Wireless HORIPAD for Steam Review

The HORIPAD Wireless is a controller designed for Steam for Windows 11/10 and Steam Deck. The wonderful people at HORI have sent us this Steam controller for review. It is a compact, efficient and well-rounded controller perfect for when gaming through Steam. The controller is sold at the price of €59,99.

The packaging of this controller is quite informative and simple. At the front of the box, there is a displayed picture of the controller with several specifications and information about the controller on all other faces. The back of the box does a great job of highlighting the use of each button and the system’s compatibility. The box itself is very good at thoroughly explaining the purpose of the controller and how players can easily bind keys for a better gaming experience. The box comes with the following items:  The HORIPAD controller, a 3 ft long USB-C charging cable, a wireless Bluetooth adapter and a quick start guide.

The design for the Wireless HORIPAD controller is unique as it is the only controller to be designed specifically for Steam. The controller itself looks quite minimalistic, you have a black matte finish with some buttons having a shine to them. Even though the controller may look simple, the functionality is quite unexpected. Overall, the HORIPAD Wireless controller has a sleek and ergonomic design which blends several elements from popular controllers whilst adding unique touches. First and foremost, the shape of the controller feels similar to an Xbox controller, with asymmetrical thumbsticks, a D-pad on the left, and the A/B/X/Y face buttons on the right. Also features the standard L1/L2 and R1/R2 buttons, with the triggers being analogue/digital hybrid for more responsive input. The controller does feature Turbo-mode, but that is only possible in the XInput Mode (wired mode). Something that I found was slightly weird about the design of the controller was the B button sitting so much higher than the other buttons (clearly, this is a simple design flaw, but not one that truly matters). The controller has a lot more buttons than you would expect, but they work so well when in use. The specifications for this wireless controller are the following: Bluetooth wireless with an included 2.4 GHz USB Bluetooth dongle, up to 12 hours of battery life, capacitive touch thumbsticks, gyro sensor, programmable buttons and a configurational app.

To begin with, the controller does come with extra buttons that make it more accessible for players. Now, on the front of the controller, there are many more option buttons that are specifically designed for Steam compatibility. The big Steam button in the centre of the controller will activate Big Picture mode or access the Steam menu. The quick access button allows for simple settings to be accessed whilst in Big Picture mode. I do have to say I love how the controller works effortlessly with the Steam OS, making the UI stand out even better when using Big Picture mode. Additional buttons such as the wifi symbol button, your Bluetooth connectivity, and the status of connectivity and battery are displayed on the LED-like screen on the face of the controller. Besides having the base buttons and triggers, there are additional back buttons and macro buttons under the controller that can be programmed for customizable inputs. Customization for the controller can easily be remapped via the HORI’s device manager, which is extremely user-friendly. The placing of the back paddles is perfect, as when holding onto the controller, your fingers naturally rest over them without pushing into them unless needed. Now, if you have trouble figuring out what each button does or how to connect the controller, the user guide in the box is very customer-friendly and thoroughly explains how everything works without missing out on a single detail, which I extremely liked. 

A standout feature is the capacitive touch sensors on the thumbsticks, allowing additional inputs when touched. Built-in motion controls for enhanced gameplay in supported titles. As said earlier, the controller comes with two different trigger modes: digital and analogue. Analogue mode is great for racing games where you need to press down and release slower for a gradual input. Digital, on the other hand, is great for instant button presses such as FPS and platformers. The controller can switch between these two modes by switching between the trigger button functions at the back of the controller, which is easily accessible at any given time. 

The first impression I had of the controller when it was taken out of the box was that it was extremely light. The controller is so much lighter than I had expected it to be, which is not so much of a drawback as better for comfortability. When bashing buttons and moving the thumbsticks around, there is no awkward feeling or sensation that takes away from extended periods of gaming. The quality of the buttons and joysticks is perfect, having a good spring and sound overall; it just feels like a nice controller. Something I do wish was designed slightly differently would have to be the top trigger buttons. Normally, I like the trigger buttons to have more of a snap, but on this controller, they have such little depth to them, making the snap hardly visible. I also like that the handles on this controller are longer than most others, which allows for the controller to sit perfectly in your hands and have a nice grip on them. 

