I’m not nice at video games. No less than, not on PC. I’ve no aptitude for utilizing a mouse and keyboard.
That’s proper—I play the whole lot with a controller.
No less than, I play all of my ordinary genres with a controller. And, up till about three years in the past, the association labored. A non-zero variety of PC players could also be shrieking silently (or loudly) about how unideal it’s to play sure video games with analog sticks, however I by no means had an issue.
Then my good friend group determined to play PvP video games. On PC.
Sooner or later, I’m taking part in Sea of Thieves and drunkenly lurching off a ship into water (my character, not me), after which the subsequent, I’m making an attempt to line up headshots on a human opponent who most positively is aware of how to not get shot.
It didn’t take lengthy to appreciate I wanted lots of assist, and that help needed to come both from my associates or divine intervention, as a result of I actually didn’t appear able to serving to myself. So I did what everybody with wishful considering does. I purchased stuff to repair my downside. Particularly, I purchased the weirdest, wildest, and arguably coolest gaming keypad out there.
Enter the Azeron Cyborg gaming keypad
I didn’t assume I’d discover a keypad with an precise analog thumbstick.Alaina Yee / Foundry
My downside with mouse and keyboard is the keyboard. For no matter purpose, utilizing the WASD keys for navigation nonetheless has but to click on in my mind. Add within the surrounding keys for triggering skills and the communication between my hand and my mind goes out a window.
Then again in April 2023, I stumbled upon this r/buildapc thread on Reddit. Amongst all of the implausible PC accent suggestions was one for the Azeron Cyborg. It regarded completely insane (and straight out of a Terminator film), however what caught my consideration was its precise thumbstick.
Through the first few weeks of on-line slaughter (mine, not my opponents), I had wistfully thought how having a left thumbstick for navigation however a mouse for aiming would mix the perfect of each my worlds. However the Razer Tartarus and comparable gaming keypads solely had d-pads, not full 360 analog sticks.
I took this new discovery as as signal, particularly after I regarded on the Azeron web site and noticed a gently used mannequin going for $140 USD. (A brand new one prices about $200 USD.) Impulse purchases are uncommon for me, however this appear fated. Desperation to not all the time be the weak hyperlink on my workforce could have added incentive to purchase.
Twenty-five bucks in delivery and a handful of days later, my package deal safely accomplished the journey from Latvia and landed on the PCWorld workplace’s doorstep. And that’s after I realized some exhausting truths about myself.
A brand new downside emerges
The quantity of adjustability is astounding.Alaina Yee / Foundry
The Azeron Cyborg is available in two flavors: normal, which positions a set of buttons above your fingertips, and Compact, which locations these buttons on shorter posts. You can too regulate the thumbstick positioning on the usual mannequin—a function I utterly underestimated after I bought my used Compact mannequin in sparkly galactic purple.
This keypad is dizzyingly programmable and adjustable. You get 29 mappable keys general, which incorporates the 5-way rocker change and thumbstick. Key mapping is very simple—you simply obtain Azeron’s software program and begin assigning keys—and also you get two separate profiles that you would be able to program. Key presses really feel good too, with satisfying clicky suggestions.
For the video games I performed (primarily Overwatch 2), I didn’t even use all 13 buttons inside my quick attain. A part of this needed to do with match. Even weeks later, my pinky can’t faucet its close by keys simply. That is regardless of me shopping for the smaller of the keypad’s two sizes, and in addition fussing with the positions of every key tower. You possibly can change the gap and the spacing, however I by no means discovered the right candy spot for my entire hand.
However I can’t blame match completely for my new battle, which is overcoming my very mounted muscle reminiscence on controller.
I’m my very own worst enemy, as ordinary
I ended up utilizing just some of the buttons for my ordinary video games.Alaina Yee / Foundry
Throughout my early life, I performed platformers and action-adventure video games virtually to the exclusion of the whole lot else—and it appears to indicate. A significant difficulty of mine in PvP video games is motion. I stroll in straight traces, because the worst (greatest) noobs do. However platformers, my favourite style, rewards that type of regular monitoring. That’s what I spent numerous hours optimizing for, whereas additionally missing publicity to genres (and sport modes) that reward the other.
So first downside: I don’t assume to strafe.
Second downside: The movement for strafing on an analog stick feels mistaken to me.
Sadly, proudly owning an Azeron gaming keypad does nothing to resolve these first two points, because it has a thumbstick. Actually, I didn’t even work out the second till I pressured myself to strive utilizing WASD in a low-stakes Overwatch match. It’s best to have seen my face after I realized how easy strafing felt when tapping two distinctive keys, reasonably than wiggling a stick backwards and forwards.
Third downside: I’m not used to utilizing fingers past my thumb and forefinger.
