (or stop to paint) in the wider world, which – if you're anything like me – results in housing more akitas than assassins.

All of the hideout's buildings and decorations a🙈re pricey though, and require sourcing building materials from less-deserving hands. This can range from sweeping up bundles of crops at makeshift bandit camps, to taking on optional contracts to pilfer wood from well-guarded forts. Similar resources are also used to upgrade your weapons, which in turn🌠 is necessary for tackling higher-level missions and castles – the latest (and excellent) iteration of Ubisoft's signature outpost-clearing shenanigans. Assassinating the samurai daisho leaders of these castles (and plundering their storehouses) as Naoe is sublime – arguably the best stealth sequences Assassin's Creed has ever put out – as the risk of being spotted and dragged into a bad fight means you have to put real thought into your every movement.

At a bigger picture, there's a nice level of interconnectedness to Shadows' optional busybodying. Skill trees for each protagonist are gradually unlocked by earning Knowledge, which is in turn gath🌜ered by completing minigames and side activities scattered through Japan – these can range from completing horseback archery courses to practicing martial arts and visiting shrines. Knowledge is a fantastic nudge for making you engage with the world at a livelier level – something the series' past RPGs haven't quite managed before – but a limited amount of activities means they can feel a little repetitive and chorelike after a while.

Wanderlust

Stil🌺l, Assassin's Creed Shadows' world is the most animated the series has ever been. Most♓ quest objectives are actively obscured, and instead of a precise location you're given tips – some more helpful than others – leading to their general area. From there, you can choose to send scouts from the hideout to narrow down your search, or look for yourself.

It's another surprisingly bold splash of friction for Ubisoft, pushing you to interact with Shadows rather than merely sling from one waypoint to the next. During one such search I was distracted by a bandana-clad shiba inu charging around a village, while its beleaguered owner called for it several streets over. Did it help the investigation, or start a♔ side quest? No and no – but 30-odd hours later, I'm still thinking about that village and the shibe's reign of t🧸error.

Japan is also the perfect setting for photo mode devotees. Exploring off-road is difficult due to the country's mountainous terrain (the game recommends you travel via paths), bu🍌t it makes for some thoroughly stunning views – you'll ogle every syrupy golden sunset, and savor each horsebaওck ride through the forest. Seasons also change while you're playing, meaning a rich red canopy you pass beneath in autumn may be draped in twinkling snow come winter.

These seasons also have practical purposes – scouts are replenished with their changing, provinces where you're wanted by authorities will forget about you, and moats will freeze over in the cold, as examples – but they're largely just beautiful set dressing, the sort of visual treat comparable to the likes of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Red Dead Redemption 2's sweeping Americana or 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ghost of Tsushima's own rendition of Japan.

Seasons are indicative of a much broader statement – Assassin's Creed Shadows wants to do it all. It wants to be the shinobi fantasy as much as the samurai fantasy. The cherry blossoms and the snow. There's an examinati༒on of Ubisoft's formula here, a lunge toward the texture that's reshaped RPGs in recent years, but the studio's moreish open world formula is still there. Not every idea comes together neatly, and two phenomenal protagonists feel wasted on a lackluster story, but this is a titan in the same leagues as series staples Assassin's Creed 2 and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag – and Ubisoft's best RPG to date.

Assassin's Creed Shadows was reviewed on PS5, wiꦍth a code provided by the publisher.

Before diving into feudal Japan, check out our ranking of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Assassin's Creed games in order

Naturally, the Alienware AW2725Q has more going for it than a 166ppi panel, even Dell is using that feat to help the screen stand out among its 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming monitor rivals. The display also boasts QD-OLED innards that aim to provide all the benefits of OLED laced with enhanced brightness and a wider color gamut. It also packs 4K 240Hz abilities that are in line with all the latest premium UHD model🍒s in 2025, which makes sense since Dell’s contender will set you back $899.

I hear ya, that’s serious cash for a 27-inch monitor, even one that boasts “the world’s highest QD-OLED PPI.” However, when you take a step back and look at other options within this pricing segment, like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Sony Inzone M10S and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dough Spectrum Black 27, Dell’s pricing makes a bit more sense. Whether opting for this sort of size of UHD monitor is univer🍬sally useful is another matter, but that doesn’t take away from its incredi🉐bly vivid, sharp visuals.

Design

At a glance, the AW2725Q might not look that different from screens like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alienware AW2725DF, but its getup has changed significantly. Dell is going for a much curvier design language this time around, a departure from the angles and tapers featured in most screens these days. The base is ꦯa pretty low profile rounded square that’s almost giving 2000s Apple vibes mixed in with contemporary elements, resulting in a softer aesthetic that’s more ꦓlikely to fit in with different setups.

The pedestal almost looks like it's defying gravity by balancing on the stand, fixing onto the bulbous back of the screen seamlessly. Dell is certainly leaning into the otherworldly themes of its brand this time around, and I’d argu﷽e this screen looks more extra terrestrial than its Alienware Aurora R16 gaming PC. Despite this, it still feels like it’s been whipped up to look pretty next to that rig range, with the glowy RGB Zeta head round back maintaining a space age status quo.

One thing you may have missed is the purple hue of the AW2725Q body. In the right light, you’ll get to enjoy this Alienware screen’s “Interstellar Indigo” colorway in all its glory, and it makes for a nice touch rather than sticking with the Henry Ford black approach. Although, if you’re fussy about having a matching setup, the subtle differences could disrupt your hardware harmony.

All the usual suspects, like HDMI and DisplayPort, are sitting unde♛r the usual lip. Rather than making a left and right divide for screen and USB ports, everything’s♔ now located near the center, but you’re still getting somewhere to channel cables downwards through two stand holes. There are also two sneaky USB ports hiding under the right hand side of the panel, which makes the built-in hub far more functional than if everything was kept to the rear.

