I mostly know SteelSeries for its lineup of gaming headsets, keyboards, and other accessories. Curiously enough, it has never released a full-fledged gaming controller for consoles and PC. Well, that used to be the case, as we now have the SteelSeries Aeon Pro. And let me tell you, it’s a pretty awesome gaming controller.

Its standout feature is the QuickSwitch Dock System, which can connect to your PC and Xbox simultaneously for seamless pairing. The dock itself has a slot to charge the extra detachable battery, while the controller has an OLED panel for easy profile switching. It also includes expected “pro” controller features like Hall Effect thumbsticks, remappable back buttons, and rubber grips.

While the SteelSeries Aeon Pro is pretty pricey at $259, it’s arguably worth the money given what it packs and what it can do. I’ve used and tested many of the best PC controllers, and this is one of the most impressive yet. If that price doesn’t scare you away, there’s a lot to like here. This is what I think after using the Aeon Pro for the better part of two weeks.

A solid controller

Let’s start with the Aeon Pro itself. Its overall size and weight are virtually identical to a standard Xbox controller. Of course, it feels much different in hand thanks to the wrap-around rubber grips and four back buttons. Still, if you’re familiar with the Xbox controller, it doesn’t take very long to acclimate to SteelSeries’ peripheral.

Button layout isn’t radically different. The asymmetrical thumbsticks, raised D-Pad, four face buttons, and four shoulder buttons are exactly where you’d expect. The main difference here is that the Xbox Home button is lower to accommodate the OLED screen in the top center. The options and select buttons are now located directly beneath the D-Pad and right thumbstick instead of in the middle.

Aside from the thumbsticks, all the buttons—including the D-Pad—are clicky like a keyboard, which is appropriate for a PC controller. I should add that the triggers only click once you flip the trigger locks to shorten their actuation point. I’m a fan of the best mechanical keyboards, so I’m all about the clicky.

The back buttons generally don’t bother me because both are positioned where my middle and ring fingers naturally rest. That said, I wish they were removable, as on the Scuf Valor Pro. This is a minor thing for me, but it could be frustrating if you’re not a fan of back buttons. Still, I’d rather have four permanent back buttons than none.

Lastly, there are the Hall Effect thumbsticks. Even though TMR thumbsticks are all the rage now, Hall Effect — the OG magnetic switch type — still delivers smooth, precise movement, especially compared with traditional analog sticks. And since they’re magnetic instead of analog, you likely won’t have to suffer from stick drift for a long time — if ever.

An innovative dock

Controller charging stations aren’t new. However, SteelSeries’ QuickSwitch Dock System (as the company calls it) does something I’ve never seen before on a controller dock: it charges a separate battery (included with the controller). So when the battery inside your controller runs out, you can simply swap in the fully charged one and keep playing without a major interruption.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because this feature comes from SteelSeries’ own Arctis Nova Pro headset, which has a hub that lets you charge its batteries. Best of all, the batteries for that headset and the Aeon Pro are interchangeable. If you own both peripherals, you’ll have four chargeable batteries at your disposal!

Like the Arctis Nova Pro’s hub, the QuickSwitch Dock System lets you connect to your PC and Xbox at the same time via the two USB-C ports on the back. Thanks to this feature, you won’t have to constantly pair and re-pair the controller to whatever platform you’re using, as you would with other controllers.

Another cool feature is the two slots for extra thumbsticks. One thumbstick is the same size as the two on the controller, only it is convex instead of concave. The other thumbstick is about twice as long for more precise aiming in shooting games. The magnetic thumbsticks snap in and out easily, which is a bonus.

The compartment for the extra battery sits right under the thumbsticks, and you just press down to lock it in place or release it. This is a simple process, but it’s extremely satisfying to press the battery in and out.

An OLED screen on a game controller?

Remapping buttons or fine-tuning thumbstick sensitivity on controllers usually requires you to dive into a dedicated desktop or mobile app. While the SteelSeries GG desktop app exists for that, you can almost effectively ignore it and still customize the Aeon Pro to your liking thanks to the integrated OLED screen.

On this monochrome screen, you can access profiles, switch between PC and Xbox, monitor battery life, and remap the controls. While the screen isn’t all that large, all the text appears nice and sharp.

My favorite thing about the OLED is that it quickly shows which profile you’re using, which is especially handy if you have different configurations for different genres or games. This way, I don’t have to open an app to see if I’m using the right profile, or remember which colors correspond to which layouts, like some controllers have you do.

Though I question why the screen needed to be OLED since it’s monochrome, I can’t complain about the results. Sure, you can make finer adjustments via the GG app, but it’s good that you can configure most of what you’d want right on the controller.

My new daily driver

We’ll have a full review of the SteelSeries Aeon Pro controller for you soon, but I wanted to share my thoughts ahead of that since I’ve been enjoying this awesome peripheral for some time. Again, it’s definitely pricey, but given all the cool features it packs, I think it’s worth the money for hardcore PC gamers.

If you’ve liked what I had to say about the Aeon Pro, then give it a shot. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

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• I went hands-on with Lenovo’s RTX Spark-powered Yoga 9n 2-in-1 laptop — and it’s a creative powerhouse
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So while NBA 2K27 is officially the first game to launch with Nvidia’s newly launched DLSS 5, you’ve probably already seen it pop up in hundreds of more games than that. And I’ll say it again just like I said it before — in photorealistic games, it’s fantastic. But If you venture out of that into anything more stylized, it’s going to look weird.

That’s why it makes the world of sense in 2K27, but during my hands-on testing with my Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (armed with an RTX 5070 Ti), I noticed something bizarre. The moment I entered a menu or triggered a replay, it suddenly felt like it was trudging through molasses.

I dug into the raw telemetry data to figure out what was going on, and what I found completely changed my understanding of Nvidia’s “3D-guided neural rendering.” That intensive new graphics pipeline of DLSS 5 may indeed be a graphical revolution — but on my humble laptop (and lower end desktops), I get the sense Frame Generation is a requirement to make it playable.

The laptop I’m playing on

I’m seeing a lot of people test it on massive desktop rigs. I’ll of course get round to doing this when I’m not on my honeymoon (my wife will kill me if I started benchmarking DLSS 5 in Cancun), but first I wanted to show you some numbers on something that isn’t really being covered here — my Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop.

Nvidia’s been talking about how the model running this mode of neural rendering has been made super efficient over the past few months. In fact, when it first debuted, it ran on a separate RTX 5090 desktop GPU; whereas now, it’s able to run on a single card with the game.

So let’s give it a go in a notebook with a lower power level running through those graphics.

By the numbers

To figure out why the game was suddenly stuttering, I ran the telemetry on three different game states with DLSS 5 turned on and off. And as you can see, while the gameplay numbers are very close matching, elsewhere, the difference is pretty significant.

In fact, this kind of lines up with PC Gamer’s report of a 50-60% drop in performance. So what’s going on here? Let’s talk about it.

The heavy cost of the transformer

So why does turning off the new tech triple frame rate in menus and replays? Because DLSS 5 is not just an upscale filter. It is a highly complex transformer model that interacts with the on-screen geometry and injects neural rendering.

Speaking to Nvidia, it’s clear that this AI pipeline is a heavy one, and the answer to why you don’t see that same impact in gameplay is a simple one: Frame Generation.

During live gameplay, I engaged the 6x Frame Generation multiplier to take that slower neurally rendered base and fill the gaps. However, developers typically disable frame gen during static menus, UI-heavy pause screens or camera-cut replays.

You can see how much this first iteration of DLSS 5 is sweating the system by looking at a couple of factors in the gameplay. Yes, the framerate is barely touched, but the 1% Lows takes a dip and the latency is upped quite drastically, as well as the GPU utilization spiking.

In a controller-centric game like NBA 2K27, that’s not necessarily a noticeable hit, but I can imagine that when this in its current form is moved to games that require faster inputs with a keyboard and mouse, it could become more apparent.

Take away the prop of frame generation in menus, and you see the DLSS 5 penalty more realistically on an RTX 5070 Ti laptop GPU.

But it looks incredible

Like I said in my first impressions, when faced with photorealistic graphics, DLSS 5 is undeniably impressive. There is one very specific takeaway when I looked at these “before and after” pairs of screen captures: the core game look is preserved impressively.

DLSS 5 does a flawless job of preserving the game’s visual integrity. The shots of Jalen Brunson and Victor Wembanyama show off the micro-details on the skin and the way the sweat catches the harsh stadium lighting. The upscaler isn’t adding any aggressive smoothing or plastic-looking artifacts — it’s remarkably lifelike.

Then there’s the fabric and material textures. Brunson’s Knicks jersey and the fabric of the couch in the cutscene get an upgrade to show off the stitching more with high-resolution clarity, and without any noticeable AI-induced blurring.

The lighting reacts to on-screen characters more realistically, there isn’t any noticeable AI “fizzing” or ghosting around finer textures like hair — something upscalers have had problems with in the past.

Is this a frame-generated future?

DLSS 5 integration proved to me that the uncanny valley is dead, but it also proves that native frame rates are on their way out with it.

Nvidia themselves keep saying that Moore’s law is dead, and getting crafty with AI is what will bridge that generational gap. That threshold has been crossed — photorealism is getting too heavy for high-end silicon to render natively.

And DLSS 5 proves that future of photorealism isn’t just about rendering better pixels; it’s about accepting that a good chunk of the frames you see on your screen aren’t technically going to be “real” at all.

We’ve been coming to this moment in the PC gaming space for a while now, and it’s also happening on consoles too.

And personally, I have no problem with it if it looks this good — provided it’s used the right way (such as in photorealistic games).

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The new Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptop is largely a refresh of last year’s model, but it includes the one feature I wanted: a glare-free OLED panel. Toss in the latest Intel and Nvidia components, along with the otherworldly design, and you have one of the best gaming laptops on the market.

As with 2025’s Alienware 16 Area-51, this gaming laptop has serious flair, thanks to the Liquid Teal finish on the anodized aluminum chassis, which gives it a dark, iridescent sheen that shifts colors under different lighting conditions. The Gorilla Glass window on the bottom lets you see the internal components, while the RGB lighting enhances the laptop’s otherworldly appearance.

You can configure the Alienware 16 Area-51 (from $2,529, $3829 as tested) with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus Arrow Lake Refresh CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU, 64GB of RAM, and 12TB of SSD storage. My review unit, with its RTX 5080, Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, and 32GB of RAM, had no issue handling even the most demanding PC games.

The star of the show is the new OLED panel, which provides rich contrast between dark and light elements. The anti-glare does rob the display of some of its luster, but the bright HDR and vibrant colors make up for that. You won’t complain much given how beautiful games look on this 16-inch 240Hz display.

While this laptop is still too bulky for my liking and has worse battery life than the previous model, this is undeniably a powerful gaming laptop with a fetching design like no other. If you have the cash for this beast, you won’t be disappointed. Find out more in my full review of the Alienware 16 Area-51 (2026).

Alienware 16 Area-51 (2026) review: Cheat sheet

• What was it? The Alienware 16 Area-51 is a high-end gaming laptop.
• Who is it for? The Alienware 16 Area-51 is for hardcore gamers who want a machine that can easily play graphically demanding modern games and look good doing it.
• What does it cost? The Alienware 16 Area-51 starts at $2,529 on Dell’s website at the time of writing. This configuration has an Intel Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage.
• What do we like? We like the futuristic design, killer performance, and stunning OLED panel.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like the laptop’s bulkiness and poor(er) battery life.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (2026) review: Specs

Alienware 16 Area-51 (2026) review: The ups

The Alienware 16 Area-51 finally features an OLED panel while retaining the best aspects of its predecessor, including the eye-catching design, monstrous performance, and mesmerizing RGB lighting.

Futuristic design

Alienware didn’t change the design here, which is good, since this is still one of the most distinctive gaming laptops on the market. The rounded corners, Liquid Teal finish and RGB lighting on the keyboard deck make you feel like you’re using a laptop from the future. The smooth, sturdy aluminum chassis also feels good to touch and hold.

The model I reviewed came with a Cherry MX ultra-low-profile mechanical keyboard. Thanks to that, I had a great experience typing, as the keys are clicky and have a short travel distance. The touchpad is still relatively small, but it didn’t ruin my flow. I also like that the spacious keyboard deck gave my hands plenty of room to move.

You’ll find the lion’s share of the laptop’s ports on the back, with the 3.5mm headphone jack and an SD card slot located on the left-hand side. There’s a good selection of ports, including three USB-A, two USB-C, and an HDMI port. It’s not always easy to connect and reconnect peripherals when the laptop’s lid is open, but if you always keep everything connected, then it shouldn’t be an issue.

Powerful gaming performance

The Alienware 16 Area-51 I reviewed is purpose-built for high-end gaming performance, thanks to powerful components such as its Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 laptop GPU, and 32GB of RAM. If you want to play games at native resolution with high graphics settings, you won’t be disappointed.

At native resolution and default graphics settings, with frame generation disabled and the laptop’s performance mode enabled, I got Cyberpunk 2077 to generally run at around 110 frames per second. This includes both walking and driving. Frame rates dipped into the low 90s in some of the denser downtown areas, but it’s hard to complain about a game running at 90 fps.

Using a game’s built-in benchmarking tool, we saw impressive results when we tested the laptop in our lab. At native resolution and maximum graphical settings, with the laptop’s performance mode disabled, Cyberpunk 2077 ran at 38 fps—certainly lower than when I ran it with performance mode on and at default graphics settings. Other titles, such as Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Doom: The Dark Ages, ran much better under these same conditions.

The Alienware 16 Area-51 also fared well against competing laptops with better specs. This includes the Razer Blade 16, which has a more powerful RTX 5090 GPU, and the Asus Zephyrus G16, which has the same CPU and GPU but double the RAM.

Even with frame-boosting DLSS disabled, you can still enjoy extremely high frame rates with performance mode enabled and medium-to-high graphics settings. You’ll get fantastic performance out of the box thanks to the Alienware 16’s powerful components.

Vivid OLED display

This is the big update for the Alienware 16 Area-51, and it’s a welcome one, as the lack of an OLED panel on last year’s model was one of its few setbacks. Now, games look as glorious as they perform, making the overall experience even better.

A game like Cyberpunk 2077 literally shines on this 16-inch OLED panel. The contrast between dark and light elements helps the colorful neon signs and holograms really pop out during the in-game night cycle. The scorching sun during the day is also impressive, with dark shadows contrasting nicely against the daylight.

The model I reviewed has an anti-glare screen that effectively reduces glare from light sources. While that’s a plus, it can also make the overall image look less vibrant than on a glossy screen. This is a minor setback, and one I can overlook since I’d rather have an anti-glare screen than not.

How did the Alienware 16’s display perform in our lab tests? As you can see above, it has strong color reproduction (sRGB and DCI-P3) and solid color accuracy (Delta-E). Hues are somewhat oversaturated, which benefits games like Cyberpunk 2077. SDR and HDR brightness are also good for an OLED panel.

Games run buttery smooth thanks to the fast 240Hz refresh rate. I didn’t encounter any stuttering or flickering during testing. The response time is now 0.2ms, which is much lower than last year’s model’s 3ms. Granted, you likely won’t notice a major difference unless you’re a competitive gamer, but the lower response time will benefit you regardless.

Fun RGB lighting

Like last year’s model, this Alienware 16 laptop has some seriously impressive RGB lighting. And I don’t say that lightly since I’m not typically an RGB fan. But the way it’s implemented here complements this laptop’s unique design.

The Gorilla Glass bottom allows the RGB lighting to cast an underglow. And this same lighting also spills out through the top of the keyboard deck. As before, I haven’t seen other gaming laptops match this effect.

Naturally, you can customize the lighting effects however you prefer via the Alienware Commander Center app. The app is easy to use if you just want to use presets, but it’s also very granular for more in-depth fine-tuning.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (2026) review: The downs

Though the Alienware 16 Area-51 has a lot going for it, it has some noticeable drawbacks.

Poor battery life

I never expect gaming laptops to have stellar battery life, as they’re usually lacking in that area. The Alienware 16 Area-51 is no different, except that it actually runs out of juice faster than last year’s model.

In our testing, Alienware’s gaming laptop lasted an hour and two minutes on the PCMark 10 gaming benchmark and three and a half hours while surfing the internet. That’s about an hour less on both tests than before, which is a bummer.

You’re likely going to keep the laptop plugged in for better performance, so battery life won’t be an issue in that instance. However, if you plan to use this laptop on the go, don’t expect it to last as long as you’d need it to.

Cumbersome to carry

There’s no denying that the Alienware 16 Area-51 is an attractive laptop thanks to its unique design. Unfortunately, the main downside is that at 14.37 x 11.41 x 1.12 inches and 7.92 pounds, it’s not exactly portable. Yes, you can take it with you, and it will fit in a standard backpack, but you’ll feel it.

