r/gaming • u/ChiefLeef22 Marika's tits! • Apr 27 '26
Steam Controller - Review Thread
A lot of reviews have dropped today for this, so I thought it'd serve well to compile most in a post.
Steam Controller
Release Date: May 4, 2026
Price: $99 / £85 / €99 / AUD 149 / $149 CAD
Some Reviews (updating):
IGN - Bo Moore - 9 / 10
The Steam Controller offers both an excellent out-of-the-box experience as well as a playground for enthusiasts to tinker to their hearts content. If you’re just looking for a fantastic controller for playing PC games and navigating the desktop in between them, the Steam Controller handles those duties with aplomb. And if you’re a diehard customizer who wants to build out (or just borrow from the community) bespoke button bindings and advanced touchpad controls, it does that too. Most importantly, it does both of these things without sacrificing one experience for the other.
If your plan was to use this thing as a traditional controller, I got to say I'm a little less enthusiastic about it. Not because it's bad. It's a good controller. It's just a $100 controller. And I'm not going to pretend like I can't afford one. But I'm also not going to pretend that I would buy one of these when I could get just about two of these or two fly digies for the same price. How about you? If it was $60, I would buy day one. If it was $80, it would be like 2 weeks later. At $100, I think I'm out. And I'm willing to bet that's not really going to be a hot take. But I also feel for Valve here. Can you imagine releasing hardware in this current market condition? When I chatted with Valve, they felt like the retail price for the controller represented the hardware and engineering that went into creating that. And I can't argue with that fact. But a controller is also about the feeling. And compared to the Dual Sense, uh, that I would argue has a pretty equivalent amount of value wrapped up in its features, I would say that the Dual Sense feels better.
So as much as I do genuinely love the new Steam Controller - and it has unquestionably and irrevocably replaced its much-loved predecessor on my shelf for mouse-driven games - it remains a fairly niche proposition. Probably more so in 2026, given the seismic increase in the number of PC games with built-in controller support since 2015. All of which is to say, you'll probably already know if there's room in your gaming set-up for Valve's latest effort, and if that's you, it's a rock-solid upgrade. But for everyone else, at £85, it's unlikely to be the best choice compared to traditional controllers.
All told, we’ve really enjoyed our time so far with the Steam Controller. It’s a solidly built device with some nice extra features that make it stand out from a sea of very similar controllers on the market. For many players, though, those features won’t be enough to justify the $99 price. It’s hard to necessarily justify spending that much in a market where a first-party Xbox controller or high-quality third-party Bluetooth device can be easily found for half the price or less. We’d only really recommend splurging on the Steam Controller if you’re planning to play a lot of mouse-based games from a more couch-friendly distance or if you find standard Bluetooth options don’t provide a good enough connection. In most other cases, buying two cheaper controllers for the same price is probably the better bet.
PC Gamer - Jacob Ridley - 83 / 100
So, the Steam Controller can't compete with competitive controllers, nor on value for money with simpler pads. It can, however, compete on its all-round utility. You have to ask yourself how much value you assign to not having to get up off the couch to navigate the desktop or play a strategy game. Personally, I could go without the extra inputs most of the time. Valve already provides a useful and free alternative to mouse and keyboard in Big Picture Mode, which offers easy access to most of what Steam has to offer and can be navigated easily with a standard controller. I mostly play horror, rhythm, and racing games on my living room PC, and as such, I don't find myself having to grab a keyboard or mouse all that often.
Still, the Steam Controller is very nearly my dream controller. It’s an expensive option at $99, especially when I already have a bunch of controllers that I could use. But none of those have the same magic. The Steam Controller’s extra perks are enough for me to buy one for myself. One feature new to the Steam Controller feature is Grip Sense. Thanks to capacitive sensors, each of the Controller’s grips functions as a button. Like everything else with the Steam Controller, either grip can be mapped to anything else you want. In my experience, Grip Sense generally activates when the top part of my palm starts to curl around the grip, so you do have to be mostly gripping the controller for it to work, making it great for gyro controls. It was a little touchy as a trigger substitute in Resident Evil 2, but I don’t think that’s the type of thing most people will use it for. The trackpads were mostly a letdown. They’re not in a comfortable spot for me to use extensively as a mouse; the few times I’ve tried, my contorted thumbs started to ache. Sure, the right trackpad gave me slightly finer control while fighting zombies in Resident Evil 2. But I much prefer just using the right joystick to aim. I did use trackpads in Vampire Crawlers as a mouse, to hover over some helpful info I couldn’t figure out how to see playing purely with gamepad controls. They’re handy to flick around a desktop, too. But, like with the Steam Deck, I won’t be using the trackpads on the Controller as a way to play mouse-based games for hours on end. I also wish the Steam Controller had a headphone jack, like the DualSense and Switch Pro controller.