As for OSD controls, we’re dealing w﷽ith yet another joystick nub. However, the dial is perfectly serviceable and provides menu navigation without too much frustration. I know, I’m just as surprised as you seeing as I’m constantly shouting about wanting wireless remotes to be a standard, but so long as I don’t have to deal with mispresses and mushy controls, I’ll make do🌜 with using toggles.

Features

There are certainly monitors out there that pack more physical features, but the AW2725Q still makes sure to pair its QD-OLED panel with some extra abilities. Notably, you’re getting a traditional USB hub that’ll help you hook up peripherals to your rig using a single Type-B cable. At this stage, I’m wondering how long the old connector type can hold out before USB-C completely replaces the connector in the market, but since some expensive displays come with no extra ports, I’m still h🥀appy to see it included. Plus, there is a Type-C featured up front that’ll output 15W - not enough to charge most gaming handhelds, but still useful.

On the software side, Dell has given its OSD a bit of a visual glow up. It’s still effectively the same menu included in all its contemporary models, and it still provides you with access to perks like smart HDR, pre-sets, shortcut personalization, and even a direct way to tweak the RGB head round🧸 back. So, the changes are simply cosmetic, but they’ve at least kept everything in a sensible place when messing around with new UI ideas.

Since I already mentioned it, SmartHDR is back, serving to add an extra layer of oomph to the panel’s True ꦫBlack 400 abilities. Yo🀅u’ll be able to choose between a few presets, including Game, Movie, or Desktop, but you’ll be able to stick with native results or calibrate things to your liking using different dials. It’s a handy thing to have at your disposal when it comes to Windows 11 HDR, as from my experience, things are rarely consistent between programs and games.

It’s easy to forget that protective measures are almost mandatory with QD-OLED setups like this. Dell clearly understands the assignment when it comes to preventing burn-in, as the AW2725Q uses active cooling fans alongside software ꧑measures to ensure the display can last long into the future. This Alienware screen takes the whole topic pretty seriously, and it actually sort of chastised me with an amber “panel health” status𒅌 because I skipped a scheduled pixel refresh cycle during use.

That sounds like a bad thing, but while it was slightly annoying, letting the display do its thing for five minutes is ꧟well worthwhile. Even if you do try and skip the refresh, the firmware will star🦩t automatically adjusting the brightness of things like the Windows 11 taskbar to try and protect the panel until it next gets to have some downtime, which feels aggressive until you realize its all in the name of keeping your screen nice and healthy.

Performance

With every year that passes, QD-OLED panels go from strength to strength, and the Alienware AW2725Q represents how far the tech has come. There are still some caveats to grabbing a Quan🔥tum Dot display over a WOLED, like situational lighting drawbacks and some brightness caveats. But, when given a chance to shine away from glare and daylig🧸ht, this screen packs a vivid punch.

Of course, the AW2725Q doesn’t just have QD-OLED tech on its side, it also has impressive 4K chops since it packs 166 pixels per each of its 27ܫ inches. Again, Dell claims this is the highest PPI yet on the panel type, so you’ll theoretically be getting the sharpest visuals possible on a screen this size. Whether you’ll always notice is fully dependent on how far away you sit from the display and the kind of content you’re viewing, but during my tests, the density helped make UHD gaming feel that bit mor💖e magical.

Even just while using plain old Windows 11, text ended up feeling much sharper and more defined on the AW2725Q. I’m used to using QHD screens at this size, and even though 27 inches feels like a good fit for 144♊0p, you’ll be able to identify individual pixels if you try hard enough. However, with this new Alienware display, doing that is near impossible, even when you do something daft like stick your full face up to the panel in an attempt to physically zoom in (don’t judge me).

I will say that if you’ve already got a 4K OLED display, the enhanced pixel density might not wow you as much ꧟during actual gameplay. I have no doubts that it’s contributing to an elevated level of clarity, but you’ll already be used to vivid colors and contrast distracting you from definition. In Cyberpunk 2077, that felt very much the case, especially with HDR adding fantastic realism to the lights and shadows of Night City.

Just like with the AW2725DF, the new 4K AW2725Q effectively provides a similar HDR punch to mini LED without compromising on contrast and vibrancy. The only issue is that in those aforementioned brighter conditions, things don’t pop quite as hard as on a WOLED. The difference is admittedly minimal, and I know some players prefer toned down ꧃saturation in any case. But, playing in a room with controlled brightness versus next to a window does matter, and this screen isn’t quite bright enough to punch through in those scenarios.

What I will say is that Dell’s anti-glare coating seems to be working harder this time around. Alienware QD-OLED monitors typically use a semi-glossy coating to add extra depth, b🌟ut it means reflections are more of a thing. While I fully expected to see part of my office window in the left corner when playing through the twilight-soaꦍked streets of Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s opening, I found that it was far less visible compared to the AW2725DF.

Since both the 1440p and 4K Alienware panels feature the same 1,000 peak brightness capabilities, I can only attribute the enhanced anti-glare to the panel's coating itself. It’s still not a patch on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Samsung Odyssey OLED G6, a screen that seems to𝓡 be almost immune to reflections, but I’m pretty pleased to see fewer caveats tied to Dell’s QD-OLED 202🦹5 screens.

Okay, so the AW2725Q is sharp and vibrant, but what about competitive scenarios? Being a 4K 240Hz screen, this new Alienware display isn’t ꩵset up to take on the fastest panels. What it is capable of though is providing more than 🧸enough speed for players who like to play fast paced shooters, but aren’t hellbent on boosting fps to match ridiculously refresh rates.

I’m no esports star, but I do tend to notice a difference between refresh rates when playing Overwatch 2 competitively. It’s not always enough to throw me off my 🧜game, and it’s safe to say my own daf𝓀t decisions as Pharah are more to blame for some of my session mishaps. Simply put, this panel’s 240Hz capabilities are more than serviceable and will still provide you heaps more speed than the average monitor, but you will feel a difference if you’ve already tried faster 1440p models like the 480Hz Sony Inzone M10S.