I typically take the laptops I’m reviewing home, but because of this notebook’s weight, I kept it at the office throughout the entire testing process. I also kept it in one of our lab rooms because even carrying it around the office isn’t pleasant.

Granted, the laptop’s weight won’t be an issue if you’re not going to travel with it and mainly plan to have it as your primary at-home computer. But if you want to take it on the road, then I suggest you build some muscle first.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (2026) review: Verdict

While the Alienware 16 Area-51 is mostly a refresh of the previous model, the inclusion of an OLED panel is a significant addition that makes an already fantastic gaming laptop even better. Thanks to that, it’s hard not to recommend this laptop to anyone willing to spend top dollar for a high-end gaming experience.

Alternatives like the Razer Blade 16 and Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 are solid choices if the Alienware’s design is too outlandish, though you’ll still pay a similar price for both. So given that, why not go for a gaming laptop with a truly unique design?

As with its predecessor, the Alienware 16 Area-51 comes with my highest recommendation. Forgive the cliché, but it truly is out of this world.

Look, I’m one to admit when I have an obsession. But it’s a perfectly healthy one, and anyone who knows me would describe me as an “Alien” superfan. I spend most of my time browsing for merch online (you can never have enough), rewatching the films, or playing a game set in this incredible universe. That obsession has obviously led me to play the newest game in the franchise, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2, a co-op shooter that sees you teaming up with other players to battle hordes of Xenomorphs. As a huge fan, this is my idea of a good time.

The first Aliens: Fireteam Elite arrived in 2021 as a co-op third-person shooter focused on three-player squads battling Xenomorphs across a series of intense missions. The sequel expands that formula with four-player co-op, new classes, weapons and smarter enemies. The 15-mission solo campaign takes the Marines to LV-558 to investigate a deadly outbreak. The developers said they wanted to make sure the new enemies still felt authentically “Alien,” with art director Nicholas Stohlman explaining that the team worked closely with 20th Century to hone in on “what makes an alien feel like an alien.”

Since launching just over a week ago, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 has been met with some pretty middling reviews, particularly around its performance and gameplay. After spending a few hours back in this world, I can see where some of the criticism comes from, but there’s plenty I’m not ready to agree with.

The biggest threat isn’t the Xenomorphs, it’s repetition

When I first heard that Aliens: Fireteam Elite was getting a sequel, I was a little unsure. The first game was a blast, and it’s something my dad and I completed together, battling Xenomorphs across several missions to finish the story. For me, it was great being able to step into this world without fearing for my life or sweating buckets like Alien: Isolation (incredible game) would have me doing, and instead appreciate the game’s homage to the film “Aliens,” from its creature design to its environments. But the first game only offered so much in terms of gameplay, and Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is essentially the same experience, just revamped.

Compared with the first game, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 sticks closely to the same co-op shooter formula but expands it in a few key ways. You can now squad up with four players, while new and improved classes, the customizable Specialist class, smarter Xenomorphs, deeper weapon customization and an updated Horde mode add some variety. The story’s also different, taking players to LV-558 to investigate a mysterious distress signal from a mining facility. Across 15 campaign missions, you’ll battle Xenomorphs and other threats while uncovering what happened to the colony.

While there are some newer features, like class abilities with different playstyles and weapons, as well as Xenomorph types like the Exploder and Siren, this still very much feels like the same game. In fact, I’m surprised they didn’t just update the previous game by adding more missions and content, because Fireteam Elite 2 sadly doesn’t do enough to justify being a full sequel. That’s one of the early criticisms I agree with, as the missions ultimately follow the same loop: move through corridors, shoot enemies, reach an arena, survive waves, interact with an objective, then repeat.

That’s what makes the $49.99 price point a little painful. Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 recycles much of the original formula while throwing in some extras and, to give it credit, making the visuals look much prettier and cleaner.

The campaign itself doesn’t offer quite as much excitement as I was hoping for, with the repetitive mission structure making some sections feel like they’re simply there to get you from one Xenomorph encounter to the next. Most of the excitement comes from the hordes themselves, especially when you’re suddenly surrounded and scrambling to keep them at bay.

But in the midst of all this, I still ended up having a great time. Yes, the game is essentially the same as the first in terms of its gameplay and mechanics, but as an “Alien” superfan, I couldn’t help but be immersed anyway. The reworked classes and Specialist system allow you to build your character around different abilities, while the perk system gives you plenty of room to fine tune your loadout.

The progression is another strong selling point, particularly if you’re someone who enjoys the grind. Upgrading weapons, improving your classes and unlocking cosmetics gives you plenty to work toward, making the game much more appealing to completionists who want to squeeze every last bit of content out of it.

One criticism I disagree with, based on my PC experience, is the technical bugs and constant crashes. Thankfully, during my playthrough, I didn’t really encounter any major issues, other than dead Xenomorphs sometimes getting stuck or morphing into the floor, but nothing that actually affected my gameplay. I know bugs are dependent on your platform and can vary from player to player, so I can only speak from my own experience, but Fireteam Elite 2 ran surprisingly well for me. That was made even better by the fact that the game looks stunning, the shooting feels smooth, and everything came together like a perfectly timed Xenomorph ambush.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 still hits that sweet spot for ‘Alien’ fans

I know I’ve mostly focused on how Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is repetitive and too similar to its predecessor. But, because it’s still a well-crafted game with plenty of Xenomorph mayhem (and cleaner visuals that make its beautiful environments stand out), I can easily forgive its unoriginal formula. One thing I should mention is that I played some of the campaign with bots, meaning all three of my squadmates were AI controlled, and honestly, they surprised me. They were so effective that I barely needed reviving, and the experience was almost as efficient as playing alongside real people, which is pretty ironic given they’re Androids.

Perhaps that’s ultimately what Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 does best. It isn’t the campaign that kept me playing, it’s the simple joy of gearing up, choosing my class and diving into another Xenomorph infested mission with a squad. The story may not be particularly memorable, but the moment to moment combat is chaotic, satisfying and undeniably fun, especially when I managed to survive a massive swarm.

For me, though, one of the biggest draws is simply how much it feels like “Aliens.” The industrial environments, Colonial Marine gear, weapons and hordes of Xenomorphs all capture that familiar aesthetic I love about the franchise. It might not be doing anything revolutionary, but there’s something incredibly satisfying about stepping into that world and feeling like a Colonial Marine for a few hours. Put a pulse rifle in my hands and a Xenomorph horde in front of me, and apparently I’m very easy to please.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

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There are no two ways about it, the HP Omen 35L is the gaming PC I've always wanted. Effortlessly stylish with RGB lighting aplenty, stacked with power to play the latest AAA PC games and smart enough to be easily upgradable for future needs. I just hope that's enough to convince my wallet it's a worthy purchase.

As you may know by now, the RAM crisis isn't making PC purchases any easier, and it's certainly affected HP's latest mid-tower gaming PC. Last year's HP Omen 35L would have set you back $1,299 at its entry-level configuration. This year? It's starting at $2,079. Ouch.

But the HP Omen 35L has an edge to make it all the more appealing at this price: easy upgradeability. Starting with an RTX 5060 Ti rig and want to make the jump to an RTX 5070 Ti GPU in the future? Simply open up its side glass panel (no tools required) and you can swap out parts to your heart's content. Yup, that's all there is to it. For a pre-built gaming PC, that's an impressive prospect to invest in.

It also helps that the Omen 35L runs a smooth, quiet operation even when put under pressure, and that says a lot when you're driving through Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 at max settings. The HP Omen 35L is one of the best gaming PCs I've tested, even with its bloatware nuisances. Is it the right choice for you? Let's dive into the review.

HP Omen 35L review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The HP Omen 35L is a mid-range, upgradeable gaming PC.
• Who is it for? PC gamers, content creators and anyone looking for a powerful tower that can be upgraded in the future.
• What does it cost? The HP Omen 35L is priced from $2,079 at the HP store for its base configuration, going up to an eye-watering $6,999 at its highest configuration (I suggest keeping the price down).
• What do we like? The well-built, fully upgradeable design, excellent performance for the latest AAA games, plentiful ports and fantastic cooling for whisper-quiet performance.
• What don’t we like? Unless you find a deal, this is a wildly expensive gaming PC, and bloatware gets in the way.

HP Omen 35L review: Specs

HP Omen Max 35L review: The ups

From the moment I took the HP Omen 35L out of its box, it's been a seamless, gratifying experience. A pristine design paired with powerful internals makes for some very satisfying gaming sessions.

Designed for the future

Pre-built PCs are a popular choice for anyone who wants to get straight to the joys of PC gaming without having to source their own parts to build a PC themselves, especially in these trying times for RAM. The HP Omen 35L is one of the more smartly designed pre-builds around, both in looks and practicality.

Coming in a subtle yet stunning all-black aluminum chassis, the Omen 35L is a beauty to have sitting on your desk. From its RGB-lit dual-fan array at the front spinning in multi-color patterns (that's completely customizable) to its clear glass panel showing off its impressive internals, it's a gorgeous piece of tech to look at.

Mostly because of its simplicity, too. Don't expect a jumble of screws, slots or mechanisms here, just a tool-less design that allows you to remove panels by simply loosening screws with your hands.

Don't fret, as the frame is still well built and sturdy, but it's equally as simple to take its walls off to tinker and swap out components inside. That's what makes the HP Omen 35L somewhat future-proof, as you can head in to change its GPU, RAM slots, fans and more when you see fit. Now, does anyone know how big GPUs will be down the line? I don't! But in the meantime, you can put the latest components in to your liking.

This isn't unlike the Omen 35L's pricier sibling, the HP Omen Max 45L. It is far more compact and lighter, though, coming in at 8.2 x 16 x 16.1 inches and weighing 31.9 pounds (the 45L is nearly double the size and weight). What this is more like is the Quoted Tech Frontier, being more of a mid-size tower that's not too heavy or big to carry around and make space for on a desk.

No, its design won't blow you away with its sheer detail, like this ridiculous 353-pound desktop, nor will it grab your attention every time you walk into a room. But that's the point. The Omen 35L is a subtly beautiful block of tech. Oh, but the tunable RGB-lit fans and RAM sticks give it that sprinkle of charm.

Performance for the latest

While it isn't the best GPU around, I've been perfectly happy playing on Nvidia's RTX 5070 GPU on my usual gaming PC. Bumping this up to an RTX 5070 Ti on the HP Omen 35L has shown me just how much I can get out of a graphics card with 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM, especially when it comes to adding path tracing while getting smoother frame rates. Throw in the highly capable AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD, and there's plenty you can get out of this dekstop.

As you might expect, I was able to browse the web with 30 Chrome tabs open, watch YouTube videos in the background and listen to tunes without any signs of this PC slowing down. That's what I'd expect for a PC at this price, but even with its lower configurations that are more forgiving to your wallet, this PC ekes out extra power with what it has thanks to its cooling (more on that later).

The HP Omen 35L can hold its own compared to its rivals, and it isn't even so massively behind its bigger sibling, the HP Omen Max 45L, when it comes to raw power. Utilizing the might of AMD's popular Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor, it offers plenty of horsepower in both general tasks and multitasking. Expect to edit 4K videos and work on 3D creative content here, and breeze through any kind of everyday productivity as I did.

So, what about its gaming chops? Being able to play games like Cyberpunk 2077, Doom: The Dark Ages, Resident Evil: Requiem, Marathon and plenty more in 4K with smooth frame rates is hugely satisfying, and jumping down to 1440p to get even higher frame rates for more competitive play gives me the freedom of playing the way I want without much trouble. Calling this a mid-range tower isn't doing it justice, as it isn't too far away from the power-hungry juggernaut desktops that cost a fortune.

Without Nvidia DLSS 4.5 with frame generation involved, the HP Omen 35L model I tested was able to hit high frame rates in some of the most demanding gaming around in 4K at maxed-out settings. Reaching 50 fps in Doom: The Dark Ages is impressive, and even going past 30 fps in Black Myth: Wukong in Cinematic Mode is a triumph.

Of course, I wouldn't generally play games this way, so hitting DLSS 4.5 meant seeing frame rates jump to over 120 fps, and well past 200 fps when switching to 1440p and 1080p gameplay. Even switching to the Ultra Performance setting in Doom saw frame rates skyrocket to 300 FPS.

What it won't hit the ceiling that RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 rigs reach, it's not that far behind. Besides, if you do want the extra firepower (once prices are manageable again, someday), the HP Omen 35L has all the potential for upgrades. But for what it offers as it stands, this gaming PC brings the heat.

Pleasantly quiet

After reviewing many gaming laptops being pushed to their limits, you get used to the very loud whirring of fans trying to keep these rigs cool, along with a "is that a jet engine about to take off?" comment from someone passing by. That's not the case with the HP Omen 35L, thankfully.

HP uses its own Omen components for this desktop, including Omen case fans with ring blade fan designs designed for better airflow and to minimize noise, and an Omen cooling system consisting of AIO Liquid Cooling. This combination, along with five RGB fans pointing out the front, top and rear, makes this gaming PC stay cool. And that means keeping noise to a minimum — even when being put through demanding tasks.

It's not completely silent, with only a soft hum that can quickly blend into background noise. But for a gaming PC capable of 4K gameplay and path tracing at high frame rates, it's great knowing that I never need to put on one of the best gaming headsets to drown out excessively loud fans to hear dialogue in the games I play.

HP Omen Max 35L review: The downs

The HP Omen 35L may have charmed me with its simplistic upgradability, gaming prowess and more, but its price will snap many back to reality, especially with the configuration of my review unit. And it would be nice to drop the bloatware.

Drop the bloat(ware)

The Omen 35L comes stacked with HP's own suite of apps, including the HP Smart App, HP Support Assistant and, the most-used of the bunch, the Omen Gaming Hub. The latter is great for optimizing games and controlling RGB lighting and fans speeds. Plus, like the Omen Max 45L, it can adjust settings for gaming like Marvel Rivals for the best settings.

The rest? Hardly needed. Especially when there's an icon for McAfee you didn't ask for, along with notifications for Dropbox, Booking.com and Adobe. I understand promotions, but it gets annoying when these can needlessly get in the way or slow things down. Don't need them? Get rid of them.

Spend sensibly

One of these days, I hope I won't sound like a broken record by saying "this laptop/desktop/mini PC is expensive thanks to the RAM crisis." But in the meantime, this unfortunately applies to the HP Omen 35L (because of course it does).

As I alluded to earlier, the Omen 35L has seen a sharp price rise compared to the model we tested last year. It's a shame, but it's even a bigger shame to see this RTX 5070 Ti model can cost you upwards of $3,000. That's ridiculously pricey, but not as pricey as its Omen Max 45L sibling (starting at $3,999).

However, since there are various configurations of the Omen 35L, aiming for a base configuration can get you better value. For example, the RTX 5060 model is priced at $2,079, but I've seen it drop to around $1,800. Not as powerful, of course, but having the option to make savings is always a boon. The best part? You can grab a more capable GPU later down the line and fit it right inside the HP Omen 35L!

HP Omen Max 35L review: Verdict

The HP Omen 35L excels at thinking ahead, making for an impressive gaming PC I'd love to have sitting on my desk. With its formidable gaming performance backed up by a quiet cooling system that ekes out better performance and an exceptionally simplistic (yet stylish) design for upgradability, it's one of the best gaming PCs you can grab today.

But that also completely depends on what you're willing to spend. Higher configurations can be upsettingly expensive, but with its various configurations and customization options, not to mention its future-proofing, there's plenty of value to be had here. You can start off small and build towards an even higher-performing desktop — all with the same well-designed rig.

If you're thinking about PC gaming for the long haul, the HP Omen 35L offers just the way forward (while offering up satisfying gaming experiences right now).

So there I was — Nvidia giving me a full breakdown of what DLSS 5 is and how it works, alongside a chance to play NBA 2K27 on multiple systems to show how it’s evolved from the controversial AI slop filter that divided opinions in the office to something much more refined.

I thought things were heading in the right direction. But then, modders extracted the leaked DLSS 5 files from 2K27 and stuffed it into unsupported games. The online reaction was immediate and fracturing: half praising the added detail while the other half declared it the AI-filtered destroyer of frame rates.

Now that the embargo has lifted and I can (finally) talk about DLSS 5 (coming September 3 to NBA 2K27 first), as someone who spent time with the official integration, these mods are missing the point. Brute forcing a neural rendering file into a game without engine-level hooks is like judging a luxury car after hot-wiring it with missing spark plugs.

The big question: is DLSS 5 just an AI filter?

So the answer, technically, is no. But there’s a lot to it. When you think about AI filters, they slap a 2D post-processing effect over a completed image. As I quickly learnt when talking to the team behind DLSS 5, this is so much more.

