The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro can be considered one of the best PC controllers whether you’ve got a dedicated gaming PC, gaming laptop, or an Asus ROG Ally, and makes a strong impression with its stellar visual design. However, despite being designed for Xbox, with systems such as the Xbox Series X|S in mind, the limited wireless functionality holds it back from being considered one of the best Xbox controllers, especially for its price point. 

It comes down to the fact that the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro cannot be used wirelessly on Xbox consoles, as you’re restricted to being plugged in via USB-C. With both an included wireless 2.4GHz dongle and Bluetooth inside, it’s a shame it’s not a catch-all for both platforms. Outside of this, with its OLED screen and RGB lighting, you’re getting a gamepad like no other, but paying a premium for the extra prettiness. 

Price and availability

The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro is available in the US, the UK, and Australia for $169.99 / £149.99 / AU$269 which positions it as one of the more expensive Xbox and PC controllers on the market. For a point of comparison, that’s a comparable sticker price to the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 ($179.99 / £159.99 / AU$249.95) for a similar level of functionality. It should be known that the Asus ROG Raikiri is also available for $99 / £102.99 / AU$169. This version drops the ‘Pro’ moniker, is a wired variant, and lacks the OLED screen. 

Design and features

The Asus ROG Raikri Pro shares a lot of the same DNA as the standard Xbox Wireless controller in terms of its ergonomic shape and design with a few hallmarks of the angular Republic of Gamers theming. This manifests most notably in the form of a monochrome OLED display which can be customized with wallpapers and gifs - which is a nice touch. It’s essentially a modern version of the Dreamcast controller’s VMU and adds something completely different that no other modern controller has, even if it is largely superficial and non-functional. However, it does look good in combination with the RGB light strips on the front. 

On the more practical side of things, the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro is a controller aimed at competitive play which means you’ve got trigger stops and rear paddles. The functionality is closer to the Nacon Pro Revolution X than Microsoft’s official second-generation pro pad, and that’s due to the fact that software can be used to further tweak the sensitivity of sticks and remap more granularly. There’s also built-in ESS DAC technology which reduces noise and distortion and acts as a booster for some of the best wired gaming headsets when one is connected. 

There’s also a 2.4 GHz wireless dongle and Bluetooth for wireless play, however, this functionality is exclusively limited to PC gaming or for use with the Asus ROG Ally  - not the Xbox Series X or Series S. Despite having the ‘Designed for Xbox’ badge and labeling, this controller does not feature the ability to be used wirelessly on any of Microsoft’s consoles. That means you’re essentially paying $50 / £50 / AU$100 extra for lighting and the OLED screen while remaining tethered by the  3m / 10ft cable, which makes this one truly expensive option. 

Performance

In my testing with the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro, primarily on PC, I found that the controller worked well wirelessly with the 2.4 GHz dongle and also when plugged in via the USB-C lead. The buttons, triggers, and bumpers all feel responsive enough, however, with the all-matte membrane construction, this gamepad ultimately feels like a marginal step up from the standard Xbox wireless controller instead of a sweeping improvement matching the premium price of a controller that costs 40% more. 

In contrast, the hairline triggers themselves and the rear paddles feel solid and satisfying, which are easy to map and use without too much tweaking. In my testing, I found that the battery lasted around 35 hours with the lighting and the screen disabled, but you’re looking more at 10-15 hours’ use when going all out. 

I found the trigger stops on the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro to be some of the best that I’ve experienced, feeling similar to the Victrix BFG Pro, and making for satisfying feedback when more precision was needed. If you prefer playing some of the best FPS games armed with a gamepad then the reduced pull distance really helps. What surprised me the most was how the ESS DAC built into the 3.5mm jack elevated the SteelSeries Nova 1X’s sound quality significantly when compared to being plugged into the front I/O on my machine. 

While the OLED display looks cool, it ultimately doesn’t add to the user experience in any meaningful way. There’s no way to utilize the panel in games or sync up with what you’re doing. Instead, it’s there along with the lighting to look cool, but it’s more of a gimmick than a major selling point when all is said and done.

Ultimately, the Asus ROG Raikiri is a good performer, but it doesn’t offer enough functionality for its high price point to be the essential gamepad for either PC or Xbox consoles outside of its looks. 

Should I buy the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro?

Buy it if…  

You want a PC controller with a good battery life

The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro has a lengthy battery life with its 2.4 GHz wireless and Bluetooth functionality when playing on PC.