🧜Newer shooters like Marvel Rivals actually feel like a better fit for 4K 240Hz panels since the fps cap is lower. Plus, you’ll absolutely want to keep some visual settings cranked up at least a little so you can enjoy your favorite characters in full QD-OLED enhanced comic book glory. The naturally lower 0.03ms GtG response time included with this panel type always helps keep everything snappy even compared to models with a faster refresh rate anyway, and I w🌼asn’t able to sniff out any latency issues compared to every other OLED I’ve tested this year.

Outside of my go-to test games, I’ve also been making my way through FlyKnight, an indie Soulslike Runscape mashup that puts screens like the AW2725Q to work differently. Less is certainly more with a caper like this, and the contrast between the bold colors against short draw distances stands out phenomenally on a QD-OLED monitor like the AW2725Q. I even found that running around as my brave flyman warrior “Jeff” wasn’t completely🎉 compromised in broad daylight since black levels didn’t take too much of a hit or produce the same purple glow as some older models. Neat!

Since DOOM: The Dark Ages is less than two months away, I’ve also started playing through the first game in preparation. I’m fully aware its sequel will 💖flaunt its stuff harder on a 4K screen like this when I get to it next, but the 2016 trip to the malicious playgrounds of Mars feels like an excellent 240Hz fit. Plus, the shooter’s hellish landscapes burn bright on this QD-OLED panel laced with extra UHD sharpness, and the combo is making my re-play feel like I’m playing something that isn’t almost ten years old.

In addition, I've bee⛄n messing around with Avowed, Obsidian's latest RPG romp, and it feels like a bit of a poster child for the Alienware AW2725Q. The game's luscious, detailed foliage looks good enough to touch thanks to the panel's higher PPI, and its same to say handling big, dense adventures are this QD-OLED display's bread and butter.

Should you buy the Alienware AW2725Q?

The Alienware AW2725Q is one of the sharpest 4K monitors I’ve tested to date, and the extra pixel density helps the panel punch even harder than its QD-OLED rivals. Some of the drawbacks of Qꩵuantum Dot tech remain, and it’s still not going to be ideal for every lighting scenario, but Dell’s approach to the display type is going from strength to stre⭕ngth.

While I’m not sure if everyone’s going to appreciate Dell’s pixel density efforts, especially if you like to sit further away from your screen, the AW2725Q still represents what 4K monitors can achieve in 2025. It’s pricey, but if you do choose to invest in this particular panel over faster 1440p options or even larger all singing dual resolution screens like the 32-inch澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: LG UltraGear 32GS95UE-B, you’ll ꦅbe get𓂃ting something that feels fully dedicated to the UHD cause without additional distractions.

How I tested the Alienware AW2725Q

For two weeks, I used the Alienware AW2725Q as my primary gaming monitor while using specific games to test the screen's 4K abilities, refresh rate, contrast, colors, brightnessꦑ, and features. Throughout my time with the display, I assessed its funct🌄ionality and design as part of a real setup while using Cyberpunk 2077, Overwatch 2, Marvel Rivals, and DOOM to evaluate performance.

For more information on how we test gaming monitors and other screen types, check out out full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

As the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming laptops get slimmer, their ports are running dry. Unless you opt for an 18-inch behemoth, you’ll likely be sacrificing DisplayPort, extra USB-A connections, and even Ethernet support. If you’re running an AMD machine, or you simply don’t need to pay for the extra performance security of Thunderbolt, Razer’s oblong could well solve a lot๊ of your problems.

Design

I’ve had my fair share of chunky docks on my desk. From towering Ugreen bricks to Dell slabs, all the way through to the bright lights of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:JSAUX RGB Docking Station. None have looked as sleek and simple as the Razer USB 4 dock. Available in either black or silver (I received the latter), the small oblong keeps a low profile on top of a desk, and - should🦋 you have wires properly trained down the back of your setup - doesn’t sprawl out too much.

The entire chassis is built with the same premium finish as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Razer laptops, with a soft finish, sturdy casing, and slimline design. It’s much smaller than any other dock I’ve tested in the past, though its low and flat design means it takes up more space than my Ugreen Revodok Pro. My desk is by no means small, but with a set of speakers, a couple of light bars, and a 32-inch monitor (as well as Razer’s laptop cooling pad) vying for space things can get pretty tight. The longer shape of the Razer USB 4 dock just didn’t quite fit in a way that would keep wires free from sprawling out over the corner of the table. That meant I called in some♒ mounted reinforcements.

The truth is, I’ve always wanted to mount my docking station to the underside of my 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming desk. I hate fighting a nest of wires and spending all day staring at the setup I’ve been building for years being blighted by cabl𝕴es breaks the heart. The flat top and relatively lightweight form factor of the Razer USB 4 dock means that, with the help of a properly ventilated mount system, the entire docking station can sit perched ju🅺st under the front lip of my desk. I have easy access to the SD card readers, 3.5mm audio, two USB-C ports, and one USB-A port located on the front with all my more permanent connections running underneath the main table top from the back.

I can do this because no matter how much I ran through the Razer USB 4 dock, temperatures always stayed manageable. If you’re running both HDMI and DisplayPort at full 4K, things can get a little warmer. It’s nothing to be worried about, but I’d recommend a ventilated moun꧒t instead of good old tape if you’re going to be pushing this dock to its limits. Outside of this dock’s specific testing, I only ever use a single QHD monitor over HDMI and the area is well ventilated. It goes without saying, but I have to say it, always make sure you’re taking thermals and ventilation into account when mounting accessories and, if in doubt, use a separate mounting tray.

If you’re keeping thi♏ngs topside, the Razer USB 4 dock comes outfitted with a grippy rubber bumper underneath to keep the device placed firmly on the desk. It’s still knockable and does shift arou꧃nd when replacing cables or plugging in new accessories.