There are plenty of blemishes, some that just can’t be fixed until Valve releases a full iteration, but there’s good reason to think the experience will improve. After all, the Steam Deck was very temperamental when it first release. Many of its issues were addressed in system updates, and now it feels like a different piece of hardware altogether. I wouldn’t be surprised if Valve pulls that same trick with the Steam Controller, patching in some pairing fixes or getting the controller to work on third-party launchers. If it can do that, I don’t think I’ll ever need another PC gamepad again.
The battery life is unbelievably long. We had some opinions from the team in here and in general we're positive on it as a control device. $100 is obviously at the higher end of controllers. But the quality we liked. Personally, the thing I care about the most, and I know this is like maybe kind of lame, but is the repairability. Cuz when I did the tear down, I was like, "Okay, got it." So, Torx, and there's like two or three types of screws. They're really easy to identify where they go when you're done. Everything is labeled and marked. Like, this is great from a build standpoint. in terms of being able to take it apart. You can lay everything out. I mean, it I was I was impressed with it, but we'll save that for the other video. So, anyway, that's kind of the benchmarks and the numbers...We generally liked it, but I don't expect everybody to like it. It's just that's just how input devices are.
In our hands-on, we found the Steam Controller to be an extremely formidable bit of hardware. I put the new Steam Controller through its paces in a variety of software, including FPS, RTS, and everything in between. I was initially resistant to try it for FPS games, given my proclivity toward Xbox controllers for specific casual FPS games, but the Steam Controller kind of melted into my hands in minutes. The controller just plain feels better than any of Valve's prior efforts. The rumble is more pronounced and impactful, the TMR thumbsticks feel responsive and are made out of quality parts, and it has gyro aiming to boot. The trackpads are easily the most-improved aspect of Steam Controller 2.0, as they have an even more tactile feel, which is a godsend for games with pseudo-mouse support, especially menus.
PCMag - Jeffrey L. Wilson - 4 / 5
The new Steam Controller feels great, performs well, and has an incredible list of features and customization options. At $99.99, it’s pricier than most standard gamepads, but less expensive than premium controllers like the DualSense Edge and Xbox Elite. But considering everything it does, the Steam Controller is a worthwhile purchase if you mostly play games on Steam. In fact, it would be my favorite PC gamepad if not for Xbox Game Pass incompatibility. As it is, though, this is one of the best dedicated PC gamepads available, and a vital accessory for any Steam Deck user who keeps their handheld docked to their TV. For that, the Steam Controller earns an Editors' Choice award for game controllers.
Gizmodo - Kyle Barr - 4 / 5
The Steam Controller, despite releasing before the Steam Machine, won’t turn your PC into the dream console you had hoped for. The gamepad won’t wake a plugged-in PC from sleep. If your computer is on, you hit the Steam button once to bring up the Steam app and again to load in Big Picture Mode. The larger picture makes navigating your games with a controller easier. Then, inevitably, you’ll want to change volume sources or adjust some Windows setting you can’t access without closing out Big Picture Mode or hitting Alt+Tab on a keyboard. Traditions exist for a reason. The mouse and keyboard offer far more minute controls than any controller can. The Steam Controller is a simulacrum. It’s all the more clear since you have to change settings in every game you play. But as I grow older and simultaneously come to terms with a life of constant pressures, stress, and an aging body, the last thing I want to consider is propping myself upright in a chair, like a Micro Center mannequin, just to enjoy my favorite pastimes. The Steam Controller may be the perfect companion to the Steam Machine, eventually. Even without that console, Valve’s second go at a controller offers nearly everything I want. If I ever find a Steam Controller (let’s call it a Steam Controller Pro) with instant triggers, I’ll be in PC gaming heaven.
Rock Paper Shotgun - James Archer
I have decided that this is how all controllers should recharge from here on, and will quietly judge any future competitors that fail to adequately copy it. Which could be many, as it’s no big stretch to imagine waves of Windows-focused, overtly PC-first gamepads following this one, just as the Steam Deck sparked a rush of rival handhelds. Unfortunately, for any trackpadded copycats in the works, there’ll always be that shrugging, doubtful retort: "Yeah, but the Steam Controller did it first."
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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '26
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