You want a unique-looking gamepad

The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro looks stunning with its screen, aggressive angular design, and bright RGB lighting for a controller that really stands out from the crowd. 

Don’t buy it if… 

You want to play wirelessly on Xbox consoles 

Despite being officially licensed for Xbox systems, the Asus ROG Raikiri Pro can only be used with a wired USB-C connection on the Xbox Series X|S. 

You’re looking for top-tier value for money

The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro is one of the most expensive Xbox and PC controllers on the market, and you’ll be better served by the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 for the same price. 

The Asus ROG Raikiri Pro will pair nicely with one of the best gaming monitors or one of the best monitors for Xbox Series X. 

Immortals of Aveum is a fascinating first-person shooter that doesn’t quite live up to its ambitions. A curiosity that isn’t quite interesting enough to justify itself, despite a compelling world brought to life with some vibrant design and a cracking soundtrack.

The concept is simple: your character - Jak, which makes me wonder if his parents misspelt my name or were fans of now-obscure PlayStation platforming mascots -  is a semi-magical street urchin in a world where people are having big magic fights in a never-ending war. After tragedy strikes, Jak gets picked up by General Kirkan - played by an excellent Gina Torres - and trained to become a magic commando. 

Hours of blasting identikit enemies with different weapons pretending to be spells follows, and if this hasn’t sold you, you’ve clearly never played one of the wealth of PC FPS games that were floating around between the early 00s to around 2015. Aveum’s concept is genre gold, and the team at developer Ascendant Studios have done a fantastic job of delivering the visuals and sound to bring this magical world to life. Unfortunately, Aveum is fun, but seems absolutely determined to get in its own way.  

Immortal combat

When Aveum hits the turbos, the game absolutely shines. Weapons are pinpoint accurate, even when you’re on the move, so you’ll do a lot of circle strafing and leaping around the arena with a magic-infused double (or even triple) jump. This fluid combat is the best part of the entire game, but it’s sadly too often bogged down with the lore dumps that’ll place you at the business end of a dull walk and talk, with cutscenes that look good but often serve little purpose outside of killing the vibe. 

I’m not the biggest fan of microtransactions, but would happily pay money to be able to skip through some of the cutscenes here. I still read the speech via the subtitles, but often just want to carry my adrenaline high from one big fight to the next, and it’s hard to do that when I keep being forced to slow down and ingest the story. 

While the writing is enough to drive me to distraction, it’s a hell of a world to be distracted by. Some of the Aveum’s vistas are absolutely beautiful and can rank among some of the finest views in video games. The world-design is top notch, and the little incidental details like an early statue trapped in a magical pool of water are just impressive. Later, twisted geometry makes for memorable platforming segments as you hurl yourself through floating chunks of rock. 

This is carried across to your arsenal, too. You’re still taking enemies out with a rifle or a shotgun, but in Aveum they’re instead magical. This means the team at Ascendant can have a more than alittle fun with the designs. Magic in the game is colour-coded into a few different magical schools, red for chaos magic, blue for force magic and green for light magic. Each of your three weapons will be one of these. Your arsenal can also be modified somewhat: an up-close shotgun blast can be altered into something akin to Halo’s Spartan Laser, damaging and pushing back everyone in front of you.

The magic hits people in different ways, too. Force magic hits your enemies with sheer concussive power, ragdolling them like so many modern shooters. Life magic isn’t as impressive, hitting your enemies with less of an impact. The most visually impressive though is the chaos magic, which disintegrates enemies on death leaving behind nothing but tattered pieces of clothes and some charred ground.

Magic, man

Aveum has a lot in the way of cool tricks:  a shield you can bring up with a press of the tab key, a third jump that lets you float through the air and even a little jump that will let you blink in a direction to dodge attacks. It has the potential to make some incredibly fun combat encounters, but there’s a problem. 

The problem is that combat is Immortals of Aveum just isn’t particularly interesting. Early fights often involve lazily strafing while firing off a fast-repeating single shot weapon until your opponent dies. This strategy is good at almost any range and, if you can land shots on enemy weakspots, there’s no need to ever change your weapons. While I often did swap out weapons mid fight, it was often just out of boredom, there’s very little reason to mix things up here. 

Like magic, enemies also most often come in three varieties: smaller melee enemies, ranged enemies and large, slower melee enemies. You can kite all three with the mobility provided by the game, fluidly running rings around all but the most tricky adversaries. 

Paired with Aveum’s uninspiring talent system, which does offer a few interesting modifications to the way your skills are used, it’s often more efficient to just put all of your points into a single weapon to max out its damage and then use that constantly.

