Hades II

Following on from Supergiant’s massive success that was Hades, players with a Nintendo Switch 2 in their arsenal will already know how its sequel pits the player against that Titan of Time, Chronos. This time it’s Melinoë, daughter of Hades and the sister of Zagreus — the first game’s protagonist. Hades II takes its roguelike roots to new levels, with a bigger map than ever before. It’s headed to the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 on 14 April.

Alien Deathstorm

From the folks who brought us Sniper Elite comes Alien Deathstorm. It’s a first-person survival adventure teeming with Stranger Things-like alien monsters around every corner. Every corner exudes ambience and style as the player blasts their way through hordes with an overflowing armoury. It doesn’t look like anything we haven’t seen before, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun. It’s headed to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC in 2027.

Artificial Detective

Closing out the show came Artificial Detective, here to remind us why we shouldn’t turn over our thinking to the machines quite so soon. It’s a post-apocalyptic third-person action-adventure story following one “wise-cracking robot detective” on a mission to discover why humanity has disappeared. The player must team up with the last human child alive to uncover the mystery. Coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC in 2027.

Dispatch

Dispatch may have already swept up players in its episodic format when it released on PC and PS5 a few months back. Now, Xbox owners will get a chance to step into the shoes of Robert Robertson III, AKA Mecha Man. Dispatch sees Robertson forced into a desk job dispatching for a team of ‘reformed villains-turned-superheroes’. You’ll manage the team and make big decisions on the fly when it hits the Xbox Series X/S in winter 2026.

The Eternal Life of Goldman

The British narration and cutesy art style of The Eternal Life of Goldman immediately put us in mind of Little Big Planet. That’s a good thing, particularly if whimsical platformers are your thing. Goldman ventures out across a hand-drawn world inspired by myths to kill The Deity — ” a mysterious, fearsome creature that everyone knows about, but no one has ever seen.” Okay, so we’re killing God. We’re in. It’s coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC in 2026. Until then, busy yourself with the demo, out yesterday.

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn

Perhaps the biggest news to come out of The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is the fact that a beta is coming, and soon. Sure, we got another look at gameplay for the third-person action-RPG, but players have waited for some tactile hands-on time with the game for a good while now. They’ll get their opportunity on 22 April 2026 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. A vague release window was also teased for the consoles mentioned: Autumn 2027.

Frog Sqwad

You had us at ‘slapstick puzzle-platformer’. Frog Sqwad is just that, complete with an artistic style that would stupefy any three-year-old coming down off an iPad high. It looks like a whole lot of fun, assuming you can scrounge up enough friends to explore the sewers to grab food for The Swamp King. It’ll support up to eight players in this co-slop title, which lands on Xbox Series X/S and PC in June 2026

Moosa: Dirty Fate

At this point, we’ll take anything not set in feudal Japan. Fuedal Korea, on the other hand, might work. That’s the dirty fate of Moosa, a third-person action game complete with stunning graphics. We got a peek at the fast-paced and bloody combat cooked up by the IGGYMOB team. As famine sweeps across Korea, its subjects find the only alternative: cannibalism. Fun for the whole family. It’s coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC in 2027.

Super Meat Boy 3D

That abomination on your screen is Super Meat Boy 3D, marking the return of the usually-2D platformer. This one adds a whole new dimension, though whether it can pull it off quite as well as Nintendo can remains to be seen. It won’t be long before we find out, with the game landing on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on 31 March. Yes, this year.

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Outside the Xbox?

Microsoft’s Xbox hardware leaves much to be desired, it’s true, but there’s no denying its impressive line-up of studios. Even though that figure may be dwindling by the day, we’re keen to see what its remaining studios have in store. Especially now that the company has seemingly done away with exclusive titles for good.

Seeing as we already got a look at the upcoming Fable return, we’d cross it off the list of hopefuls. Forza, too. Fortunately, Xbox has directly told us what to expect. First, an in-depth look at Ryu Ga Gotoku’s new project, Stranger Than Heaven. That’s good, seeing how it hasn’t made an appearance for a good few months now.

Read More: Xbox Game Pass wants to be your everything subscription

Up next is another look at The Expanse: Osiris Reborn, which is confirmed to be an action-based RPG set in the world penned by James S.A. Corey (or rather, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). “That’s not all we’ll have for you, with first looks and announcements from more great games coming to Xbox,” it said.

