Asus ROG Falcata Review: A Daring Ergonomic Gaming Keyboard That Doesn't Quite Justify Its Bonkers Price

Split keyboards person been a happening successful the enthusiast abstraction for years, but it's lone precocious that we've seen large sanction gaming brands instrumentality a stab astatine the idea. Case successful constituent is the Asus ROG Falcata, an ergonomic mechanical keyboard that, erstwhile angled apart, forms a likewise curved plan to the falcon-shaped Iberian sword it's named after. As good arsenic offering a much comfy posture for typing, the keyboard tin besides beryllium utilized with the near fractional alone, making it a revival of the classical "gamepad" design: each the keys you request for FPS, and thing more. Modern magnetic switches prevarication underneath each key, dependable dampening ensures a beauteous typing experience, and there's adjacent low-latency 2.4GHz wireless, connected apical of Bluetooth and wired USB-C, providing a ton of other flexibility.

Unfortunately, each that functionality comes astatine a cost. The Falcata is simply a wince-inducing £335 successful the UK, and a likewise outrageous $420 successful the US. Discounts to £300 oregon $350 soften the stroke slightly, but we're inactive talking astir a genuinely premium keyboard that needs to deed connected each levels: large typing, performant gaming, important ergonomic benefits, sensible bundle and impeccable design.

The ROG Falcata comes adjacent to hitting that high-water mark, but I'm not rather definite it wholly delivers. Still, it's a fascinating portion of kit to use, and does astatine slightest acceptable a caller modular for the nascent ergonomic gaming keyboard category.

Design and Features

The ROG Falcata is simply a 75% size keyboard of 2 halves, which are joined unneurotic by a abbreviated (or somewhat longer) USB-C to USB-C cable. Each fractional has a agelong integrated thenar rest, astir the size of the keyboard itself, giving the full assembly a vaguely quadrate facet ratio, though these are removable if you don't request oregon privation them.

The 75% plan is reasonably ordinary, with Function enactment keys on the top, arrow keys successful the little close and a measurement instrumentality successful the precocious left, though the LED lighting portion on the near broadside of the committee which shows your measurement mounting and keyboard brightness levels, amongst different metrics, is unsocial and genuinely useful. Tiny icons illuminate to amusement you what you're adjusting, and airy races up oregon down the LED portion to signify your existent level.

The divided abstraction barroom besides makes bully consciousness here, allowing you to leap oregon make a spread with either hand, and determination are adjacent switches for connectivity and accelerated trigger mode tucked down the Escape key.

The 1 happening present I simply cannot abide is the Copilot cardinal successful the little right. Its placement borders the arrow keys, and I find myself hitting it perpetually erstwhile I don't mean to. It's meant to beryllium imaginable to disable it successful software, but for immoderate crushed this mounting doesn't work, truthful the unwanted Copilot model regularly appears – overmuch to my consternation.

I similar the LED barroom present which shows the existent level of immoderate you're adjusting.

The magnetic switches wrong the keyboard let for immoderate absorbing features versus modular mechanical switches, but consciousness precise akin to accepted linear switches. Asus has included 4 layers of dependable dampening here, meaning the code of each cardinal property is deeper and much pleasant, and the cardinal enactment is besides refined: moderately weighted (49g), comparatively quiescent and highly smooth. The backlit PBT keycaps are easy readable successful acheronian environments, and of people RGB tin beryllium disabled to prevention artillery beingness oregon if you simply similar the look of a azygous colour oregon thing astatine all.

The Falcata tin beryllium utilized successful wired oregon 2.4GHz wireless mode astatine up to 8000Hz, oregon successful Bluetooth mode astatine up to 250Hz. Battery beingness is rated astatine up to 200 hours with 2.4GHz and RGB disabled, which is emblematic for this category, but expect 2000Hz, 4000Hz and 8000Hz polling rates to chopped this longevity to days oregon specified hours.