This is a 3D-guided neural rendering pipeline — ingesting all that vital 3D geometry data, such as surface normals, semantics of lighting, motion vectors and scene depth, to work within the physical rules of the game engine rather than hallucinating.

And with all that information, it does something Nvidia calls real-time determinism. Think of it like the neural equivalent of when a bar is full — the rendering queue has a one-in/one-out policy.

Unlike offline video gen models that process chunks of video and take a guess at what it’ll look like (probabilistically), DLSS 5 processes every single frame in real-time to maintain stability between each one (deterministically).

This means that instead of seeing somebody’s face change with every scene change in AI-generated video, the neural rendering on offer here doesn’t just imagine something new out of nowhere.

What’s new since we saw DLSS 5?

When the next generation DLSS was announced earlier this year, the reaction across Tom’s Guide’s gaming Slack channel was swift and severe. The AI beautification of characters felt weird, and Digital Foundry’s test was combed over to see how much of the lighting and atmosphere had changed for the worse.

Of course, this was an extremely early build, and a lot has changed since then. Nvidia was quick to tell me they should’ve communicated DLSS 5 better at GTC, and Team Green is laying everything out about this new upscaler to us.

Put simply, Nvidia’s providing some very strong tools here, but ensuring artistic intent remains at the heart of how you work with them — rather than having them replace the artistry.

Performance reality check

If you were to look at the DLSS 5-injected modding over the weekend, it’d be fair to believe that frame rate takes a huge hit when doing this frame-by-frame neural rendering.

However, that’s not the experience I had across multiple tiers of systems playing the official DLSS 5 integration on NBA 2K27. Now, it’s worth noting that these demos I tried all had multi-frame generation turned on and ramped up too.

Frame counts were not turned on, so I can’t give you anything more numbers-wise than what Nvidia has given me here. But what I can confirm is gameplay felt silky smooth with no noticeable latency.

The RTX 5090 desktop rig was of course the star of the show, with frame rates so high that it completely saturated the refresh rate of the gaming monitor. And when played using GeForce Now, it looked like a flawless 120 FPS frame rate.

But the real star of the show to me is that RTX 5060 laptop. This goes to show the huge work Nvidia’s done to shrink DLSS 5 down and optimize it to run across the entire breadth of its GPUs, and the smoothness felt like it was around the 90-100 FPS mark in play.

How does it look?

Visuals-wise, in a game like this that is actively pursuing photorealistic quality in its graphics, DLSS 5 really sings. Whether its the massive improvement in facial textures and definition in hair, the deeper contrast in and more realistic lighting, and the upgrades made to the crowd watching too, everything comes together nicely here.

If this were to placed on a game that’s more artistically stylized, it would look weird (and you’re seeing that on some of the modded work). Nvidia themselves are clear in saying that developers can just choose not to use it if that is what developers are aiming for.

But in the case of NBA 2K27, the updates made to DLSS 5 since we last saw the super filtered looks from previous are really evident. The changes are more nuanced, and with the granular levels of control, they make a big positive difference to my eyes.

A specialized weapon

So let’s get down to brass tacks. DLSS 5 is built specifically to bridge the uncanny valley in photorealistic titles. It won’t make sense for cel-shared or heavily stylized indie games. But for sports sims, cinematic shooters and immersive open worlds, to my eyes and early impressions, this feels like a generational leap.

Of course, I want to test it more to be definitive about it, which is what I’ll absolutely do when it officially drops on September 3rd with NBA 2K27 across RTX 50-series systems and GeForce Now.

One thing is clear: this isn’t an AI filter — it’s the start of real-time neural rendering. I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops, and how the people will respond to it.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested 6 RTX Spark laptops for gaming — and the winner completely shocked me
• As a PC snob, I wanted to catch GTA 6 making console compromises. Instead, I’m in awe of the trickery
• I tested NVIDIA’s new DLSS 4.5 Ray Reconstruction — it finally fixes path tracing’s biggest flaw, but here’s the reality check

The next Xbox system might not be a single console but a family of devices. That’s not wild speculation, as Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has now hinted at this possibility.

In an interview with BBC News during Gamescom 2026 (via Digital Trends), Asha Sharma said that Project Helix, which is the codename for the next Xbox console, is a “great family of devices.” Now, you can’t have a family of one, so Sharma’s statement heavily suggests that we could see more than one Helix device.

We’ve previously reported that Project Helix could be more akin to a gaming PC than a console, and that Xbox is also reportedly manufacturing its own in-house handheld system. Combine those reports with Sharma’s statement about a family of devices, and we start getting a clearer picture of Microsoft’s potential next-gen plans.

Play anywhere: The next generation

Xbox’s “Play Anywhere” initiative currently lets you buy a digital game once and play it on your Xbox console, Windows PC, and supported handhelds like the Asus ROG Xbox Ally. If there is a family of Helix devices, then it seems Xbox will bring the existing Play Anywhere initiative to the next generation.

So what could this “family” of systems consist of? The Project Helix console could provide the traditional living room experience, while an Xbox-developed handheld could let you take your games on the go. That’s something that currently exists if you own an Xbox Series X and Asus’ Xbox-centric handheld, but what if Xbox goes beyond even this?

Reports suggest the Helix will be more like a PC, but what if that system is a higher-end model for hardcore players with money to spare? That’s speculation on my part, but if we’re talking about a family of devices, I have to imagine there could be more than just two systems. Given how Xbox already caters to console, handheld, and PC gamers, it’s not outlandish to wonder whether the Helix will exist for all of those customers.

All-digital future?

Ever since Sony announced it would stop manufacturing physical discs starting in 2028, many have wondered whether Xbox would follow suit with an all-digital initiative. Asha Sharma hasn't directly answered this question, but if Xbox really wanted to stick it to Sony and potentially win over some of Sony’s disgruntled customers who want physical media, adding a disc drive to the Helix would be a savvy move.

Xbox recently launched its disc-to-digital program, which lets you convert eligible physical game discs into permanent digital licenses linked to your Microsoft account. If the company wants to continue this beyond Xbox Series X systems, it would make sense for Helix to either include a disc drive or for Xbox to release a detachable disc drive similar to the one for PS5 Pro.

It’s still anyone’s guess whether Project Helix will be an all-digital system. Microsoft is still largely a software company, so going all-digital seems logical. That said, if it plans to keep releasing gaming hardware, it would be smart for Helix to support discs in some fashion.

Outlook

Naturally, we don’t have firm details about what Project Helix will be, so we’ll have to hold tight until Sharma or anyone else from the Xbox camp decides to share more. Regardless, it seems Xbox could be trying something relatively unusual and potentially game-changing for its next major console launch.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just tested the HP Omen Max 45L and it's a seriously powerful gaming PC
• PlayStation’s 27-inch gaming monitor is perfect for PS5 and PC gamers
• The gargantuan speaker on this Android tablet isn’t a gimmick

The HP Omen Max 45L is a towering gaming PC that commands attention and respect. Its enormous size isn’t just for show, as it justifies its imposing design with the latest flagship components. While it will certainly leave your bank account reeling, you’ll make up for it with the phenomenal gaming experience this beastly rig delivers.

HP’s Cryo Chamber, located at the top, not only gives this rig a unique appearance but also keeps it running cool even under heavy load. The huge 120mm front fans also help keep components from overheating and barely make a sound. This ensures that games run at their best even during long sessions.

Steep asking price aside, the HP Omen Max 45L is undoubtedly one of the best gaming PCs I’ve ever reviewed. If you can stomach the cost, there’s a lot to love about this massive gaming rig. Find out more in my full review.

HP Omen Max 45L review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The HP Omen Max 45L is a premium, flagship gaming PC.
• Who is it for? For folks who want an ultra-powerful gaming rig and are willing to pay big.
• What does it cost? The HP Omen Max 45L starts at $3,999 but is discounted to $2,999 at time of writing. As configured, our review unit is valued at $5,629.
• What do we like? We like the hulking, all-black design, powerful gaming performance, easy upgradeability, and smart cooling system.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like the gargantuan price point even for the entry-level model.

HP Omen Max 45L review: Specs

HP Omen Max 45L review: The ups

The HP Omen Max 45L delivers high-end performance for a gaming experience with virtually no compromises. It also features a striking design and is easy to upgrade.

Imposing yet practical design

At 21.85 x 18.5 x 8.03 inches and 49.8 pounds, the HP Omen 45L is one ginormous gaming PC. The all-black aluminum chassis makes it appear even more monolithic. Despite its size, the simple box-like design gives the Omen Max 45L an air of elegance that I quite like. Yes, it’s intimidating, but it’s also beautiful.

The clear glass panels on the front and back offer a clear view of the front RGB fans and internal components. The liquid cooler inside features an LCD that displays the CPU and GPU temperatures. The rear exhaust fan’s RGB complements the front fans’, and even the two RAM sticks have RGB lighting. I’m generally ambivalent about RGB lighting, but I’ll admit it contrasts nicely with the black chassis and adds a bit of pizzazz and fun to the design.

As mentioned in the intro, the Omen Max 45L’s most distinguishing feature is the CPU radiator up top. Don’t mistake that gap for simple handholds; it’s designed to draw air in from the outside rather than from inside the PC and then push it out the top through three more 120mm fans. This Cryo Chamber solution is pretty clever and certainly does an excellent job of keeping the PC nice and cool.

Accessing the interior of the Omen Max 45L is simple thanks to the toolless chassis. The only requirement is pressing the “Internal Access” button on the glass side panel, which opens outward so you can remove it. This also lets you open the panel with the Omen logo on the other side, which is convenient. The PC supports industry-standard parts, so you can configure the Max 45L however you wish. There’s plenty of room inside, making upgrades seamless.

Naturally, this giant PC has all the ports you could ever need and then some. On the top, you’ll find a lone USB-C port, a pair of USB-A ports, and a headphone jack.

Over on the back, you’ll find two more USB-C ports and six USB-A ports. Accessing the ports can be tricky given the Omen Max 45L’s size and weight, but it’s a fair trade-off for so much I/O.

Killer performance

Our HP Omen 45L review unit came configured with an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU, and 64GB of RAM. Thanks to that configuration, it delivers exceptional gaming performance in even the most demanding PC games without needing to tweak graphics and video settings. This is about as powerful as you can get.

I tested Cyberpunk 2077 at 6K resolution with the default graphics settings and got the game to run at a consistent 65-75 frames per second, which is great for such a demanding title. At 4K resolution, the frame rates hovered in the '80s and '90s, which is even smoother.

Doom: The Dark Ages was similarly impressive, running at 65-70 fps on default graphics at 4K resolution. When I enabled DLSS 4.5’s frame-boosting and the Ultra Performance setting, the fps jumped to a staggering 400! That’s a great match for the Asus ROG Swift OLED, which tops out at 330Hz. Even if you’re not a professional gamer, you’ll feel the difference in frame rates.

We saw equally impressive results when we put several games through our lab tests, which use each game’s built-in benchmark tools. As you can see above, the games we tested generally ran great at max graphics settings and 4K resolution.

Naturally, the Omen 45L has no issues handling everyday productivity tasks. Even when I had nearly 30 Chrome tabs open and a YouTube video playing, this PC kept going without slowing down or stuttering.

Our lab tests corroborate my anecdotal experience. On Geekbench 6, which tests overall CPU performance, the HP Omen 45L delivered strong single-core and multi-core scores. It also performed great in HandBrake, where it took 1 minute and 48 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p.

Omen Gaming Hub

The Omen Gaming Hub comes pre-installed and is easily the most useful of HP’s included apps and services for this PC. This is where you can customize and fine-tune things like the 45L’s RGB lighting and performance. Omen AI automatically adjusts performance settings for games like Marvel Rivals and Fortnite (among others).

One of my favorite returning Omen Hub features is the ability to connect to other Omen peripherals and devices. So if you have Omen keyboards, headsets, or even a monitor, you can control their respective lighting and other features via the Omen Hub.

HP Omen Max 45L review: The downs

The HP Omen Max 45L doesn’t disappoint when it comes to gaming performance, but you’ll have to accept some drawbacks for that experience.

Extraneous apps

The Omen Gaming Hub is undoubtedly great and rather useful, but I can’t say the same about most of the other bundled-in apps in the Omen 45L.

Like the HP Omen 35L, you get the usual apps like HP Smart, myHP, and HP Support. That’s not egregious, but the Adobe and Dropbox promotions seem superfluous. You can safely ignore most of these apps, but having so many that you likely won’t use isn’t ideal.

Expensive

There’s no denying that the HP Omen 45L is a god-like gaming PC. It’s exactly the kind of rig I would want to own, delivering superlative performance while looking stylish. But though I’m infatuated with this beast of a machine, it’s a tough recommendation due to its wallet-busting asking price.

The $3,999 asking price for the entry-level model, which features lower-end (but still great) components, is already a tough pill to swallow. If you want a rig with the same specs as the one I reviewed, that’ll set you back $5,629. Then there’s the top-of-the-line build, which comes in at an eye-watering $6,499!

I’m not going to knock HP for these prices, given that high-end rigs were never exactly cheap even before RAMageddon drove up component costs. Still, if you’re really set on the Omen 45L, you’d better start saving now. It’ll be worth it, but the cost will certainly sting for most people.

HP Omen Max 45L review: Verdict

There’s no denying that the HP Omen Max 45L is a hulking gaming PC that can run demanding games without breaking a sweat. Sure, it’s very expensive, but the various configurations and easy customization mean you’re getting your money’s worth, especially over the long haul.

When I think about the ideal gaming PC, this is exactly the kind of rig that springs to mind. If you can afford it, you won’t be disappointed by the HP Omen Max 45L.

The new Samsung Odyssey G80HS delivers the most detailed picture quality of any gaming monitor I’ve ever reviewed. The 6K resolution, which is a first for gaming monitors according to Samsung, brings out minute details you normally wouldn’t see. Trust me when I say that words alone cannot properly convey how good this monitor makes games look. It’s a literal sight to behold.

You don’t just get spectacular image quality here; the G80HS also offers professional-grade performance for competitive gaming thanks to its up to 330Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time. Of course, the standard 165Hz refresh rate also makes the cinematic games it's intended for run buttery smooth.

While you’ll need a very powerful gaming rig to take full advantage of this monitor’s features, and the panel is IPS rather than OLED, there’s no denying that the Samsung Odyssey G80HS will make your eyes happy. It’s certainly expensive, but for what it offers, you’re more than getting your money’s worth. This is one of the best gaming monitors out there. Find out more in my full review.

Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) is a 6K gaming monitor.
• Who is it for? It’s for folks who want the sharpest image quality possible from their gaming monitor.
• What does it cost? The Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) retails for $1,599 but is currently $1,299 on Samsung’s website at time of writing.
• What do we like? We like the sharp and detailed image quality, super-fast performance, and utilitarian design.
• What don’t we like? We wish it had an OLED panel and cost a bit less.

Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) review: Specs

Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) review: The ups

The Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) delivers a crisp 6K image and fast gaming performance in a sleek, eye-catching design.

Practical design

The G80HS has a sleek design that straddles the fence between gamer aesthetic and practicality. It’s not a head-turner like some of the larger Odyssey monitors I’ve reviewed, but I consider that a plus since your focus remains on whatever game you’re playing. And if you’re using this monitor at the office, it won’t completely look out of place… unless you enable the RGB lighting on the back.

That lighting surrounds the monitor mount. You can choose from six standard lighting effects, plus CoreSync, which syncs the lighting effect with whatever’s happening on the screen for added immersion. Granted, you can’t fully enjoy the RGB lighting since it’s on the back of the monitor, but the extra pizzazz is always fun.

Setting up this 32-inch monitor isn’t too much trouble as it weighs just shy of 17 pounds when attached to its stand. This also makes it easy to turn around when you want access to its back-side ports. So long as you’ve got it set up on a standard-sized gaming or office desk, it’ll be right at home and not take up much space.

Port-wise, you get the basics, including a DisplayPort, a pair of HDMI ports, three USB-A ports, a USB-C port, and a headphone jack. This monitor lacks speakers, so that headphone jack could be useful if you’re not already using one of the best gaming headsets connected to your PC. You’ll need to turn the monitor around, as it’s nearly impossible to connect and disconnect ports by touch alone.

The shaft has a cutaway you can tuck the cables through, keeping your desk tidy. Raising and lowering the monitor along the shaft requires little effort because it glides smoothly. The same is true for tilting or swiveling the monitor to your desired viewing angle—including a 90-degree rotation for portrait orientation.

Lastly, the wide, flat base not only keeps the Odyssey G80HS in place on your desk but also stays unobtrusive. Since it’s flat, you can easily keep your phone or accessories on it.