If that wasn’t enough to scare you from what is threatening to be a bit of a boring evening, listen up. You’ll want to be gathered around your screen of choice by 19h00 on Thursday, 26 March. That’s South African time, of course. If you can’t make it, check back in with Stuff on Friday, 27 March, for a round-up.

The post The second Xbox showcase of the year kicks off this week – when you can tune in appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

When it comes to affordable headphones, nobody gets a reception quite like Anker’s Soundcore spinoff — especially at Stuff. It pulled off a near miracle with the Soundcore Space One, before doing it again when the ‘Pro’ came along. We’ve eagerly awaited a sequel, and according to AnkerInsider, our time has nearly come.

That would be the Anker Soundcore Space 2 (Space Two?). Known as Model D1402 until Anker gets around to an official announcement, the Space 2 packs 40mm double-layer diaphragm drivers, three microphones, and four-stage low-frequency noise cancellation. Battery life has also been upgraded. Keep ANC off to net roughly 70 hours on a single charge, or 50 with noise-cancellation dialled up. Wear detection and LDAC are also supported.

This is usually the bit where the leaker runs out of useful info, but not here. AnkerInsider reckons the device is primed for release on 21 April (in the States) in three colours: Jet Black, Linen White, and Seafoam Green. It’ll even keep its affordable price tag, landing at $130. That’s a little under R2,200 when directly converted.

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Spotify dials back the algorithm (but only if you want)

The algorithm might work for Stuff’s own Toby Shapshak, but not everyone is so lucky. Apps like Spotify often miss the mark for some, prompting the music streamer’s next update: Taste Profile. Announced by co-CEO Gustav Söderström at SXSW, Premium listeners have a new way to adjust their algorithm on the fly.

The feature is still in beta and will gradually roll out to Premium subscribers in New Zealand over the coming weeks. When it does show up, users will be able to surface their entire ‘taste profile’ through the settings to see what Spotify’s algorithm thinks about them. If they aren’t keen, users can make adjustments in real time.

“If something doesn’t feel quite right, you can tell us by flagging when your profile misses the mark—asking for more or less of a certain vibe, or simply sharing what you’re in the mood for. Your input helps determine what gets prioritized, what gets dialed back, and what you discover next on the Spotify homepage,” it said.

Of course, if you’re happy with the algorithm as is, there’s no sense fiddling with a good thing. We’re all for more customisation, especially when it comes to Spotify’s taste recommendations, which are increasingly AI-ridden in the current landscape. Don’t expect that to disappear anytime soon. Taste Profile is the best you’re going to get.

Instagram ditches end-to-end encryption… for the kids

It’s no secret that Instagram is an unguarded playground for the sexually devious, particularly when children are involved. The Meta-owned social media has done much to distance itself from the issue. Now it’s dropping end-to-end encryption (E2EE) from the app’s direct messaging feature. If you aren’t familiar with the term, it’s a security protocol that ensures messages can only be read by the sender and receiver — and not Instagram.

Yeah, that’s going away for good. Soon. As soon as 8 May 2026, to be precise. After that, you may want to refrain from sending anything sensitive you’d rather Instagram didn’t know about. The company cites a low adoption rate as one of the reasons it’s disappearing. That might have something to do with the onerous opt-in process.

Another major factor is to help keep kids safe. Child safety organisations claim the encryption standard makes it easier for certain predators to communicate with underage users online. With Meta and potentially law enforcement able to see inside certain chats, it could dissuade predators from messaging underage users in the first place. Still, if you’d rather not have Meta snooping around, you’ll gain the power to download your chats locally, soon.

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Your Xbox is getting its very own AI assistant, for some reason

Well, it’s been a good run. Microsoft’s Gaming Copilot AI Assistant may have already infected your mobile, computer, or ROG Xbox Ally in this beta phase. Now the feature is slated to plague your Xbox console, too. It won’t arrive immediately — but it will land on your Xbox Series X and S consoles before the year is out. Yay?

Xbox’s gaming AI partner group product manager, Sonali Yadav, confirmed as much at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) panel. “I’m excited to announce that later this year, we will bring Gaming Copilot to the current-generation consoles, and we will continue to bring it to more services that players are playing,” she said.