Port access is nice and easy, if a little cramped on the rear and between the two USB-C ports on the front. Everything is still easily accessible, but if you use a larger USB-C receiver for a headset, for example, you’ll likely lose access to a connection. My 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SteelSeries Arctis Game Buds seem to be permanently plugged in these days, but the dongle takes up both connections on the front of t🅠he device.

Thereꩵ are also no labels on the device itself, and with a variety of different speeds up for grabs, I often found myself referring back to the product page’s manual for guidan💫ce on where everything would be best placed.

Features

Razer marketing exclaims the USB 4 dock has ‘countless ports’. The truth is there are 14, not including the main power connection. That’s on the higher end of average, with a good spread between USB-A and USB-C. I would have preferred one more USB-C connection to the rear of the device (there’s only space for the master upstream connection to your laptop) for more permanent peripherals, though. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech StreamCam I use runs off USB-C, so I needed an adapter to keep it plugged in if I don’t want 🐎to keep it connected to my laptop itself.

Still, two usable USB-C ports and a total of five USB-A ports is a fantastic selection of connections. That fifth USB-A is even a dedicated channel for 2.4GHz receivers. Unfortunately, my testing was marred at the beginning. Razer supplies a USB 4 cable to run its dock with straight out of the box and, while my HDMI connection remained stable, I couldn’t get anything from any of the USB (C or A) ports when using this cord. The issue was fixed with a separate high-speed cable running to the same USB 4 port on my 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Razer Blade 14.

Display support is solid for a USB 4 device. Like most, both the HDMI and Display Port connections can run 4K monitors at 120Hz refresh rates - though, also like most, only one panel can use the full speed of its connect🌱ion at a time. That’s not uncommon - a lot of dual-4K docks limit one of their connections to 60Hz, but there are others that don’t, and a lot more than add an extra video-out for a third display as well.

With up to 100W power delivery, you’re getting the same sturdy charge as you would from a Thunderbolt 4 device, on paper. That ‘up to’ means your actual power could dip from this rate, whereas a true Thunderbolt dock will carry 100🐟W as a baseline. Still, I never noticed any power issues from my dock (and I’ve tested many alternatives that certainly do present problems with the same setup).

Performance

I swapped out my regular QHD panel for something a little more Ultra to test the Razer USB 4 dock, running an RTX 4070 Razer Blade through the dock and up to a 4K panel using an HDMI 2.1 cable. Everything ran smoothly, offering crisp 120Hz visuals in lighter games (the RTX 4070 is far from a UHD card). Connecting a separate panel via DisplayPort was easy enough and without too much of an additional thermal load on the dock itsel🧸f.

♛♐As expected, running two displays at the same time was slower, but everyday gameplay was still enjoyable. You’d need a monster of a gaming laptop to go full blast on two separate 4K 120Hz gaming monitors at the same time, after all, so I’m happy Razer is catering to the masses with this cheaper alternative.

Transferring larger files to an external hard drive was about as fast as if I were doing it directly on the Blade itse✨lf. I moved a 24GB 4K game stream file between an external drive and my laptop back and forth with 🐈no noticeable delays when the dock sat in the middle.

Aside from the aforementioned difficulties with the supplied USB 4 cable, all accessory ports functioned as expected on the dock itself. Cheaper docks can stutter or drop power when faced with a full load of peripherals - I’ve played that game of Buckaroo too many times. I never felt like I was juggling with this device, though. My permanent connections are a wireless Razer BlackWidow V4 Pro (polling at 4,000Hz), a wireless Razer Basilisk V3 Pro (polling at 1,000Hz), a set of SteelSeries Arctis Game Buds, a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mountain MacroPad, an 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:EasySMX X10 controller, and a Logitech StreamCam webcam.

That’s a load that makes even similarly priced competitors lose connection (my Ugreen model often failsꦗ to recognize new inputs in one of its USB-A ports when everything is hooked up) and overload. Considering that Mountain MacroPad is one of the most power-hungry USB-A accesso🌳ries in my arsenal, I was incredibly impressed with the stability of the Razer USB 4 Dock.

Should you buy the Razer USB 4 Dock?

The Razer USB 4 Dock is staying firmly in place under my desk, and considering the number of hubs, stations, and bricks I’ve been through over the last few years that’s certainly a relief. With a slick design, excellent temperatures, and a reliable selection of robust, speedy ports, the Razer USB 4 Dock has solved a lot of the setup problems I’ve been facingꦅ with alternatives from Ugreen and JSAUX. While it does drop three-display connectivity and you don’t quite get the full benefit of a Thunderbolt system, this is a dock that’s goin𒁃g to see you through dual-monitor setups with the kind of ease I could have only dreamed of just a few years ago.

I’ve been through my fair share of desk setups, balancing cables and power requirements, overloading extensions, and wrangling several monitor arm designs. As I slowly build my dream desk (we’re currently at v.6.3), I may well grow out of the limited USB-C ports and ܫrequire a more substantial 3-4 port Thunderbolt system. In truth, though, that w♛ould be my only concern. If you have a lot of USB-C accessories or storage requirements, a more substantial Thunderbolt alternative may be required. Otherwise, Razer’s actually offering solid value for money in a neat, compact solution here.

How I tested the Razer USB 4 Dock

I’ve had the Razer USB 4 Dock running my entire desk setup for the past two weeks. In everyday use, it was connected to a Samsung Odyssey G5 QHD 144Hz gaming monitor, but I also connected it to two 4K 120Hz monitors separatꦅely for testing purposes. In my regular setup, the dock was tested while connected to a Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop via a Belkin USB 4 40Gbps cable. It ran via a Ugreen HDMI 2.1 cable, with Razer, SteelSeries, Logitech, and EasySMX accessories attached.

For more information on how we make our recommendations, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

For more desk accessories, we're also rounding up the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best HDMI cables for gaming as well as the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best SSDs for gaming. Or, check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming monitors for more panel options.