Sharp image quality

You might think that 6K resolution is gimmicky or unnecessary, but I assure you, the results are immediately apparent on the G80Hs. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that this monitor delivers the sharpest image quality I’ve ever experienced. If you’ll excuse the cliché, it’s a sight to behold.

I tried Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 6 because both support 6K resolution. As soon as I fired up the games, I could see extra details I hadn’t before, such as the heat rising from a tailpipe in Cyberpunk 2077 or cracked gravel in Forza Horizon 6. Background elements also have finer detail you wouldn’t normally see.

You can switch between 6K and 3K resolution. While the latter delivers half the resolution of the former, you’re still getting a crisp image. Each resolution has a different refresh rate, which I’ll cover in the next section. Suffice it to say that if you’re already used to playing PC games on a 1440p monitor, you’ll be more than happy with 3K resolution.

The Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) delivered strong results in our lab tests. In its Original display setting, it produced slightly oversaturated hues in the sRGB color gamut and a perfect 100% in the more demanding DCI-P3 color space. Color reproduction isn’t as vivid as those of competitors like the Asus ROG Swift OLED and Alienware AW3426DW; its hues are more naturalistic and closer to real life.

HDR brightness is strong at 380 nits across 100% of the screen in Game Standard HDR mode. While Asus and Alienware’s monitors can get very bright on OLED panels, they can’t match the Odyssey G80HS’s vibrancy. Sure, it’s not an OLED monitor, but it can get much brighter because of that.

It has nine core display modes, including dedicated modes for genres like FPS, RTS, and Sports. The differences between the modes are minimal since they’re tuned for their respective genres, and there isn’t a radically different viewing experience between them.

Insane performance

Since this is a dual-mode monitor, you get two refresh rates: 165Hz at 6K resolution and 330Hz at 3 K resolution. The former is for cinematic games like Cyberpunk 2077 where you want the best possible image, while the latter is tailor-made for fast-paced competitive games like Call of Duty where higher refresh rates are crucial. Both have a low 1ms response time.

To test the Odyssey G80HS, I connected it to the HP Omen Max 45L, a monstrous gaming PC packing an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5080 (18GB), 64GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. You’ll need a similarly powerful PC to take advantage of Samsung’s monitor’s insane performance.

Whether it was at 165Hz or 330Hz, Cyberpunk 2077 ran buttery smooth. Sure, I wasn’t quite able to hit 165 frames per second to match the lower refresh rate, but the extra headroom let me enjoy the 65-70 fps I did get.

Doom: The Dark Ages is where I got to truly test what this monitor could do. With DLSS at 6x and Ultra Performance enabled, the game ran at a blistering 400 frames per second, even higher than the monitor’s top 330Hz refresh rate. Though I’m not a competitive gamer, I could still feel the difference in this twitchy game. Yes, there are gaming monitors with higher refresh rates, but Samsung’s is still no slouch.

Simple UI

You can bring up the menu by pressing the OSD joystick on the back. Reaching the OSD isn’t too difficult, as it's fairly low along the bottom of the monitor. The stick itself is relatively small but easy to move up and down or left and right.

The UI is about as no-frills as it gets. The blue lines on a black background are easy on the eyes and make everything easy to read. Navigating the menu with the joystick is seamless thanks to the responsive joystick and interface. While there are plenty of modes and settings to sift through, the layout makes it simple to find whatever you’re looking for.

Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) review: The downs

While the Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) certainly delivers on its promises, it has one potential drawback.

Pricey

Given that this is a 6K dual-mode gaming monitor, it’s no surprise it costs a pretty penny. Even at its current discounted price of $1,299, you’re still putting down a fair bit of cash. And that’s before factoring in the cost of the high-end gaming PC required to get the most out of this monitor.

If you just want an affordable gaming monitor with the basics, the $799 Alienware AW3426DW is the best bet. That said, you won’t get the rich picture quality of the Odyssey G80HS. If you want the very best image for gaming, Samsung’s monitor will be worth your money. But if you just want a high-end monitor at a lower price, other options are out there.

Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) review: Verdict

Price aside, there’s no denying that the Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS) is an exceptional gaming monitor thanks to its superb 6K resolution. Trust me when I say that this is arguably the best viewing experience you can have on a non-OLED gaming monitor. And if that wasn’t enough, the dual-mode lets you switch to a higher refresh rate for competitive gaming.

If you’re willing to spend big for a superlative gaming experience, you owe it to yourself to check out the Samsung Odyssey G8 (G80HS). You won’t be disappointed.

The Alienware 39 5K2K OLED (AW3926QW) is Alienware’s finest gaming monitor yet. That’s saying a lot, given how fantastic its 34-inch QD-OLED monitors have been. But thanks to its enhanced OLED technology, fast performance, and sleek design, it’s hard to argue that it's one of the best gaming monitors you can buy.

The star of the show is the four-stack, three-subpixel RGB stripe tandem OLED panel, which is the first of its kind to hit the market. Thanks to that, you get higher brightness, richer colors, sharper text, and superb contrast. The crisp 5K resolution also ensures that everything looks absolutely stunning. And if that weren’t enough, you can also switch to 330Hz refresh mode for fast-paced competitive shooters.

Other than being a tad too big for some setups, the Alienware 39 5K2K OLED (AW3926QW) is about as perfect a gaming monitor as you can get. Find out why in my full review.

Alienware AW3926QW review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Alienware 39 5K2K OLED (AW3926QW) is a feature-rich gaming monitor.
• Who is it for? It’s for folks who want a gaming monitor with dual refresh rates to balance visual fidelity and performance.
• What does it cost? The AW3926DW costs $1,099.
• What do we like? We like the classy design, vivid OLED panel, fast and smooth gaming performance, and easy-to-use UI.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like that you need a relatively large desk to comfortably use this 39-inch monitor.

Alienware AW3926QW review: Specs

Alienware AW3926QW review: The ups

From its minimalist design, crisp visual quality, and smooth performance, there’s a lot to love about the Alienware AW3926QW.

Sleek design

The Alienware AW3926QW has a design reminiscent of the AW3426DW, but it’s larger, with a 39-inch panel instead of 34. I’m glad the design matches its smaller sibling, as it looks equally great in an office as it does in a gaming den.

The panel’s 1500R curvature conforms nicely to the curvature of your eyes and draws you into whatever game you’re playing. The 21:9 aspect ratio is similarly immersive for gaming and also gives you more desktop space for windows and apps for when you’re working.

Over on the back, you’ll find the Alienware logo, which is the main thing that tells you this is a gaming monitor — especially if you enable the AlienFX RGB lighting. The back isn’t flush, unlike on the AW3426DW, because it has a gap for the air vents. It also includes a VESA mount for one of the best monitor arms, if you prefer.

Like the AW3426DW, this monitor has a flat stand to keep it in place. Since its profile is relatively small, you’ll still have plenty of room on your desk for the best gaming keyboards and best gaming mouse.

The shaft has a cutaway for clean cable management. Lowering and raising the monitor along the shaft is seamless, as is tilting and swiveling it to your preferred viewing angle. And while the monitor weighs 22 pounds, I found it light enough to easily move around when I needed to access the ports on the back.

Speaking of ports, this monitor has a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports, a DisplayPort, two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, and a USB-B port. There’s also an OSD (on-screen display) joystick underneath the ports for navigating the monitor’s display settings.

Vibrant display

There’s a lot of fancy technology under the hood of the AW3926QW, especially the four-stack, three-subpixel RGB stripe tandem OLED panel. Thanks to that and the 5K resolution, this monitor delivers a stunning picture quality.

Cyberpunk 2077 looks incredible on the AW3926QW. I drove around the city during the day and marveled at how the glass towers and the river gleamed in the sunlight. The neon signs and colorful holograms were vivid and sharp. You can also see more of your surroundings because this game supports 21:9 monitors.

There are two display modes here: 5K resolution and WFDH. Naturally, you get the best image from 5K (5120 x 2160), which is perfect for cinematic games like Cyberpunk 2077. WFHD (2560 x 1080) lowers the resolution but bumps the refresh rate to 330Hz. I’ll cover that shortly, but suffice it to say that 1080p resolution doesn’t look as sharp as 5K, but is still clear enough for the competitive gamers this mode is for.

The AW3926QW delivered strong results in our lab tests. In its standard display mode, the AW3425DW produces vivid colors (sRGB and DCI-P3) and solid color accuracy (Delta-E). These values are comparable to the Samsung Odyssey G8 G80HS in its Standard mode, though the Asus ROG Swift OLED produces more oversaturated hues.

HDR brightness is pretty strong for an OLED monitor. In dedicated HDR modes, the AW3926QW reaches around 500 nits at 10% of the display and about 300 nits across the entire screen. OLED gaming monitors are finally delivering brighter HDR, and I’m glad to see that the Alienware AW3926QW hasn’t missed the party.

There are 11 display modes available. This includes dedicated modes for game genres like FPS, RTS, Sports, and more. As with the AW3426DW, there’s a Creator Mode with better color accuracy for video and photo editors. Aside from that mode, the other options differ only slightly from one another, such as FPS being brighter and Sports being more colorful.

Smooth and fast performance

Whether you’re playing at 165Hz or 330Hz, everything runs smoothly on this monitor. Compatibility with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync, along with the ultra-low 0.03ms response time, ensures that games run buttery smooth with no perceptible input lag. You’ll get much faster performance from the LG UltraGear 27GX790B-B, which can run at 540Hz and 720Hz, but unless you’re a professional gamer, you likely won’t notice a difference.

To test the AW3926QW, I connected it to the HP Omen Max 45L, a monstrous gaming PC packing an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5080 (18GB), 64GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. You’ll need a similarly powerful PC to take advantage of the monitor’s insane performance.

Whether it was at 165Hz or 330Hz, Cyberpunk 2077 ran buttery smooth. Sure, I wasn’t quite able to hit 165 frames per second to match the lower refresh rate, but the extra headroom let me enjoy the 65-70 fps I did get without any hiccups like screen tearing.

Simple UI

The Alienware AW3926QW uses the same interface as the AW3426DW. As before, the UI features a black-and-gray background with blue-and-white lettering. This is where you’ll find all the available display modes and other settings. There are many menus and submenus to sift through, but it’s easy enough to find whatever setting you need.

The OSD joystick, located just beneath the ports, is easy to find by touch. The stick itself is responsive and has the right balance of rigidity and looseness.

Alienware AW3926QW review: The downs

The Alienware AW3926QW is a nearly perfect gaming monitor for most folks, but it does have one drawback that might make it inconvenient to own for some.

A bit unwieldy

This likely won’t be a dealbreaker for most, but if you have a small workspace, you may not have enough room to comfortably fit this 39-inch monitor into your setup.

I’ve reviewed much larger gaming monitors, such as Samsung’s 49- and 57-inch Odyssey monitors. Alienware’s device is much smaller in comparison, but I still needed a relatively deep desk to use it comfortably. Thanks to the panel’s size and curvature, you’ll want to sit a good distance away.

Alienware AW3926QW review: Verdict

The Alienware AW3926QW delivers a phenomenal gaming experience thanks to its immersive, vivid, and sharp curved panel. The tech behind the display is so impressive that I fully expect competitors to ape what Alienware has done.

Even if there are monitors with higher resolutions and refresh rates, the AW3926DW beautifully balances visuals and performance. Sure, it’s a tad pricey, but it’s worth it for the features it offers. This is exactly the kind of gaming monitor I’d want to own. It’s that good!

The PlayStation 27" Gaming Monitor bridges the worlds of console and PC gaming. While the PS5 is primarily used as a living room device, many prefer connecting Sony’s console to one of the best gaming monitors and playing at their desk. Now they can do so with a monitor designed specifically for the PS5 that’s also compatible with the best gaming PCs.

This 27-inch monitor covers the basics, including a 1440p IPS panel with a variable 240Hz refresh rate. The design is fairly nondescript, with a black-and-white theme that matches the PS5. It also includes unique features, such as Auto HDR tone-mapping that calibrates your PS5’s video settings and a convenient charging hook for your DualSense controller.

While the PlayStation 27-inch gaming monitor isn’t revolutionary, it delivers on its promise as an excellent desktop companion for your PS5. Sure, it doesn’t have 4K resolution or an OLED panel, but it still offers a fantastic gaming experience for only $349. If you’re looking for a monitor for both your PC and PS5, this monitor comes with my highest recommendation. Find out why in my full review.

PlayStation 27" Gaming Monitor review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A 27-inch gaming monitor that’s specifically designed for the PS5 and PS5 Pro.
• Who is it for? For gamers who own a PS5 and/or a gaming PC and prefer playing at their desk.
• What does it cost? The PlayStation 27” Gaming Monitor is available now for $349 on PlayStation’s website and at Best Buy.
• What do we like? We like the sleek, minimalist design, bright and colorful display, fast performance, built-in charging hook, and Auto HDR tone mapping.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like that it tops out at 1440p and lacks an OLED panel.

PlayStation 27" Gaming Monitor review: Specs

PlayStation 27" gaming monitor review: The ups

The 27-inch PlayStation gaming monitor impresses thanks to its elegant design, vibrant picture quality, smooth performance, and PS5-centric features.

PS5-like design

The first thing you’ll notice is that this looks a lot like a PlayStation monitor, thanks to its black-and-white color scheme. The almost all-white back, featuring the iconic PlayStation logo, complements the black shaft, stand, bezels, and the port locations. It’s a classy design that looks just as good in an office as in a gaming den.

Gliding the monitor up and down the shaft is easy, as is tilting and swiveling it to your preferred viewing height and angle. The shaft is completely flat and takes up little space on your desk, leaving more room for peripherals. There’s also a VESA mount on the back to use it with one of the best monitor arms, if you prefer.

Port-wise, you get everything you need to connect to a PS5 and/or PC. This includes a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports, a single DisplayPort, two USB-A ports, a USB-C port, and a USB-B port. Since the monitor is so light, it’s easy to turn it around to access the ports. It’s nearly impossible to connect anything by touch alone if you’re facing the monitor.

My favorite design element is the charging hook for your controller. The hook swings down from the back of the monitor like a door handle and snaps into place when fully down or fully up. There’s just enough room on the hook’s end for your DualSense controller to rest comfortably while it charges. This is one of the smartest features I’ve seen on a monitor.

Vivid and sharp display

The 27-inch PlayStation gaming monitor has a 27-inch (2560 x 1440) IPS panel. Although it’s not an OLED screen, you still get excellent image quality because the monitor automatically calibrates your PS5 for the best HDR settings. The 16:9 aspect ratio is also ideal for PS5 games and many PC titles.

There are only four standard picture modes: Default, Cool, Warm, and sRGB — with each of these having corresponding HDR modes. Some can look brighter or more colorful, but you generally get the same image quality across the board.

I was blown away when I tested Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on this monitor in the Default display setting. Because the colors aren’t oversaturated, in-game New York City looked incredibly lifelike and cinematic. Neon signs and energy bolts pop out nicely, while HDR provides strong contrast between dark and light elements. This is as good as it gets for a non-OLED panel.

The 27-inch PlayStation monitor did well on our lab test. Color reproduction (sRGB and DCI-P3) is excellent, while color accuracy (Delta-E) is just slightly lower than what I usually see from gaming monitors. In contrast, the $349 Alienware AW2726DM delivers much more vivid colors, but its HDR across 100% of the screen can’t match the PlayStation 27’s. The latter is certainly a benefit of lacking an OLED panel.

Smooth performance

The PlayStation 27-inch gaming monitor supports up to a 240Hz refresh rate, double the PS5’s maximum 120Hz. That means that whether you’re playing on a PS5 or PC, you’ll get a buttery-smooth gaming experience thanks to the high refresh rate and VRR support.

Spider-Man 2 on the PS5 Pro runs like a dream on this monitor. I didn’t experience a single instance of screen tearing or input lag. This is especially important in a game like this, where you’re swinging through Manhattan’s artificial canyons at breakneck speeds one moment, and dealing with mobs of enemies the next. No matter what’s happening on the screen, the monitor handles it beautifully.

Simple interface

The menu UI’s design is as clean and simple as the monitor itself. The interface features a transparent background with white lettering. Here, you can access the aforementioned picture modes, as well as settings for audio, inputs, profiles, and more.

The OSD (On-Screen Display) joystick on the back lets you navigate the menus easily. Located just above the power button, the white joystick blends well with the back of the monitor and offers the right balance of sturdiness and flexibility when you move it up and down and left and right.

PlayStation 27" Gaming Monitor review: The downs

While there’s a lot to like about this PlayStation monitor, it has a few minor drawbacks.

No OLED or 4K

The only two real negatives about the 27-inch PlayStation gaming monitor are that it doesn’t have an OLED panel and it tops out at 1440p. If you absolutely need an OLED monitor or 4K resolution, then this could be a major deterrent. However, if that doesn’t matter to you, you might not see these as negatives at all.