The Gaming Copilot AI Assistant is just like every other chatbot that’s dominated headlines since 2022. Except this one specialises in gaming. It’ll hibernate on your console ’til summoned, ready to help with any questions about the game that’s currently kicking your ass (it’s okay, you can say Hollow Knight: Silksong). It’ll even deliver recommendations when asked, or bring up your play data or account details.

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Riding the Game Pass gravy train

On the surface, that sounds like a pretty good idea. The news hasn’t come from Xbox, but rather The Verge’s Tom Warren, who heard through the grapevine that Microsoft is considering ways to bundle third-party services with Game Pass subscriptions and “potentially even merge Xbox Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass”.

That’s where Warren left it. It wasn’t long before Windows Central’s Jez Corden weighed in on the change, claiming that Microsoft wants to bundle in stuff like a World of Warcraft sub, Minecraft Realms, and even the $15/m premium fee for The Elder Scrolls Online. For folks footing all those bills separately, that R350/m price doesn’t actually look so bad. Don’t forget, Xbox is rather good at adding its games to the service on day one.

Read More: Xbox Developer Direct 2026: All the biggest reveals and announcements

No, it’s what comes after that scares us most. If Microsoft is willing to run hikes without any obvious value add-ons, imagine what it’ll do once it’s ready to add multiple. The hikes may not be immediately apparent — Microsoft’s ditch is rather deep right now — but somewhere down the line, customers may be forced to eat the biscuit.

Of course, this is all hearsay until Microsoft makes a move publicly. Warren reckons we likely won’t see any major movement on the Game Pass front until 2027, at the earliest. For now, customers will have to put up with the R350/m fee for the Ultimate tier and all of its current perks as is.

Source, 2

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A Fable worthy of Aesop

“Albion’s first hero in a generation” is a frank but literal reminder of just how long it’s been since we journeyed into the world of fantasy realm with Fable 3, which debuted more than a decade ago. Playground Games’ long-awaited Fable reboot is finally more than just a wishful proof-of-concept, offering a deep dive into the goings-on in the world of Albion and the hero’s story that can literally shape the realm’s history.

Players step into the shoes of a customisable MC (main character) in the vein of Cyberpunk 2077’s ‘V’, able to truly travel wherever they’d like, moulding their morality as they go, with a revamped reputation system at play. Most impressive of this massive open world are the 1,000+ handcrafted NPCs that live in it — commenting on the player’s wealth (or lack thereof), choices, and future actions. “Our game will never judge you, but the people of Albion will… loudly.”

We also caught a glimpse of combat gameplay, which pales in comparison to the news that every building is enterable in Fable, just as every home’s possession is up for grabs if you’re going that route. There’s plenty more to see in the ten-minute-plus developer diary (above), but the real “bombshell” here was that the game was headed for PlayStation 5, in addition to Xbox Series X/S and PC in autumn. Yeah, who could’ve seen that coming?

Xbox, meet John Forza

Weeaboos, unite! Forza is officially headed for Japan (pssst — this is the bit when you pretend to be surprised). Forza Horizon 6 spans all the bits you’d like to see — from the quieter, Sakura-packed spots to the hustle and bustle of Tokyo’s intersections, all wrapped up in some of the cleanest graphics we’ve ever seen.

What else would you expect from the likes of Playground Games? What about a fully-playable Tokyo City that’s five times larger than any other Forza game could deliver? Well, good, because that’s what you’re getting. That’s on top of the 550-plus cars, which can be shown off in the player’s house when friends come around to visit.

FH6 builds on customisation with ‘The Estate’, a massive mountain valley area that players can design and tailor to their heart’s content — with friends, too, if they’d like. Forza Horizon 6 is slated to launch on 19 May 2026 for the Xbox Series X/S and PC, though PS5 owners will have to wait until their turn later in 2026.

Beast of Reincarnation proves Game Freak isn’t all about Pokémon

From the makers of Pokémon comes Beast of Reincarnation, a “one-person, one-dog action RPG” that follows Emma and Koo as they traverse a haunting, apocalyptic Japan in the throes of fending off “blight”. Emma, whose memories and emotions have been quashed by her Blight affliction, embarks to capture “malefacts” like Koo.

Beast of Reincarnation blends a seamless, fast-paced combat system (Emma) with slower combat techniques that feel pulled straight out of a turn-based RPG (Koo) — like slowing down time. The developer reckons the system adds a certain tactical flair, and from what we can see, we’d have to agree.

