The Airlite Pro Wireless headset is a decent contender when it comes to picking out which headset you want to couple with your Xbox Series X|S or PC. While it falls short of competing headsets around its own price range, it still has some solid features worth exploring.

Specifically, if you’re a fan of audio with a strong bass profile or enjoy noise cancellation while gaming, then the Airlite Pro Wireless is a suitable choice. The built-in game and voice chat controls are especially helpful when gaming with a large group of people. However, the Airlite Pro Wireless doesn’t compete with the official Xbox Wireless headset’s suite of customizable audio options, which allows for booming bass and overall crisper audio. 

If you’re in the market for a relatively no-fuss headset that will provide audio of decent quality, then the Airlite Pro is certainly worth considering. But you may want to take a look at our best Xbox Series X headset list for recommendations on headsets that offer more at the same price. 

Price and availability

The Airlite Wireless Pro headset is a decent low-to-mid-range product. It’s currently priced at $79.99/ £69.99/ AU$129.95. While not a budget price, it comes in cheaper than headsets like the Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2, which goes for $150 / £120 / AU$249 or the SteelSeries Arctis 7X Wireless Headset, which is priced at $149 / £174.99. However, if you’re looking for a cheaper headset, you’d be better off with the reliable Nacon RIG 300 Pro HX wired headset, which you can get for $29.90 / £29.99 (around AU$44.89).

In terms of availability, if you’re in the US or the UK, you should have no problem picking up this headset. You can either buy the Airlite Pro Wireless at retailers such as Amazon or purchase it at the official PDP store.  Unfortunately, the availability in Australia was more limited, with Amazon having little stock.  

Design

The overall design and feel of the Airlite Pro Wireless is sturdy and bulky while maintaining a degree of simplicity. In the classic Xbox style, it’s mostly black with some green outlines running through it, meaning it blends in with Xbox’s aesthetic seamlessly. 

However, if you prefer headsets that have a bit more flash to them, then you may want to look elsewhere. The Airlite Pro Wireless design is fairly straightforward and considerably bulky, so it lacks the style of something like the Razer BlackShark V2.

The mic can be bent towards or away from you depending on your preference, and the fact that it can entirely flip up, out of the way is a massive plus, especially if you just want to listen to music while working without having the mic up in your face. Unfortunately, you can’t detach it, so the mic may still get in your way.

While this headset is also lightweight despite its bulky size, the headband does begin to hurt after using it for upwards of four hours. That’s something to keep in mind if you want to wear the headset to listen to music, watch videos or play games for longer sessions with friends. In shorter bursts, though, this headset's over-the-ear cushioning is adequately comfortable. 

Performance and battery life

Setting up the Airlite Pro Wireless for use was straightforward and easy. Using a USB dongle means that connecting the wireless headset to your PC, Xbox Series X|S, or Xbox One is simple. However, I did have to fully charge the headset first; this took me around a couple of hours, and that juice lasted for 16 hours of use. 

The Airlite Pro Wireless’ best feature is its sound quality. The 50mm drivers provide good quality bass, which makes experiencing in-game music such as Blasphemous 2’s ethereal soundtrack beautifully engaging. You can also enjoy all your Spotify playlists thanks to the decent sound quality here. The icing on the cake in terms of audio has to be its noise-cancelling mic which ensures that your teammates can hear you loud and clear, even in the most heated battles when I’m screaming for support in the backline while an enemy Winston is harassing me in Overwatch 2. The built-in game/chat balancing also works well to automatically level the in-game noise and group chat audio, so you can always hear your friends scream at you for feeding the enemy team.  

For its price, this feature ticks all the boxes, like deep bass and clear audio. However, if you’re looking for top-shelf audio quality, then it may be a good idea to check out the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro, with its flawless active noise cancelling and incredible sound. 

The durable build means that you can be pretty rough with the Airlite Pro Wireless without it ending in a broken headset. While you shouldn’t drop it out of a second-story window any time soon, you don’t need to worry about breaking it if you drop it on a table as you rush off to get the door. 

