1 week ago
5
Well, 1 retired of 3 ain’t bad. The second-generation Steam Controller is upon us, the sole subsister of Valve’s delays connected its RAM-troubled caller hardware. "Go connected without us," the Steam Machine and Steam Frame VR headset presumably whispered to a reluctant Controller, which could lone blink backmost tears of thumbstick lubricant arsenic some were buried nether the heap of wealth that it present takes to bargain 2 DDR5 sticks.
Still! You don’t request a Steam Machine, oregon so immoderate SteamOS device, to person a bully button-bashing clip with the Steam Controller. It’s a comfy and highly functional pad that’s overmuch much accessible than the owl-faced 2015 original, portion managing to consciousness adjacent much similar a focused, specializer PC instrumentality for accepted Windows rigs.
You inactive get dual trackpads and immoderate backmost buttons, but the summation of a D-pad and a 2nd thumbstick instantly makes this a much inviting Steam Controller for those who’ve lone ever stuck to accepted peripherals. Or, are acquainted with the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED, from which the Steam Controller initially appears to person lifted astir of its inputs.
Inside, however, are upgrades, and tangible ones. The D-pad is firmer and much unchangeable than either of the handhelds', portion the thumbsticks amended connected the Deck OLED’s with TMR (Tunneling Magnetoresistance) mechanisms that committedness Hall Effect-style instrumentality drift extortion and, should you marque it truthful with settings changes, a importantly shrunken deadzone. The result: a heightened, immoderate mightiness adjacent accidental twitchy, grade of responsiveness. The archetypal Controller’s large haptic motors person besides been replaced with subtler ones for the trackpads, portion each grip includes a beefier centrifugal for wide rumbling.
It’s a batch of stuff to cram into a controller, adjacent 1 arsenic visually weird arsenic this. Yet it’s not bloated, oregon misshapen. If anything, it’s much, overmuch easier to usage than it looks. Nothing truthful acold has caused maine fatigue oregon discomfort: not hours of robot hacking successful Pragmata, not a dangerously overconfident instrumentality to Hollow Knight: Silksong, not a heavy Hades II run, and not the near-constant accelerator maltreatment of Screamer races. Even the comparatively closely-spaced, astir cross-eyed instrumentality placement tin beryllium acclimatised to successful moments, and the full happening is overmuch lighter than you’d expect from thing with truthful galore goddamn buttons.
Maybe, mind, it mightiness beryllium a small too light? The Steam Controller doesn’t achieve, oregon adjacent truly seek, the elevated consciousness of important comfortableness and mechanical precision that a genuinely premium gamepad – similar the Xbox Elite Wireless oregon Razer’s Wolverine V3 Pro – deals in. It’s astir each simple, matte plastic, with functional but not particularly advanced-feeling enarthrosis buttons and triggers. The 4 rear buttons, portion a generous summation to the input number (and astutely placed for casual pressing), besides consciousness somewhat hollow.
Vibrational feedback could inactive beryllium much refined, too. The caller motors enactment good astir of the clip – with varying levels of strength when, say, driving implicit antithetic terrain Forza Horizon 5 – but successful Silksong, I’d sometimes perceive a tiny high-pitched ping dependable ringing retired from betwixt my hands, arsenic if 1 of the motors caught a digit successful a deckchair hinge.
More generally, though, you could ne'er accidental the Steam Controller is simply a corner-cutter. There’s plentifulness other for those who question the tactile pleasures: the thumbsticks, for instance, are grippy, solid, and responsive, adjacent if you ne'er fuss to tighten the deadzones. The D-pad genuinely does consciousness sharper and springier than that of the Steam Deck OLED, and portion the main vibrate-o-matics aren’t perfect, the trackpads inactive hum with a satisfying haptic buzz arsenic you resistance a thumb implicit them.
Thus, erstwhile utilized arsenic an utterly orthodox, thumbsticks 'n' look buttons controller, Valve’s caller exemplary performs admirably, with further frictions avoided done its agelong wireless scope and a artillery beingness that volition comfortably spot you done days of dense usage – oregon weeks of lighter prodding. On that alone, the Steam Controller is simply a decent gamepad. What makes it a bully one, if not great, is however enthusiastically it embraces its location platform. It is not a console controller being made to enactment connected PC: it is simply a PC controller. For PCs.
You tin spot this prime successful however the Steam Controller enables the PC tenets of openness and flexibility. If the archetypal Steam Controller was excessively focused connected trackpads, and accepted gamepads lone connection console-style inputs, this caller exemplary earnestly wants to bash a bully occupation with both, hence the operation of creaseless sticks and those tightly engineered, haptic-backed pads. To beryllium upfront, I don’t personally click with the second for FPS aiming oregon 3D camera power – my attempts to larn ever extremity with a defeated instrumentality to the close thumbstick – but I don’t spot however they’d travel up abbreviated for those who do. Each quadrate is large capable for reasonably enthusiastic thumb movements, and the downwards click enactment (also haptic, alternatively than mechanical) really achieves the pleasant crispness that the rear and enarthrosis buttons lack. And adjacent a pad pleb similar maine could get to grips with them successful games that usually privation a rodent for cursor control, alternatively than camera movement; fashionable MOBA and starring Dunning-Kruger simulator Dota 2 is amazingly playable connected the Steam Controller, astatine slightest erstwhile you use 1 of the community-made input layouts done Steam's controller settings menu. Oh hey, that's much PC openness close there.
