You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/roccat-torch-usb-microphone.1898/

If you’ve been keeping up to date with my reviews, you’ll likely remember the Roccat headset I recently had a look at. For those, who might have skipped over this one, I can summarise it nicely. It’s a great headset, but quite unlike my usual self, I had lost the detachable microphone within a week. While much of the reason comes down to my own idle idiocy, a significant portion of the blame has to be attributed to the fact I was just using something better to record my dulcet tones. That something is Roccat’s new Torch microphone.

Lurking within the box is the microphone itself, a base to mount it on, and a small assortment of cables. Assembly is about as simple as it gets; pop the mic into the base, connect to the base using a cable, then connect the base to your PC using a separate cable. The cables themselves are relatively standard offerings for Roccat, with some fairly sturdy-feeling braiding on show. Mounted in the base, the microphone can be rotated freely, limited largely by the length of the cable connecting it. As well as this it can be leant back, though I’m not certain of the use case for this as somebody who traditionally talks into microphones in an upright position. Even when pushed fully back though, the base offers enough stability to keep the microphone from toppling over. It’s perhaps not the most stable in this position but it’ll withstand a few knocks without falling. On the back you also have a 3.5mm jack to plug in your earphones, which is certainly a nice addition if your PC happens to sit a little distance from you.

A base or stand with a microphone is a fairly standard inclusion. With my previous Blue Snowball coming with a fairly simple tripod, I was really interested to see mixer-style controls attached to the base of the Torch. In easy reach you have a slider to adjust gain on the fly, a rocker to adjust the output volume going to your earphones via the jack, and one final rocker to move between the different patterns available to the microphone. The whole package comes together to a standard I’ve come to expect of Roccat. No part of this feels cheap, no part unintentional. The mixer functionality on the base is genuinely useful and goes a long way in justifying a more premium price for what could be considered an entry level streaming microphone.

Looking at the mic patterns available, you have the option to switch between cardioid, stereo, and whisper modes. For the vast majority of people, cardioid will suit you perfectly well. It captures the voice directly in front of the microphone, and I’ve found it significantly better than my Snowball for capturing just what’s in front, in oppose to the greater world lurking around it. If the world is what you’re wanting people to listen to though, stereo mode has you covered. Utilising the left and right audio channels, you get what could be considered a fuller sound. While I don’t think this improves the quality of speaking into the microphone, there is some definite utility to be found if recording with multiple people, instruments, or if wanting to simulate your position relative to the microphone for some kind of ASMR content. Finally, and to me, most usefully, we have whisper mode. This follows the same general ideology as the cardioid setup, with the bonus of boosting the volume somewhat. I’ve found this incredibly useful for late-night streaming with the walls in my house being relatively thin.

Though at first glance a gamer gimmick, the lighting on the microphone serves a great purpose in showing you its current configuration at a glance. With both the Roccat logo and strips of lighting to the left and right of the microphone glowing, you have a constant view of what you’re doing even if you occupy a dark room where viewing the icons on the base is too difficult. Light blue is whisper mode, yellow is cardioid mode, and purple is stereo mode. As well as the colour, you can tell the current gain level by how much of the light strips are lit. If the whole thing is lit up, you’re as loud as you can be. Half of the light strip means you’re half as loud, I’m sure you get the idea. I love the versatility to fiddle with things quickly and easily, with the visual feedback giving further incentive to pick this over software options.

The final standout feature of the Torch is a simple one, but one I really do appreciate: the ability to mute it with a wave of my hand. Thanks to a nifty sensor at the top of the microphone, you have the power to silence yourself without having to fumble about or hit any noisy buttons. You can toggle the detection range of the sensor using a switch on the back of the base, with the ability to disable it entirely also available. I’ve found it work really well when streaming, but if you happen to have cables lying near the top of the microphone, you’ll likely want to disable the feature. It can be a little too trigger-happy if the area directly above it isn’t usually empty. You can also mute the microphone by pressing in the volume rocker if you don’t mind the momentary clicking sound.

When it comes to software-based customisation options there’s surprisingly little on offer. I don’t think it’s a particularly terrible thing. As with the Syn Pro Air, I’m relieved to see Roccat moving away from Swarm as their driver software of choice in place of the newer Neon. Unlike the Syn Pro Air however, there really is nothing to tweak for the Torch. And that isn’t an exaggeration. What exactly do you use Neon for? As the aptly titled software may suggest, for the AIMO lighting. My recommendation though? Don’t. AIMO lighting is something I praise every time I review a Roccat product. The idea of a unified and smart lighting system that just decides on its own when to flow, when to dance, it’s genuinely one of my favourite things about Roccat. With the Torch though, there’s just no room for it. All that changes is the Roccat logo on the front of the device, creating a messy and uncharacteristically ununified appearance, with the bars of light surrounding it still indicating your selected pattern and gain levels. It’s a nice option I’m sure some will appreciate, but I’m a little disappointed they didn’t do a little more with it. Lighting around the base would have been particularly interesting, keeping the microphone lighting for its purpose and allowing you to experience the joys of AIMO in an unobtrusive way. I do understand something like this would have increased costs however, and at £89.99, it’s already skirting what some may deem reasonable for an introductory microphone to streaming.

I’m not going to pretend to be particularly knowledgeable when it comes to the specification of microphones. I say this a lot with headsets I pick up, but frankly, I am an end user more than I am an expert. I want to be able to use a product and know it sounds right, that it sounds good and clear. After using the Torch for around a month now, that’s exactly what I feel. Setup is as simple as plug and play, and right out of the box it sounds great. You can see below for some stream highlights showing the microphone in different settings, namely the cardioid and whisper modes. For clarity, the video of losing to Brawly is using the cardioid setting, and the video of losing to May is the whisper setting.