By freeing the Lenovo Legion Go S from the gimmicky removable controllers and needlessly large screen, the company has created the device I wanted back in 2023. Had I ended up testing the SteamOS version first, I’d likely be about to dive into one of the next 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming handheld options. Instead, I’m looking at a device that has unbalanced specs, plenty of Windows 11 caveats, and a dreadful $729 price tag. That inflated𝓰 MSRP is actually tied to a weird specific US decision to only sell the 32GB / 1TB version, as those of you in the UK can pick up the 16GB / 512GB model for £549. Hmm.

Even the base model is more than what I’d want to pay now that I’ve tested the Lenovo Legion Go S. In a nutshell, its new AMD Ryzen Z2 GO chip shares more similarities with the custom chip in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Steam Deck OLED than the Ryzen Z1 Extreme within the OG 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Legion Go and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Asus ROG Ally. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with that, but if I’m being real, you can’t slap a premium pꦯrice tag on a handheld wrestling within the sub $400 ring.

Design

Let me make one thing clear – the Lenovo Legion Go S gets almost full marks f꧅or design. It almost feels like someone listened to me moan about the original’s laptop vibes, as this model packs an 8-inch IPS display into a much sleeker package. Gone are the removable TrueStrike controllers, aggressive angles, and smooth plastics of the OG portable. Instead, we have plenty of ergonomic curves, pleasing grippy texturized sides, and far nicer buttons than ꦦlast time around.

It’d be weird if the ‘S’ Legion Go didn’t weigh less, but I’m pleased to report it’s ꦰ740g (1.63lbs). That’s a notice🍎able difference compared to the 854g (1.88lbs) weighing down the original, even if it’s still a chonker compared to the 580g Asus ROG Ally. Shifting the heat naturally helps the handheld feel nicer to hold, especially when paired with a slimmer back and more pronounced grips.

The main thing that gave me the ick with the original Legion Go was how hollow the back felt. It’s a design𒆙 choice that’s often the result of cooling techniques, and while the S model also has big vent grills at the back, there’s far less space between the innards and shell. Perhaps I’m being picky, but I like handhelds to feel pretty compacted, and this new version feels just as so🐻lid as the ROG Ally in that regard.

I’d argue that the biggest improvement to be found with the Legion Go S is on the gamepad side of things. Lenovo has gone back to the drawing board with all of its buttons, resulting in more tactile thumbsticks, a drastꦛically improved circular d-pad, a thoughtfully placed set of back toggles, and decent shoulder buttons. The only element that’s still not quite to my liking is the shallower-than-average face buttons, but even those are pretty serviceable and not what I’d call a deal breaker.

You’ll perhaps have noticed that I said the Legion Go S almost🐼 gets the design right. That’s largely because I’m a little miffed at the tiny touchpad that’s ♏included for mouse inputs. The sensation of using this thing is a bit like the little keyboard nipple included with classic IBM Thinkpads, and that’s sort of amusing since Lenovo now owns that brand. Simply put, the pad is so small that moving the handheld’s cursor around Windows 11 is more frustrating than convenient, and I’d rather just use the joysticks to click around the OS when needed.

On the aesthetic front, the Legion Go S is rocking a new white shell with contrasting black buttons. The accents prevent it from looking too clinical, but you can bet this handheld will 🐭end up pretty grubby and prone to marks. That’s less a criticism of Lenovo’s newfound tastes and more a fact of owning lighter colored devices, and it could be another reason to wait for the “Nebula Violet” SteamOS version.

Features

Gaming handhelds and flamboyant features go hand in hand, and while the Legion Go S cuts back on gimmicks, it comes with a few new tricks. Some oജf its evolved elements feel a little lacklustre, like that comically small touchpad, but the new all-in-one design has allowed for an adjustable trigger system that adds a nice hint of versatility.

Lenovo isn’t first out the door with adjustable handheld triggers, that accolade goes to the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Zotac Zone,but it’s a feature that will help make the system more comfortable for a bunch of players, including myself. Sometimes, clicky hair trigger presses are a much better fit and can save larger handhelds from feeling unbalanced in the hands, whereas I’ve got friends who can’t stand not having full action when playing shooters. I’d personally rather click shots in Cyberpunk 2077 and save full presses for racing games or scenarios that need sustained input, but everyone will have different tastes when it𒊎 comes to portable play.

On the connectivity front, the Legion Go S is armed with two USB-C ports, which is slowly becoming a standard at this point. The idea here is that you’ll be able to charge up that chonky 55.5Whr battery while hooking up a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming monitor using DisplayPort 1.4 output. I’m in two minds over whether this is actually useful, as you’re still going to want one of the best Steam Deck docks if you’re aiming for full integration with your desktop accessories, but it will mean you don’t need any add-ons out of the box for quickly hooking up to a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming TV.

I can take an extra USB-C port, but I’ll absolutely leave features like a dual array built-in mic. Maybe I’m a grump who just has no friends to talk to, or maybe I’m just struggling to see why you’d use something like that over a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming headset on a handheld. Either way, squeezing audio capture into a ౠdevice like this feels like it’d impact the end cost, and I’d skip on it even if it only cut Lenovo’s MSRP down by a few dollars. Simply put, don’t stick needless extras in your handheld if it’s already sitting at a risky price point.

Technically, Windows 11 is also a “fea♑ture”, even if it’s one I think sours the experience. Perhaps that’s a bit harsh since we’re talking about an OS that’ll allow you to run practically any game your PC can, but it’s still nowhere near being handheld friendly, even with Lenov▨o’s LegionSpace app attempting to bridge gaps.

It doesn’t help that the version of Microsoft’s operating system installed feels immensely bloated and has some irritating tweaks enabled, like a taskbar that’ll auto-hide no matter what you tell it. Plus, vital elements like sleep mode are janky at best and unusable at worst, with the Legion Go S outright refusing to properly nap when plugged in. These flaws aren’t even just an inherent part of the Windows 11 handheld experience, as rivals like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Ayaneo Flip DS and other similar devicesꦑ come with far less frustration before launching into games.