For once, Game Freak’s latest creation won’t be reserved for Nintendo fanboys. Beast of Reincarnation is coming to the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in winter 2026.

Double Fine is Kiln it

This cutesy but brütal “pottery party brawler” from legendary developer Double Fine wipes clean the slop from the multiplayer party genre and replaces it with something wholly fresh. You’ll need a couple of friends at your side to get the most out of Kilni, which has you each building pots, only to send them out into an active warzone.

Kiln demands some Sam Wheat levels of skill in the pottery-building phase, for the size and shape of your finished creations directly affect their play styles and movement speeds. It’s a 4v4 team-based arena battler that’ll benefit from some team coordination as players attempt to smash the other team’s pots. Violently, if possible.

Kiln launches this autumn on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, though players can smoke some pots in the upcoming beta by signing up over here.

The post Xbox Developer Direct 2026: All the biggest reveals and announcements appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

Xbox feeling PC

One of those may well be the rumoured ‘Xbox PC’ that would, again, be developed by a company that isn’t Microsoft, despite the company slapping its logo on the final result. Considering the company’s previous partnership with Asus for the Xbox ROG Ally X, it seems likely to continue passing the buck.

At the time of writing, Windows Central warns that these are just “credible rumours”, and that only “time will tell” to see whether it sticks to the plan it’s heard from various sources. Xbox president Sarah Bond all but confirmed this when she called the next-gen ‘console’ a “very premium, very high-end curated experience,” hinting at a hybrid model that’ll set customers back far more than a typical Xbox would.

Read More: Are you a bad enough dude to rock a pair of Xbox-branded Crocs?

Even non-Xbox fans will be glad to learn that the Elite Controller Series 3, which has become a go-to for PC gamers over the years, may launch in 2026. The report also mentions that all of the company’s next-gen controllers will likely support direct-to-WiFi connectivity, to reduce Bluetooth latency as the company continues to prop up its cloud-based gaming arm.

Leaving the hardware up to another entity would allow Microsoft to close more studios potentially beat Sony to the punch of the next-gen console war, and focus on the software side. On that front, Xbox plans to finally show off the long-awaited Fable remake later this month, alongside a deep dive into Forza Horizon 6. 

Source

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There is a catch if you’re a South African gamer looking to adorn your feet with plastic game controller replicas. The shoes are only available (for now) on the official Crocs website. You’ll have to join a waitlist to order them, too.

What a lot of Crocs

The footwear looks the part, replicated in disturbing detail the current generation of Xbox controllers, with one half of the gamepad split onto each Croc. With enough Vitamin Green and a large enough bag of Cheas Naks, you could probably convince that one herbal overachiever that they’re a brand new split controller for Microsoft’s ‘upcoming’ VR hardware. It’d be the ‘my uncle works at Nintendo’ gag for the 2020s.

The price of entry for the lore-accurate Xbox Crocs isn’t small, if you’re South African. The shoes retail for R1,400 ($80) per pair, with a set of themed Charms available for an extra R350. The Doom logo, Halo‘s Master Chief, that pirate game that’s totally worth checking out, and the Fallout PipBoy mascot are among the additions. But having a D-pad, thumbsticks, and face buttons on your precious feet will probably be enough for most folks.

According to Microsoft, “this controller-meets-clog design […] reimagines the iconic Xbox controller with fixed buttons and joysticks into the perfect shoe for couch co-op and kicking back – complete with cushioned footbeds adorned with Player Left and Player Right, which give expert-level comfort to support your next session.” See? No mention of Crocs at all.

Still, it could be worse. They could be Croc Martens.

The post Are you a bad enough dude to rock a pair of Xbox-branded Crocs? appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

We’ve spared you the minute-long Aston Martin ad for 007 First Light, for instance, instead reserving the slots on this list for the biggest and most interesting reveals of the night, of which only a few grabbed our attention. You can check out the entire Xbox Partner Preview over here if you’re interested in checking out the roughly 30-minute stream.

CloverPit looks like our new addiction

CloverPit can satiate that desire for just one more spin (no, really, just one more) without any of the financial risk. There’s just one problem: your life literally depends on it. Players find themselves locked in a room and must spin the slots to pay off their debts, or risk plunging into the depths below. Better yet, CloverPit landed on Xbox One and the Xbox Series X/S yesterday. You’ll get it free with Game Pass Ultimate, too.