There’s probably a question here about whether prioritising efficiency over fun is a worthwhile use of time, but often if a game makes it easy for me to dominate with my skill choices, I’m going to do just that. It’s easier than changing weapons too. There’s no way to quickly bounce between weapons as several special moves are mapped to the number keys so if, like me, you’re a PC FPS fan and you regularly mash the number keys to switch weapons, you’ll find yourself burning resources of magic spells instead.

Regardless of this scathing criticism, there’s a lot of charm to Immortals of Aveum. I largely enjoyed this fascinating magical setting and the fluid movement. There’s a degree of underdog charm here, too, and it’s hard not to root for the game. I hope the team at Ascendant get to do more with the idea, because there’s a sense that, if they could take another run at it and iron out the issues, this could have been just the thing to scratch the itch for players desperate for an action-packed FPS. For me though, it didn't quite hit the mark.  

Accessibility

Immortals of Aveum has three different colorblind modes (Deuteranopia, Protanopia, Tritanopia) and on/off toggles for camera shake, camera bob and controller vibrations. This is a solid foundation and not one a lot of games manage to hit. 

Elsewhere, there are cinematic subtitles, conversation subtitles and gameplay subtitles too. You can change the size of these, but the standard size (12) was fine for me, someone who struggles to pick human voices out of sound at the best of times.  

How we reviewed

I played Immortals of Aveum for 15 hours and made my way through most of the story. I didn’t solve several optional puzzles and felt like there was plenty of scope for me to go back and eke out collectibles. I played on the PC version of the game with a mouse and keyboard (because it’s a first-person shooter and I’m not a savage). 

During my time with the game, I tried several optional challenges and spent a little bit of time searching for collectibles. The challenge here seems to oscillate between very simple puzzles and some surprisingly tricky time challenges that will require plenty of smarts to pull off. 

The best FPS games promise a high-risk, high-reward dose of action, so our list is worth checking out if you're looking for the next title to jump into. The best co-op games are also worth looking at should you want to share the experience with a companion. 

Fans of Greek mythology, musicals, and narrative games rejoice as Summerfall Studios' Stray Gods is here to smash those three things together in style, delivering an inventive and refreshing roleplaying experience.

In Stray Gods, you assume the role of Grace, a troubled singer who is unwillingly gifted the theatrical powers of the last Grecian Muse, Calliope. Subsequently, Grace is enveloped in a murder mystery surrounding Calliope’s unusual death, and has seven days to explore a city and sing her way towards freedom, using her newfound power to compel deities to duet and speak their truth.

From the first call-and-response vocal performance of Stray Gods, I was enthralled with its poetic lyricism. An enchanting opening duet features an elegant refrain that shines in its simplicity while carefully setting up the plot. It’s the perfect amuse-bouche to the games’ choose-your-own-adventure musical playstyle. 

Pick your poison

Similar to Telltale and Bioware games, you’ll have access to a preordained set of dialogue choices which you can choose to progress conversations, with all interactions available via clicking on-screen prompts. Summerfall Studios twists this approach in a smart way by forcing you to pick a specific trait for Grace early in the tale (Charming, Kick-ass or Clever), which defines the response paths you’ll have access to as you flirt your way through the pantheon to clear your name. Cruelly, you’ll still be able to see the other options even if you can’t interact with them, which taunts you into a second playthrough. 

Picking Charming gave me agency in an otherwise predestined dialogue tree, and I enjoyed how Grace’s thoughtful touches impacted her relationships. It was often easy to forget the urgency of looking for clues and instead immerse myself in the lives of the ‘Idols’ with my choices, which felt like Stray Gods enabling my particular approach to its narrative, and my idea of who Grace could be. 

Grace is voiced by VA veteran Laura Bailey (Abby, The Last of Us Part II), who flexes her musical muscles here, delivering showstopping vocals, from raps to rock ballads, across the entire saga. She is not alone, though, as the game’s cast is a rogue’s gallery of talent, from Troy Baker’s Apollo to Rahul Kohli’s Minotaur, and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn’s feisty take on Persephone. The star-studded cast breathe life into the wide world of Stray Gods, making it easy to get lost in its mysteries, prophecies and atmosphere. One of the game’s undeniable highlights is its casual portrayal of queerness, too. From pride flag set dressing to an open approach to romantic options, Stray Gods succeeds in creating complicated characters that aren’t defined by their preferences - it’s just who they are.

