You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/powera-fusion-pro-2-wired-controller-for-xbox-series-x-s.1836/

Having recently picked up an Xbox Series X, I’m eager to to find the best way to play it. Though somewhat enamoured with the latest tweak to the official controller design, there’s always room for improvement. With PowerA offering features comparable to the Elite controller at a much more reasonable price point, is the Fusion Pro 2 the perfect blend of function and affordability?

Now PowerA aren’t some unknown brand entering a new market. We’ve covered many of their greatest hits on the site, most recently looking at their Switch variant of the Fusion Pro, and myself looking at their more affordable Xbox offering a few months back. Unboxing the Fusion Pro 2 is a joy. While around half the price of Microsoft’s Elite Series 2 controller, the Fusion Pro 2 still clocks in at a £80 price point. Make no mistake, this is a premium controller, so it’s good to know the quality is felt from the outset.

There’s a lot to like about the design of the Fusion Pro 2, but a lot of that stems from the design of the Xbox controller itself. It looks official, and it feels it too. The grips of the controller have a rubber lining that feels great to hold, and is a nice step up from the modern Xbox controller’s bumpy plastic grip. The face of the controller is fairly standard, with the exception of the small nub towards the bottom. This allowing you to mute the microphone of an attached headset on the fly, as well as adjust volume it’s something I’ve found really handy, though it is worth adding that it only does this on an Xbox console. If you’re using this with a PC, it’s a useless addition.

The star of the show with this controller is one of the standout Elite features: paddles. Paddles are difficult. Praising PowerA’s enhanced Xbox controller for its buttons on the controller grips, I went in ready and excited to use them for the first time. Unfortunately, I just can’t get on with them. Their positioning on the back of the controller forces me to almost contort my hands if I want to keep them in easy reach. Where the grip buttons would be where my hands rest naturally, the paddles actively get in the way of my natural grip, leading to me either trying to avoid them, or pressing them accidentally. Now that’s not to say they’re bad paddles. They give an incredibly satisfying click, and though it comes with four of them, you can detach them as you choose to use anywhere between none and all four. They’re versatile and they’re easy to map to any face button, or combination of face buttons. They’re just not for me, and I’m okay with that. If like me you don’t get on with them, you can detach the module altogether and put a cover over where they went, giving the controller an entirely flat back.

Customisation goes further than to paddle or not to paddle though, with PowerA including a small but appreciated assortment of swappable parts. The faceplate held in place by magnets, albeit securely, it’s a simple operation to remove it and swap out parts. Your choices are between a black and white faceplate, and a few different lengths of analogue stick. It’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but it’s enough to tweak things to your liking. Unfortunately, there’s no alternative D-Pad though. While the D-Pad is fine, it suffers in a similar way to its enhanced predecessor in its mushiness. It’s not the mushiest I’ve felt, but compared to the crisp and precise clicks of the new standard Xbox controller I have on hand, it really falls short.

While I wasn’t expecting it to stand out so much, the feature I actually ended up using the most was the trigger locks. Using two sliders on the back of the controller, you can lock the movement of the triggers to three different positions, giving you variable limits on how far down they can be pressed. This has a huge assortment of uses. Sure, you might have shooters where you just want to press the trigger down enough and be able to put it back to neutral quickly, but I found great utility with this in emulators and other apps where hotkeys can be mapped. Do you want an easy to access quick save and load button that you can’t accidentally hit? Set the trigger locks and suddenly you find the input doesn’t register because you can’t push it down far enough. Obviously your mileage will vary from app to app, but it’s been a great thing for me.

Looking to larger use and comfort, you have all the quality you would expect to find in an official product. There’s a satisfying weight to it, and the combination of the smooth matte plastic face and the rubber grips is a joy to hold. A welcomed upgrade, the controller also uses USB C for its connectivity, coming with a lengthy braided cable. Given the Fusion Pro 2 is wired-only, the quality in this department is much appreciated.