Overall, the Airlite Pro Wireless is a decent option for an Xbox Series X|S or PC headset if all you’re worried about is audio quality. However, compared to some other headsets even, priced around its range, it left me unimpressed with its style and comfort. 

Should I buy the Airlite Pro Wireless headset?

Buy it if…

You’re looking for a cheaper gaming headset with good audio quality
Many players will be happy with the audio quality of the Airlite Pro Wireless; the game/chat balancing and deep bass capabilities mean that the headset makes the most of in-game soundtracks. 

You want a headset with Xbox compatibility
Thanks to its USB dongle, it's pretty easy to set up your connection to Xbox consoles and PCs. The color scheme also blends nicely with the Xbox black and green style. 

Don’t buy if 

You’re looking for a high-quality headset
The Airlite Pro Wireless is around the lower end of the gaming headset price spectrum, meaning there are plenty of other cheaper options available which can be just as good as what this headset offers

For more great peripherals, check out our guides to the best gaming chairs and the best gaming monitors that you can add to your setup right now.

Hellboy Web of Wyrd is a fantastically faithful take on the iconic Dark Horse Comics character, right down to creator Mike Mignola’s distinctive aesthetic. It’s also, unfortunately, a slightly rubbish game.

Set in 1982, against the backdrop of the Falklands War - the chief giveaway that developer Upstream Arcade is made up of Brits - Web of Wyrd sees Hellboy exploring the Butterfly House, a mysterious manor that’s somehow tied to spikes in psychic energy around the world. From there, he has to dive into the Wyrd (pronounced ‘word’, not ‘weird’), a dimension shaped by the rules of narrative and ruled by the Norse Norns and One Thousand and One Nights’ Scheherazade, and figure out why it’s spilling over into the real world.

Upstream Arcade is best known for 2019’s twin-stick shooter West of Dead, which coincidentally featured the cranky tones of Hellboy actor Ron Perlman. Despite that connection, he didn’t return to voice Big Red in Web of Wyrd, with the late Lance Reddick instead delivering one of his final performances here.

It’s a relief to say that Reddick is excellent, and he wisely avoids any hint of a Perlman impression. His Hellboy is world-weary, more likely to complain than to quip, taking each of the plot’s twists and turns on the chin with the tone of a demon-cum-superhero who’s been there, done that, and beaten the Nazis up a few times already - all the more appropriate for the game’s roguelike rhythms.

Lost in the source

From the Butterfly House - a simple hub where you can chat with Hellboy’s fellow Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.) agents and upgrade your gear - you dive into one of four pockets of the Wyrd: medieval Italy, the Scottish woods, Russian ruins, and a collapsed Brooklyn subway tunnel.

The four worlds offer the game’s best expression of its source material, each rendered in simple set-dressing, distinct hues, and inky pools of black. This is likely the closest we’ll ever get to Mignola’s art rendered in pixels and is by far Web of Wyrd’s finest accomplishment.

No one draws this world quite like Mignola, but Web of Wyrd gets remarkably close, and like Hellboy’s creator the game uses its pitch-black negative space to good effect, chiefly to draw the eye where it should be: the next thing Hellboy has to punch. Each of the four locales is populated by a range of enemies both big and small. The little guys all go down with one hit, and in so doing restore a little of Hellboy’s ‘Toughness’ - a regenerative shield buffer that sits on top of his less-regenerative health bar.

The Big Bads pop up one or two at a time and require more of a pummelling to take down. Unfortunately, Hellboy’s moveset is a little too comics-accurate, meaning there’s not a whole lot of variation to what he does. There’s a light punch, there’s a heavy punch, there’s a gun. Enemy attacks can be blocked or dodged, and you can also equip one of three Charms that can either repel enemies, create a one-hit shield, or deal a small hit of instant damage that penetrates an enemy’s Toughness and goes straight to their health bar.