Another one of my favourite things about Stray Gods is how Summerfall Studios chose to keep the vibrato and natural shakiness in the audio provided by its performers, which brings refreshing honesty and heightened emotion to its soundtrack, selling the game as a true theatrical experience. In my first playthrough, there were a handful of gut-punching moments that garnered some tears and, on one occasion, a genuine gasp. Across these scenes, I thought back to every decision I’d made as Grace, and whether I’d chosen correctly, turned a wrong corner, or worse even, trusted the wrong person. There was a humanity in it all that felt very convincing and immersive. The writing has an earnest realism to it beyond the mythological set dressing, which summons palpable gravitas. 

However, in my second attempt at Stray Gods’ campaign, my previously-tailored experience lost some shine as it became clear my choices didn’t hold as much importance as I’d anticipated, and were orbiting some key narrative beats, which shattered some of the carefully-crafted illusions of choice. It’s a backhanded compliment, and that’s not to say everything is the same each run, as there are alternative story branches for you to follow. If you’re keen on certain characters, you can uncover more about each NPC’s history in your revisits, whether it be mythological or mortal in origin. But ultimately, your first run will always answer most of your big questions about the narrative at large.

Carve your own path

When revisiting Stray Gods’ most powerful sonic anthems after the credits had rolled, it was nice to see how players could potentially make different choices and encounter unexpected musical genres and themes. Most impressive is how Stray Gods’ composers manage to create cohesive songs that felt seamless even as you flit between genres with every individual choice. It would have been great to see a Karaoke mode in the post-game so players could access the fantastic music without all the effort, though. Fingers crossed that feature may come in the future; for now, the soundtrack will have to do.

A hand-drawn art style frames the world, fusing modern amenities with Grecian history to create a striking graphic novel aesthetic. The environments you explore feature tasteful 3D elements on a 2D backdrop and vice versa, providing a dynamic feel as the camera’s focus shifts. Because many of the scenes are mostly static, the unique colour palettes and mixed-medium approach brings much-needed life to areas that could have felt flat otherwise. 

This distinct visual style shines best in the character designs, though, which, aside from being great to look at, display some of the coolest fits I’ve seen in a video game, with cute nods to each idol's mythology included in their dress sense - Persephone’s maroon suit is complemented by a luminous teal accent on her silken coat, evoking the blue flames of the underworld.

Stray Gods delivers an emotional narrative adventure full of twists and turns that puts the power of lyrical poetry and clever composition into the hands of its players. Even though going back to collect every song became somewhat repetitive, there was a reason I was doing it. The team at Summerfall Studios took care to craft this mythological murder mystery, and I relished in unravelling it.

Accessibility features 

Before you begin the campaign in Stray Gods, you’ll be presented with a content warning for alcohol use, violence, PTSD, death and themes of suicide. In the options menu accessible from the pause screen, Stray Gods also provides a solid range of accessibility tools, including re-bindable inputs, subtitles and subtitle sizing options, as well as audio description. You can also decide whether you would like to play with or without timed choices, and you can control the volume of specific parts of the audio mix across environmental SFX, score and character voices. 

How we reviewed 

After completing one full playthrough of Stray Gods, I started a new game and continued through the narrative while intentionally making different choices. In each of my subsequent experimental playthroughs, I chose a different core stat for Grace, which unlocked unique conversational threads. In this process, I unlocked almost all of the game’s songs and experienced (what I believe to be) most of its plotlines and options for romance. 

We've got a list of the best RPGs if you're on the hunt for another adventure to sink into, alongside a list of the best single-player games if you're looking for a solo experience. 

The traversal in Atlas Fallen is one of the best in years. Skimming and gliding across its vast sandy landscapes with supreme elegance, ease, and smoothness is a mastery that’s a joy to control, while airborne dashes and double-jumps make crossing chasms and cliffs a breeze. However, while getting around is undoubtedly the highlight, the rest of the game fails to offer a similar high, with wooden characters, a disappointing narrative, and complicated combat letting it down.

Atlas Fallen is also a ‘Soulslite’. Souls-ish staples like respawning enemies, a rechargeable Estus flask-style healing idol, Bonfire-alikes to save or upgrade your gear, and challenging (but not brutal) encounters, will make it feel like a Soulslike, but in reality, it’s more than that. However, at its core, this is much more of an action-adventure game and when you look at all its parts holistically, certainly doesn’t feel like the genre it’s aping in play. It is, however, a fun entry into the RPG and open-world fantasy libraries despite its lack of polish in places. 

