Steam Controller Review

It's been more than 10 years since the original Steam Controller, Valve's take on a game pad designed specifically for PC gaming. Now, that controller only ever found a small cult following. Its most innovative feature, haptic touchpads, intended to give more detailed control of a mouse pointer, was also its most polarizing, given that the touchpads took the place of standard thumb sticks, turning off anyone who was just looking for a traditional gamepad experience. While the original Steam Controller failed, its innovations paved the way for the touchpads found on the excellent Steam Deck. Thankfully, now in addition to traditional thumb sticks instead of them. In turn, the Steam Deck success has begat a new batch of Valve hardware, the forthcoming Steam Machine and Steam Frame, as well as the new Steam Controller, which after 2 weeks of testing has quickly become my favorite controller for PC gaming. The new Steam controller will look familiar to anyone with a Steam Deck, but a little bit odd compared to the default Xbox controller. It has a standard controller shape with a symmetrical dual thumb stick layout, most akin to the base PS5 controller. Its AVXY face buttons and D-pad again mostly mimic the PS5 controllers layout, though they're very slightly more in line with the thumb sticks. The face buttons feel solid. They're not particularly clicky, but they have a satisfying press without any instability or wrap. The D-pad is similar. It has a nice bit of travel to it and doesn't feel mushy, but it lacks the clickiness found on the Xbox Core controller. It's perfectly serviceable for platforming in Hollowite Silkong, but it lacks definition on the inner Cardinals and doesn't excel at quarter circles or other fighting game inputs. Of course, for that, you're better off opting for a dedicated fight stick anyway. On top are the triggers and bumpers. The bumpers feel about the same as the face buttons, neither clicky nor mushy, the triggers have a comfortable lip and travel distance. There's no switch or trigger stops to adjust their physical actuation point, but using steam input, you can change them to activate on a slight pull or assign separate actions to a soft versus a full pole if you like. Around back are the rear buttons, which rest exactly under your middle and ring fingers when holding the controller. I found them easy and comfortable to press, though the bottom two, R5 and L5, occasionally would press by accident if I rested my hands on my leg in a certain way while holding the controller. It's not really a huge issue overall and only a problem if you happen to cross your legs and rest your controller hands