Steam Controller owners - what do you think?

[therealnickdanger]

Now that you've had a few months to use one and create and share custom profiles, see a few updates and patches... do you still like it? Dislike it? Would you buy again or wait for a hardware revision?

 

[moonbogg]

I don't have one but I have to comment anyway. It looks like the worst idea for a controller ever. No sticks means no tactile feedback. I'd love to hear people's opinions on it.

 

[Sabrewings]

I don't have one but I have to comment anyway. It looks like the worst idea for a controller ever. No sticks means no tactile feedback. I'd love to hear people's opinions on it.

It does have a stick. And it has better tactile feedback with it than other controllers because of how they use the haptics with the stick (can turn it off if you like)

I like mine. I don't use my 360 controller for anything at all hardly anymore. It's extremely versatile and the different method of haptics for different things makes it easy to use and intuitive.

 

[Red Storm]

Until I can try one in person before buying, I won't be getting one. I've seen Steam machines at Best Buy, so I guess it's only a matter of time before they also have Steam Controllers on display as well.

 

[GusSmed]

It's much, much better than you might think, looking at it. My experience with it is still pretty limited, but those two trackpads seem capable of doing almost anything.

The thing that really sets the controller apart is the way you can customize it. I was easily able to set up the left trackpad as a mousewheel, and set the right trackpad so that tapping was the same as left-click, for example. Any control on the Steam Controller can be assigned to do anything, including multi-key (or button) presses.

My initial experience trying the PC version of Fallout with it wasn't so positive. I found aiming difficult compared to keyboard-and-mouse. But I didn't really spend that much time experimenting with configurations, which I think is important for shooters.

I picked up my controller and Steam Link at Gamestop. I'm not sure they have any display models, though.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

I'm thinking about buying this thing today. I want to use it to play Torchlight 2, at least thats the first game I want to use it on. I'd love to use KB/M but I simply am unable to use my computer at home after sitting at an office desk all day. So I have my fingers crossed that I'll be able to play from my couch with this controller.

 

[KMFJD]

I have one, it takes a lot to get used to but has amazing potential i think. I found the right track pad to be a major improvement to a thumbstick tbh, much quicker and more precise for me but i am horrible with a regular gamepad.

 

[clamum]

I got one to replace a cheap, knock-off Xbox controller that died because it was only like $20 since I also bought XCOM 2. I haven't used it besides plugging it in to make sure it worked and to check out the customization options in Steam (which are... staggering). However, I did use it to scroll up and down the Steam Controller tutorial webpage I was reading and it gave kind of a vibration when scrolling, and made this weird "vibrating" sound. I'm at work right now so I can't try it again, but it kinda sounded like light grinding, a little bit? It just didn't sound normal and I really hope that can be tweaked or something, cause honestly it sounded cheap or broken. I really need to try it out again so I can determine if I wanna send it for a replacement.

 

[Dranoche]

How useful it is depends on the game. I think it's best to look at the Steam controller as another option available to you, not as an absolute replacement for an existing control scheme. It certainly feels pretty niche.

I have always had a terrible time playing shooters with controllers, or anything requiring relatively precise aiming - usually the dead zone on the stick is too large, and then movement is too fast once I get past it. I've tried to stick with it before, but have always been unsuccessful. I have a decent couch setup for mouse and keyboard for when I want to use this scheme with my TV, but if I really need the precision of the mouse I would usually rather be at my desk. My original hope was that the steam controller would be a good in-between for games which are slower paced or don't require high precision, for providing slightly better control than the stick but keeping the form factor of the controller so I can sprawl out on my couch. I think it has mostly met my expectations, but they were pretty narrow to start.

Very first game I tried was L4D2. Way too fast for me with the Steam controller. I wasn't expecting it to go well, so it wasn't a disappointment. Some people may have the skill to play something as fast or faster with practice, but I'm pretty sure I don't.

Any type of real time strategy was too fast for me, since you have to do so much more with the mouse cursor. I suppose a RTS game designed around the steam controller could work. I tried a couple RTS games early on, there may be some decent profiles available now for some games, but I think this is mostly a case of asking too much of the controller. Completely turn based games would be fine depending on your level of comfort with the trackpad and how fast you want to go.

I tried a few platformers next. Generally it worked without issue. If you really need a dpad instead of a stick, you will probably find the left pad lacking. Sometimes, possibly due to muscle memory with other controllers, I found the bottom and left face buttons a bit too far away to reliably hit quickly. The face button situation was the same with some isometric action games. Aiming or controlling the camera was usually fine, and I think that any issues there were due to lack of familiarity.

I had the most success using it with Valkyria Chronicles. I couldn't aim well at all with the 360 controller (dead zone felt big, couldn't consistently make small movements), but it was great with the steam controller. I need to try some other third person games.

I originally envisioned playing something like Skyrim or Fallout 3 with it. Haven't tried those yet, but with some practice I think it would work be an improvement over thumbstick aiming for me. For some game types I think it just can't replace the mouse and keyboard, but there may be a profile that gets it close enough for you to use comfortably. If you're looking to pick one up for a specific game, check the steam forums first and see what success, if any, people have had.

 

[Dranoche]

However, I did use it to scroll up and down the Steam Controller tutorial webpage I was reading and it gave kind of a vibration when scrolling, and made this weird "vibrating" sound. I'm at work right now so I can't try it again, but it kinda sounded like light grinding, a little bit? It just didn't sound normal and I really hope that can be tweaked or something, cause honestly it sounded cheap or broken. I really need to try it out again so I can determine if I wanna send it for a replacement.