I’m mostly sharing this as an expectation check, because while it’s a bummer that the display isn’t OLED and the resolution is 1440p tops, I don’t consider these major deal-breakers. The overall image quality is phenomenal, and arguably better than what you’d get on some similarly-priced monitors.

As for price, the $349 price tag makes it extremely easy to forgive any shortcomings, especially when its upsides vastly outweigh the negatives.

PlayStation 27" gaming monitor review: Verdict

The PlayStation 27-inch gaming monitor is a worthwhile purchase for gamers who primarily play at their desk. Though it’s not the fanciest gaming monitor out there, it has everything you need for a great experience on PS5 and PC. And as I said before, it’s hard to knock this monitor because of its affordable $349 asking price.

If you absolutely need an OLED monitor, the $349 Alienware AW2726DM is a solid alternative. But if you want seamless integration with your PS5, plus a charging hook for your controller, the 27-inch PlayStation is an easy recommendation. It’s really that good!

I’ve always had a soft spot for survival horror games. Whether I’m wandering through the terrifying corridors of Resident Evil, getting lost in the psychological nightmare of Silent Hill, or trying to make sense of the supernatural weirdness of Alan Wake, horror games have always been some of my favorites. So when I was kindly given the opportunity to play The Sinking City 2, I was very intrigued by a game that feels like it combines elements of all three. And, as you can probably imagine, the horror fan inside of me is very happy.

Developed by Ukrainian studio Frogwares, The Sinking City 2 is the sequel to 2019’s The Sinking City, but it takes the series in a much more survival-horror-focused direction. Set in a flooded, otherworldly version of 1920s Arkham, you play as occult adventurer Calvin Rafferty, who finds himself battling grotesque Lovecraftian creatures while investigating a mysterious supernatural threat. Unlike its detective-heavy predecessor, the sequel puts combat, exploration, resource management and horror front and center.

Frogwares has also built the sequel in Unreal Engine 5, essentially using it as an opportunity to reinvent the series and move beyond its traditional detective-adventure roots. I’ve spent a few hours with the game now, and honestly, I’m already intrigued. Here are my thoughts on The Sinking City 2.

The Sinking City 2 is a horror fan’s playground

To be frank, I haven’t played the first The Sinking City, but after doing some research, I found that playing the original isn’t necessary to enjoy the sequel, as The Sinking City 2 tells a standalone story.

That meant going into it, I had no idea what to expect, but that only made the experience more interesting. The Sinking City 2 spends its opening minutes establishing the story, with Calvin Rafferty sitting at the bedside of Faye Bennett after a ritual the pair performed goes horribly wrong. Faye has been left in a mysterious, coma-like state, while Calvin is determined to find a way to bring her back.

From there, you’re quickly introduced to the game’s survival-horror mechanics as you start your first mission to collect an important item, with exploration, scavenging and puzzles along the way. But having played my fair share of survival horror games like Resident Evil, I found The Sinking City 2’s challenges to be fairly easy.

However, the game makes up for that with its combat system, especially during your first encounter with the Slither, one of the game’s grotesque creatures.

What I appreciate about the game is that it has four combat difficulty levels, depending on how challenging you want your experience to be during enemy encounters and boss fights.

It’s important to note that Frogwares deliberately made investigation optional, allowing it to support the survival-horror experience rather than getting in the way of it. Hence why combat is more of a central focus, and it’s very similar to Resident Evil, particularly when it comes to the limited ammunition.

You’ll need to search drawers and rooms for supplies, while dedicated safe rooms give you somewhere to store items and save your progress. You have to conserve ammunition, target enemy weak spots and decide whether a fight is even worth taking. Keep in mind that the gunplay can sometimes feel a little clunky, especially when you’re trying to dodge at the same time.

But, in a way, the lack of crispness in the gameplay gives the game some charm. You’re navigating a rundown city crawling with reanimated corpses thanks to supernatural worms, and with the protagonist lacking any real fighting skills while desperately trying to save his lover, the jankiness almost makes sense.

What does become a little frustrating, though, are the stiff animations during particularly important cutscenes, as well as the fact that some environments can look very similar, with the game occasionally reusing assets and textures.

Despite some of the game’s technical roughness, The Sinking City 2 doesn’t fail to be visually pleasing. The flooded city is dark, oppressive and convincingly abandoned, with the fog, rain, water and muted color palette helping to create that constant feeling of unease. Even places like the flooded Miskatonic University, ruined hospital and fish market feel like real locations that existed before the city was submerged.

The rough edges are noticeable, but the underlying atmosphere and art direction are genuinely good, and you have to give the game serious credit for that.

The Sinking City 2 isn’t polished, but there’s something special here

Of course, for a Lovecraftian world to really come to life, the story has to be good enough to make you care about its characters and the goal the protagonist is trying to achieve. The Sinking City 2 has a very enjoyable narrative, with Calvin’s motivation to save Faye giving the game a clear emotional hook.

Rather than getting bogged down in an open-world investigation, the sequel tells a tighter, more linear story across different locations in Arkham. Along the way, there are plenty of strange twists, dark discoveries and increasingly bizarre situations that kept me wanting to see what would happen next.

Plus, we get to see more of their relationship through flashbacks and interactions, with their romance proving surprisingly effective. There’s a flashback early on when Calvin enters the library in search of something, only to find Faye deep in occult research, and the two share a flirty encounter.

When the flashback ends, we’re suddenly back in the same spot, only this time Faye is gone and we’re left in the darkness. These flashbacks add some much-needed warmth to an otherwise gruesome and dark story, and I found it particularly funny that the protagonist channels a lot of Indiana Jones’ energy.

It’s also hard to talk about The Sinking City 2 without acknowledging what Frogwares went through to actually get the game made. The Ukrainian studio was already in pre-production when Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, forcing development to stop. The team eventually resumed work while dealing with power cuts, air raids and developers being called into service. That makes finally seeing The Sinking City 2 in players’ hands feel like a genuine achievement, especially considering this is Frogwares’ first proper attempt at survival horror.

There’s also more here than simply finishing the main story and moving on. The Sinking City 2 offers New Game Plus, with additional unlockables including infinite ammunition, concept art and costumes, while the developers have packed Arkham with secrets and lore to discover. After only a few hours, I obviously haven’t experienced everything it has to offer, but that’s perhaps what has surprised me most. I went into The Sinking City 2 expecting a creepy horror game to dip into, and instead I’ve found myself genuinely wanting to see what horrors are waiting around the next corner.

The Sinking City 2 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

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Steam Frame tutorial videos just got leaked on Reddit, potentially hinting at an imminent release. The videos in question show an unboxing, how to sign in, how to adjust the device’s strap, what accessories it comes with, and more.

For the uninitiated, the Steam Frame is Valve’s answer to headsets like the Meta Quest 3. It features a Snapdragon ARM processor, an LCD with 2160 x 2160 resolution per eye, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, a refresh rate up to 120Hz, and pancake optic lenses. Along with eye-tracking, it also has camera passthrough and a 110-degree field of view (FOV). Naturally, it runs on SteamOS, effectively making it a VR version of the Steam Deck.

With the basics out of the way, here are the leaked Steam Frame videos.

Steam Frame: Unboxing

This first video (posted on X by @HardwareSteam) is an unboxing, where we get to see what you get with the Frame. In addition to the actual headset, you get a pair of controllers, a spacer, a wireless adapter, an information booklet, and a USB-C cable. This video then shows how to initially set up the device, which ships in a power-saving mode.

Steam Frame: Wireless adapter

The wireless adapter lets you connect to a Steam Machine or compatible PC. You'll need to log in to the same Steam account on both the headset and your PC, plug the adapter in, and Steam will guide you through the setup process. Games that are available for streaming will appear in your headset's Steam library.

Steam Frame: Ergonomic accessories

This video discusses some of the ergonomic accessories available for the Steam Frame. The handstraps keep the controllers securely in your hands even during intense gaming sessions. Then there’s the top headstrap, which provides extra headset stability. Lastly, the extended light blocker is for folks with smaller noses who may still see light leaking through the front of the Frame.

Steam Frame: Extended light blocker

This next video goes into more detail on how to attach and adjust the extended light blocker and top strap. While the process for each can be pretty involved, the video does a nice job of showing how to do everything one step at a time.

Steam Frame: IPD adjustment

The IPD wheel lets you adjust the spacing between the lenses until the picture you see through them looks good. Basically, you want the focus, sharpness, and overall optical comfort to look good to your eyes. There's an IPD lock to keep the lenses exactly where you want them for future sessions.

Steam Frame: Fit guide

This video is pretty self-explanatory, as it shows you the various ways to fit the headset to your nogging. Some users who wear glasses or who feel their eyes are too close to the lens can use the included spacer, which magnetically snaps into place.

Steam Frame: Controller handstrap

To keep your controllers from flying across the room, you'll want to keep them secure with the included handstraps. This video shows you how to adjust them. Like the rest of the videos, all the instructions are very easy to follow.

Outlook

You can check out the rest of the videos above for more, but suffice it to say that Valve has left no stone unturned when it comes to these Steam Frame tutorial videos. We still don’t have word on when the device will launch, but if I were a betting man, I’d say a fall release isn’t out of the question.

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I love OLED gaming monitors, but not all OLED devices are created equal, so I put on my critical glasses when eyeing Lenovo’s Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz monitor. My assessing eye quickly turned to ogling.

At 31.5 inches, the Legion Pro 32UD-10 is a decently large display that delivers a vivid array of colors, making gaming far more immersive than with almost all IPS or VA monitors I’ve played on. Compared with other OLED gaming monitors, the Legion Pro 32UD is quite solid on that front.

Of course, it trips up on one key aspect: its brightness. It’s a common issue with OLED gaming monitors, but the Legion Pro 32UD-10 is especially dim out of the box. It makes up for it with its crisp 4K resolution and smooth 240Hz refresh rate.

At the current $879, it’s one of the best gaming monitors, but unless you want something very specific from the Legion Pro 32UD-10, you’re likely to find a brighter gaming monitor for a similar price.

Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 is a standard 16:9 OLED gaming monitor.
• Who is it for? Gamers seeking a large OLED gaming monitor for under $1,000 (on sale).
• How much does it cost? The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 is typically $1,099, but it's currently on sale at Best Buy and Lenovo for $819.
• What do we like? The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 offers a colorful panel with sharp resolution and a high refresh rate, all packed into an elegant design.
• What don’t we like? The display looks dim out of the box, and while you can set it to a brighter mode, it’s still dimmer than some competitors.

Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD 4K 240Hz review: Specs

Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz review: The ups

The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 is packed with good looks both inside and out, including a sleek design, pretty display, and excellent performance.

Sleek design

For a gaming monitor, the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 is surprisingly elegant, with its white hexagonal base, thin panel, and slim neck.

The panel measures 28.30 x 16.35 x 2.02 inches, which isn’t too big. However, you’ll need to work around its hexagonal base — it looks good but isn’t practical, as it blocks space you could use to slide in any accessories you usually keep on your desk. The stand has a hole for easy cable management. There’s also a clear plastic piece with no defined purpose, but you might be able to slot your phone into it (my Pixel 9 just hits the display).

As for movement, you can raise or lower the monitor by 5.3 inches and tilt it back by 5 degrees or forward by 22 degrees. The swivel range is 45 degrees to the left and right. Adjusting the swivel feels smooth, while the tilt is stiff but secure.

There’s an array of ports on the back, including a single DisplayPort, two HDMI 2.1 slots, three USB-A ports, and a single USB-C port. There’s no USB-B slot, but I don’t think anyone will miss it. Below the ports, in the center, are the joystick and buttons for navigating the display settings, along with the power button.

While this is technically a gaming monitor, it’s nice not to be blasted with crazy RGB lighting. And the white colorway is a refreshing break from the homogeneous black-and-gray gaming tech.

Vivid display

The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz is a stunning OLED display that captures every detail you never knew you wanted to see, all in a blast of color.

I jumped into space-dad simulator (Pragmata) and took in the gorgeous, twisted landscape of New York City. Everything from the neon signs to the yellow taxi cabs popped on screen. The blue tanks on the creepy baby creatures were vividly clear, especially when they turned red after being shot.

Our lab results matched my hands-on testing. In Standard mode, the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 delivers strong colors across both sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts. It keeps pace with the $799 Alienware AW3426DW but is slightly duller than the $859 MSI MPG 321URXW. The Legion’s color accuracy (Delta-E) is slightly higher (worse) than its competitors’, but it wouldn’t be noticeable to the human eye.

There are 7 display modes to choose from, including Standard, FPS (two), Racing, RTS, and Game (two) modes. I highly recommend setting the monitor to Game mode, as it’s the most general-purpose option and it’s brighter than the Standard mode (I’ll get into brightness later).

Smooth performance

With a 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time, the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 has been nothing but smooth sailing. The monitor supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, which eliminates screen tearing, stuttering, and ghosting. Although I couldn’t find it on Lenovo’s website, the monitor is also compatible with Nvidia G-Sync.

I tested the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 with my custom desktop, outfitted with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU, and 32GB of RAM. It was enough to push the monitor to its limits in some games, especially at 4K resolution and 240Hz. You technically don’t need a high-end gaming rig to enjoy this display, but if you want to make full use of it, you need power.

In a graphically demanding game like Pragmata, I couldn’t push it to its limits, but the high refresh rate made dashing around enemies feel smooth, and I had all the refresh rate I needed for faster reactions at high frame rates. With a sharp panel like this, capturing the intricate details of my enemy’s armor while I’m fighting made the experience feel more present.

For those used to curved monitors, as I am, going back to a flat screen is quite jarring because the sides of the screen appear farther away than they should. Something to keep in mind for those switching from a curved display.

Solid UI

The interface is simple. The UI uses black and gray with blue backgrounds and white text. There’s nothing offensive here. It’s not particularly intuitive, but it's not terrible to navigate.

The joystick is the primary navigation method, but there are two other buttons: one for inputs and the other for display modes. Unfortunately, the buttons don’t open a dedicated screen to adjust their settings quickly; they simply take you to their tab in the main interface. As for overall navigation, I do wish the buttons and joystick were lower and more pronounced on the body.

Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz review: The downs

You might be used to lower brightness on OLED gaming monitors, but the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD is dim even by that scale. It was also a pain to put together.

On the dimmer side

While OLED monitors can land a bit dim, the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD 4K 240Hz is especially on the dimmer side right out of the box.

Walking the streets of a corrupted New York City in Pragmata, I found the dark alleys and shadowy areas didn’t fill out as much as they should have, so I couldn't make out the details of the garbage truck that was right next to me. I felt like I needed to turn off the lights in my room to get the full experience.

The $859 MSI MPG 321URXW, which we consider dim, wasn’t that bad out of the box. However, setting the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 to Game mode gave the monitor a notable brightness boost. But even with that boost, it can’t keep up with the $799 Alienware AW3426DW.

In HDR, the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 reached up to 419 nits of brightness on 10% of the display in Standard mode. That’s pretty solid, and it would be great to experience that level of brightness if you use HDR mode.

Unfortunately, Windows HDR sucks. That’s because it balances brightness across applications, so everything looks darker unless you’re explicitly playing HDR content.

Simple yet frustrating build

The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 comes in three pieces. Unlike its competitors, it does not click together easily. Instead, there are four screws for the base and four for the monitor. That’s fine; you’ll only be doing this once. However, I ran into a few issues while building this.

When connecting the monitor to the base, the screws were close enough to the neck that if you screw them in lengthwise with the included screwdriver, you’ll scratch the monitor’s paint. In the end, I couldn’t get the screws to sit flush with the mount. Then, when attempting to adjust it further, a piece of the screwdriver’s head snapped off — to be clear, I was not using any more force than normal.

This could all be a series of unfortunate events exclusive to me, so I’m not weighing it too heavily, but it was nevertheless frustrating.

Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 4K 240Hz review: Verdict

The Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD-10 can easily be a go-to gaming monitor for many folks. It’s got the elegant design paired with elite specs — a 4K resolution and 240Hz refresh rate will carry you a long way with most high-performance rigs. On top of that, you get those deep blacks and bold colors that OLED is famous for. The one hang-up is that it’s relatively dim.

I didn’t have a major issue with the dimness during my testing. Yes, there are brighter panels out there, but my eyes did eventually adjust, and if you’re playing in a dark room, games like Pragmata are still going to pop. If you’re looking for the best, however, this isn’t it.

For $80 less, you could go with the Alienware AW3426DW, which gets you a curved ultrawide screen and a brighter overall display. But if you’re looking for a standard, non-curved display, then the Lenovo Legion Pro 32UD is still a solid choice.