Once you get the hang of the combat, it doesn’t change much from the game’s first fight through to its hundredth. This isn’t helped by an embarrassingly limited range of enemies - until you reach the game’s final stages you’ll only find two or three variants of Big Bad in each area, and not much difference between them. The overwhelming majority of them are simply big lads with bigger swords (or fists), and fights swiftly feel entirely interchangeable.

Incredibly barebones

In true roguelike fashion each trip into the Wyrd is procedurally generated, stitching together a slightly different layout of big spaces for fights and narrow passageways to get you to fights. Given that the scraps themselves are so similar, the main variation comes down to which buffs and currency drops the game throws your way each run. There aren’t many of those either though, and all too quickly I settled into a repetitive rhythm, knowing exactly which power-ups I’d pick from the small pool available, with no real incentive to ever mix it up. The game simply ran out of ways to surprise me, and did so within the first hour.

It doesn’t help that character progression outside each Wyrd run is pretty barebones too. You can add a little to Hellboy’s Health and Toughness or make his guns - a choice of pistol, shotgun, or grenade launcher - a little more punchy, but upgrades are hard-earned and infrequently impactful. The numbers go up, but the game never really changes. This might have been helped by a more gradual drip feed of the available weapons and charms, but players get the full set almost off the bat, and then there’s not much left to look forward to.

Where there are still surprises to be found is the story. Developed in conjunction with comics publisher Dark Horse, Web of Wyrd uses its roguelike structure smartly, sending you on loops through the four worlds that deepen each time, unpacking layers of the Wyrd and eventually revealing the game’s real villains - a surprisingly deep cut reference to the ‘Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.’ spin-off series.

Each world has its own sub-story, darting from deals with the devil to otherworldly fae, told through the bosses’ mid-fight barks and a smattering of lore entries dotted around to be read at your leisure in the Butterfly House. 

The game doesn’t have a whole lot to say, but the story’s twists and turns are well thought through, and the writers have clearly had fun playing with the looping narrative - always just enough to seem self-aware, and never so much as to slip into wink-wink-nudge-nudge territory.

Hellboy fans - and I count myself all too deep among them - will doubtless enjoy exploring Mignola’s art made interactive, and the one-two of Lance Reddick and a sharp script keep Web of Wyrd trundling along. But there’s just not enough game to fill the gaps in the story, none of the mechanical depth to reward diving back into the same old Wyrd again and again and again.

Just like the comics that inspired it, Web of Wyrd is sadly paper-thin.

 Accessibility features 

There are no dedicated accessibility features, though options to tweak enemy cooldowns and add attack warnings could help anyone struggling with the timing of combat. Controls are remappable too, but there are no colorblind filters or options to adjust text size or readability. 

 How we reviewed 

I played 17 hours of Web of Wyrd, not quite finishing off the storyline but progressing through several of the roguelike narrative loops and unlocking the majority of the game’s lore entries. 

Our list of the best superhero games might be of interest for a more engaging adventure.

The very first handheld by HyperMegaTech (a new brand from Evercade makers Blaze Entertainment) is nothing short of a triumph in almost every regard. The Super Pocket is a fantastic retro player that boasts a convenient pocket-size design and a solid selection of built-in games from either Capcom or Taito depending on which of the two licensed editions you buy.

The small rear shoulder buttons can take some getting used to given their small size, but everything from Space Invaders to Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting otherwise controls fantastically out the box thanks to the tactile face buttons and an impressive D-pad. Like some of the best handheld games consoles, the Super Pocket’s operating system also includes a host of desirable features like multiple save states, cathode-ray tube (CRT) TV scanline filters, and an optional easy mode that helps make even the hardest arcade games that much more accessible.

The compatibility with Evercade cartridges is a complete game changer for budget portable systems too, granting Super Pocket owners access to a growing library of affordable cartridges that house everything from classic Namco arcade games to modern indie titles like Micro Mages and Foxyland. Our testing found that the games on Evercade cartridges perform just as well as the built-in ones meaning that, for an MSRP of under $60 / £50, you’re getting an absolutely unbelievable level of value from this package.