That’s not to say Lenovo isn’t trying to enhance its Windows 11 experience, and LegionSpace has come a long way since 2023. It still doesn’t do enough to stop me immediately launching into Steam Big Picture mode, and the side quick settings menu is unsettlingly temperamental and laggy. I’m also not a fan of Lenovo thrusting its digital game store in your face rather than providing a clearer hub. But, it’s pleasant enough to navigate when the itch to change RGB thumbstick colors or play with in-depth po🐽wer settings arises.

Performance

Price and performance go hand in hand, and oh boy, the Legion Go S doesn’t punch like a $729 handheld. Fr💯ankly, launching into a new generation with the Ryzen Z2 Go was pretty foolish of Lenovo, as I knew it wouldn’t come close to matching the Z1 Extreme based on its specs. Now that I’ve taken the handheld for a proper spin, I can confidently say that it should be trading blows with the Steam Deck in the sub-$500 ring, as its benchmarks get bludgeoned to a pulp in the premium pit.

I kicked things off by running a few test games at 800p on the Legion Go S to see how it directly compares to the Steam Deck. The handheld managed at 45fps average while running Cyberpunk 2077 with low settings enabled, which isn’t ✨atrocious at a glance. My issue is that it’s not a huge uplift compared to Valve’s handheld, as the Deck reaches 43fps in the same test scenario. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t smell like a $729 boost.

Hitman 3 still stresses out entry-levelౠ PCs to this day, so I always install it on new handhelds. The Legion Go S managed to nudge playable results by sticking to around 41fps at 800p𒆙. The Deck isn’t far behind with a 36fps average and, while it’s still a win for Lenovo, it’s not what I’d call a graceful victory.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider manages to fare well on the Legion Go S with a 70fps average – a nice lead compared to 53fps on the Deck. A nicer result, but one that’s worth paying over $300 more for? I don’t even have to say it. Keep in mind that these benchmarks are designed to squeeze the highest frame rates possible out of the handheld, and unplugging the system and using i🍃t at lower wattage naturally produces far lower results.

Stepping away from the Steam Deck fight and focusing on the Lenovo Legion Go S vs the original is even more harrowing. If my figures reaffirm anything, it’s that the new handheld is very much a light version of the OG, despite technically using a next-gen Ryzen APU. You’re looking at 25fps in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1200p versus 38fps on the 2023 model, and Hitman 3 widens the gap further with respective 34fps and 5❀1fps results.

Not to pile on Lenovo’s device, but there is another huge issue with this handheld – it wields next-gen hardware wit﷽hout solvinไg our current battery dilemma. I could look past Steam Deck-level frame rates if I could grab the Legion Go S for $400, but the closer I get to the $1,000 mark, the more I’m going to expect an fps boost with runtime to match. Not only are you not getting the same frame rates as the original Legion Go, but you’re only going to be cutting the cord for the same length of time as Valve’s portable.

In proper g🐼ameplay sessions, and with brightness sitting half way, the Legion Go S lasted around 1.5 hours. That was my average when exclusively adventuring around in new releases like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Avowed, but I managed to keep the portable run🌊ning for around 3 hours when wrestling with Windows 11. You’ll realistically be looking at that latter figure if you set “Thermal Mode” to Balanced and mix up playing games with general use activities, which is similar to my experience with the Steam Deck OLED.

At this point, I feel like I’m bullying the Lꦰegion Go S, so I’ll touch on another con followed up with some praise. The first is that Lenovo’s han🍒dheld likes to get noisy, and its fans are noticeably louder than the Steam Deck OLED or the ROG Ally. It’s not as intrusive if you keep your wattage down low, but that’s not going to do the Ryzen Z2 GO APU any favors.

On the other hand, that promised praise relates to the 1200p 120Hz IPS display and its accompanying speakers. The screen’s nice 🤡contrast levels, decent brightness, and respectable colors cheered me up during testing, while the surprisingly punchy front-firing speakers helped mask fan noise without remotely sounding tinny.

I found myself pretty absorbed in the Souls-like indie caper FlyK🅺night while testing the Lenovo Legion Go S, and it's a good example of a scenario where performance, refresh rate, and resolution all feel like a good fit, even if running a game tha𝔍t takes visual queues from old Runescape isn't exactly a feat.

If the device was even just a bit more powerful than the OG Legion Go, I coജuld see myself using it over an OLED handheld even if it meant compromising on vibrancy. I do rank Lenovo's choice of display am🥀ong the best within the portable PC scene right now, and while not convinced we need to be pairing lower spec Ryzen chips with anything over 1080p, playing lighter romps at 1200p does produce crisp visuals.

Should you buy the Lenovo Legion Go S?

No, you shouldn’t buy the Lenovo Legion Go S right now. Trust me when I say it pains me to say that, as I fully believe that the cheaper SteamOS version will make for a great Steam Deck when it eventually arrives. I actually think the Windows 11 model could have ranked among the top premium handhelds if it wasn’t rocking that underwhelming Ryzen Z2 GO chip. But alas, this sp🉐ecific device isn’t worth $729, and there are countless options you could pick up for a chunk less that pack a more appropriate frame rate punch.

Ultimately, the Lenovo Legion Go S is a contradiction. Its name s🍷uggests it’s a light version of the first model, but its price and additional specs point towards it being a successor. My heart aches for this mixed up handheld and, since I truly believe the company is onto a winner with this formfactor, I hope its blueprint helps the eventual SteamOS model thrive s🐼oon.

How I tested the Lenovo Legion Go S

I used the Lenovo Legion Go S as my everyday handheld to assess its performance, battery life, visuals, and audio in general use for two weeks. In addition, I also used Cyberpunk 2077, Hitman 3, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider as benchmark games 𒉰to compare performance to the Steam Deck OLED and Windows 11 alternatives like the Asus ROG Ally and original Legion Go.

For more information on how we test handhelds and other portable gaming devices, swing by our full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ hardware policy.

Looking for add-ons for Valve's handheld? Take a peek at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Steam Deck accessories. Alternatively, check out the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best retro consoles for a portable system that'll run the classics.