Software

The Falcata is supported by Asus' web-based Gear Link software, which allows you to remap keys, alteration the lighting, acceptable up FPS features similar SOCD, and alteration different keyboard settings. The bundle is considerably much polished than Cherry Xtrfy's equivalent bundle I looked astatine implicit astatine Eurogamer recently, with polished English connection text, an intuitive layout, and sensible default settings.

There are adjacent immoderate rather uncommon features here, including the astute quality to swap the near Windows cardinal for a Function cardinal if lone the near broadside of the keyboard is being used, oregon alteration an 8000Hz polling complaint for often utilized keys lone successful alleged 'Zone mode'. It's casual to acceptable the actuation constituent and dormant zones of the keyboard connected a per-key oregon full committee basis, acknowledgment to unrecorded readouts of however acold each cardinal is being pressed – a spot similar Logitech has done with the akin sensors wrong its revolutionary X2 Superstrike mouse.

Similarly, accelerated trigger is smartly suggested for the WASD question keys by default, portion the counter-strafing assistance SOCD (called 'speed tap') is connected A and D, different sane choice. At each turn, it's wide that Asus has invested the clip successful making definite its features are good explained with small tooltips and acceptable up to beryllium of contiguous usage – a astonishing rarity successful immoderate keyboard software.

Performance

The ROG Falcata is noticeably accelerated successful fast-paced games, arsenic you'd hope, and I admit the immense magnitude of other mousing abstraction that moving with conscionable the near fractional of the keyboard provides. Of course, it's a spot of an annoyance erstwhile you retrieve a captious cardinal is connected the close broadside of the committee – specified arsenic 'y' for chatting successful Counter-Strike – but adjacent with some halves successful use, the compact 75% plan works well.

The Falcata includes magnetic switches, arsenic is the vogue for FPS-focused gaming keyboards these days, and the accelerated trigger, SOCD, and adjustable actuation points are each utile tools successful your toolkit for speeding up your inputs. SOCD is peculiarly captious for counter-strafing successful tactical FPS games, but it's worthy bearing successful caput that it's banned successful Counter-Strike 2 and is of constricted usefulness extracurricular of the shooter genre. Finally, 8K polling shaves a fewer microseconds disconnected your inputs, but does person a higher CPU interaction than the default 1K polling, truthful I wouldn't suggest enabling it unless you person a beefy machine and a peculiar involvement successful eking retired good margins to attain victory.

Rapid trigger? There's a power for that.

The usability of the keyboard extracurricular of gaming is besides strong, with the left-mounted scroll instrumentality proving amazingly utile for adjusting the measurement without needing to assistance your manus disconnected your mouse. The much ergonomic positioning that the divided plan allows isn't excessively tricky to set to – I chiefly needed to bid myself to property the 'b' cardinal with my near manus alternatively of my close – and determination are screw-in lifts successful the container to let you to space the keyboard arsenic you spot fit. A spot of 'tenting' – having the wrong of the keyboard raised somewhat – is meant to beryllium a spot much comfy for your wrists, and this is afloat imaginable here, though you don't get the benignant of fine-grained adjustability that the posable legs of an Ergodox EZ provides, for example.

With its integrated thenar rest, I recovered the Falcata a spot excessively bulky to easy tuck into a bag, particularly arsenic you request to battalion a cablegram to link the 2 halves adjacent if you're readying to usage the Bluetooth oregon 2.4GHz wireless connectivity options. That makes for a somewhat messy setup, though determination is an included shorter cablegram if you privation lone a flimsy spread betwixt the 2 boards (or to usage them afloat joined up). The magnetic switches present are comfy and comparatively quiescent for typing, whether you're penning an nonfiction oregon coding a script, though the PBT keycaps are a small slick for my liking. Still, I can't kick astir the wide feeling of the board, which is suitably premium.

Will is erstwhile lawman tech exertion for IGN, specialising successful PC hardware, sim racing and show tech. He has been publishing astir games and exertion since 2001 (age 12). Will was formerly Deputy Editor astatine Digital Foundry. He is presently playing BattleTech Advanced Universe.