There’s no shortage of the best gaming laptops out there, but you might have noticed a change in HP’s lineup. Newer gaming rigs carrying Omen branding now fall under the HyperX branding. One such machine is HP’s HyperX Omen 15 that I recently tested.

That might sound like a tongue-twister, but branding aside, this is one of HP’s flagship gaming laptops, and it’s a very good one. Though the RTX 5070 with 8GB VRAM might seem limiting, you get solid gaming performance if you aren’t looking for serious frame rates. This laptop also looks sleek, even if it’s not as flashy as some other options, and it packs a gorgeous OLED display.

I’m mainly a console gamer, but after a week of testing the HyperX Omen 15, I spent less time on my PS5 and more with this laptop. However, it has the usual gaming laptop tropes. It runs hot and loud, and it doesn't last too long on battery. That said, it's still one of the best gaming laptops for what it offers. Find out why in my full review.

HyperX Omen 15 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A mid-range 15-inch gaming laptop
• Who is it for? Anyone looking for their first gaming laptop or seeking an upgrade.
• What does it cost? The HP HyperX Omen 15 starts at $1,499 on HP’s website. Right now, it's on sale for $1,099. As configured, our review unit is valued at $2,800, but is currently discounted to $2,099.
• What do we like? The gorgeous OLED screen, performance, and design.
• What don’t we like? The fan noise, battery life, and bloatware.

HyperX Omen 15 review: Specs

HyperX Omen 15 review: The ups

The HyperX Omen 15 gets three huge things right. It has a glorious OLED display, an appealing design, and smooth 1080p performance.

Vibrant OLED screen

The standout feature of the HyperX Omen 15 is its 2880x1800 OLED display. Not all configurations of the laptop come with this screen, but our higher-end review unit did. The screen delivers super vibrant visuals, both for office work and for gaming.

I have a Samsung S85F OLED TV at home, and movies like Spider-Man: Far From Home and games like Forza Horizon 6 looked incredible on the HyperX Omen 15’s panel. I spent more time watching videos on this laptop than I did watching my actual TV. It’s refreshing to have a really good OLED display in portable form.

When replaying one of my favorite classics, Grand Theft Auto 4, I noticed how much livelier Liberty City looked on this laptop’s OLED display. This game is famous for its dark and shaded environments, and the HyperX Omen 15 makes them all look spectacular.

When flying a helicopter high over Liberty City, every little detail dazzled me — from the lights shimmering in Star Junction to river water rippling beneath my helicopter's propellers. If this laptop could make a 17-year-old game look good, it should make the PC titles you play look even better than you imagine.

As our lab results show, this is a super-bright and vivid OLED panel. It hits 460.2 nits of brightness, which, compared to some of the other OLED gaming laptops we tested this year, is the second-brightest.

Meanwhile, its 1022-nit HDR brightness makes it the third-brightest laptop in our comparison group. The color accuracy is also top-notch, hitting 186.8% of the sRGB gamut and 132.2% of the DCI-P3 gamut, beating out all the other comparative gaming or productivity laptops with OLED panels.

Great gaming performance for most titles

The HyperX Omen 15 I reviewed packs an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5070, and 32GB of dedicated RAM. You might be concerned about the 8GB of VRAM on that RTX 5070, but don’t let that fool you. This is an excellent upper-midrange gaming laptop.

I love racing games, and my go-to game on my PlayStation 5 is Forza Horizon 5. The latest entry in this series isn’t on PlayStation yet, so the HyperX Omen 15 was the go-to way to experience Forza Horizon 6. After five hours of racing on the Omen 15X, I never felt the laptop’s GPU was holding me back. It became hard to go back to my PS5 and Forza Horizon 5.

On the “Extreme” preset at full 2880x1800 resolution, I was getting a smooth 49 fps, and at 1080p, nearly double that, around 79 fps. Turning on DLSS and switching to the slightly more demanding “High with Ray Tracing” preset yielded better visuals and decent performance, with 39 fps at full resolution and 69 fps at 1080p. Combined with the laptop’s 120Hz display, I experienced no lag and had a pleasurable, winning experience in almost all my race entries.

Those results are indeed low, so it won’t really compete with RTX 5080-powered laptops, but it delivers enough performance for most modern games at 1080p with ray tracing enabled. You'll still need DLSS or lower settings to take full advantage of the laptop’s native 2880×1800 resolution.

The closest laptop to the HyperX Omen 15 is the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra, which has the same display resolution, RTX 5070, and 32GB of RAM. That means this system won’t seem as powerful as some other 16-inch gaming laptops we’re comparing it to — like a higher-end Alienware 16 Area-51. While the numbers trail RTX 5080-powered competitors, real-world gaming will be a great experience once you dial back a few settings.

Our lab maxes out game settings, including ray tracing, when benchmarking, and I found games like Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Assassin's Creed Shadows were playable, hovering just over 30 fps at 1080p. At this laptop’s full resolution, games hovered near 20 fps and were slightly laggy, but still playable. Again, if you lower your graphics settings to medium or rely on upscaling, you should not have issues enjoying gaming on the HyperX Omen 15.

Of note. The laptop has an Omen AI feature in HP’s Omen Gaming Hub. This can provide frame optimization with a one-click solution for each game. It’s a nifty feature if you’re not super technical like me. It can adjust operating system settings, hardware settings, and game settings on the fly.

When you’re not gaming, the HyperX Omen 15 is a solid productivity or video-editing laptop. Its Geekbench scores are strong, placing it third in our lab’s tests against competitors. For video editing and encoding, HandBrake encoding time lags a bit, but in this test, anything within the 3-minute range is pretty good for its class.

I put the HyperX Omen 15 through the paces of my workflow, and it handled a mix of 20+ Chrome tabs with ease, alongside Slack and YouTube music videos in Microsoft Edge running in the background.

Solid design

The HyperX Omen 15 is made of plastic, but it is done in a way that makes it appealing. The shadow black plastic finish is reminiscent of the color you see on Lenovo’s ThinkPads, making it blend right in with my office space. The laptop’s display also sits a few centimeters forward from the rear, making it seem like it is coming off a solid slab of plastic. Many of Lenovo’s gaming laptops have had this look recently, and it is a good one.

Ports and connectivity are great, too. There are two USB-A ports — one on each side, along with a USB-C port and an HDMI port on the rear. Other ports include an Ethernet jack and a headphone jack.

The laptop uses a 200W proprietary barrelled USB-C charger, but, interestingly enough, I found that a 65W USB-C charger can juice up the laptop just fine for basic productivity needs. I appreciated that when I didn’t want to take the heavy charger to work with me.

Two other great elements of the design are the RGB lighting effects and the keyboard. HP didn’t go over the top with the RGB. The laptop has a 4-Zone RGB keyboard, and you can customize each zone with its own lighting effect. Light Studio through Omen Gaming Hub makes this possible, but I found the default rainbow effect just fine.

The keyboard is a pleasure to use. While it does not use Cherry switches like Alienware’s flagship laptops do, the square keycaps still have a satisfying click into the chassis when typing. As a lab tester, I also appreciate the number pad on the side, as some gaming laptops ditch this for a centered keyboard.

HyperX Omen 15 review: The downs

No laptop is perfect, and the HyperX Omen 15 underperforms in several ways. Some of these might be deal-breakers if you’re hoping to buy this laptop.

Loud fans

One of the biggest issues I had with the HyperX Omen 15 is how loud it can get. During standard use, it is whisper-silent, but as soon as I start gaming, it sounds like a mini vacuum cleaner. I understand that gaming laptops need to pump up the fans to stay cool, but this HyperX Omen 15 is especially loud.

In fact, it got so loud that I preferred to wear headphones while gaming. I used a decibel meter to measure fan noise, and it hit as high as 74 decibels mid-race in Forza Horizon 6. For reference, that is as loud as a running vacuum cleaner or a noisy restaurant. My measurements came from the laptop being in the default “Performance” mode in the Omen gaming app and with my meter at the rear of the laptop.

Switching to “Balanced” in the app slightly reduced the fan noise to as low as 65 decibels, which is more equivalent to a normal office environment. This will come at a performance cost, though, as it impacts the Windows Power mode.

Part of my experience comes down to how HP is optimizing for gaming performance. This laptop features Omen Tempest Cooling. That means it has dual side fans with fewer rear ports, enlarged vents, and additional bottom vents to maximize airflow and heat dissipation. It works, too. Our lab measured a temperature of 89 degrees at the laptop’s hottest point. 15-inch gaming laptops might typically hit closer to 100 degrees in our Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition heat test, where we loop the benchmark 6 times and measure temperatures at 4 different points on the laptop.

Poor battery life

Gaming laptops aren’t known for their amazing battery life, and the HyperX Omen 15 is no different. In our Tom’s Guide laptop battery test, it lasted 8 hours and 30 minutes for web browsing and a short 1 hour and 13 minutes for gaming.

While both of our lab’s results are considered bad for the HyperX, it does tug ahead of the more powerful Alienware laptop in our comparisons. We've also seen other gaming laptops, like the Zephyrus G16, and a productivity laptop with an RTX 5070, like the Galaxy Book 6, go well beyond the numbers the HyperX put up in our battery test.

In my time with the laptop for work, it only lasted from 9 AM to 3:30 before Windows gave the low battery warnings at 10% with the screen around 32% brightness. For gaming, the laptop died after 45 minutes. OLED screens are power-hungry, and the 120Hz refresh rate with the beastly Nvidia GPU only makes things worse. It’s a trade-off you will have to live with if you choose an OLED gaming laptop like this one.

Too much bloat

This laptop, as we reviewed it, can cost well over $2,000, so it is very upsetting to see all the pre-installed bloatware on it. Right out of the box, the Start Menu was littered with pre-pinned shortcuts to various services like HP TV+, Booking.com, and a Dropbox Promotion. HP also throws in McAfee antivirus software with the laptop, which our lab always removes for our battery test.

That is in addition to seven HP apps: HP, HP Documentation, HP PC Diagnostics, HP Privacy Settings, HP Smart, Support Assist, Event Utility, and TV+. Otter.ai also makes it to the list. All of this can be easily uninstalled, but that takes extra work, and nobody should have to deal with this.

HyperX Omen 15 review: Verdict

The HyperX Omen 15 wins for its OLED display and RTX 5070 performance that handles most modern games well at 1080p. Its low-key design and comfortable keyboard also make it feel less like a gaming rig and more like an everyday laptop you'd be happy to take out in public and carry anywhere.

The trade-offs are a little painful, though: loud fans during gaming, weak battery life, and a Start Menu full of bloatware. But if a gorgeous OLED screen is high on your list and you're buying your first gaming laptop or upgrading an old one, the HyperX Omen 15 is worth the investment.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is a game that feels specifically made for me. This is the same sentiment I had when I first played X-Men vs. Street Fighter 20 years ago. Like that classic Capcom title, Marvel Tōkon combines my two biggest passions—video games and comic books—and delivers a thoroughly satisfying fighting game experience. If you’re like me, you’re in for a Galactus-sized treat.

Beyond the superheroic cast of Marvel characters, the main draw of Tōkon is that it’s a 4v4 tag fighter. While that sounds overwhelming, you’re really playing as one character because the team shares a single health bar. The characters are spectacular, representing both iconic and lesser-known heroes and villains from Marvel’s pantheon. Arc System Works’ renowned visual flair brings it all together, drawing you into this comic-book-inspired world.

While Marvel Tōkon has a great deal of mechanical depth for veteran fighting game players, newcomers won’t be stranded in the Negative Zone thanks to the simple-to-pick-up gameplay and helpful tutorials. It’s still too early to tell if Tōkon will become as legendary as the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise, but right now, it’s the best current fighting game after Street Fighter 6. Find out why in my full review!

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls: The basics

• What is it? Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is a 4v4 tag fighting game featuring a core roster of 20 Marvel Comics heroes and villains.
• Who is it for? It’s for fighting game enthusiasts and fans of Marvel Comics characters.
• What’s the price? Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is available for PS5 and PC and costs $59 at Amazon. The $99 Ultimate Edition contains the base game and all the Year 1 content.
• What other games has the developer made? Arc System Works has developed other notable fighting games like Guilty Gear: Strive, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and BlazBlue: Central Fiction.
• What games is it similar to? Marvel Tōkon visually resembles the Marvel vs. Capcom games, but its mechanics are closer to Arc System Works titles like those mentioned above.

Contest of Champions

Marvel Tōkon has a dedicated story mode featuring episodes focused on the five main teams: Unbreakable X-Men, Amazing Guardians, Fighting Avengers, Knights of Doom, and Samurai Outriders. All are brought together to fight a cosmic being known as The Champion, who will destroy Earth if one of the teams can’t defeat him in battle. Given how The Champion has already destroyed several worlds across the galaxy, the heroes are in for a tough fight.

The story, written by comic book writer Kieron Gillen, won’t win awards, but it does an admirable job of showcasing each character's unique personality and motivations. Even if some of them come off as one-note or over-the-top, they feel like the characters you know from the comics and the MCU. This aspect also comes across during gameplay, as characters will quip with one another.

You’re free to skip the story mode if you’re just here for the fighting, but if you’re brand-new to Marvel, it’s a cool introduction to the characters. And if you’re a comic book fan, you’ll appreciate how this story is basically a video game version of the classic Contest of Champions event from the early ‘80s.

Assemble

Marvel Tōkon’s most distinctive feature is its 4v4 fighting gameplay, which is a first of its kind. But don’t think it's just Marvel vs. Capcom 2 with an extra fighter on your team, as it offers a unique spin on the tag-fighter formula that is both in-depth and easy to grasp.

Each best-of-five match starts with only your point character and an assist character. You’ll unlock the rest of your team by triggering stage transitions or wall breaks, connecting specific auto combos, or when the next round starts. This creates a sense of momentum as matches ramp up in intensity and resources.

Unlike Marvel vs. Capcom, all team members share a single health bar instead of having their own. That means you can’t bench a character to regain health. This part took me a while to grasp since it’s such a departure from even newer tag fighters like Invincible Vs, but it’s a great way to make matches less hectic since you’re really dealing with two main combatants and their respective assists.

The Assemble Gauge and assist system are at the heart of team play. Each character is assigned to a slot that determines their assist type, such as Shooter, Vertical, and Assault. For instance, Iron Man fires his repulsor beam from afar, while Wolverine gets up close and personal. You can also use assists to extend combos. There are defensive and armored options, and you can briefly take control of an assist character. Learning to manage the Assemble Gauge is crucial to victory.

Outside the Assemble Gauge, there’s the Skill Gauge, which, when full, lets you unleash a character’s super moves, powered-up normal moves, and cinematic Ultimate Skills. Naturally, you can chain team super moves in a delayed hyper combo style. The most devastating and impressive-looking attack is Tōkon Assemble, which uses both the Assemble and Skill Gauges for an all-out attack involving your entire team. This is one you’ll want to bust out if you need a serious comeback.

Marvel Tōkon features traditional motion inputs like Street Fighter, but it also includes simplified “Quick Skill” options and easy chain/auto combos. These let newer players compete more effectively with high-level players, though, naturally, they’ll make things even easier for the latter. I tend to mix both, depending on which will deal more damage or if I just want to do something awesome fast.

Danger Room

Online is as robust as you’d expect for a modern fighting game, and it’s where the majority of diehard players will spend most of their time battling each other. I tested the online modes on my PS5 Pro (Ranked, Casual, and private Room matches) and had no issues finding matches, and those matches always ran without problems. I know this hasn’t been the case for PC players, who’ve encountered many issues, but if you’re on PS5, it should be smooth sailing.

There’s a large Open Lobby that can hold up to 64 players and serves as a social hub with arcade cabinets, customizable avatars, emotes, and chat. If you’re familiar with the online lobby for Dragon Ball FighterZ, you’ll know what to expect here. You’re free to skip this lobby and jump straight into matches from the main online menu, but I find this hub a nice place to visit between battles.

The game has full cross-play between PS5 and PC, so you and your friends can play on your preferred platforms. And as expected from a modern fighting game, there’s also rollback netcode to ensure matches feel smooth and responsive. Marvel Tōkon’s online might not be revolutionary, but it works (at least on PS5).

Battle World

Beyond the story and online, there are other modes to sink your adamantium claws into.

Arcadia Rumble is a wild party mode for up to 8 players that involves collecting buffs and using “Fighter Souls” to power them in a last-man-standing style rumble. This one is interesting because you’re mostly using your little avatar to run around the lobby collecting buffs and trying to hit other players. When time runs out, you’re tossed into a proper versus match against another player. Whoever scores the most wins the Arcadia Rumble. This isn’t a mode I’ll come back to often, but it’s a unique diversion, to be sure.