Sandscapes and sand surfing

Taking place in a fantasy world that’s unbelievably sandy, Atlas Fallen opens by going through some typical tutorial motions - a dream sequence teaching you basic combat and movement, and setting up the story in a nomad camp, complete with some character customization to make your avatar, in the middle of nowhere - before unleashing you into the world, and its best bits. However, like the wider story, the setup of the narrative is a well-trodden one: your character of lowly origins has a magical dream and finds a magical item to begin a kinship with a mysterious being and can begin to wield powers through the discovery of a powerful, but incomplete, gauntlet. 

That world is made up of four main maps or areas, each with a central hub or settlement, expansive landscapes to travel across - and plenty of sand to shoot across. Each area and environment is worthy of the exploration time you’ll need to find all of the open-world game in 2023 trappings, featuring collectibles like lore, treasure, puzzles, and secrets. The benefit of taking the time to investigate the landscape is that you’ll also immerse yourself in some beautiful landscape spots and enjoy some fine vistas - from old decrepit ruins, sand-eroded caves, and expansive dunes or woodland.

It’s easy to fall for the beautiful vistas and crumbling ruins that make up the world of Atlas Fallen, but what makes this world one of my favorites from the last few years is the way you move through it. The traversal in Atlas Fallen is awesome. Strapping on the magical gauntlet gives you several powers, borne of the sand, including the ability to surf it. This isn’t just a sprint replacement service - you can twist and turn at will, your character leaning down as if they were a snowboarder to help turn corners. It even sounds brilliant; scuffed sand makes an ear-pleasing noise as you blast toward your next quest, hunt, or enemy.

There are rare moments when the surfing felt a little imperfect when transitioning from sand to another surface, or vice versa, but overall, it’s far and away the best part of the game. Deck13 knows this too, with designed-in functions like auto-collection of resources helping to keep the surfing experience uninterrupted and smooth.

But it’s not a case of splurging the game’s best feature in one early hit - your full suite of traversal moves grows with the story, and you’ll be adding to your repertoire of movements quite deep into the game, thus gaining more opportunities to mix it up and keep your movement feeling fresh and smooth.

Not handmade, but sand-made

The way your sand-made weapons tear their way out of your gauntlet within milliseconds of a button press, comprised of the sand surrounding you, is remarkably cool and adds a level of seamless fluidity to each fight. As soon as you can think of going to town on an enemy you’re already wielding the weapons and smashing them on your foes.

There are three sand-borne weapons that you can equip a pair of - a balanced hammer, a spikey glove, a super-fast whip - and each has a bunch of moves that you can master and combine too, extending the attacks beyond the standard ‘heavy’ and ‘light’. Simple stuff, but it layers complexity by moving away from a traditional stamina bar and instead has you building up Momentum during fights. This is granted with each hit you make on your enemies and opens up several special moves at different thresholds - similar to that of stamina slots in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Valhalla. Striking enemies also recharges the healing idol encouraging some aggression in your combat so as to gain healing charges - though this can also lead to some agonizing moments when you’ll be one hit away from said heal, only to be hit by a rogue swinging claw at the last moment.

Your sand-made arsenal is further enhanced by Essence Stones; these are your passive or active equippable abilities, buffs, and skills; these can take your combat to another level and offer the chance to really personalize, and experiment with, your preferred combat. Almost all are upgradeable with resources and you can build up an approach to battle with these alone: equip damage-focused skills like a sand tornado, give yourself a boost of momentum as each fight begins, create areas of energy that slow projectiles and enemies down, or concentrate on durability by going for extra defense and healing effects. At some point, though, you’ll likely have problems with your build, whichever way you commit to. But you’ll be well-catered to switch your character’s focus as there are plenty of Essence Stones available to use or upgrade. 

Changes in style will be a consideration once you factor in enemy variety and types, as things change from four-legged ground beasts and larger sandworms to massive crab- or bull-like creatures. Those enemies of a certain size canteen be strategically taken apart; body parts of the larger enemies will have their own amount of health that you’ll have to take down - something Deck13 introduced in its The Surge games. This can increase the amount of complexity in combat further - particularly if you have to maintain being airborne to attack a head or a flying creature. That said, the extra targets can make fights a little more nuanced as you can target particularly potent attacks or limbs first in an effort to nullify an enemy. However, it can be frustrating when after taking an enemy's head, the rest of its attacks can be delivered just as viciously and effectively.