With not being an expert, there’s no fancy tweaking happening here. Outside of the standard OBS noise suppression plugin to mask the sound of air conditioning, you have a vanilla experience on show. To me, the standard cardioid setting sounds best, but I was quite impressed to hear just how clear I sounded with whisper mode. For those wanting to tear apart the full specs, you can find them below:

• Sample/Bit Rate: 48kHz,
• 24-bit with optional selection for 44.1kHz
• Capsules: 2 × ROCCAT Proprietary ∅14 × 6.5mm condenser capsules
• Pickup Patterns: Cardioid, Stereo, Whisper (ROCCAT Proprietary)
• Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz
• Max SPL: 110dB
• Zero-latency 3.5mm, 4-Pole headphone socket

All in all though, the Torch is a microphone I love. A distinct upgrade from my aged and beloved Snowball, it stands as a fantastic entry point to better sound quality for the budding streamer. £89.99 might be a price to put some off, especially when starting out, but I feel the features offered paired with the ease of use and sound quality go a long way in justifying it. It’s one to check out.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/roccat-syn-pro-air.1897/

I’ve reviewed my fair share of headphones while writing for GBAtemp. Ever in search of comfort and versatility, I’ve used sound-enhancing ones, ones that can connect to two things at once, bulky but undeniably comfy ones, and some really high end ones for the audiophiles in the room. Coming now for my first look at Roccat’s musical affairs, I try out the Syn Pro Air gaming headset to see if it can earn a coveted long-term spot atop my peanut-shaped dome.

When it comes to the Syn Pro Air’s design, it fits right in alongside the other Roccat peripherals I’ve recently reviewed. It’s sleek, it’s lightweight, and it has the same funky hexagonal lighting as the Kone Pro Air; maybe the term “Pro Air” is just Roccat’s way of branding honeycomb RGBs? Either way, it’s a headset that looks the part. Outside of the lighting you have some luscious memory foam padding lining both the headband and the inside of the ear cups. Pair this with the same oblong-shaped cups I adored in EPOS’ H3 headset and you have something that ticks all my boxes right out of the gate.

Much like the H3, they are brilliantly comfortable. I can’t express how much nicer an oblong-shaped cup is around the ear, and how well it blocks out external sounds for you to focus on whatever you’re trying to listen to. It’s the strangest kind of vacuum, albeit somewhat less airtight here thanks to Roccat’s more breathable material choice. I’ve worn this headset for hours at a time with absolutely no kinds of aches or strains, and I have no doubt I could wear them for hours more. Though still working from home, they unfortunately weren’t a fantastic fit for me to be wearing throughout my eight hour day, and it’s probably not for the reason you’re thinking. Turning up to a meeting with flashing RGB headphones might not seem the most professional to you, but it’s perhaps what many of my colleagues expect of me at this point. Where the Syn Pro Air fall short for me is actually in its connectivity options. While working, I have a wired set of headphones plugged into a mixer via a 3.5mm jack. This allows me to have my work audio for meetings and other workly affairs, as well as some quaint background music from another source to reach my ears in an unobtrusive way for others. It’s a setup I enjoy, but because the Syn Pro Air only supports connections via its USB dongle, there’s just no way to fit them into the equation. While my setup is quite unique, the problems of an exclusively USB headset are not. In terms of compatibility, it means you’re largely stuck with PC gaming, or consoles that support generic USB headsets. That limits you to the Switch, PS4, and PS5. 

When using the headset on PC though, the experience is really quite good. Much to my delight after many reviews of complaining about it, Roccat are moving on from the driver software of my nightmares, Swarm. In its place a new and modern program rises in the form of Roccat Neon. It’s not perfect; my biggest issue is that only a handful of devices are currently supported by it, so you’ll have to have both Neon and Swarm installed should you have older devices. Having said that, it’s incredibly easy to use and has a great assortment of settings to finetune your experience. I’ve played with a lot of the settings, the 3D audio standing out when playing games, but for general use, I’ve found the default configuration best. For those with a finer ear than mine, you can spend time tweaking the EQ exactly to your liking. Powered by the 50mm Nanoclear drivers from Turtle Beach, it feels like Roccat has leveraged the wealth of headphone experience from its parent company. Having not owned a Turtle Beach headset before, I now feel a little closer to truly understanding the praise the Recon 500 headset got when we covered it a few months back.

As an exclusively-wireless headset, battery life is an incredibly important factor. You want it to survive a long gaming session, or just a long day at your desk. In this regard, the Syn Pro Air meets expectations. Advertising a 24 hour battery life, it’s built to support the longest sessions, even if it isn’t required quite to the extent you’d think. A larger battery means not having to charge the headset as much, which is always a bonus. Having said that, this is also a headset you’ll exclusively be using at a desk due to its connectivity options, where charging them is hardly an issue. While I appreciate just how long modern headsets last, I wish this one in particular gave me more ways to utilise that lifespan. It’s also probably worth noting here that I did experience some issues with charging the device at first, with Neon reporting low battery levels even after a full day of charging. A few updates later, this seems to be fixed. If you are considering this headset, make sure to get everything up to date before going any further. 

Now a headset is more than just the headphones. Featuring a detachable microphone with such fancy features as being able to mute itself when moved to the upward position, the Syn Pro Air is fully kitted out for all your gaming needs. You can check out the video above for a recording of myself using the headset microphone while streaming Luck be a Landlord. In blunt terms, it sounds really clear for a headset microphone. Naturally, you’ll have the odd boom and the quality doesn’t quite stand up to standalone microphones, but for those starting out in streaming or just those wanting to talk to friends, it’ll more than do the job. There is an elephant in the room here though. You may notice I don’t have a single picture of the headset with the microphone attached. Why is this? Because I’ve already lost it. I really wish I were joking.