If you want to hone your skills, there’s a tutorial and battle guides for each character. The battle guides are especially useful for getting a clear sense of how your main character works. I especially like the dedicated combo challenges here. The tutorial is also very good because it doesn’t overwhelm players with too much information.

Lastly, there’s a local versus mode for when you have friends over. I didn’t get to play this as intended since I live alone like Uatu the Watcher, but if you have company over, you can quickly get into matches this way.

Dazzler

Marvel Tōkon features the same stunning graphics and overall presentation you’d expect from an Arc System Works game. Instead of a more traditional hand-drawn comic book art style, the game looks like a straight-up anime, which still works extremely well for the Marvel characters. The characters’ updated designs are both iconic and fresh.

The smooth and expressive animations are another highlight. Each attack, super move, and wall smash feels impactful and looks like something out of a battle anime. I especially like the character animations, which do a nice job of showing off their personalities. The stages are also impressive, featuring locales like Wakanda, New York City, and the Savage Land, to name a few. The fact that each stage has several locales incentivizes you to initiate a stage transition to see the full thing.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper Arc System Works game without a roaring rock soundtrack. Though I find Guilty Gear’s music more memorable, the tracks here have the bombast and drama you’d expect in a cinematic superhero battle. The voice work sounds as good as the music, with all the voice actors doing their best to bring the characters to life.

Marvel Tōkon review: Verdict

I’ve been excited for Marvel Tōkon ever since its announcement, and I’m happy to say that it has far exceeded my expectations. Instead of trying to be a Marvel vs. Capcom clone, it combines the best aspects of Arc System Works games to deliver the most distinctive tag fighter ever. The fact that experts and newbies can both have a great time is a testament to the game’s excellent mix of depth and accessibility.

Naturally, this is just the start for Marvel Tōkon, as Year 1 will feature four new characters and an additional stage. I’m here for the long haul and can’t wait to see how the game expands and improves over the years. We’ll see if it can become an FGC staple at tournaments, but based on its solid foundation, there’s no reason why it can’t. Make mine, Marvel!

The Asus ROG Swift OLED PG34WCDN is one of the loveliest gaming monitors I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing. Not only does it look great on a desk, but its curved OLED panel makes games feel more immersive. Though it’s pricey at $1,299, it’s a worthwhile investment that’ll enhance your gaming experiences for years to come.

Like the equally awesome Alienware AW3426DW, Asus’ monitor features an ultrawide 21:9 aspect ratio, which is great for expanding your gaming POV and letting you comfortably have more open windows on the screen. The 800R curvature isn’t too extreme but still does a nice job of enveloping you. The sharp 3440 x 1440 resolution and vivid OLED panel also keep you immersed. It can also get surprisingly bright for a gaming monitor.

Some of the monitor's unique features set it apart from competitors and deliver sharper image quality. The Penta Tandem QD OLED display with Pure RGB is a first outside Asus' own UCWM series and improves text rendering. The new Black Shield Film offers superior ambient light handling, eliminates color shift, and improves black depth perception.

Performance is smooth and responsive, thanks to the fast 360Hz refresh rate and low 0.03ms response time (respectively). Whether you’re playing fast-paced first-person shooters or enjoying a more cinematic experience, the ROG Swift OLED has you covered.

Aside from its high price compared to similar monitors, the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG34WCDN is easily one of the best gaming monitors you can buy. Find out why in my full review.

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG34WCDN review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Asus ROG Swift OLED is a curved gaming monitor.
• Who is it for? Gamers who need a monitor with a high refresh rate for fast-paced competitive gaming.
• What does it cost? Asus ROG Swift OLED (PG34WCDM) costs $1,299 on Newegg.
• What do we like? We like the sleek design, immersive curved panel, vivid image quality, and smooth performance.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like that it costs more than similar gaming monitors.

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG34WCDN review: Specs

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG34WCDN review: The ups

The Asus ROG Swift OLED impresses thanks to its eye-catching design, vibrant image quality, and blazing-fast performance.

Sleek design

You won’t mistake the ROG Swift OLED for anything other than a gaming monitor, thanks to its dark chassis, sharp angles, and standard red lighting. It’s a pretty aggressive design, but that’s what makes it so striking.

While certainly not as gargantuan as the 49-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G9, you’ll still need a relatively large table for this monitor. Its tripod-like stand is just a few inches shorter than the 30.9 x 21.6 x 11.5-inch panel. Though wide, the legs are elevated high enough to let you keep peripherals under them if you’re running out of space.

There’s a cutaway on the stand’s shaft that makes management simple. It’s also easy to raise or lower the monitor to your desired height, tilt it backward by 5 degrees or forward by 20 degrees, and swivel the screen 15 degrees left or right.

You’ll find plenty of ports on the back. This includes one DisplayPort, two HDMI ports, three USB-A ports, one USB-C port, a headphone jack, and a USB-C port. Given the monitor’s size, you’ll need to either go around it or rotate it to access the ports, as you can’t easily connect cables by feel alone.

This wouldn’t be a proper gaming monitor without RGB lighting. On the back, there’s a large ROG logo you can customize with different colors and lighting effects via the menu. My favorite lighting feature is a red ROG logo projected under the stand and onto your table. The lighting here isn’t intrusive and nicely complements the monitor’s overall aesthetic.

Vivid display

The OLED panel delivers bright, colorful images that make every game you play look its best. The contrast between dark and light elements is fantastic and enhances the already oversaturated hues. The 21:9 aspect ratio and 800R curvature also draw you in. Even if you’re not getting a 4K image, 3440 x 1440 is still very sharp.

A game like Cyberpunk 2077 shines on the Swift OLED. The neon-drenched streets and holograms come alive thanks to the monitor’s oversaturated color reproduction. On the 21:9 panel, I can see more of the surroundings than I would on a standard 16:9 display. The sharp resolution and overall brightness also ensure everything comes through clearly.

And what do our lab tests have to say? In its default User mode, the ROG Swift OLED produces oversaturated hues in both the sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts, as both are well above the 100% target. As you can see in the table above, the panel on Asus’ monitor is more colorful than the one on the Alienware AW3426DW in its standard mode.

One major win here is brightness. In dedicated HDR modes, the ROG Swift OLED reaches nearly 500 nits at 10% of the display and about 280 nits across the entire screen. Dim HDR brightness has been my chief complaint with the gaming monitors I’ve reviewed, so it’s great to see Asus (and Alienware) bucking this trend.

Speaking of dedicated display modes, you get a total of nine here. This includes standard fare like FPS, RTS, and Sports modes, each tuned for its respective gaming genre. The modes differ only slightly from one another, depending on their functions.

Blazing fast performance

The ROG Swift OLED delivers professional-grade gaming performance thanks to its 360Hz refresh rate and super-low 0.03ms response time. Compatibility with Nvidia G-Sync also helps deliver smooth gaming performance. While it doesn’t match the LG UltraGear 27GX790B-B’s insane 540Hz and 720Hz modes, you won’t complain about this monitor’s performance.

To test the ROG Swift OLED, I connected it to the Alienware 16 Area-51, a powerful gaming laptop with an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU, an Nvidia RTX 5080 GPU, and 32GB of RAM. You’ll want a sufficiently powerful rig like this to take advantage of this monitor’s stellar performance.

Cyberpunk 2077 ran smoothly thanks to the high refresh rate and low latency. I couldn’t get the frame rate anywhere near the 320Hz refresh rate, but the extra headroom meant I didn’t experience choppiness. And unless you’re a hardcore competitive gamer, you probably won’t notice much, if any, input lag—I certainly didn’t.

Clean UI

The ROG Swift OLED has a clean UI that you can easily access by clicking the OSD joystick. This is where you'll see all the display modes and make fine adjustments to brightness, RGB lighting, and other features. Everything is organized into clear sections, and it’s easy to navigate.

The OSD joystick rests behind the ROG logo at the bottom center and is easy to reach. The stick is relatively rigid but still has enough give when you move it. It also sticks out enough to not feel like a nub.

Though the menu is a bit more complex than on other gaming monitors, it doesn’t overwhelm either.

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG34WCDN review: The downs

There’s no denying that the Asus ROG Swift OLED is a fantastic gaming monitor that checks all the right boxes. That said, it has one major drawback.

Pricey

To be fair, the Asus ROG Swift OLED isn’t the most expensive gaming monitor I’ve reviewed. It’s fairly priced for what it offers. However, unless you’re a hardcore competitive gamer who needs an ultra-fast refresh rate, there are other, more affordable options.

The main example that comes to mind is the Alienware AW3426DW, which also has a 21:9 aspect ratio and a 3440 x 1440 resolution. While it has a “lower” 280Hz refresh rate and a less curved panel, you get most of the Swift OLED’s key features for just $799. Because of that, you’ll have to ask yourself whether the extra $500 for a higher refresh rate and flashier RGB lighting is worth it.

Asus ROG Swift OLED PG34WCDN review: Verdict

Gaming monitors designed for high-level competitive play usually sacrifice picture quality for faster performance. The Asus ROG Swift OLED doesn't, proving that you can have the best of both worlds. Yes, it’s designed for fast-paced online gaming, but it also delivers stunning overall picture quality.

If the $1299 asking price is too steep, then check out the $799 Alienware AW3426DW I mentioned above. But if Asus’ monitor fits your needs as a competitive gamer, then I promise you won’t be disappointed. Right now, it’s one of the finest gaming monitors you can buy.

A core reason you’d want one of the best gaming laptops is to play your favorite PC games on the go. However, your experience with AAA games won’t be great on battery power. Not only will you generally get less than two hours of gameplay, but you'll suffer severe drops in frames per second (FPS). This is why most users keep their gaming laptops plugged in during use.

But what if you’re itching to play a game and there’s no wall outlet in sight? Are you stuck playing for just a couple of hours at 30 frames per second or lower? Not necessarily, so long as you make various adjustments to the laptop and game. Though the results won't always match what you'd get when plugged in, you’ll have a smoother gaming experience.

If you want to squeeze as much performance as possible from a gaming laptop running on battery, I’ll show you how!

On battery vs plugged in

Generally, a battery provides around 40 to 90 watts of power, whereas a wall charger can provide 100 to 200+ watts. That extra power allows laptop components like the GPU and CPU to run more efficiently, delivering smoother gaming performance. However, on battery power, operating systems automatically switch to low-power or balanced profiles, which lowers frame rates and screen refresh rates.

There are also safety reasons. Drawing too much power too quickly from a battery can generate excessive heat and damage the cells. Laptops also slow the CPU and GPU on battery power to prevent overheating. When you connect a laptop to a wall outlet, your computer knows it has an endless energy supply and removes all the speed caps.

I ran Cyberpunk 2077 on the Alienware 16 (2026) on both battery power and while plugged in to show you the difference. At default graphical settings and native 2560x1600 resolution, the game ran at around 110-120 fps while I was on foot and around 90-100 fps when I drove through the city center. Unplugged, Cyberpunk 2077’s frame rate dropped to the 70s on foot and to around 55 on the highway.

To be clear, the Alienware 16 is an extremely powerful gaming laptop, which accounts for its high fps even when unplugged. Still, a 30 frames-per-second drop isn’t small and illustrates the difference between playing plugged in and unplugged.

How to get better performance on battery

I’ll now detail how to get battery gaming laptop performance while on battery. Keep in mind that the battery can’t output enough wattage for full gaming speeds, so performance will always be limited compared to when you’re plugged in. With that out of the way, let’s get into it.

On your laptop, click the battery icon on the taskbar and set the power mode to Best Performance. If your laptop has an Nvidia RTX GPU, you can disable BatteryBoost or raise the frame rate cap in the GeForce Experience app (or the Nvidia app).

Similarly, open your laptop manufacturer’s custom app (such as Asus Armoury Crate, Razer Synapse, or Lenovo Vantage) and switch the operating mode from Eco/Silent to a manual or performance profile. You can also set a custom frame limiter in the Nvidia Control Panel to limit CPU and GPU usage as needed.

To improve battery life, you can lower the refresh rate from a high rate like 144Hz to 60Hz. You can also reduce the display’s brightness to around 50% or lower and turn off RGB lighting if your laptop uses it. Unplugging unnecessary peripherals also helps improve battery life. And of course, shut down any apps you’re not currently using.

On the game side, you can do things like lower the game’s resolution, shadow quality, and graphical settings to reduce the workload on your laptop. Similarly, you can cap your maximum FPS in the game settings to keep stable performance.

Bottom line

I will always advise folks to keep their gaming laptops plugged in while playing for the best possible performance. However, if there’s nowhere to connect, the tips above should help you get better performance on battery life. It’s not as optimal as when you’re plugged in, but you’ll have a smoother overall experience.

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As a computing writer for Tom’s Guide, part of my job is helping readers save money on PCs and components. That has become much harder thanks to RAMageddon, which has driven up the cost of memory and, by extension, most electronics. PC gaming has been hit especially hard. It was already a relatively expensive hobby, and price increases have made the barrier to entry even higher.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get into PC gaming in 2026. You’ll almost certainly pay more for machines and components than you would have a year ago. But if you know what to look for (and what to avoid), you can still find a capable setup that fits your needs and lasts for years.

In this guide, I’ll walk through the three main ways people start PC gaming right now: a gaming handheld, a pre-built desktop, and building your own PC. I’ll break down the pros and cons of each, then explain which path makes the most sense depending on your budget, space, and priorities.

Gaming handhelds

The price of the best handheld gaming consoles has climbed sharply this year. Where the Steam Deck OLED once topped out at $649, the 512GB model now starts at $789. Other notable handhelds have seen similar increases, though entry-level options like the Asus ROG Xbox Ally (around $600) remain relatively more accessible than the higher-end Legion Go 2.

Even with the higher prices, gaming handhelds are still one of the strongest low-friction ways to start PC gaming right now — especially while discrete GPUs, RAM, and other components stay expensive. These self-contained systems run the best PC games from Steam (and other libraries), either on SteamOS or Windows.

The advantages are clear. Portability means you can play almost anywhere. Setup is relatively simple, particularly on SteamOS devices, where you can get into games with less tinkering than a full Windows 11 machine. Most models also support docking to a TV or monitor, which often improves performance once the handheld is powered and no longer thermally limited. While they’re no longer the bargains they once were, several capable options still sit under $1,000.

They do come with real trade-offs, though. The biggest is the performance ceiling: most current AAA titles run at 720p–1080p on low-to-medium settings, typically in the 30–60 fps range. Battery life often drops to one or two hours during demanding games (longer on lighter titles), and Windows handhelds can introduce additional UI friction and software overhead. Storage also fills up quickly on 512GB models.

Despite those compromises, the combination of portability, access to a PC library, and a relatively contained total cost still makes handhelds a solid option for many newcomers—especially anyone who wants to start playing without committing to a full desktop setup.

Pre-built gaming PCs

If you’d rather own one of the best gaming PCs but don’t want to build one from scratch, a pre-built PC is your best bet. Some gamers still look down on them, but after reviewing dozens of these machines, I can tell you this route is often a smart choice right now. Because manufacturers buy components in bulk, pre-builts can match or even beat the cost of a comparable DIY build in the current market.

The advantages are straightforward. There’s virtually no assembly required, and you only have to deal with one company if something goes wrong. You also get professional cable management and properly seated components out of the box. Thanks to that bulk purchasing power, solid 1080p systems with an RTX 5060-class GPU and 32GB of RAM currently sit in the $1,000–$1,200 range and often deliver stronger immediate value than piecing the same parts together yourself.

As Techsponential’s Avi Greengart told me via email, in this environment “buying pre-built is usually less expensive than building your own.” Looking for systems with last-generation CPUs that were priced before the worst of RAMageddon can stretch the budget even further.

There are real trade-offs, though. You won’t always get to choose every part, which can leave you with a louder cooler or a lower-tier power supply. Some cases use proprietary front panels, offer limited GPU clearance, or have tight PSU spacing that restricts future upgrades. And even when the overall price is competitive, you’re still paying something for the convenience.

If you go this route, prioritize GPU performance and RAM capacity (32GB is pretty valuable right now) over chasing a particular CPU brand. Read recent reviews of the specific model you’re considering (including ours!) to get a real sense of thermals, noise, and build quality. Stick with more established names such as Lenovo, iBuyPower, ABS, or CyberPower when possible. Factor in the full cost of a monitor, keyboard, and mouse if you don’t already own them, and move quickly when you find a good configuration — popular models can sell out fast.

Pre-builts shine when you value convenience, want a working system quickly, or feel intimidated by the current component market. They’re a legitimate entry point into PC gaming during RAMageddon, even if they offer less long-term flexibility and control than building your own system.