Speed, Balance, and Control are the order of the day, with each of SteelSeries' new gaming mouse pads offering a slightly different feel based on texture, stitch patterns, and fabric weave. I've had all three on my testing deck over the last few weeks, swapping each out for different genres and use-cases to see if they can become the new 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best mouse pads for gaming.

All of the mouse pads in🐲 the SteelSeries QcK Performance line come in either L or XL sizing, featuring the same MSRPs ($39.99 and $49.99 respectively). They're available right now via SteelSeries and select retailers.

SteelSeries QcK Performance: Control

I started my testing with the Control pad. Like most, my gaming setup needs to put on a suit and tie during the day as I work, and between smaller photo editing adjustments and the sheer number of times I accidentally close a tab this felt like the most natural choice for everyday use. The surface is considerably coarser than the Speed model, with a rough feel under the arm during use. That never grew uncomfortable, though - in fact, it provided a pleasant sense of control and grip even before I placed my hand on a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:gaming mouse.

The Control pad is designed to provide better stopping power, more accurate mouse sweeps, and finer𝓡 precision in smaller movements thanks to this textured design. It absolutely nails the brief. I'm glad I chose to slap this one on the desk first, because it's easily my favorite.

The rough surface never feels too cumbersome for flashes of faster movement, I was still able to zip🐎 through Avowed's more frantic combat moments and keep a solid pace in CS2. However, there's just enough granularity in this surface to keep a high DPI at bay, still keeping clicks tight and co🧸ntrolled during slower moments.

I'm currently using a Razer Basilisk V3 Pro, and combining the mouse's DPI-slowing sniper button with the SteelSeries QcK Control's grainier texture made for particularly precise sniper shots. Ramping up the DPI on something lighter like the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX was also far less manic, allowing f෴or faster sweeps without the jittery over-extension I usually experience when running at sensitivities 🌱higher than around 8,000.

There is a little extra drag, that's what this mouse pad has been designed to offer, which does compound the feeling of extra weight in a larger mouse like the Basilisk. If you're using a lightweight speedster🐭 but still want access to a greater sense of accuracy this is a fantastic pickup.

SteelSeries QcK Performance: Speed

At the other end of the spectrum we have the Speed pad. This is an almost-slick surface that provides the same kind of glide feel as a hard pad, but with the comfort aꦅnd malleability of a traditional soft design. That's a potent combination, and while I prefer♚red the Control pad for everyday work and most of my games, faster assaults like Apex Legends and CS2 do benefit from the additional slip of this surface.

I was able to move much quicker across the pad and still maintain some degree of control over my movements, though there was definitely less precision in my gameplay than on the above model. Both the heavier Basilisk V3 Pro and lighter Logitech DEX moved nicely over the finer-weaved surface, though the particularly low-weight Razer Viper V3 Pro was particularly swift on this surface. That sometimes translated into a little more of a ꦡflick than I was expecting, and I had to adjust my muscle memory accordingly, minimizing my right-hand movements compared to the wider gestures I would make on the Corsair MM700 Extended (my daily driver).

If you're a particularly fast competitive player this is going to be a massive win. Smaller movements means less time spent actually making your plays, and increasing the tracking specs of your mouse's sensor can get those flicks and twists down to simple twitches. However🌱, I'd recommend the reliability and stopping power of the Control or Balance models for the majority of players ouꦓt there.

SteelSeries QcK Performance: Balance

Finally, we have the happy medium. The SteelSeries QcK Balance gaming mouse pad aims to provide a better halfway point between controlled movements and faster glides. This is essentially the next generation of the standard SteelSeries QcK mouse pad we'vꦛe all come🎃 to know and love, combining speed, comfort, and control into one Goldilocks mat. It's the model most players are going to gravitate towards first, and the one we should see the most action out of.

Like both the Speed and Control, the new generation is thicker, with edged stitching to better protect against frays in the longer term. The SteelSeries logo has also been darkened into a gray rather than the stark whiteღ we saw in the original. The actual feel of the pad sits more on the control side t𝄹han speed. There's a less effortless glide here, with more attention paid to stopping power and finer movements. Being a fan of the QcK Control, this is a lean I'm happy to support. It's much more comfortable for everyday work tasks and more game genres overall.

There's a much less noticeable drag compared to the full texture of the Cont🍎rol model, which is going to keep those who use a heavier gaming mouse particularly nimble.

Should you buy a SteelSeries QcK Performance mouse pad?

SteelSeries is well known for the durability and glide of its mouse pads, it's why the original QcK has stood at the top of our ranks for a couple of years now. The latest iteration keeps the all-in-one nature of the original with the Balance mat, but also brings new options for speed-focused and more precision-minded players. Of the three, the Control pad is the most refreshing. Very few mouse pads are confident enough to actually add an element of dr꧋ag to their feel, but the extra accuracy it brings to both gameplay and everyday productivity has been a real benefit in my testing. If you use a heavier mouse, the Balance model still offers a grainier feel than the previous generation but provides a smoother glide for a more comfortable ex♉perience overall.

The Speed model is 🍨certainly fast, and is going to give competitive players looking to milk high DPI settings an edge. The vast majority, though, should be lo🌱oking to the two more tactile models for a real sense of control.

Right now, only the square Large and Extra Large models are available, whereas I na🔯turally prefer an XXL or an Extended design. It means that, during testing, I have to keep my keyboard veered slightly too far left to truly be comfortable for day to day typing (lest it overlap with the pad itself). In-game, I tend to angle the keyboard anyway, and there's no swapping my right hand between devices, so there's less of a sizing issue if you're buying for ꦑa dedicated gaming setup.

Other than the size, the only feature I found myself missi𒆙ng during testing was the RGB lighting of my Corsair MM700 Extended. It does mean I had fewer wires trailed around my setup, but I did enjoy the extra pzazz brought to my setup, and the relatively simple-looking SteelSeries model didn't bring the same level of flair to my desk top.