You can also take evasive action: you’ve got a block that can freeze enemies when a parry is timed perfectly and the ability to dodge by rolling on the ground or jetting in the air. While having these is welcome, both can actually serve to complicate combat, especially when you’re frantically fighting multiple enemies; both have to recharge and you can be left without either if you miss time them slightly.

All in all, though, the results of all these parts mean Atlas Fallen’s combat is fast, fluid, and frantic. However, sometimes it’s a bit too frantic and thus has a tendency to be over complex. The combination of weapons two weapons, each with its own combinations, the constant eye on momentum build-up, the button-combos to heal or use skills attached to the idol, and the role of dodging and blocking means that some combat scenarios become dangerously close to button mashing. This cheapened the combat somewhat and meant that the combat can be simultaneously enjoyable but tiresome as you rely on a few effective methods; no matter how satisfying it was to build up to a shatter attack - freezing the enemy and delivering high-damage blows - it had a tendency to become a regular, uninspiring pattern.

Atlas Fallen’s take on the good vs evil tale is a well-trodden one. It’s a familiar story of a person of lowly origin, finding a magic item, becoming powerful, and channeling the spirit of one god to take on another. Bits of the story were even quite predictable early on, and the supposed crescendos when moving into new areas felt a little anticlimactic narratively, but the big gauntlet upgrades that tie closely to the story and punctuate the adventure - often with boss fights or multi-phase quests - did feel more significant and meaty; the narrative journey failing to mirror and match pace with the game’s mechanics’ journey.

Atlas Fallen, then, is a mixed bag - but also rather a ‘mid’ bag. Its traversal in the shape of the exquisite sand surfing and hangtime-tastic jumping and dashing will stay with me for a long time, but the story, characters, and parts of the combat are largely middling and shrug-worthy. This will ultimately stop it from shining in a year when we’re eating very well at the fantasy RPG adventure table. While there’s potential here, it feels like Atlas Fallen just isn’t quite the sum of its parts.

Accessibility

There are only a few dedicated accessibility functions and features in Atlas Fallen, with the majority of them geared toward language and subtitles. Outside of that, there is one option to turn on or off the camera shake. Overall, this is lean, and some more features - even the addition of subtitle size differences - would be most welcome. 

How we reviewed Atlas Fallen

I played Atlas Fallen on PS5. My playthrough took me about 12 hours to complete and included a host (but not all) of the side content. I played the game in both its performance and quality-focused modes and found the performance mode to be more suited to the game’s emphasis on fluidity and movement. I found there to be only very minor performance issues in the busiest city, and only for a few minutes only. I played the game on a Samsung 4K TV and used both a soundbar and headset for audio - deploying the latter when playing a couple of hours of co-op.

Atlas Fallen releases August 10, 2023, on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. See how it compares to our takes on the best PS5 games, the best Xbox Series X games, and the best PC games that you can play right now.

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons makes a strong first impression. The side-scrolling beat-’em-up revival initially seems like it might have it all: the art style is detailed but pleasingly retro and, much like a dragon, combat burns hot. Your first attempt to save the city is exhilarating.- I say attempts, plural, because Double Dragon Gaiden is a roguelike, sorta, and tumbling back to the main menu is a big part of it.

However, this euphoria doesn’t last. The roguelike structure and the ability to unlock new characters hint at longevity, but really each additional character just builds on the initial four. Once I’d successfully taken out the four gangs terrorising the city and the shadowy figure that acts as the game’s final boss, I felt the compulsion to play more Double Dragon Gaiden bleed out of me. I don’t feel bad though, I had a blast anyway. 

Most of this is down to the simple but effective combat style. You tap the attack button to string a combo together and occasionally punctuate this by pushing a direction and the special move button to unleash a few different specials. 

Enter the Dragons

The four initial characters (the titular Dragons  Billy Lee, Jimmy Lee, Marian and Uncle Matin) all feel distinctly different, and the other characters you can unlock are several boss characters and elites from the game that each bring their own flavour to the mix. That said, for me, one fighter stood out from the pack. Marian, a police officer trying to help cleaning up the city with the help of her gun and several other heavy weapons. Marian is a ranged character primarily, and her combos involve unloading a gun into the enemy, while her specials involve mines, rocket launchers and other militarised hardware.

However to counter this, Marian can’t pick up dropped enemy weapons and her throw button  is replaced with a dodge-roll that has her coming up with a powerful baton swing. As she rolls across the floor, she’ll pick up food or other consumables, making her surprisingly powerful when the game tosses a screenful of enemies at you.