Super Pocket review - Price and availability

At just $59.99 / £49.99, the Super Pocket is one of the most affordable retro gaming handhelds on the market. 

It’s not quite as cheap as some of the more budget offerings from manufacturers like My Arcade (who sell versions of their licensed Pocket Player for $39.99 / £29.99) but boasts a considerably better selection of built-in games, far superior build quality, and several desirable software features that would normally only be found on more high-end alternatives like the Evercade EXP. Seriously, it’s hard to overstate just how good value the Super Pocket is.

The handheld is readily available at a range of global retailers. In the US it can be found at Amazon and Best Buy while in the UK it’s sold at Amazon, Game, and Argos. Many of those retailers also sell a selection of compatible Evercade cartridges, which typically cost $19.99 / £17.99 each and include a wide range of licensed games.

Super Pocket review - Design and features

The first time you open the box, you’re sure to be struck by just how small the Super Pocket is in the flesh. This is a truly minuscule system that, at just 3 x 0.49 x 0.98 inches (7.8 x 1.25 x 2.5 cm) in size, is easily smaller than most modern phones. I was able to fit the Super Pocket into my pocket comfortably no matter what I was wearing - a real blessing if you intend to use it to keep yourself entertained during a commute.

The overall design is obviously very reminiscent of the Nintendo Game Boy but with some welcome modern refinements. The smooth, rounded corners feel great in the palms of your hands and allow for comfortable playing sessions. Furthermore, the D-pad is very responsive and the face buttons are also excellent with a springy tactile feel that is absolutely perfect for button mashing.

On the bottom of the Super Pocket you can find a 3.5mm headphone jack, power switch, and two LEDs (one to indicate whether the device is on and the other to show whether it is currently receiving power). There’s also a USB-C charging port, mercifully removing the need to constantly swap out pricey single-use batteries. The rear of the device is adorned with the volume rocker, shoulder buttons, and an Evercade cartridge slot for if you’re planning to build up your collection of games beyond those pre-installed on the unit.

There are currently two versions of the Super Pocket on the market; a mint green and black Taito Edition and a yellow and blue Capcom Edition. Both versions come with their own unique built-in library of games, focusing specifically on popular titles from their respective publishers. While the Taito Edition is, in my opinion, the most aesthetically pleasing and contains more games (with 18 total), I would most recommend the Capcom Edition if you only intend to buy one.

This is because, while the likes of Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble are plenty of fun, nothing can really beat having immediate access to 12 brilliant Capcom games when the lineup includes bangers like Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Final Fight, and Mega Man. Still, you’re going to be having a good time no matter which you choose. A handy list of all the games included in both can be found on the HyperMegaTech website, so be sure to give it a read before making your decision.

Super Pocket review - Performance and battery life

For such a small device, the Super Pocket performs incredibly well when it comes to playing games. In fact, we didn't experience any noticeable slowdown or graphical issues during our testing. The 320x240px IPS screen might not sound too impressive on paper, especially when compared to something like the Nintendo Switch OLED’s 720p display, but it punches well above its weight thanks to the 2.8” (~7cm) size. Games look crisp with vivid colors and there are even a couple of additional display options (including both CRT scanline filters and alternate display resolutions) to tweak their look to your liking in the software. 

This strong performance continues when utilizing Evercade compatibility, with the inserted cartridge’s selection of games appearing on a separate tab on the main menu. These cartridges can be hot-swapped (provided, of course, that you are not currently playing an Evercade game) which makes alternating between them a breeze.

Beyond the games, the Super Pocket’s operating system is another highlight as, in addition to the above display options, you can also make use of six save states and peruse a brief guide on how to use Evercade cartridges. Navigating through its menus is super snappy, and making a new save state is almost instantaneous, lending the overall experience a very polished and premium feel.

The single front-facing speaker performs well despite its size as the sound produced is punchy and effective. The volume can be turned up surprisingly loud, but it’s worth noting that there’s some noticeable distortion when you’re on the highest setting. As this is a mono speaker, the inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone jack is also welcome and allows you to experience stereo sound when you plug in a compatible wired gaming headset.