Setting up the controller is very quick and simple. You have several options in how you can connect the controller, which makes it very easy. The controller coming with a USB Bluetooth receiver is such a good addition for most Steam gamers.  This is mainly in terms of there not being a Bluetooth connection on their system, so using a direct USB makes using this specific controller so much more effective. Besides the receiver, there is the actual 3ft length cable that you can also use to directly connect your controller. In some senses, this controller can either be wired or wireless, which is a great appeal for all types of gamers. 

When testing out the controller, we tested it with a variety of games that I would normally play on Steam (specifically Steam on PC, not through SteamDeck), such as Marvel Rivals, Terraria, Borderlands, and several other indie titles. I did find that there is some latency delay between using the controller through Bluetooth wireless vs the dongle, which can have some effect on the gameplay of reaction time-paced games. Besides that, I felt as though when switching between the two trigger modes, you could see a difference in the trigger response, which was effective, but after some time, I felt it was something I completely forgot about switching around. The buttons and joysticks themselves are extremely quick and smooth. There also seems to be no stick drift, making it a great controller option. The controller feels extremely natural and doesn’t obstruct long-time gaming. 

Lastly speaking, of comfortability, especially with long-day gaming, the controller would have no issues whatsoever. The controller fits so nicely in your hand, and it is light. The overall feel of the controller is very smooth, almost like you are holding onto a nice textured plastic sheet. The matte shell and its lightness allow players to play without any interruptions. Also, because the buttons feel so smooth and click nicely, it keeps the players immersed in the game. As for the battery life, I found that it did last up to 11 hours, sometimes over 12 hours, depending on how much gaming I did at a time. The controller also comes with an auto-power-off feature where it will shut down if there are 15 minutes of inactivity whilst paired. Overall, the comfort of using this controller is excellent. 

For the HORIPAD Wireless steam controller, we thought it would be nice to do a quick comparison to an Xbox Series S controller as their designs are similar. Now, when it comes to the price point between the two controllers, the HORIPAD is much cheaper but allows for so much customization, whereas the Xbox controller is more expensive but feels of much higher quality.

Usually, when players on Steam do not have a Steam-specific controller, they tend to revert to using an Xbox controller due to the Windows 10/11 compatibility. The difference in comfortability relies solely on the weight and feel of the buttons/triggers. The HORIPAD wireless controller is lighter than an Xbox controller, which makes it feel cheaper. The HORIPAD does have some textured grip rings around the thumbsticks and handles of the controller, but Xbox controllers seem to have a much better grip, which gives a more hefty, premium feel to them.

When comparing the HORIPAD to an Xbox controller, there is a great lack of vibration feedback, which a lot of controller players enjoy. Usually, the rumble vibrational feedback enhances gameplay and keeps the player active, which the HORIPAD did not have. However, there may not be a rumble in the HORIPAD, but the controller is designed perfectly for players to remap each button to their liking. The Xbox Series S controllers tend to have the same button design without having additional mappable buttons, which could be a drawback when using the controller for Steam or other software besides the Xbox. 

Another main difference between the Xbox controller and the HORIPAD is the battery life. An Xbox controller uses AA batteries that can keep the battery life up to 30+ hours, whereas the HORIPAD has a battery life of 12 hours, which can be used through a charging cable. I find that the charging cable is much more effective, but usually, people can get rechargeable batteries to easily keep their Xbox controller last longer.  Of course, the Xbox controller has a more premium feel, but having a controller specific for Steam users is perfectly designed through the HORIPAD Wireless controller. 

The controller overall is really well designed as it is pretty light, making it very comfortable to play with. There are two suggestions I would make. The first is that I wish there was a headphone jack so you could easily set up your headset into the controller without having it be connected to your PC. The second improvement I would hope for is a better, longer battery life. Of course, with several connectivity options, battery life may not be a great issue as you can easily plug it in wired but still should be looked into improving. 

The HORIPAD Wireless controller designed to work with Steam has a sleek design with an interesting button layout to serve more functionality/customization for efficient gameplay. We found this controller to be amazing for Steam players, especially for the fair price of €60. The HORIPAD controller has a light, smooth feel to it, which has great comfortability for players to use for several hours. The controller allows for wireless and wired support and trigger modes to give the best response for specific games. The controller has several features for users to mess around with and use in their own comfort. So, definitely do go check out the HORIPAD Wireless Steam Controller! 

Overall: 8.5/10

S & S Reviews

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