The Syn Pro Air is somewhat no frills when it comes to extras. Of note, there’s no case for it, and nowhere to store the microphone when not in use. Sure you can keep it on the headset itself, but then where do you put the rubber stopper that goes in the slot while you’re not using that? Of the two components, I figured the rubber stopper would be the smaller and therefore easier to lose part, and kept it safely stowed in the headset. Roll on a week or two and I have absolutely no idea where the microphone is. I can’t put too much blame on the headset for my own idiocy, but I would like to see more of these headsets come with basic storage solutions, or even just a more noticeable way to store an entirely black microphone. For all I know, it could be lurking atop my cable-infested all-black desk, just out of sight.

All things considered though, the Syn Pro Air is a great headset if all you care about is PC gaming. At £129.99 it’s hardly a budget option, but the price does reflect in the larger build quality and design. If you’re happy with using it exclusively via its USB dongle, it’s one to check out. Otherwise, it’s likely worth looking elsewhere for a better degree of versatility, or even holding out for an improved model from Roccat down the line.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/oco.1876/

If you’ve wanted a fair dose of puzzle platforming on the go, you may recognise OCO. Originally released in 2019 on mobile storefronts, it’s a relatively simple one button title where you make a square jump as it endlessly cycles around a circular map. Your aim? To collect all the bits. It’s remarkably simple and, at its core, I think this is a large part of why it was so successful on phones. Coming to PC last week, does it still stand up?

Now it’s probably worth saying this is the first time I’ve seen OCO. While it’s been available since 2019, my interest in mobile gaming only really took off towards the end of last year as I picked up my first gaming phone. Even with it though, I’ve focussed more on high-end emulation. It’d almost feel like a waste of hardware to play something so simple! I fear this was a mistake. Being provided a code for the PC version by the PR for the game, I took it upon myself to try and ultimately buy the mobile version to see how the experience differs and how each version stands to compliment each other.

On my phone the game runs great. It’s something I expect will run great no matter what you’re playing it on, whether it’s a phone or low-end laptop. Starting out, the gameplay is as simple as mentioned earlier; you jump to avoid obstacles and collect bits. Naturally, there are a few other objectives that keep the game interesting. These are the bonus objectives of beating a given level within a “perfect” time, or within a specified number of inputs. These objectives are where the bulk of the puzzling comes in, forcing you to plan your route strategically in oppose to endlessly circling until you eventually hit everything. It’s addictive, as many mobile titles are. Though in the first world you only have basic ground and blocks that propel you in the air on contact, the game steadily builds in more elements as you work your way through it. This keeps the gameplay fresh and allows unique challenges to form around familiar concepts. I confess I’m yet to beat every level, but having sampled a bit of each world, I can safely say the levels are well designed. It’d seem like a waste to rush through them all when I have much more fun playing in small bursts. It’s not to say I haven’t been captivated for a few hours at a time though!

What really makes the PC version of OCO worthwhile for me is the brilliantly simple cloud saving solution. You log in on Steam, and you log in on your phone. And that’s it. When I finish up at my PC and pick up my phone in another room, my progress is ready for me. I really love playing a level or two on my train to work in the morning. Of course, while the game is free on mobile platforms, you will need to buy the Pro version to have access to the cloud saving functionality. This costs the same as the Steam version, at £3.99, but does bring it to the same level in terms of content and removal of adverts. Your achievements also sync across platforms too, which is always nice.

Though I’m having a great time with the standard set of levels, where the game has found and will continue to find its longevity is in user generated content. It’s remarkably easy to make and share your own levels, and it’s equally simple to play the levels of others. I personally found the making process simpler on PC thanks to the more precise nature of a mouse for clicking where you want blocks to go in the circular grid, but it’s perfectly passable on mobile too thanks to being able to zoom and pan with multiple inputs. It was in playing around with the level editor I realised that the music is entirely procedural also, adapting to what you interact with. It’s genuinely fantastic, and matches the gameplay well enough that I thought I was jumping to the music, in oppose to the music changing to my jumps. 

OCO is a game I really do recommend, regardless of which platform you think suits you better. It’s criminal it only has 14 reviews on Steam at the time of writing, and I hope I’ve given people enough insight to give it a shot. It’s a cheap punt on Steam, and completely free to try on mobile. If you enjoy addictive platforming, this is one for you.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/spiritfarer.1873/

Originally released last year, Spiritfarer is hugely acclaimed title looking at death and saying goodbye by combining character driven and management simulation gameplay into one neat package. With the game recently having seen a physical release on PS4 and Switch, I’m jumping in to see exactly what makes this title so beloved to so many.

Starting out with a cutscene, you’re introduced to the world and your role in it by the ferryman Charon. Soon to be departing, you are to be his replacement in fulfilling the last requests of spirits and eventually guiding them to the afterlife. The environmental design and music here are nothing short of magical. There’s an inexplicably whimsical sadness to it all, stemming by in large from the small connection you make with Charon, soon to be severed by his passing. This short encounter encompasses the core gameplay cycle and sets you up with a fundamental understanding of what is to come. You meet a character, you hear their story, and you help them prepare to move on before inevitably guiding them to the end. It’s all here in this first scene, and it pulls you in in a way I haven’t experienced in a long time. Leaving the scene as you paddle your small boat away, the game truly begins.