All in all, PowerA’s Fusion Pro 2 is a great pick not only for the player two in your life, but as a primary controller for your Series X or S gaming. While I wouldn’t recommend it for a D-Pad heavy game like Celeste, the controller shines for more traditional console gaming with premium features at an expensive-but-much-cheaper-than-an-Elite-controller price point. It’s one to consider, especially if you happen to value paddles in your arsenal of accessories.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/roccat-pyro-mechanical-gaming-keyboard.1837/

Keyboards are to me as they are to many others nowadays; a brilliant passion, a quest to try the newest and the different, but also the familiar and improved. Returning to Roccat for the first time since 2019, I was excited to see how things have changed with their Pyro mechanical keyboard.

The long and short of my original review was that the keyboard was lush, but the software required to get the most out of it was not. Unboxing the Pyro, I get the same overall feeling of quality. The keys again sit atop a brushed aluminium plate, but the keycaps are a noticeably different style. Perhaps my favourite part of the Vulkan was its incredibly thin kepcaps, allowing you to see the lighting through the switches from the side; a bit like pudding caps. The Pyro by contrast is far more traditional. The keycaps are black and reach down far further, covering the majority of the switch. It’s different to the Vulkan, but I’ve really grown to like it. It’s not quite as showy, and for certain setups that can be a good thing. Still allowing for the back lighting to shine through the lettering and between the keys, your canvas for the fancy AIMO lighting engine remains just as versatile.

Looking to the other aspects of the design, we have another full-sized model with a personal favourite of mine returning in the volume wheel. I wish every keyboard had a wheel of some sort. Outside of that though, it’s somewhat by the books. The font used on the keycaps is clean without screaming gamer, despite it featuring a few extra icons for Roccat’s Easy-Shift and Game Mode. Coming with the keyboard is a detachable wrist rest. It’s a firm plastic that attaches with a clip system I’ve not seen before. It’s nothing extraordinary, but always great to have should space permit you to use it. My only real critique of the design is the fact the USB cable isn’t detachable. Though this may be a small gripe to some considering the keyboard is wired by nature, it concerns me that I’d be left with something entirely inoperable should that wire be damaged. I’d even take a detachable micro USB cable over this.

Beneath the keycaps lurks what is to many a deal breaker when considering a new keyboard: the switches. Sporting TTC linears, you have a fairly standard red switch. If you’ve used reds before, you’ll know what to expect. The linear nature of them means you won’t be hearing a click or bump as you type or game. Instead, you get a smooth motion for the key, with the only sound generated being the key physically being pushed down as you type. All the usual benefits of reds apply here. It’s ideal for a setup where you don’t want to be making too much noise. The actuation point for your keypress to register clocks in at 2mm, with the total travel distance being 4mm and the operating force being 45g. To my knowledge, these are all fairly standard figures for your average red switch, so there’s not much that stands out here. Comparing the typing experience to my Keychron K2 I noticed the travel of the keys feel slightly smoother, but this may just be down to the K2’s year of use. It’s also worth adding here that these switches are not hot-swappable, so you won’t be able to change them without significant effort.

As with the Vulkan, the star of the show remains the AIMO lighting. I loved it in 2019 and I still love it now. Discarding the complex and fanciful setups of other software, AIMO lighting aims to be organic and intelligent, changing subtly as you go about your daily business. It sounds like a load of PR buzz words, but it genuinely is a joy to use. You’ll see the keyboard breathing and slowly cycling colours as you sit idle, with lights dancing as you type. If you happen to use other Roccat accessories, you get to see a larger picture as the effects so fluidly leave the keyboard and reach them. I’m also in the process of reviewing the Kone Pro Air, and seeing it all come together is a joy. Naturally, it isn’t without flaws, and its flaws are unchanged.

Under heavy strain, Swarm, the app you’ll need to leave running to have your AIMO lighting operational, does crash from time to time. I will say that it’s a marked improvement on when I was using it back in 2019, with it only really happening as I type quickly, but it’s still a shame to see. I have a strong dislike for running software in the background for this kind of thing, so when I do make an exception, I at least want it to work properly. While it’s just a matter of restarting the app when it crashes, it’s an inconvenience I’d rather not have to face.

All in all though, the Pyro is a solid pick if you’re in the market for a keyboard. It’s a joy to type on and runs what is by far my favourite lighting system, even if it is flawed. At £89.99, it’s also significantly cheaper than the Vulkan was when I reviewed it, and finds itself in a far better position in this rather competitive market. If you can get past the non-detachable wire, I can wholeheartedly recommend it.