That clicking/grinding/vibrating/buzzing sound/feeling is the haptic feedback. I believe there's a "haptic intensity" setting or something similar in the controller configuration where you can adjust it or turn it off completely. Keep in mind that Big Picture and each game has it's own profile you'll have to do this in.

 

[clamum]

That clicking/grinding/vibrating/buzzing sound/feeling is the haptic feedback. I believe there's a "haptic intensity" setting or something similar in the controller configuration where you can adjust it or turn it off completely. Keep in mind that Big Picture and each game has it's own profile you'll have to do this in.

Kinda what I was hoping. Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out when I have time. :thumbsup:

 

[Fox5]

I like the feel of the Steam controller. And it does a decent job of making mouse and keyboard games playable on a controller, and the touchpad is pretty decent as a substitution for a mouse.

That said, it is no where near as good as a mouse and keyboard, and I'd probably still pick an Xbox controller for games that have native controller support. The Steam controller merely fills the niche of wanting to play all PC games with a gamepad, although you'll find that games really aren't optimized for controller usage even if you make a controller that can work like a mouse.
Xcom 2 supports the Steam controller, but it really highlights how bad the menu design is and how much they rely on quick movements of a mouse to not slow down the game even more.

 

[YBS1]

I have one and with my very limited experience with it, it seems pretty neat. I'm a kb/m player with just about any gametype, racing games excluded, but I can use a controller semi-comfortably in anything but FPSs. From my limited time playing around with it I could easily see someone who is primarily a controller user becoming extremely efficient with it should they ditch a traditional controller and use this exclusively. The haptic feedback is great and the controller does give a degree of control I don't think you could get with an analog stick. That being said, I look like a retard using it.

 

[ControlD]

I have one and with my very limited experience with it, it seems pretty neat. I'm a kb/m player with just about any gametype, racing games excluded, but I can use a controller semi-comfortably in anything but FPSs. From my limited time playing around with it I could easily see someone who is primarily a controller user becoming extremely efficient with it should they ditch a traditional controller and use this exclusively. The haptic feedback is great and the controller does give a degree of control I don't think you could get with an analog stick. That being said, I look like a retard using it.

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say as well. That statement fits me for any controller really.

My nephew is a BIG gamer and he thinks the Steam controller is the greatest thing ever. It won't magically make someone proficient however. I tried and and thought it was cool but I was still blindly running into walls and missing everything I was shooting at same as with any controller (first person stuff). For platformers it was fine, but then again so is my X360 controller.

 

[0roo0roo]

One of the few reasons to use a gamepad on PC is for fighting games and 2d platformers, no D pad is a deal breaker.

 

[clok1966]

I don't have one but I have to comment anyway. It looks like the worst idea for a controller ever. No sticks means no tactile feedback. I'd love to hear people's opinions on it.

I must admit i thought about the same thing almost 40 years ago when the Intellvision came with the flat disc controller. In the end it worked much more precises then its competition (2600 joystick). most of that was due to design, the 2600 had 4 buttons, up,down,left,right the intellvison had several more buttons in that disc. But it was more a Stick vs Disc thing , and it was ODD to use that disc at first, but it really came into its own if you got used to it.

I guess what I'm saying is, it does look and seem odd, but it appears alot of people like it. Might be worth a try

 

[GusSmed]

One of the few reasons to use a gamepad on PC is for fighting games and 2d platformers, no D pad is a deal breaker.

Either trackpad can be configured as a D pad. A better-than-normal D pad because all 8 directions can be customized to do anything, even if the game only supports 4 directions.

 

[Phobic9]

I bought one, along with a steam link shortly after they were available to purchase on Amazon. The steam link worked ok with my setup (PC is upstairs, large TV downstairs) but wasn't really that good of an experience in terms of latency and pixelation. When I moved the Steam Link in my bedroom (which is also upstairs), it worked really well. I decided to keep the Steam Link and figured that my home network probably needed tweaking.

The first game I tried with the Steam controller was Just Cause 3 and my experience was "Why did I waste money on this stupid thing when an Xbox 360 controller works leagues better?". I tried several community configs, reading forums, watching videos and I just couldn't get used to it. It felt cheap and I found that I was still in my refund window from Amazon (after having it for 2 months). I boxed it up and was preparing to send it back but for some reason I didn't.

Fast forward to last Monday. I bought The Division on a whim since I was off work for a bit. I decided to tweak my home network and I'm not getting about 2-3 ms of latency when testing the Steam Link. I decided to give the Steam Controller one last try and for some reason this time it clicked. I've still some adjusting to do on the sensitivity side, but the controller works really well for me now and I've spent a majority of time playing on the couch instead of at my desk.


TL;DR - The controller definitely needs some tweaking for version 2 (especially on the hardware side), but the patches/updates have brought it a very long way. When people say you need to take your time with it, they aren't joking. Even after a month+ of use, I still hated the damn thing. Now, I think it's actually pretty good.

 

[KMFJD]

After using it again the thing that annoyed me was the right pad sensitivity, it doesn't go high enough for me, i constantly feel like i run out of space on the pad.

 

[shortylickens]

i tried it for a week.

Did not like.

Returning.