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up so we can get a good shot?

Unless your name is Diddy, you’ve probably got no beef with Marshall Mathers, AKA Eminem, in the real world. Whatever your feelings toward the rapper, players of Hitman: World of Assassination will have the chance to make the real Slim Shady take a seat in the dirt as part of an elusive target update, arriving on 1 December 2025.

Dave the Diver hits Xbox, gets new In the Jungle DLC

Dave the Diver has frolicked on other consoles for some time now, but it’s finally ready to play nice with Xbox. Landing yesterday on the Xbox Series X/S and Xbox on PC, if you haven’t sunk at least a couple of hours into this RPG that’s just dripping with style and substance, now’s your chance. Oh, and we also got a peek at the upcoming In the Jungle DLC, which sees Dave ditching his diving gear and exploring on land for once.

Reanimal is all about the co-op horrors

“A cooperative horror game from the creators of Little Nightmares” is all we needed to hear before we were on board with Reanimal. Players step into the shoes of a brother and sister pairing, on a twisted adventure to escape their home and save their buddies along the way — all while dodging monsters and uncovering secrets. Reanimals comes to the Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC in February 2026.

Vampire Crawlers keeps the vampire community alive

From the mind of Poncle comes Vampire Crawlers — you know, the guy who made Vampire Survivors? That alone should be enough to sell you on this brand-new (but still Vampire-focused) entry that takes a first-person approach to the roguelike, deck-building dungeon-crawler on display. There’s no telling when this one will be ready. Xbox says it’ll be out “soon,” while the trailer tells us it’ll be out when the devs think it’s ready. When it does, it’ll land on the Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC sometime in 2026 (probably).

Zoopunk = Biomutant? We hope not

We want to like Zoopunk. We really do. The premise looks interesting enough — you play as a “ragtag group of sky-faring, traditional-weapon-wielding anthropomorphic animals”, but it doesn’t make up for the somewhat weak-looking gameplay. We’ll give the action game from TiGames a shot when it arrives in 2027, but we can’t help but feel like we’ve got another Biomutant on our hands.

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It’s been more than seven years since Vine shut down, but not before it helped pave the way for the likes of TikTok and Instagram Reels. Many still consider Vine to be the peak of short-form content, challenging creativity by imposing a six-second limit on videos before TikTok put those ideas to bed. And now it’s coming back.

Where the likes of TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts are riddled with AI-generated videos in 2025, ‘diVine’, as the reboot is called, emphasises human-only content. Born out of what we’d imagine is boredom, Jack Dorsey resurrected the original video app, six-second limitations and Vine’s 100,000+ video archive to boot. The project’s creator, Evan Henshaw-Plath, reckons we may see original comments and profile pictures return, too.

“Experience the raw, unfiltered creativity of real people sharing genuine moments in 6-second loops. Built on decentralized technology, owned by no one, controlled by everyone,” diVine’s website reads. Unfortunately, the mobile beta is currently at maximum capacity, but you can sign up for the waitlist with an email address.

In the meantime, you can browse diVine on the web. Not every Vine is going to be a hit, especially ones created by the new generation, but that’s the beauty of the human-made content, which is all that diVine will allow onto the platform. We’re sure some AI slop will slip through the cracks, but hopefully not for very long.

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Uber’s ‘Send a Ride’ will reveal your broke friends

We’re honestly surprised it’s taken Uber quite so long to figure this one out, but it’s better late than never. The ride-hailing company just announced several new ridesharing features to its app ahead of the holiday season. One of those is ‘Send a Ride’, which does exactly what you think it does, and another is Uber Ski. No, really.

If your mate has ever hit you with the old “I have no money” trick after a long night out, it’s never been easier to cover their fare without them getting a peek at your banking details on their device. Whether they’ll actually return the money to you the following day… The feature requires the user to set a spending limit and a custom number of rides before it generates a link, which can be shared and used by anyone they’d like.

While Send a Ride hasn’t yet reached South Africa, we don’t doubt it’ll turn up eventually. Uber Ski, on the other hand, which lets users book a ride to and from nearly 40 of the top mountains across North America and Europe,” won’t ever darken South Africa’s doorstep. Not until we’re ready to host the Winter Olympics, anyway.