How I tested the SteelSeries QcK Performance mouse pads

I used the SteelSeries QcK Performance Speed, Control, and Balance mouse pads over the course of two weeks. I split my time evenly between each pad during that time, while also comparing against the previous generation QcK and QcK Heavy on the desk as well. I used both a heavy (112g) Razer Basilisk V3 Pro gaming mouse and lighter Razer Viper V3 Pro (55g) and Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 DEX (60g) mice in both wired and wireless mode. For more information on how we make our recommendations, check out the full 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.

I'm also rounding up all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best wireless gaming mouse models and hunting down the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best left-handed mouse for gaming. Or, take a look at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best gaming keyboards for a full setup refresh.

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:WWE 2K25 demonstrates this more pertinently than any of its rivals. Honestly, its wrestling engine is spectacular. Modes that don't encourage you to fork out real cash, such as Showcase and MyRise, have rediscovered their mojo after some fallow years. But the majority of the hype surrounding the game centres on a new experience called The Island. And, well, it's har﷽d to view it as anything other than a means of siphoning fans for extra dough.

Get your wallet ready

The ethos at play here is that you creat♔e a character, then upgrade his or her abilities and moves by winning one-on-one matches, either against the AI (as decreed by Roman Reigns), or in PVP. In between those bouts, you free-roam an online neighbourhood exploring locations named after WWE stars: Damage CTRL Computer Repair, Hurricane Outfitters, The Arcade Of Tomorrow (Asuka). Many of these locations are stores where you can buy items to kit out your creation – but these aren't just themed on wrestlers. There's also a Nike store, and a Jordan store, enabling you to jump into matches sporting official brands.

Here's where the big dollar drop comes in. To buy, for instance, a pair of orange Nike sneakers, you're looking at 18,000 VC. Yes, you caಞn grind for that – but many will want them instantly. 15,000 VC costs £4.49. So you're looking at upwards of £5 just for some trainers to put on a CAW. Now consider that most in-game stores have at least a dozen items and it just feels demoralizing. Matches and challenges in these custom arenas are fun – they're exclusive to the mode, marginally increasing its appeal – but overall something feels off about the knowledge that fans will spend hundreds of pounds or dollars on a character they'd have tweaked in previous games for free.

It's especially galling because the community was already down on another VC-focussed mode, MyFaction, which inevitably returns. This mode is WWE's take on🅘 Ultimate Team, as you build a four-person squad to take into matches and challenges. As with previous years it's perfectly playable, but always with the sense that it's here primarily for profit. Want Persona cards, which unlock gimmicks such as 2010 CM Punk or 1997 Rob Van Dam for use across the game? Get ready to grind, grind, grind – or spend real money on VC to expedite your progress. It isn't subtle. Indeed, it's shameless.

It also does the entire series a disservice because, good lord, the wrestling here is top-tier. Just exceptional. The best we've seen in the series going back꧂ to its Smackdown vs Raw heyday. Animations look like the real thing, wrestlers feel like their authentic selves, punches and kicks land with satisfying heft, matches sway back and forth enthrallingly, always with the threat of being ended by a sudden signature or finisher. The🉐 return of chain wrestling is a success, and intergender bouts are fun too. Interference-packed Bloodline Rules matches are carnage. The new WWE Archives backstage area is a hoot to brawl in due to its endless easter eggs, and the roster is insanely stacked. From the current day, only Motor City Machine Guns and Penta are missing – and they're coming soon as DLC.

There are so many neat touches to enjoy. Changing camera angles during entrances sounds like a geeky, needless addition, but it's brilliant – you get to play director, settling the scene for any bout just as you see fit. The new Giant class makes the likes of Omos feel truly unique to handle, and bruises, bloodꦇ, and sweat have all taken a noticeable step forward where visual details are concerned. New Netflix arenas for Raw and Smackdown are here, despite only being introduced in January. Five-person entrances for The Final Testament, Judgment Day, and Wyatt Sicks are spot on. Poison Mist and Powder paybacks leave your foes' faces coated in those substances. There's much cool stuff – completely at odds with the design decisions underpinning The Island and MyFaction.

Bloodline injection

The game's best mode is Showcase, and mercifully it remains completely free. As in previous editions it has you replaying bouts from WWE past, but with intriguing new elements. In some matches, you have to change the result, while others are completely fictional: such as the Dudley Boys taking on 1970s brawlers The Wild Samoans. The entire mode is themed around past and present grapplers who make up The Bloodline dynasty: the Anoa'i, Maivia, and Fatu families. It's a great way to integrate characters we've never seen in the series before such as the Headshrinkers, Islanders, and The Rock's own gran🌌dfather, Peter Maivia.

In a touch of genius, Paul Heyman – Roman Reigns' onscreen counsel – is tasked with presenting each match, and as a result every single pre-bout video is unskippable. No exaggeration. They're better than most content on official WWE Blu-rays. The one setting the scene for Reigns' Royal Rumble slugfest against Seth Rollins is as⛄ incredible a promo as you'll see on TV all year. It all amounts to a traditional mode that feels utterly revitalised – although the decision to add timed objectives is a wild error, and the only misstep from an otherwise sublime return to form.

Throw in an all-new MyRise with the ability to unlock jobber favourites such as Cole Queen and Odyssey Rift, expanded GM Mode, and the returning Universe – oh, for that mode to have been given the resources ploughed into The Island – and this rem𒐪ains a colossal package even if you never go anywh𒈔ere near VC.

But it's there, and until we figure out that new two-tier scori൩ng system, it means The Island and MyFaction have to factor into the final rating. Where in-ring action is concerned, this is right on the cusp of being a five-star wrestling sim. But it has to lose a star for its cash-grab modes, which land as snugly as a Logan Paul brass knuckle shot to the jaw. In which you're the recipient, rather than the mega-rich Youtuber.

WWE 2K25 was reviewed on PS5, with code provided by the publisher.