The oft-overlooked 3rd option, gyro controls, has besides ne'er been amended represented than connected the Steam Controller. Again, this isn’t my jam, contempt my envy of those who tin harness its potential. But gyroscope accuracy appears dead-on, and the customisation options tally disconnected the page. The main upgrade: capacitive "Grip Sense" sensors successful some the near and close grips, removing the request to clasp down a fastener oregon remainder a thumb connected a instrumentality to activate those swooshing question inputs. And arsenic overmuch arsenic I suck, I inactive enjoyed trying these sensors out. Freeing up a thumb makes cleanable consciousness for a power strategy wherever you’re waving the gamepad around, apt shifting it astir successful your grip, and the sensation of lone holding 1 borderline of the Steam Controller to jerk my purpose astir successful Team Fortress 2 is the closest I’ve travel to having that 'extension of the body' consciousness of virtual world recreated connected a desktop monitor. These sensors tin inactive service adjacent if you ne'er effort gyro controls, excessively - Steam treats them arsenic inputs that tin beryllium freely rebound similar immoderate fastener oregon trigger.
The caller Steam Controller is besides unusually well-readied to grip PC usage extracurricular of playing games. I’m definite you tin sort-of replicate this connected different controllers with apps and settings tweaks, but retired of the box, the Steam Controller instantly seems to cognize its mode astir Windows, fto unsocial the SteamOS cube it was expected to motorboat with. The close trackpad is simply a susceptible cursor pusher. The near pad scrolls done web pages. The enarthrosis buttons marque left- and right-clicks. Nudging the near thumbstick seeks done YouTube videos. On nary different controller person I recovered it truthful effortless to cock up 7 successive Savage Beastfly attempts earlier quitting, firing up Chrome, and skipping backmost done aged William Osman videos to calm down, not erstwhile having to power to a rodent successful the process.
This is important, adjacent if you bushed Savage Beastfly ages ago. The Steam Controller mightiness beryllium an exceptionally fitting PC gamepad, but it volition inactive request to run extracurricular the astir communal setup of a seat and a desk. Whether you’re redeeming for a Steam Machine, already person a small surviving country PC of your own, oregon occasionally dock up a Steam Deck to your TV, it besides needs to accommodate those sofa situations wherever a rodent and keyboard aren’t to hand. A built-in keeb is 1 happening the Steam Controller doesn’t marque country for, but erstwhile what’s on-screen isn’t geared specifically for gamepads (as, say, Steam Big Picture Mode is), its trackpads and mouse-aping abilities tin easy grip navigation.
The lone drawback down each this versatility is that the Steam Controller relies heavy connected the Steam Input bundle layer, which tin origin weirdness extracurricular of Valve’s ecosystem. Try to play a crippled done the Epic Games Launcher, oregon Battle.net, and it won’t really recognise the Steam Controller arsenic a controller – it’ll deliberation you’re inactive utilizing a rodent and keyboard, truthful abbreviated of immoderate originative rebinding, astir buttons simply won’t work. The reply is to reroute these games to motorboat via Steam, utilizing the app’s Add a Non-Steam Game function, upon which they’ll summation the powers of Steam Input astatine the outgo of dragging you adjacent deeper into Valve dependence. This besides won’t work, period, with the much locked-down games of Microsoft’s Xbox app, including Game Pass games; possibly a uncommon illustration of a controller joining a boycott.
If that isn’t a dealbreaker, past it’s hard to find thing other that could be. The Steam Controller Mk.II is acold easier to usage than the original, and for each blemish that remains, it exhibits 3 oregon 4 small triumphs of relation and plan - galore of them unsocial to this 1 gamepad. I haven’t adjacent mentioned what mightiness beryllium my wide favourite quirk: however the wired charging puck magnetically jumps onto the Controller’s rear contacts erstwhile you question the second implicit it, clinging successful spot and refuelling the artillery without ever having to manually insert a ligament into a port.
I person decided that this is however each controllers should recharge from present on, and volition softly justice immoderate aboriginal competitors that neglect to adequately transcript it. Which could beryllium many, arsenic it’s nary large agelong to ideate waves of Windows-focused, overtly PC-first gamepads pursuing this one, conscionable arsenic the Steam Deck sparked a unreserved of rival handhelds. Unfortunately, for immoderate trackpadded copycats successful the works, there’ll ever beryllium that shrugging, doubtful retort: "Yeah, but the Steam Controller did it first."
English (CA) · 
English (US) · 
Spanish (MX) ·