PalmyrPar praises €99 controller

A controller review usually isn’t news. But this one lands in the middle of something bigger — Valve is back in the hardware game, and the new Steam Controller is clearly the piece meant to pull PC gaming off the desk and onto the couch. That’s why praise for a €99 pad matters. If the thing really delivers on trackpads, gyro, haptics, and low-latency wireless in one package, it’s not just another accessory. It’s Valve making a second run at a problem it never quite solved the first time. ### What controller are people talking about? It’s Valve’s new Steam Controller, which went on sale on May 4 for $99 in the U.S. and €99 in Europe. The pitch is simple: take the Steam Deck idea of “every input you might need” and turn it into a standalone controller for PCs, Steam Deck, and Valve’s broader Steam hardware push. ### Why is this one different? Because almost nobody else sells this exact mix of features at this price. The new pad has dual trackpads, gyro, HD haptics, two TMR magnetic thumbsticks, four remappable rear buttons, and Steam Input baked in. Standard Xbox pads still don’t give you gyro. Sony’s DualSense gives you gyro and strong haptics, but not the same dual-trackpad setup or Valve’s native Steam remapping layer. (store.steampowered.com) ### Why do trackpads matter so much? On PC, a lot of games were built with mouse input in mind. That’s the old pain point. A normal right stick is fine for broad movement, but menus, inventory management, cursor-heavy interfaces, and fine aim can feel clumsy from a sofa. Trackpads are Valve’s answer. They let a controller fake some of the flexibility of a mouse without forcing you to sit at a desk. That was the original Steam Controller’s big idea, and Valve has kept it — but wrapped it in a much more conventional layout this time. (store.steampowered.com) ### So why are reviewers into it now? Because the old version was clever but weird. The new one sounds easier to like immediately. Early hands-on coverage keeps circling the same points — better ergonomics, a more familiar stick-and-button layout, lighter feel than it looks, and trackpads that no longer demand you relearn how a controller works from scratch. That’s a big shift. Valve didn’t abandon the strange part. (polygon.com) It just stopped making the whole device strange. ### Where does PalmyrPar fit in? PalmyrPar’s praise matters as part of that broader early consensus. The specific excitement around gyro, haptics, and trackpads lines up with what other reviewers and early buyers are highlighting too. So this doesn’t look like one isolated hot take. It looks more like the market recognizing that Valve finally made the “PC-native controller” case in a form normal people may actually want to use. (polygon.com) ### Is €99 actually a good price? For a basic controller, no. For this feature stack, basically yes. Valve priced it above standard console pads but below ultra-premium options like the DualSense Edge or Xbox Elite tier. That middle spot is the whole strategy — expensive enough to feel serious, but cheap enough that the features look generous instead of indulgent. (polygon.com) ### What’s the catch? The catch is that this is still a Steam-first device. Reviews keep hinting that its magic comes from Steam Input, Steam ecosystem integration, and Valve’s software layer. If you want one controller for every console and every device, this probably isn’t that. It’s more like the best argument yet for building your setup around Steam. (thefpsreview.com) ### Bottom line? This story isn’t really about one flattering score. It’s about Valve finally making the second draft count. If enough players decide that dual trackpads and gyro are worth learning — and early demand suggests they might — the new Steam Controller could push the whole controller market to treat PC play as its own category instead of a console hand-me-down. (techpowerup.com) (polygon.com)