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Vivo X500 series gets a major battery boost

The Vivo X300 series may have just launched in China, but rumours are already flying about the battery inside the Vivo X500 series. Don’t worry — you haven’t missed anything. Chinese companies, especially the superstitious ones, tend to avoid the number four wherever possible, which means it’ll likely skip the Vivo X400 series entirely.

Where the X300 outdid itself with a 6,040mAh battery (6,510mAh in the X300 Pro), tipsters from Digital Chat Station on Weibo (via GSM Arena) claim that the X500 series will up that to the 7,000mAh+ realm, possibly even beating out X300 Ultra, which Vivo is still clinging onto for the time being. We don’t imagine the improved battery life will make for very affordable phones, considering the X200 Pro still fetches a R40k price tag in SA.

It seems that Vivo’s mid-range efforts for 2026 will take it a step further with 8,000mAh+ and possibly even 9,000mAh+, though it’s still unclear which devices will reap the upgrade at the time of writing.

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Backbone launches Pro Xbox Edition controller

If you believe Xbox’s marketing that everything is an Xbox, you have to accept that your smartphone is one, too. Backbone’s new Pro Xbox Edition makes that fact a little easier to stomach, wrapping your device in a green bunch of controls that look no more comfortable to hold than the company’s PlayStation edition.

It’s still using the device’s USB-C port to pull off the feat, though looking a whole lot more like an actual Xbox controller than the previous entry. Full-size joysticks, hall effect triggers, and customisable back buttons should make it that much easier to play your games on the go, assuming your device can stand to bear it.

If you’re still lagging on the USB-C train, this new controller sports a Bluetooth pairing mode, which the company claims will take roughly 40 hours to drain entirely. Hooking it up via the USB-C means it draws power from the device, lasting about as long as your smartphone or tablet does. Better yet, it’ll ship with a free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to kickstart your journey. From there, though, you’re on your own — price hikes and all.

The post Light Start: Do it for diVine, Uber’s Send a Ride looks fine, Vivo X500 battery design, and Backbone makes us pine appeared first on Stuff South Africa.

That means a couple of things. One, Asus has a pretty good handle on how to make these things by now, which makes for an excellent, if expensive, experience. And two… well, this is an Xbox, however much it may not look like one. Following the Asus ROG Ally and the ROG Ally X, the more expensive ROG Xbox Ally X doesn’t try to reinvent the gaming handheld; instead, it refines those bits that needed the most attention.

Asus finally got a grip

Easily one of the biggest misses with the previous two handheld efforts from Asus was the lack of any proper grips around the sides. Personally, we don’t mind the Switch-like claw grip when using handhelds for short periods, but the addition of the Xbox-inspired grips on this 7in handheld made a world of difference.

We played through the hours of battery life this thing served up without any aching pains halting our fun. We were ironically thrown by how well Asus distributes the 715g weight, which is a fair bit heavier than, say, the Switch 2 (535g), making for a device we wouldn’t mind spending hours with on a road trip — assuming you’re still relegated to the backseat. If you can afford to own one of these, that probably isn’t the case.

The rest of the ROG Xbox Ally X is a mostly recycled affair. That’s a good thing, with the A/B/X/Y buttons, Hall Effect triggers, and customisable bumpers proving to be a joy to game on. The eight-way D-Pad is still spectacular, and the analogue sticks — while not Hall Effect — are both light, indented, and grippy. They’re accompanied by (most) of the same buttons you might remember from last time.

Except for one. Xbox’s involvement meant that a newer, showier button bearing the company’s logo had to be thrown in, on the device’s left-hand side, in place of the last Ally X’s Armoury Crate. Ports too haven’t seen a makeover, still offering a single 3,5mm audio port, one Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, and a microSD card reader slot. It’s nothing marvellous, but we appreciate it all the same.

Would it have killed them to throw an OLED in here?

If one thing is certain, it’s that we haven’t seen the back of this Xbox/Asus partnership. Sure, the ROG Xbox Ally X may crater — that price is rather high — but not before the two launch an OLED-toting device together. That seems about par for the gaming PC handheld course, and who doesn’t like more money for almost no work?

