The divisive Steam Controller was the testing floor for some concepts (touchpads, rear buttons, haptics) that finally discovered their means onto Valve’s Steam Deck. Whereas the corporate hasn’t adopted up its 2015 wi-fi gamepad, peripheral firm Hori has, in a means. The brand new $59.99 wi-fi Horipad that’s up for pre-order at Amazon (launching Dec. 16) brandishes the Steam brand that doubles as a house button, and it’s presumably the closest factor to a brand new Steam Controller we’re going to get. Fortunately, it borrows some options you may acknowledge if you happen to personal a Steam Deck.
Notably, its thumbsticks are capacitive just like the Steam Deck’s, that means they know whether or not your thumb is resting on them or not. This trait lets you program features to the sticks by way of Steam’s controller customization instruments, be it triggering gyroscopic aiming (which the controller helps), citing a mini map, or every other command you’ll be able to consider simply by holding your finger to the stick. The Horipad for Steam has virtually all of similar buttons that current on the Steam Deck, together with its very important system-level buttons, in addition to two pairs of mappable macro buttons. Whereas the Deck places each pairs on its bottom close to the grips, this controller places one pair on the entrance (beneath the D-pad and proper stick) and one other pair on the again.
The Horipad for Steam helps Bluetooth, and it might probably additionally function an XInput controller if you happen to connect it to your pc by way of the included 9.8-foot USB cable. A swap on its again enables you to toggle between wi-fi and wired mode, and one other swap adjustments whether or not the triggers are analog or digital. As for what the Horipad lacks, you gained’t discover rumble assist right here, nor are there trackpads or a headphone jack.
This controller appears competent for the worth, though when you have consoles at house, you could have already got a favourite gamepad to make use of with Steam or a Steam Deck. My former Verge colleague Sam Byford reviewed the Horipad for his weblog Multicore earlier than it was introduced in additional areas, saying that it’s an intriguing controller, however not a powerful one.