This difficulty grows organically. The game is structured so that you can tackle each of the city’s four gangs in any order you want, with the surviving gangs getting stronger with each criminal empire that you topple. By the end of each run on the normal difficulty level, you’ll be fighting an entire screen of wall-to-wall bad guys.

This means characters like Marian are incredibly strong, their mobility giving them a strong sense of survivability. On the flipside, characters like Matin are strong and slow which is fun because you can pick enemies up and throw them into low-orbit, but he’s too sluggish to use effectively as you get assailed on all sides.

Your mileage might vary here depending on how skilled you are, but as an idiot with a controller, I found it better to move fast and hit hard and stuck with Marian and Billy Lee. This duo gave me the tools to handle most problems.

Yes, you’ll be controlling two fights most of the time like it’s some sort of WWE wrestling match or, for gamers of a certain age, it’s basically Mario Kart: Double Dash, except instead of Baby Park you get cold blooded vigilante murder.

Dragon on a bit

Your special bar can be used to tag in your partner, which you can use to interrupt an enemy combo or to mix up move sets to keep a combo going, or because your current fighter needs some time to heal up. Your new fighter rockets in from off screen, but your current fighter doesn’t immediately vanish, and there can be a moment when you are both performing special moves or, worse, the character you were just controlling has been bounced into the air and is being juggled as you desperately try to turn the tide with your incoming challenger.

This is the best part of the game, and something that pairs nicely with the character upgrades you can buy with your in-game cash at the end of each level. This can be something like your character giving your co-op partner a full heal and a damage boost when you die, or a flat damage boost to your basic attacks or a special ability. These often feel bespoke, but they’re quite simple really, a little extra flair to make your runs feel unique. 

The level design is always interesting and has some aesthetic quirks that make it feel unique. The criminal empires found within Double Dragon Gaiden basically flicked through the big book of bad guy stereotypes and found a page they vibed with, but that doesn’t mean it’s not well done and vibrant throughout. 

Honestly, can't think of any more dragon puns

There are some issues, of course. The game’s floor hazards are often frustrating  as are the platforming sections that involve you climbing a scrap pyramid or leaping across some grassy cliffs as rocks tumble to the floor. Both of these segments, and any other times when you are asked to navigate the environment rather than just scrap with people, actually kind of suck.

Also in the suck pile are the scorpions that attack you alongside one particular gang. These ne’er do wells can’t decide if they want to be Mad Max junklords or pyramid-inhabiting god-worshippers and have settled on a mix of the two. Yes, it’s cool to see a gang with a unique identity, but the heaps of scorpions? They can get into the bin.

Pair that off with the thumping soundtrack, and you can easily see why Double Dragon Gaiden’s introduction is like a kick to the head. Sadly, the title quickly loses its impact. You’ll enjoy the time you spend with Double Dragon Gaiden. It’s likely to be a game you’ll wind up remembering fondly, but it’s unlikely to be something into which you pour dozens of hours.  

Accessibility features 

Not only is there no accessibility menu here, there’s not even a way to turn on subtitles - although it’s not really needed as the only voice I can recall is the announcer yelling enthusiastically as you batter people. If you have any specific access requirements, they probably won’t be met here.  

How we reviewed 

I rolled the credits on Double Dragon Gaiden a few times over 10 hours with the game and played it on PC with a combination of playing on the keyboard and the Xbox Elite Controller Gen 2. I’d use a controller given the choice. I played in single player, and a little bit in co-op and also tried out the Nintendo Switch version, which was fluid and responsive without slowdown too.  

We've compiled the 10 best beat 'em ups on PC if you're looking to take your combat skills to the next level, but if you're looking for something more retro, why not check out our list of the best GBA games?

Razer Cobra Pro: Two-minute review

The Razer Cobra Pro mouse is my new daily driver.  No one is more surprised about the fact it could be a contender for best gaming mouse, I promise. Still, It’s a well deserved win for the Cobra Pro, which combines all of the high-end gaming tech of Razer’s other mice and wrapping it in a cleanly designed shell that, improbably, weighs just 77g.

It’s a mouse that does most things pretty well, but that sizzle is what Razer does best. Taking a simple chassis and putting lots of the best gadgetry into it isn’t a groundbreaking concept, but there’s an art to getting something that feels this polished, and it’s why the Cobra Pro could be a contender for this year’s best mouse.