Frankly, it’s more of a journey than it is a game. Not long after the meeting with Charon, you come across your first spirit and acquire a boat of your very own. The first spirit, Gwen, has a number of small requests to get you used to how the game works, these generally being on of visiting a place or giving her an item. This is where the bulk of the gameplay lies, and I understand if that sounds mundane. To some extent, it is. It all ties together though. To give an item, you may need to refine materials. To refine materials, you may need a building. To get a building, you may need other resources. To get other resources, you may need to forage on an island. And while you’re traveling to that island, you may want to use the time to fish for food, plant crops, or, well, refine materials at the buildings you do have. There’s a simple intricacy to it all that I have to admire; one thing leads to another incredibly well.

With the setting of Spiritfarer being a large ocean with islands dotted around it, you have an issue similar to The Wind Waker presenting itself: you spend most of your time sailing from one place to the next. This ends up being different to Zelda however in how this is an integral part of the game. Instead of traveling being no more than a means to an end, it acts almost as a timer to get things done while you’re waiting to arrive at a destination to do something else. As a management sim, it does an incredibly good job of keeping you busy, while providing you with adequate freedom for your playthrough to feel unique. If I had to pick a flaw here, it would be in the very nature of the game. Though your ship may grow larger as you progress and upgrade it, allowing you to place more buildings on its grid-based deck, things still feel slow, even later into the game. I feel like factory games like Satisfactory and Factorio may have ruined other management sims for me. I’ve come to expect a degree of scaling and automation that likely wouldn’t have fit here. Such things would take away from the personal nature of growing, of refining, of cooking, and then of giving. Were it automated, you’d lose a certain extent of attachment and achievement, detracting from the interpersonal relations the game relies on to motivate you. It’s a flaw for me with how I like to play games, but it’s not something I’d change.

At the centre of the game is its characters though. As you play, every conversation carries a sense of value in it if only for your knowledge that your time with each character is finite. Understanding the point of your journey with each of them is for it to come to an end, you see even the most basic of conversation as something more. You have a build up from meeting them and growing attached to them, to eventually saying goodbye. And this is further elevated by the incredible backdrops and music. I don’t usually talk about graphics and music since they’re just kind of there. A lot of games I could play muted, a lot of games I could see a different art style working just as well as the one used. Not with Spiritfarer. Everything fits together like an intricate jigsaw, to the point that I couldn’t imagine the game missing any part of what’s offered. The physical version of the game that’s recently released is one I really think is worthwhile. Coming with what is a fairly standard soundtrack and art book, you have two of the game’s best components to experience again beyond the game, and I think that’s wonderful.

I’m not going to say Spiritfarer is for everybody. I don’t think that’s the case at all. It’s an incredibly personal journey about death, accompanied by fundamentally solid management simulation gameplay. It’s slow, but not void of content. If you’re the type of person who wants to explore, who wants to see all there is to see, and say all there is to say, you’ll have a marvellous time with the game. It’s one that’ll be in my memory for a good while to come.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/samurai-warriors-5.1871/

It’s been a while since I’ve played a Warriors game. After being disappointed by the latest Hyrule Warriors title in its performance on Nintendo’s hybrid console, Samurai Warriors 5 has had me excited for months. My favourite era of history with the fun and frantic formula I’ve come to love, on systems that are capable of showing it at its best? Sign me up.

Though I’ve been hooked on Warriors titles since the original Hyrule Warriors in 2014, I’ve never had the chance to venture into the Sengoku-era Samurai titles. At the core though, if you’ve played one Warriors game, you’ve played them all, and you’ll know exactly what kind of game you’re in for. This title follows the legendary fool Nobunaga as he takes some of the first significant steps in unifying a nation of warring states. The campaign is broken down into chapters which signify story arcs of sorts, with there being several individual scenarios to play to progress through each. The scenarios play out pretty much how you’d imagine. It’s a relatively large battlefield where you’re guided from point to point completing objectives, all while clearing out hordes of enemies with style.

Playing the first scenario I decided to see how the game fared on hard difficulty, and I can say it’s something I don’t really recommend. As with various other Warriors titles, Samurai Warriors 5 starts out slow. You only have one character, you only have one weapon, your movement is excruciating with no option to run, and your combos are limited. Naturally, it doesn’t stay this way for long. You build up your character choices, your armoury, you level up your characters, but at the start you have a slog. And this slog is only made worse by elevating the difficulty. Where standard enemies would drop in a few hits, they survive for four or even five. Add to this officers that that take upwards of a minute to take down and you have something entirely unlike the Warriors experience I come to expect. If there is a positive to the longer fights against officers, it gives you a good amount of time to learn basic mechanics like parrying and dodging, but it just isn’t worth it. After getting through the first scenario, I dropped the game down to easy, with the intent to return for the harder difficulties when better equipped.

With enemies falling faster, the game soon picks up pace. Even with limited resources at the start, you feel as though you’re making meaningful progress as things unlock throughout the first chapter. By the end of what is ultimately the tutorial segment, you have far more freedom to experiment and find what’s the most fun for you and then roll with it. The real turning point for me was unlocking Ieyasu Tokugawa and getting to experience his violent and frantic twin blades. Much faster and fluid than Nobunaga’s default odachi great sword, I was instantly drawn in and set to work upgrading the first one I found. Unlike the Nintendo Warriors games I’d mostly played before this, any character can use any weapon. Each character has a preference where you’ll get a mastery bonus, but ultimately, you’re free to use whatever with whoever. It’s fantastic. Where in Hyrule or Fire Emblem Warriors you may have been stuck using a character and by extension, a moveset, you don’t like for various story chapters, you can mix and match here to have as consistent or varied an experience as you’d like. Even if you do find the weapon you think will be the one, experimenting is something I really do encourage, if only for a bit of a break from your regular routine. With the Warriors franchise known for a certain degree of monotony, these small changes can go a long way.