As both editions charged quickly and comfortably lasted over 4 hours of play during our testing, the battery life is also very unlikely to give you any grief either.

The small form factor does come with some downsides, though, as the tiny shoulder buttons can take a bit of getting used to. They’re very clicky and, overall, not the most satisfying to press. This seems like a fair trade-off given the portability, though, as it's hard to imagine how these could have been greatly improved without increasing the Super Pocket’s overall size.

Your mileage with the 2.8” (~7cm) screen is also likely to vary dramatically depending on the quality of your eyesight - especially if you want to experience titles at their intended aspect ratio with the Pixel Perfect display mode. If this is applicable to you, you would be much better off considering larger options like the Evercade EXP instead.

On the whole this is still a fantastic package and a wonderful way for those curious about retro gaming to begin to explore the wider Evercade library without breaking the bank. Even if you don't wish to expand your collection, however, you're getting a very capable, feature-rich retro handheld that comes with a formidable collection of built-in games.

Should I buy the Super Pocket?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we reviewed the Super Pocket

I took the Super Pocket on the go with me for over a week, playing it whenever possible on public transport and in spare moments at my desk. I also spent some time using the handheld at home and was careful to sample every pack-in game across both editions. My favorites included the cute puzzler The Fairyland Story from the Taito Edition and the original Mega Man from the Capcom Edition

In addition to those titles, I used a sample Evercade cartridge provided by HyperMegaTech in order to test the handheld’s performance while playing Evercade games like Burger Time and Sly Spy.  

To see how other retro systems have held up, read our Evercade EXP review or our PlayStation Classic review.

How can a game set in a fictional Japanese town circa 1984 speak so eloquently of our current predicament? How does an anthology of loosely connected mini-scenarios about evil cults, deranged killers, and malevolent deities capture so vividly that distinctly 21st-century mix of alienation and ceaseless anxiety? World of Horror from Panstasz, feels so relevant, perhaps, because all of its core elements - not just the narrative finery but the mechanical scaffolding underneath, too - work in tandem to evoke the trademark mood of our post-Covid existence: anticipating yet another catastrophe lurking somewhere within tomorrow's headlines.

Working mostly on his own for the past six years, Polish dentist Pawel Kozminski has crafted a singular hybrid as bizarre and fascinating as the misshapen abominations that populate it. World of Horror is an endlessly replayable roguelike adventure that borrows its character progression from RPGs, its branching paths from Choose Your Own Adventure books, and the occasional bout of pixel-hunting from hidden-object games. In other words, it plays like an experimental Fighting Fantasy campaign, one where you’ll fight a man with an itch so bad he’s scratched his face off instead of an orc with a big axe, one where the rules change on a whim, and with little warning.

Mysteries abound

Over the span of a relatively short playthrough (roughly an hour - if you manage to survive this long, that is), you’re tasked with solving a series of paranormal mysteries in order to finally gain access to the lighthouse overlooking the seaside town of Shiokawa where evil energies have converged. If you can find the keys and climb to the top of the cursed structure before the Doom meter - indicating the impending arrival of an elder god - reaches 100% and the community lives to see another dawn. There are 24 different scenarios, each with multiple endings, though a typical run sees you embroiled in no more than four or five.

For each of these investigations you’ll head to different districts in search of clues; tackle random encounters that require either combat or a successful attribute check to resolve favorably; and choose whether to risk pursuing optional quests that may provide you with vital information for the final showdown with the villain du jour. Recruiting allies, purchasing equipment, and learning spells help even out the odds (at the expense of valuable resources), all assist you in what little time remains until the darkness engulfs your hometown.