Of course when you’re looking at the Cobra Pro’s design, the first thing you’ll notice is the underglow, which makes it look like something out of a Fast and Furious movie than a mouse. There are 11 different zones for Chroma support, and most of them provide the soft customisable glow that kicks out from under the mouse. Usually RGB lighting comes with a little bit of cringe, but it only took a tiny bit of tweaking in Razer’s Synapse software to get a soft purple glow that looks great. The Razer logo and a light beneath the scroll wheel also pump out bright colour, and it’s the only real bit of flair the mouse has. 

Otherwise, the mouse does a lot of things right, but it’s quiet about it: it’s a simple symmetrical design with a subdued look. The skates feel high quality, and I like the rubberised grip on the sides, but it doesn’t seem to be replaceable and is definitely the thing that will wear out first. If you’ve seen one of Razer’s Viper Mini, that’s basically what the Cobra Pro looks like. 

The weight, 77g, is less than the company’s Basilisk V3 Pro all-round mouse, which weighs in at 112g, but the weight distribution did feel a little unusual. I play a lot of first-person shooters, and while digging into Battlebit Remastered and Escape From Tarkov over the last few days it felt easy to adjust to the change from the Deathadder. However, the weight feels a little closer to the rear of the mouse. With huge hands this isn’t really a problem, but it could feel a little sluggish for those with smaller hands. 

There’s the usual suite of buttons: your left and right click, a scroll wheel, and two buttons on the side. DPI buttons below the scroll wheel let you adjust sensitivity on the fly. These buttons are a real highlight, using Gen-3 Razer Optical Switches that make them feel light and precise whether you’re messing with a spreadsheet or clicking on heads. 

A close second is the 30K optical setting, which is overkill for me (I usually run a mouse at 3200 DPI) but does make movement feel silky smooth. If you have the Mouse Dock Pro — which you can buy bundled in or separately — you can also get magnetic wireless charging and 4K Hyperpolling through the Cobra Pro’s 2.4ghz wireless. 

It’s one of the first mice I’ve seen in a while to offer the choice of Bluetooth, 2.4 Wireless (1K or 4K polling), or wired. I’ve opted largely for the 2.4 Wireless with 1K polling and haven’t noticed any latency or reliability issues. With the bundled-in cable, you’ll probably want a mouse bungee as the cable is quite stiff and I felt some pull. There’s also the option to save five different memory profiles, which I played with a bit but didn’t see much of a use for. 

As I’ve touched on above, the mouse is reliable and crisp. The buttons feel solid in use, and even sliding it around a desk it’s kept up with everything I’ve asked it to do, so far. 

You have a few different options for how you use the mouse. I felt some latency using it with Bluetooth, which was fine for productivity but isn’t really okay for high-pressure shootouts. The mouse with a cable is probably totally usable with the aforementioned bungee, but honestly I think I’ll just stick to wireless. 

The battery life is claimed to be 100 hours. I’ve been using the mouse constantly for around a week and have only had to charge it once, but I’ve also turned on a lot of low-battery settings to ensure I don’t get caught short mid-game. 

I’m using the mouse with a tempered glass mat, but even using it on a normal wooden desk it’s not missing a beat.

Razer Cobra Pro: Price & availability

• How much does it cost?  $130 / £129.99 / AU$234.95 
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

Let’s be honest, the price on the Cobra Pro is going to be the sticking point for many. It looks like you’re paying just for the shiny RGBs, but the price is probably worth it, mostly, for the optical switches and the beefy sensor. 

It’s about the same price as the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro and honestly I’d feel happy recommending either to just about everyone. Right now though, you can also get the Logitech G502 X Plus for about the same price, with the G502 X offering similar specs but an 106g weight if you prefer something a little weightier.   

• Value: 4 / 5

Razer Cobra Pro: Specs

Should you buy the Razer Cobra Pro?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Razer Cobra Pro: Also consider

How I tested the Razer Cobra Pro

• Tested it for a full week
• Used it for both work and gaming
• Tested it with several different PC games and work-related apps

I used the mouse solidly for a week for both work and gaming. This was around 100 hours of usage using it anywhere you might expect to use your mouse. 

I spent some time in Kovacs Aim Trainer using the mouse to compare it to my previous scores but also played shooters Battlebit Remastered, DayZ and Escape From Tarkov to test it out. I rounded this out with clicking through several spreadsheets and this website’s own CMS for a more mellow approach, but played some Victoria 3 too to round out the gameathon. 

I’ve been reviewing games for 13 years, and playing games mostly on PC for 15. I’m “a little extra” when it comes to mice, because it’s important to get any advantage you can get when you’re playing a shooter but also in your 30s. 

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2023