Outside of the main campaign, Samurai Warriors 5 features a secondary mode as most other Warriors titles before it. I have to say this one is a little lacklustre to the other titles I’ve tried. Citadel mode, accessible after completing the first chapter, is really quite a simple concept. You progress through a list of scenarios, each time repelling enemies coming towards your base. If a certain number of enemies get into your base, you lose, and you receive various rewards based on your performance. The rewards in this mode go towards upgrading facilities such as the dojo or blacksmith, to upgrade your characters and weapons respectively. The higher level the facility, the more you you’ll be able to use them. With the way the game is structured, you won’t be able to get the most out of citadel mode right out of the gate. This is because to upgrade structures, your castle rank needs to be of an adequate level, this increasing with progress in the standard campaign. While I do feel this mode can be a little bit of a slog if you’re just going to sit there and try to get through it all in one go, I have to concede that probably isn’t how it’s intended to be played. Instead of thinking of this as a separate entity to the campaign, I feel it’s much better served as a supplement, a break of sorts. It comes again back to the breaking up of samey gameplay by providing a twist, if only a small one. By switching from the campaign as your castle levels up, to citadel mode to increase your facility levels, you have a back and forth that helps keep either mode from becoming stale. On top of that, you’re also rewarded with the time-saves that come from having these facilities upgraded, helping you diversify by training characters and upgrading weapons you perhaps may not have tried before.

Having played the Xbox version of the game on a Series X console, the visual experience was divine. Using Quick Resume I did experience a stutter just after I loaded back into a map, but aside from that the game ran brilliantly. With the game available on such a wide range of consoles though, perhaps most notably the Switch, your mileage may vary. The only real flaw I can take from the presentation is the lack of English dubbing for the dialogue. While this may seem like a matter of taste in many games, the Atelier series notably dropping English dubs in their new titles, this is a case where it has a genuine negative impact. In a game like Atelier, you have voiced dialogue you can read at your own pace. It’s supplementary to the larger game and allows you to better relate with the characters on-screen. In Samurai Warriors 5 you can say this still holds true. Before each scenario, you’re treated to a cutscene, and sometimes in-engine dialogue sequences. These are all fine with subtitles, or the usual dialogue boxes you can advance with a button press. Where things are a little less than ideal is during the gameplay, where you’ll hear a character call out that they’re in trouble, or alert you of a new objective. These are subtitled just the same, but in taking a moment to read them, you’re diverting your attention from the action, which can in turn have a larger impact on your overall performance if you’re trying to work up a high combo for a better score. A dub would have helped tremendously here.

As with any Warriors game though, I dare say this review serves as little more than a reminder a new game is out. At this point, everybody knows what a Warriors game is. Everybody knows of the frantic hacking and slashing through hordes, and everybody knows if it’s for them. If you love it, you’ll love this. If you don’t, this game won’t be the one to change your mind. While the series escalates over time, becoming more fluid and visually appealing, at its core it’s changed less than Pokemon over the years, for better or worse. I had a great time with the game, and hope to see it revisited down the line with an Empires edition to perhaps bulk it out a bit with more secondary gameplay. If you like the Sengoku era and you like hack and slash though, pick this up. You won’t regret it.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/asus-rog-claymore-ii-wireless-keyboard.1866/

I’m no stranger to a nice keyboard. Regularly rotating between my favourite mechanical marvels, I find great satisfaction in trying the new and interesting, so could hardly pass up the opportunity to put the ROG Claymore II through its paces.

Now “new and interesting!?” I hear you cry. It’s just another keyboard! And that’s true, entirely so. It’s not split, no weird ergonomics, no standout oddities at a glance. Looking down at it now as I type these very words, it’s remarkably normal-looking. You have a brushed aluminium plate serving as a cool-to-the-touch base with clean black keycaps littered above it. The font is blocky, but not so garish as to lean too hard into the gamer aesthetic of years gone by. Right off the bat though, I was struck by the clarity of the lighting shining through the keycaps. The colours are remarkably vivid through the lettering on the keycaps, with very little light bleeding out from beneath the keys. It’s not something that comes through as well as I’d like in pictures, but it really is quite remarkable. And it set a great tone for what was to follow. 

The Claymore II does hide a few tricks, the most notable being its detachable numpad. By sliding it from its rail, you’re able to transform this full-sized keyboard into a more portable tenkeyless model, which is fantastic for a wireless keyboard you may want to be taking with you. But that’s not where it ends. On top of being able to remove it outright, you’re able to slot it back in place not only on the right, but on the left of the keyboard. Heresy I hear you cry! I’m not going to pretend this is a revolutionary change that completely altered how I use a keyboard. It isn’t. But it’s not to say it doesn’t have its use cases. In MMOs where you may need a significant number of skills bound to keys, you could quite easily map 8456 as your traditional WASD movement, freeing up uninterrupted rows of keys. You could also just have a complete set of macros in easy reach. It’s not something I expect everybody to use, but those who do experiment will likely come to appreciate the options on offer.

Moving onto the star of the show though, it’s time to talk about ROG’s RX optical switches. To cut to the chase, these are without a doubt the most satisfying switches I’ve used in a mechanical keyboard. At a surface level, you might see red and blue variants and simplify the switches to quiet and clicky, just like other reds and blues, but to do so would be such a disservice to the typing experience they provide. With an actuation point of 1.5mm you’ll find every keypress to feel incredibly responsive if you’re used to standard MX switches. For blue switches especially, they’re also surprisingly quiet. You still have the click you’d expect, but that’s really it. My Keychron C2 by comparison, with box white switches installed, has an accompanying thud with each keypress as the key hits the base of the keyboard. While the box whites are the closest point of comparison I have, the RX blues are a world apart. These are supported by a unique hollow square stem that holds the keycaps firmly in place. They’re brilliantly stable, though this design does limit your options if you wanted to swap out the keycaps. It’s also in this we see just how the lighting is so concentrated. With each light sitting completely enclosed by the square switch it shines directly up, in oppose to bursting out all sides. I love it. 