Key ingredients

A fairly static premise, on paper, but World of Horror is significantly animated by two essential qualities. First, and most immediately apparent, is the striking presentation. Inspired by the art of manga legend Junji Ito, Kozminski’s menagerie of nightmares consists of masterfully drawn manifestations of our contemporary anxieties and fears. Consider, for example, what the ghastly roommate you discover curled foetus-like inside a ceiling cavity above your bed says about urban solitude, or what the 'lumpy' police officer whose face is a featureless bulb of pulsating flesh about eroding trust in state authority. The fact that these images were designed in MS Paint, Microsoft’s ancient graphics editor that first saw release in the mid-80s - roughly the era when the game is set, adds another layer to their uncanny aura. The effect further enhanced by the mesmerizing austerity of a 1-bit palette.

Second, and most ingenious, is World of Horror’s eagerness to infect its investigation mechanics with your protagonist’s state of disorientation, constantly subverting, rejigging, and otherwise obfuscating its basic systems. The standard nine-district exploration grid is abandoned completely during the Far-Out Fable of a Fear Festival scenario after you become helplessly lost in a forest taken over by cultists; Perilous Parable of the Peculiar Painting features an escort mission in which you rescue an artist’s assistant from a gruesome fate; and Vicious Verses of a Violent Vigil requires careful timekeeping to perform the various stages of a ritual at the behest of your dead uncle. Elsewhere, your standard array of Choose Your Own Adventure-style choices (“Search the Statue” or “Break the Statue”?) gives way to moments of jarringly hands-on mechanics, most memorably when you need to guide a needle in to a friend’s eye to save them from the parasites breeding within entirely with your mouse.

Peer closely, beyond the surface narrative choices provided with each random event or encounter, and you realize the game is littered with tiny pockets of opacity. There are hidden interactions amidst its gorgeously cluttered interface as well as secret connections between tantalising dead-ends in one scenario and items stumbled upon in another. How do you open the sigil-marked locker in the Spine Chilling Story of School Scissors? How do you persuade the classmate exiled to the roof of the high school to share her secrets? Through trial and error, copious note-taking, and repeat playthroughs you may be able to glean some answers - after more than 30 hours with the game, I’m still overwhelmed with questions. In short, World of Horror brilliantly channels the confusion and uncertainty of a hapless teenager faced with unfathomable entities of limitless power.

As does their sense of isolation and mistrust of this hostile world, even if it’s the one that they’re trying to save. Most of the mysteries you’re tasked with solving originate in places that are uncomfortably familiar, involving people that you already know: a relative’s house in the country, a psychopath stalking the school’s corridors, the crowds gathering outside your favorite ramen shop. World of Horror’s paranoia has you besieged in every single one of your sanctuaries including the ultimate one - your own home - in one of its more unusual cases, the Silent Hill 4-inspired Restless Rumors of a Residential Recluse. “If nothing else, you’re at least safer in here” reads a line from that scenario. And it’s probably true for a moment or two until a stranger with a hideously grinning mask starts banging at your door trying to get in.

It’s that suffocating loneliness and profound, muted sadness encapsulated in the blank faces of your expendable companions (nothing like Persona’s complex interrelationships here) that lingers in the mind after you’ve turned off World of Horror. And it’s what makes reaching the lantern at the top of the lighthouse to lift the veil of darkness from your hometown such a rewarding denouement, a genuine sigh of relief. For a few moments at least, until the button reading 'New Game' beckons and evil stirs once again. 

Accessibility

Like the classic Mac adventures it alludes to, World of Horror can be played exclusively by mouse. A standard controller option is also available for the PC, though I never managed to get it working on Steam. There are numerous 1- and 2-bit palettes to choose from as well as an option to scale the size of the main window. The game is playable in seven languages including French, German, and Japanese.

How we reviewed World of Horror

I engaged intermittently with World of Horror during its Early Access, completing several playthroughs at various stages of its three-year development cycle. I played approximately 12 hours of the final version, making sure to check out the new characters and scenarios. Most of that time was spent with the standard campaign but I also devoted a couple of hours to the brutal Endless mode. I played both on my more powerful desktop PC and an older laptop. The game worked smoothly on both but, the latter experience, tucked in bed with the lights off, gave rise to some very interesting nightmares.

If you want more scares, check out our lists of the best horror games, and best indie horror games you can play right now.