It’s a shame, really. After Asus’ last big swing with the OG Ally X didn’t incorporate an OLED screen, we felt sure that whatever it delivered next would. Wishful thinking, apparently. Instead, Asus opted for the same — entirely competent — 7in FHD IPS-level LCD that’ll hit 120Hz and supports VRR. That’s… still good.

Real good. We can’t pretend that the lack of HDR wasn’t a blow, and it would’ve come in handy during our time with Forza Horizon 5. Despite all that, we enjoyed a smooth refresh rate, a bright-enough display (Asus claims 500 nits) to keep the curtains open in the day, and ultra-crispy visuals that really pop on the smaller display.

Indisputable gains

We can’t say that we were immediately thrilled after we got our hands on the ROG Xbox Ally X. It suffered from minor issues, mostly with the UI — like the gamepad bugging out, and forcing us to dirty the screen needlessly, et cetera, et cetera. To Asus and Microsoft’s credit, this wasn’t the case for very long, and nothing a few updates couldn’t fix. It was, at least, running fine ahead of release.

With Game Pass Ultimate and our Steam library at our backs, it didn’t take long to put the ROGXbox Ally X through its paces. We gravitated toward Forza Horizon 5 (okay fine, we downloaded Hollow Knight: Silksong first, sue us), but before long, we had tapped out the 1TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD and made room for more.

It wasn’t long before we got to put the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme to the test. The ‘AI’ bit is technically true — there is an NPU involved, but since this is a dedicated gamer (or at least, it’s meant to be), it feels unimportant to the conversation. Like most artificial intelligence. More important was the 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM on board.

That all amounts to a remarkable time with the ROG Xbox Ally X, whether on the go or hogging all the juice at home before Eskom decides you’ve had enough. Obviously, the best results come from a ‘docked’ experience, but we were surprised by how well the handheld managed big-budget AAA games. Indie games like Balatro and Hollow Knight: Silksong would run on a potato if you asked them nicely enough, which doesn’t say much.

We ran a couple of basic benchmarks; here are the results:

• 3DMark Steel Nomad avg – 596

• PCMark 10 avg – 7,254

The console even managed to keep its cool when put under the pressure of the ‘Turbo’ power profile, and running games like Forza Horizon 5 — which performed well while in our care, and maintained a cool FPS. Even when dropping down to the regular 17W ‘Performance’ profile, which worked best away from a power point, and some tweaking in the settings, the console supplied some excellent visuals at a lower but still decent FPS.

We expected that since the bulk of our time was spent in the 35W Turbo (when plugged in, 25W unplugged) mode, we’d be left with an overheating and expectedly loud console, but the opposite was true. The ROG Xbox Ally X heats up, don’t get us wrong, but it never felt like anything was wrong.

Even the battery life caught us off guard. It’s the same 80Wh that was in Asus’ last handheld, but with the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme and 17W Performance, we clocked around two hours in bigger titles, and just shy of double that when confining our habits to smaller indies.

No more Windows 11?

The worst bit about gaming PC handhelds? The ‘PC’ bit, or more specifically, Windows 11. Fortunately, by default, Windows 11 has been banished to the shadow realm when you turn on the ROG Xbox Ally X. At least, until you call it back from the other room. If you’re only here for the games, there’s no reason to ever do so.

Having immediate access to all your games, whether it be from Steam, Epic Games, GOG, or plain ol’ Xbox titles, is excellent, and how all gaming handhelds should be. A Game Pass subscription was essential for us to get the most out of the ROG Xbox Ally X, but that might be due to our lack of owned titles that aren’t Minecraft.

Mileage may vary depending on your library of Xbox games, of course. Steam and Epic users won’t have to worry — their games are made for PC — but not all of Xbox’s are. While there are more than 1,500 titles available via the ‘Play Anywhere’ campaign Microsoft is pushing, your games specifically might not have made the cut.

ROG Xbox Ally X verdict

The ROG Xbox Ally X is easily one of the most impressive PC handhelds out there. It bloody well better be, with a price so high it belongs in a Cheech and Chong film. It may have only hit shelves yesterday, and it probably won’t be long before it’s dethroned by the next big thing™, but you can rest assured that, today, this is the best in a pool of a dozen other gaming PC handhelds that all technically do the same thing: play games. Assuming you’ve got a reputable-enough Xbox and Steam library to keep you stimulated without skipping on rent first, that is.

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