Having recently built a new PC, I decided to give Armoury Crate another go after disappointing results in my Keris review. Thankfully it does work now, and it’s pretty much everything I expected it would be. Using the software, you can keep your device firmware up to date, as well as configure lighting and key values to your preference. The latter of those is particularly great if you decide to attach the numpad to the left side of the keyboard, making it an interesting and easy to reach macro pad as mentioned earlier. The software is remarkably simple to use, with a surprisingly clean aesthetic. The two issues worth mentioning here though are the lack of customisation options for the scroll wheel situated on the numpad, limiting it to volume control exclusively, and the lack of a configurable function layer. Where Roccat has its Easy Shift to give additional functionality to a standard keyboard layout, and the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard has four (it could even be more now with that having received several updates since my original review) configurable layers, the Claymore II feels notably lacking. It’s not so much of a deal-breaker for me, but it is something it lacks in comparison to much of its competition.

Despite this being a wireless keyboard, I have to confess I’ve mostly been using it tethered. Being somebody stuck at the same desk with the same PC for most of the day, there’s little need for me to be burdening myself with keeping on top of the battery life of wireless peripherals when they could just be connected. Having said that, I did naturally see what the keyboard had to offer in this department. Connecting to a PC with a 2.4GHz dongle, the wireless experience is no different to the wired one, at least to my eye. The keyboard packs a 4000 mAh battery with an advertised 43 hours of battery life with lighting on and the numpad connected, along with an incredibly handy battery level indicator. While it may seem like a small touch, the indicator being as clear as it is with four distinct bars is a huge positive to me. Too many wireless products resort to obscure means of telling you they need charging, or just don’t altogether, leaving you with a frustrating surprise. It’s great to see that isn’t the case here. While not being used wirelessly, the dongle can also be stowed away in the keyboard, where it’s held in place by magnets in an attempt to keep you from losing it, something else I’m quite fond of.

All in all, the Claymore II has quickly become my favourite keyboard in terms of sheer typing experience thanks in no small part to the RX switches. At £200 it may be a hard sell for some, but with great customisation options, a detachable and moveable number pad, and great wireless support, it goes a long way in justifying itself. This is a keyboard I’m genuinely sad to be returning to Asus after the review, and is something I would consider buying myself should my current stow of keyboards simultaneously break overnight. You won’t regret checking it out.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/roccat-kone-pro-air-wireless-mouse.1860/

Alongside the Roccat keyboard I reviewed a little while ago, I received a mouse. Much like the keyboard, I’ve had a Roccat mouse before too in the Kain 200 AIMO, and it’s actually been my daily driver since writing the review a little over a year ago. It was, and still is, a mouse with an incredibly premium feel to it, but since losing the wireless dongle a few months back, I’ve been eager to look for another. Enter the Kone Pro Air.

Having just finished up a review of Asus’ ROG Keris a week or so ago, I’ve been suitably engrossed in general mousery of late, and it’s been a fun learning experience for me. With my previous mouse being one of Roccat’s, I had a general idea of what to expect as I opened the box. It’s sleek and stylish, it looks the part of a premium mouse, but like the Keris, I was again struck by just how light it is. Though slightly heavier than the Keris at 75g, it does a good job in living up to the air moniker in its name. If you’re used to something heavier, the adjustment period is slightly awkward, but within a day or two, it’ll feel natural.

The shape of the mouse lends itself to right-handed users well. With a textured indent for your thumb to rest in, it feels fantastic to hold and incredibly comfortable to use over extended sessions. All the clicks are satisfying, but one thing that caught my attention in particular was the aluminium scroll wheel. It’s bizarre, and I don’t quite know if I like it. Looking at it from the side, you can see cleanly through it. It’s a fantastic look. I just can’t decide whether it feels nicer than your more standard rubber offerings. I find myself scratching at it with my nail subconsciously and being surprised each time as it feels almost ceramic instead of the softer materials I’ve come to recognise. It’s interesting if nothing else.

As with pretty much every Roccat product of this modern age, the Kone Pro Air effortlessly integrates into AIMO ecosystem, and the way it does so is striking. Where I praised the Keris for its distinct and clear colours shining onto the mouse wheel, Roccat take a completely different approach in shining its lights of many colours through a honeycomb pattern on each mouse click. It’s a brilliantly visual way to illustrate the internal structure of the mouse, with honeycombing mentioned frequently in this kind of light design. Outside of that though, it is genuinely unique and interesting to make the mouse stand out from a lighting perspective. Naturally, if you’re running Roccat’s Swarm software in the background it’ll interact with your other AIMO-enabled peripherals. Seeing a wave transition from your keyboard to your mouse is the weirdest kind of satisfaction.

Now I’ve not been shy in airing my grievances when it comes to Swarm. It crashed a lot when I reviewed the Vulkan, it crashed a lot when I reviewed the Kain, and it still crashed a lot when I reviewed the Pyro in recent weeks. It’ll be no surprise to anybody reading this that it still crashes a lot! There are a few positives to take away here though. First and foremost, Swarm isn’t required to get the most out of the mouse in the same way it might be for a keyboard. All the configurations done within the software are saved to the mouse and are usable on a machine regardless of whether the software is open, or even installed. Using Roccat’s Easy Shift, you get an extra layer of functionality for each button, allowing me to create a media remote without having to sacrifice any core mouse features. It’s a mouse that just works, and it works incredibly well once you’ve got it set up to suit your preferences. If AIMO lighting does mean a lot to you, I have also recently discovered an app called “Restart on Crash”, and it does exactly what it sounds like it does. It doesn’t necessarily excuse Roccat’s oddly unstable software, but it at least gives you a hassle-free way to keep using it.