Custom-built PCs

Even with elevated component prices, building your own PC remains the strongest long-term option for many people getting into PC gaming. The current memory shortage has made it less of an automatic money-saver than it was a couple of years ago, but the advantages in quality, knowledge, and future flexibility still hold for those willing to put in the work.

The biggest advantage is full control over every part. You choose the exact GPU, cooler, power supply, and case you want. And when the time comes to upgrade, you can swap individual components instead of replacing the whole system. Building also teaches you how everything fits together, which makes future upgrades and troubleshooting much easier. You can optimize the machine for your specific needs — whether that’s a quiet system, maximum airflow, or a particular mix of CPU, GPU, and RAM suited to the games you actually play.

Securing solid last-generation components (especially AM4 and DDR4) or taking advantage of motherboard/CPU/memory bundles from places like Micro Center can still deliver meaningful savings, particularly on RAM.

Of course, the DIY route requires more research, compatibility checks, assembly, and initial troubleshooting. Pricing remains a hurdle. A decent 32GB DDR5 kit can cost $350–$470, and GPUs and SSDs are similarly priced. You’ll also face multiple individual warranties instead of a single system-wide warranty, plus the small but real risk of assembly mistakes or dead-on-arrival parts. And unless you already own them, you’ll still need to buy a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and other peripherals.

Building your own PC is still the path that delivers the most ownership, flexibility, and long-term satisfaction. It demands more effort and research than a pre-built or handheld, especially with today’s component pricing. However, the reward is a system that better matches what you actually want and can grow with you for years.

Bottom line

So which of these three paths is the best way to get into PC gaming in 2026? It depends on your needs.

If you just want to start playing games with as little hassle as possible, a solid pre-built is a smart move. If space is tight or you’re not yet sure how deep you want to go into PC gaming, a handheld is a strong starting point. And if you care about control, upgradeability, or simply enjoying the process of putting a machine together, building your own PC is still a fantastic option.

You’re almost certainly going to spend more than you would have a year ago. But with a clearer sense of the trade-offs, you can make a smarter choice and still get into PC gaming without overspending or ending up with a setup that doesn’t fit your lifestyle.

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Today (7/22), Xbox introduced a new early release program it's calling Xbox Compatibility on PC. It's an interesting move as rival Sony faces an ongoing backlash for ditching discs.

In the announcement post, Xbox said that the program will let you play classic Xbox games on either your PC or gaming handheld consoles like the ROG Xbox Ally X.

"We don’t want to leave our gaming legacy behind even as technology continues to evolve and advance. We expect our library of games to move forward with us and to be able to play them in entirely new ways."

The program is starting with four original Xbox games coming to PC for the first time. Xbox says that new features are also being added, like customizable graphic settings, up to 4x resolution upscaling, VSync support, Fullscreen and Windowed display modes, and anti-aliasing.

Here are the four starting games:

• BLiNX: The Time Sweeper 
• Conker: Live and Reloaded 
• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge 
• Fuzion Frenzy

Each game costs $9.99, though at the time of writing, Fuzion Frenzy is on sale for $7.50. They're available for purchase now and are included in all Xbox Game Pass plans.

Of the four, I'd personally recommend Fuzion Frenzy or Crimson Skies. If you're unfamiliar, Crimson Skies is an arcade flier while Fuzion Frenzy is a more sci-fi Mario Party from the original Xbox.

If you already have licenses for these games, they'll carry over to your PC or handheld console.

Here are the minimum requirements to run these games per Xbox:

• GPU: Nvidia GTX 950 or AMD Radeon RX 550 or Intel UHD 770 or Intel Arc A310
• CPU: Min 4 cores: Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200 or AMD Ryzen Z2 A Processor
• RAM: 8GB
• OS: Windows 11
• Drivers and versions: Latest version as of January 2026

Xbox is starting with those four titles, but it's not clear when any more games will be added. Achievements will arrive in the coming months.

But these four are a decent start.

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To say that people weren’t impressed when Nvidia DLSS 5 was announced would be an understatement. Gamers and critics alike expressed concerns over heavy-handed “beauty filters” smoothing out character faces and AI overwriting developer art direction. The initial requirement of a second GPU for rendering also didn’t go over well.

At SIGGRAPH, Nvidia held a follow-up keynote that was practically built to address the concerns folks have with DLSS 5. Instead of focusing on how photo-realistic DLSS 5 could make graphics appear, the keynote centered around the amount of control artists will have over the technology.

Here’s a breakdown of what Nvidia discussed at SIGGRAPH and how DLSS 5 might not be as bad as we feared.

Granular control

As you might recall, the biggest complaint with DLSS 5 is how the graphics appeared to have an Instagram/TikTok filter slapped over them. A less charitable description would be an “AI slop” filter. Nvidia addressed this concern directly, saying that game artists would have full control over a game’s graphics.

Developers won’t be forced into all-or-nothing with AI. They’ll be able to mask out individual characters, faces, props, or background elements so DLSS 5 either ignores them or processes them with tailored settings. Structural and Tone Intensity sliders will give devs fine control over how things appear. There will also be three distinct AI models for developers to assign.

No AI overwrites

Another concern is that the AI would hallucinate on low-poly geometry or rewrite hand-crafted visuals. DLSS 5 isn’t generating a game scene from scratch but relies strictly on internal game engine buffers to preserve the artist’s original intent.

Nvidia emphasized that traditional rasterization and ray tracing still build the entire frame first, defining geometry, lighting anchors, motion vectors, and surface normals. Nvidia framed DLSS 5 as a third category of AI rendering alongside upscaling reconstruction and frame generation. The engine creates the world while the model enriches complex lighting elements.

Latency

Generative video models usually process frames in batches, which can introduce input lag. That’s obviously a non-starter for fast-paced games like CSGO 2.

Nvidia says that DLSS 5 processes the current frame using the game’s engine’s native motion vectors without looking ahead to future frames. By avoiding multi-frame batch processing, Nvidia’s goal is to eliminate both generative latency and temporal shimmering artifacts.

One GPU needed, not two

When Nvidia first demoed DLSS 5, the computational overhead was so heavy that it reportedly required dual high-end GPUs just to run smoothly. Naturally, this isn’t feasible for most players, but Nvidia says you’ll be able to run DLSS 5 on a single GPU.

To that end, Nvidia revealed that they have distilled the massive generative model into a much smaller, single-step diffusion model. The updated implementation has been engineered to run on a single RTX GPU with efficient VRAM allocation instead of requiring multi-GPU rigs that only hardcore users own.

Outlook

I’ve championed Nvidia DLSS for years, but I was one of the folks who wasn’t enamored with that initial DLSS 5 reveal. Now, after SIGGRAPH, I'm less worried about this fall's upcoming update.

We’ll have to wait to see how the final version functions, but I’m glad that Nvidia has addressed all the major concerns. If we can get richer game graphics without the infamous AI look, then we’ll all be winners.

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PlayStation is officially killing physical discs, and gamers aren’t happy. The company’s social media accounts can’t post anything without being slammed with negative comments, and even websites and influencers who are usually fans of PlayStation are taking them to task. Sony has yet to respond to any of this, which is likely making the situation worse. In short, this whole no-disc situation is a mess.

Sony says that digital now accounts for the vast majority of PlayStation game sales — hitting 85% in the most recent quarter — and it also nets a greater profit from digital purchases than physical, so it’s unlikely the company will reverse this controversial decision. However, if Sony wants to start (re)building trust with its fanbase, there are ways to make an all-digital future more palatable, namely by copying some of what has made Steam successful.

Steam has been a rousing success on PC for many years. Though Valve doesn’t offer physical games, it provides users with plenty of incentives to remain satisfied with their digital purchases and with the platform overall. I don’t expect Sony to completely copy Steam, but it can adopt similar policies if it ends disc production in January 2028.

Here are five practical, realistic adaptations Sony can take to make PSN more player-friendly.

More frequent (and enticing) sales

While PC gaming has higher upfront costs than consoles, it has become more affordable over time thanks to frequent Steam sales. Steam keeps its online store thriving with major seasonal sales and near-constant publisher promotions. Games also drop in price faster and more aggressively. This is why Steam users (like me) end up with libraries of hundreds of games. It’s hard to pass up a title when it’s just a few bucks!

The PlayStation Store has its own sales events, such as Days of Play, Black Friday, and other holiday sales, along with weekly deals. However, full-price windows for new games are longer, and we usually only see extreme deep discounts when a game is all but forgotten. I’ve taken advantage of PSN sales and snatched some good titles, but the sales and discounts still don’t match those of Steam.

In an all-digital world, Sony would have complete control over pricing. Using Steam-style volume-driven discounting on the back catalog (and even earlier on mid-tier titles) would encourage more impulse and library-building purchases, rather than people either waiting for huge discounts or skipping entirely.

A true “try before you fully commit” refund policy

Right now, Steam arguably has the best refund policy in gaming. So long as you play a game for less than two hours total, you have 14 days to receive a full refund. This is a fantastic way to avoid purchasing a game that doesn’t click for you. While not technically a game demo, it pretty much serves the same “try before you buy” ethos.

PlayStation also has a 14-day refund policy, but it only applies if you haven’t downloaded a game. Once you start downloading, you no longer qualify for a refund unless the file is corrupt or you make a strong case to customer support that you purchased a game in error. This is frustrating enough now, but it will feel even worse if you can’t refund a digital title priced at $70–$80.

A playtime-based refund window, similar to Steam’s, would go a long way toward increasing purchase confidence without requiring Sony to change its curated store model. It’s actually wild that Sony doesn’t already have a similar policy, but the company should try it now if it plans to go all-in on an all-digital console.

Stronger household/family sharing

Sharing games is one of the main reasons gamers love physical media. While sharing digital content isn’t the same as handing a copy to someone else, Steam has a digital sharing policy that could work well for Sony.

On Steam, up to six family members can share a unified game library. Multiple members can play different games at the same time (you need multiple owned copies of the same game for concurrent play).

PlayStation has sharing features, but they’re more limited.

Console Sharing lets you log in to your account on a friend’s PS5 so they can play your games. Share Play lets you share your screen with a friend online and virtually hand them your controller. Though both of these methods work as advertised, a person cannot simply play games from another account on their own console in a straightforward way.

Expanding sharing options on PlayStation so a household can more easily share a digital library (with reasonable restrictions against abuse) wouldn’t be as seamless as lending someone a physical game, but it would at least offer gamers something comparable.

Better discovery tools

Steam does a fantastic job with its wishlists, price-drop notifications, “players also like,” and other recommendations driven by player data. PlayStation has its own versions of these, but they could be updated to be more useful.

The store’s recent lowest-price-in-30-days indicator is a good step, but Sony can go further with smarter recommendations, clearer sale calendars, and stronger wishlist alerts. That last one really needs work — I feel like wishlist alerts are random at best, if I get them at all.

Improving discovery is an easy way to help players find and buy more games within Sony’s closed ecosystem. If you want people to buy digital games, you need to make it easier for them to find games they would actually like.

Clearer long-term library guarantees and library management

One of the biggest reasons Sony is facing so much heat right now is the lack of clear guarantees about long-term access to the games players buy. Without physical discs, players worry more about access, storage, and account longevity. This is something that Stop Killing Games founder Ross Scott detailed when we interviewed him about Sony's decision to stop manufacturing discs.

Sony can learn from Steam’s emphasis on transparent licensing, robust cloud saves, and better tools for managing large digital libraries. Explicit, public commitments to offline play and long-term download availability would go a long way toward easing the anxiety surrounding digital-only ownership.

This is arguably the most important issue Sony has to address. People (rightly) want some form of ownership of the games they buy, especially when those games are digital. I’m not saying this will please everyone — some folks are certainly ride-or-die physical gamers — but clearer guarantees would ease much of the current anxiety.

Bottom line

I want to be clear that I am not dunking on Sony or PlayStation. The PS5 Pro is my primary gaming platform, after all. But as a PlayStation gamer since the early 2000s (thanks to the Gran Turismo 3 PS2 bundle!), I want to see the company do right by loyal customers like me.

PSN is not inherently broken. Sony already runs a polished, high-production store. However, things need to change when discs disappear. Adopting some of Steam’s more player-friendly policies would not only benefit gamers but also Sony, which would benefit from a more committed user base.

Sony will ultimately do what it believes is in its best interest. That said, prioritizing what customers want, genuinely listening, and addressing concerns would go a long way. Hopefully, Sony does right by its user base and makes an all-digital future on its consoles as acceptable as it is on Steam.

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I haven’t used a Razer gaming keyboard for a while, so testing the new Razer Huntsman V3 TKL 8KHz feels like reuniting with an old friend. Since the company uses proprietary switches, its keyboards feel different from competitors that use third-party parts. This remains true for the Huntsman V3.

This more affordable variant of last year’s Huntsman V3 Pro TKL 8KHz packs several competitive gaming-focused features, such as super-fast 8KHz polling and adjustable actuation points. While the keyboard is relatively thin, its aluminum build makes it sturdy and safe to travel with. And while it’s a gaming keyboard at its core, it’s also great for typing.

If you’re a competitive gamer who needs a keyboard that can keep up with you and won’t break the bank, the Razer Huntsman V3 Tenkeyless 8KHz is one of the best gaming keyboards that's worth checking out. Here’s why.

What's this Razer Huntsman V3 all about?

The Razer Huntsman V3 TKL 8KHz is a competitive gaming keyboard built for fast-paced first-person shooters and other genres that demand quick reflexes. It utilizes the company’s proprietary analog optical switches, 8K “HyperPolling,” adjustable actuation, and a slew of RGB customization options.

Magnetic switches have been all the rage in recent years, but Razer has remained true to its optical switches. Both switch types provide faster response times than traditional mechanical switches, which is why competitive gamers tend to gravitate toward them. I won’t debate whether optical or magnetic switches are better for gaming, but I will say Razer’s optical switches are insanely responsive.

Like with magnetic switches, you can set multiple actuation points on a single key—two actuation points in this case. For example, you can have an actuation point of 2.0 mm on the W key to walk and 4.0 to run. Here, you can set actuation points between 0.1 mm and 4.0, which is standard for both magnetic and optical keyboards.

Then there’s the 8K polling (the speed at which the keyboard sends signals to your computer), which Razer says is faster than other keyboards claiming such a high polling rate. According to the company, most keyboards with 8K polling have a 1.6ms response time, but the Huntsman V3 has a faster 0.48ms response time.

So, how does all of that translate to real-world use? Though I’m nowhere near a competitive gamer, even I could feel the overall smoothness and fast response when playing a first-person shooter like Doom: The Dark Ages. I especially like setting a faster actuation point for shooting since I could lightly brush the key instead of pressing it down all the way. And in case you’re wondering, you can set the actuation points right on the keyboard, though I still preferred doing so via the Razer Synapse app on PC.

The experience

While I’m not the target customer for a competitive gaming keyboard, I enjoy using them because of their fast response time and smooth keystrokes—which the Razer Huntsman V3 has in spades. While the blazing performance and high customization are fantastic, there’s more to this keyboard than those selling points.

The elevated keys, with their PBT-coated keycaps, are a joy to type on. One thing I especially appreciate as someone with a heavy touch is how the keys have more resistance the further you press them. The tenkeyless layout is also ideal for me since I don’t need a numberpad, making the board unnecessarily larger.

The thocky sound the keys produce also makes using the keyboard more enjoyable. Sure, the sound isn’t as deep as you’d find on mechanical keyboards, but it’s still good. While not a clicky board, it’s definitely noisy, so you might not want to use it in an office or anywhere that could annoy others (though I used it in the office anyway!).

The aluminum frame not only helps give the keyboard a richer sound, but also makes it sturdy and durable. That’s important if you need to travel with the Huntsman V3. The brushed aluminum is a nice touch that gives the keyboard a more premium look without being overbearing. And while this is a gaming keyboard, it doesn’t look like one thanks to its overall subdued design.

Of course, if you want more of a gamer aesthetic, there is no shortage of RGB options to toy around with. I’m somewhat neutral on RGB lighting, but I like that folks can customize the lighting to their exact preference. This is Razer, so the company isn’t skimping on that front.

Lastly, this isn't a wireless keyboard, so you'll need to use a USB-A port on your PC. That said, the braided cable is detachable, which is good if you need to take the keyboard on the road.

Outlook

The Razer Huntsman V3 Tenkeyless 8K is an excellent gaming keyboard thanks to its robust, competitive gamer-focused features. Outside of gaming, it also delivers a nice typing experience thanks to its durable build and responsive keys. It’s a bit pricey at $169, but for what it offers, you’re definitely getting your money’s worth.

Again, I'm a fan of Razer keyboards, and this one has everything I've come to expect from the company's peripherals. While the Pro versions of this keyboard might have more features, I like the simplicity of this board, as it still delivers excellent performance. At $169, it's worth considering.

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