Being a fairly premium wireless mouse, the Kone Pro Air has several connectivity options for you to pick between. First and probably most common nowadays is the wireless dongle. This is my go-to when lying on my bed watching things from afar. Thanks to the media configuration I have, I can effortlessly control my PC without the need for a keyboard at my side. It’s entirely plug and play with no kind of pairing process or drivers required. Next up is what I use the majority of the time: wired. Now sure, it might seem a bit counterproductive to be picking up a wireless mouse to just have it tethered to a PC the majority of the time, but for me, a wireless mouse is about options. If I’m in reach of a PC, a wire, especially such a flexible one string-like one as this, isn’t a hassle. Using this primarily also keeps the mouse fully charged for when wireless is preferable. Though I’m no kind of competitive gamer, I didn’t notice a difference in performance between the dongle and the wired setup, though I imagine those more sensitive to intricate movements may pick up on slight discrepancies.

Last but still certainly deserving of a mention is the mouse’s Bluetooth capabilities. This is something I’ve used once or twice in my few weeks of having the Kone Pro Air, and frankly, it’s not something I’m going to be using much in the future either. While it’s a convenient option to have, especially if you’re struggling for USB ports or happen to lose the dongle as I did with the Kain, you do lose out on some of the mouse’s better features. Ultimately, in Bluetooth mode, it’s just a mouse. All your fancy changes are gone and all your settings are standard. It gets the job done and I’m grateful to have it, but with the mouse being able to house its USB dongle in its casing, I doubt there’ll be a repeat of my previous misfortunes.

Looking finally to the sensor, we see Roccat’s variation of the PAW3370 in the Owl-Eye 19K. To the eyes, or I suppose more fittingly, hands, of a plebeian like myself, it’s brilliant. The cursor moves incredibly smoothly across the screen with no noticeable signs of correction or alignment to my inputs. For those wanting to dive deeper into the specs though, I’ll attach them at the end of the review for your perusal.

All in all, Roccat’s Kone Pro Air is a fantastic mouse, and one I can’t help but recommend for those after a heavily customisable and versatile wireless experience. At £120, you are undoubtedly paying a premium for these features, and that isn’t something that should be glossed over. If you’re just wanting something wired and don’t plan on swapping buttons around, there will be better options out there for less money. If however like me, you’re wanting a stylish, comfortable, and versatile mouse to last you, this is one to consider.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/the-nes-endings-compendium-years-1985-1988.1858/

Now I’ve never reviewed a book before, let alone something as bespoke as this. First learning of it thanks to a news post on our own site I was enthralled, and couldn’t pass up an opportunity to have a closer look.

As products go, this is something you understand as soon as you’ve seen a page or two within. This is nothing short of a love letter to an early era of gaming, and this love seeps into every aspect of the book. Before diving into the meat, you’re given a brief letter from the author (@ReyVGM on the forums if you’re curious!). It sets a tone for what you’re about to read, and tells you why such a thing even exists. From here, my awe for the sheer attention to detail was boundless.

With so many NES games released between 1985 and 1988, the book is split into various eras: 1985 to 1986, 1987, 1988, and the games that don’t quite have an ending worth talking about. I love this. What this ends up doing is telling a story in itself, showing how game narratives to a larger scale developed over time. If I had to find fault, it’d be in the fact the contents page is sorted alphabetically in oppose to chronologically. It would’ve been nice to have had a larger timeline to better contextualise the games, with an index page serving the purpose of alphabetical sorting, but this is largely a personal preference.

Looking to the games themselves, you have a mixed bag of layouts, largely coming down to how much there is to talk about with the game in question. Especially with your ‘endless’ games, you might find as many as five squeezed onto a page with a brief comment and a screenshot to explain why there’s not more. Where this book shines however is in its luscious double or even quadruple-page spreads on some of the hottest titles. Not only do you have incredible detail and personal insight, you also have completely themed surroundings. It’s not just one or two screenshots haphazardly thrown onto a page, instead following design principles closest to publications like Nintendo Power, EGM, or even the Official Nintendo Magazine if you’re in the UK like myself. Reading through its pages brings with it an intense sense of nostalgia not only for the games, but for this style of presentation. It’s baffling just how well they managed to nail this look and feel, but damn did they do it well.

The two physical versions of this book both offer up something unique. Available as both a hardback and paperback edition, there’s a a degree of decision-making to be done based on what you want out of it. On one hand, the hardback edition seems more fitting of a collector. Sturdier and likely looking better on a shelf, it seems the better pick for those wanting something to display and pick up once in a while. On the other hand, the paperback version plays into the same sense of nostalgia previously mentioned. It doesn’t feel like some premium product to be horded and shelved. It takes me back to my own days of reading the Official Nintendo Magazine. There’s a joy that comes with flipping through the pages that I can’t quite explain, and yet one that I’m certain anybody who has enjoyed these publications will surely understand. While I may have preferred a hardback copy to display, I can’t help but feel it’d lose a certain personal touch I felt here.

The NES Endings Compendium, the first volume of what I hope will be many, is a book I can’t help but recommend. Given my young age, I can’t claim any nostalgia for the system at hand, and if I’m being completely honest, I don’t believe many of the games hold up nowadays. Even so, I’m sat here reading, smiling, living the passionate experiences of another person, and I’m in love with it. I want to read the next volume. I want to see this grow, I want to read about SNES games, N64 games. This is a book I so hope does well for no reason beyond wanting to read more, and I wholeheartedly recommend checking it out. Whichever version you choose to pick up, you won’t be disappointed.

You can find this review in full at GBAtemp.net:
https://gbatemp.net/review/asus-rog-keris-wired-gaming-mouse.1849/

As gaming kit goes, I’m somewhat saddened to say mice have never caught my attention. I want something reliable, and something that’s comfortable. Beyond that though, what really makes a mouse great? Is it its precision? The sensor? The lighting? The customisation options? Provided with the opportunity to give Asus’ wired ROG Keris a go, I’ll be diving into this mousey world to give you my thoughts and feelings.

Out of the box, there’s one thing that’s impossible to overlook: the weight. Coming in at just 62g, the Keris is by far the lightest mouse I’ve used to date, and in the beginning at least, it left me with somewhat mixed thoughts. It’s designed to be light, so it’s difficult to hold it against the mouse, but coming from beefier mice and only really having light things in schools or offices, I had mentally associated the feeling with low quality items. After a day or so of use though, the weight just felt natural.

The mouse itself looks incredibly plain, which could be a positive to some. It’s a sleek black design made for use with the right hand with an accommodating form factor. The shape is nothing that’d necessarily prevent a left-handed user from holding the mouse, but it’d be far from an optimal experience. Looking to lighting it’s again somewhat plain. All you’ll get is the ROG icon where your palm sits and the scroll wheel. What I will say here is that it is some of the most defined and clear lighting I’ve seen on a mouse to date. The colour shines through the wheel magnificently without pulling attention too much as to be a distraction.

Though this is a wired mouse, I was somewhat disappointed to see the cable was not detachable. To the cable’s credit, it is the least cable-like cable I’ve seen attached to any product. ROG’s paracord takes a braided cable to the next level. It just doesn’t bend or kink. It flows. If you can imagine a centimetre-or-so-thick piece of string attached to your mouse, that about sums it up. With a wireless Keris available with this very cable being detachable, it’s a huge shame to see it tethered this way, especially when such consideration is placed into longevity elsewhere. With the quality of the cable, I have no doubt it’ll last, but being able to identify such stress points always puts me on edge.

Perhaps the flagship feature for the Keris, the ability to swap out the switches lurking beneath each main button was what initially interested me about the mouse. It’s an incredibly simple operation to swap out the switches, which makes for a really interesting design. Pop out a few rubber caps, remove two screws, and pull away the case. From there, it really is just pulling the switches out and putting new ones in. Even somebody as inept as myself when it comes to tinkering could do it, though I did face some issues lining up the case and putting it back together. I got there in the end. On top of the added longevity of being able to swap out parts should they reach the end of their life, the doors are opened to customisation based on your preference, even if mouse switches aren’t quite as commonplace as their keyboard counterparts.

Switch swapping isn’t where the Keris stops in terms of cool features though. A bit of an underdog in the feature set, I really came to appreciate the on-the-fly DPI customisation. Where other mice I’ve used allow you to save profiles with set DPI configurations that can be swapped between on the press of a button, the Keris goes further in letting you just use the scroll wheel while holding a button on the bottom of the mouse. With this, you can tweak and finetune the DPI to your liking all without software. You can also just press the button for the more traditional profile swapping to go between in-built presets.

Of course, Asus have their own software too if you want to go to the trouble of making your own presets. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me. I have a somewhat jaded history with this kind of driver software, with Roccat’s Swarm being the most recent featured area of misery. Where Swarm crashed, Asus’ Armoury Crate just doesn’t detect my hardware at all. For my curiosity, I also gave it a shot with the Claymore II keyboard I had handy for a separate review, but that wasn’t detected either. I will concede it’s likely a fault with my PC, but with this being the only one available to me, I wasn’t able to check as thoroughly as I’d have otherwise liked. Looking to the software without having a chance to use it though, it seems to tick all your usual boxes. You can configure lighting, mess with calibration settings, and map buttons. If you’ve used Roccat’s Swarm or Razer’s Synapse before, you’ll generally know the range of options to hand.

Now the part I saved for last is by far the area I’m least knowledgeable in, and I’m completely open to admitting that. The sensor. For your enthusiasts, it really can be the make or break of a great mouse. With specific tests, I frankly wouldn’t know where to start, but I can at the very least provide the basic details. The PMW3389 under the hood is a flawless sensor, this basically meaning it doesn’t have any kind of forced modifiers to how it performs. This means no mouse acceleration, no jitter, no interpolation, and no kind of prediction or correction to your inputs. Though a lot of these things can often be configured using software (and perhaps can be configured using Armoury Crate!), the key thing is that they aren’t built into the hardware. I won’t go much further into detail here, but I can say I had absolutely no issues with using the mouse, and after the initial adjustment of switching to a mouse where you forget the DPI settings you had on your previous mouse, I was well on my way and enjoying the Keris. If you are interested in learning more about mouse sensors, I found the information at sensor.fyi incredibly useful.

All in all, the Keris is a fantastic mouse. Even without the configuration of Armoury Crate handy to me, it’s a simple by the books design with a few hidden niceties to make it subtly stand out. With my biggest issue stemming from the non-detachable albeit fantastic cable, I might recommend picking up its wireless counterpart over the one I reviewed. With the wired model retailing for £57.95 and the wireless model coming in at £89.99, you’re paying a slight premium for the flexibility a wireless mouse offers, as well as the peace of mind a detachable cable brings with it. Wired or not though, the Keris is a great choice.