As a regular controller person, all I ever use are two fingers per hand. Every so often I would herald my center fingers if I’ve to press each the bumper and the set off buttons on the similar time, but it surely’s uncommon. (A fancier controller just like the Xbox Elite has extra buttons and thus can require extra fingers, however I don’t use that sort.)
Fourth downside: The controls are distributed in another way than on controller.
The Azeron Cyborg doesn’t change the what number of features you carry out together with your left hand for a mouse and keyboard setup. It simply provides them in a distinct type issue. And in comparison with controller, it’s in regards to the reverse of what I’m used to. On a controller, I’m utilizing my proper hand for an analog stick (digital camera angle/melee), the 4 face buttons (which normally map to weapon alternative, reload, leap, and crouch in a shooter), and a set of shoulder and set off buttons (skills). On mouse and keyboard, my proper hand will get left click on (major potential), proper click on (secondary potential or zoom), and the scroll wheel (weapon alternative/melee). No less than, it does on a primary mouse, which is all I’ve presently.
Lengthy story quick, I’ve lots of retraining to do and new muscle reminiscence to construct if I need to get wherever in PvP.
The way it shook out
I ought to have purchased the usual Cyborg mannequin for the adjustable thumbstick, since stretching my hand this far is just a bit too uncomfortable. Alas.Alaina Yee / Foundry
Whereas the Azeron has not been in a position to cowl for abilities I by no means developed, I’m not disenchanted. I knew it was most likely going to be an extended shot. (I’ve been by this earlier than with images gear.) I believe it’s an excellent keypad, and I like how a lot you’ll be able to customise it. That features the way it appears to be like, too. When you purchase new, you’ll be able to choose shade (so many enjoyable shades!), palm relaxation type, thumbstick type, and which hand it’s designed for (proper or left).
And the Cyborg has achieved greater than offering perception into my long-standing lack of ability to adapt to mouse and keyboard. My gameplay with hitscan characters in Overwatch is best—I don’t miss as many pictures with Ana when taking part in help, for instance. Don’t get me mistaken, I nonetheless suck. However I can see glimpses of what life is like once you don’t utterly suck. It’s a pleasant counter to getting older and stiffer, which have dulled my reflexes and made precision thumbstick actions tougher. I as soon as dreamed of getting even half pretty much as good as former colleagues on controller—they might go up towards PC gamers, a lot to the shock of builders throughout demos. However that’s past me now.
My solely actual criticism in regards to the Cyborg is that I purchased the mistaken mannequin. The Compact model’s thumbstick isn’t adjustable, and for my slim hand it’s positioned slightly too low to really feel comfy. The place the directional change sits, that’s the place I would like the thumbstick to be. I get an ache in my hand after taking part in for about 90 minutes or extra. If Azeron (or a group member) have been to launch a 3D printer file for a housing that reversed the positions of the thumbstick and rocker change, I believe I might sport for longer stretches.
Regardless, the Cyborg has made mouse and keyboard really feel much less like a sink or swim proposition. Possibly in the future I’ll get to primary WASD competency. However to this point, that day has but to return. In the mean time, I’ve now received floaties to maintain me from drowning.
Replace (September 2025): I initially documented this expertise with the Azeron Cyborg Compact early within the journey, again in spring and summer season of 2023. Within the two years since, I can say that I nonetheless am proud of the funding—and it actually has acted like floaties whereas studying to swim.
I outlined 4 issues I had whereas taking part in in video games like Overwatch: simply not strafing, disliking the feeling of strafing on an analog stick, use of extra fingers than on an Xbox or PlayStation controller, and adjusting to a distinct structure of buttons relative to a console controller. The primary two points nonetheless stay, however I’ve since adjusted to the brand new mapping and my gameplay has improved slightly. (I’m lastly now not ranked as Potato 5. Yay!)
I additionally talked about that I regretted not buying the mannequin with an adjustable place for thumbstick. I nonetheless really feel that means, however after Azeron launched a magnetic tenting stand for the controller, it helped ease a lot of the pressure on my thumb.
Azeron
General, the enhancements I’ve made in mechanical talent has gotten me extra curious and keen to present WASD navigation one other go. (I simply picked up this Lemokey X0 gaming keypad at a deep low cost, on the recommendation of my colleague and resident mechanical gaming keyboard guru Michael Crider.) I’ve additionally begun exploring the thought of making an attempt a correct mouse mat and one other gaming mouse to see if it improves my intention. As somebody who has extraordinarily deep console gaming roots, I all the time assumed my motor abilities have been solely guilty for my weak mechanical abilities in PC video games. I didn’t notice a few of it’s based mostly in your gear and settings.
I really feel much less overwhelmed now in regards to the thought of creating the complete change to keyboard & mouse gaming. Whereas I don’t know if I’ll make the leap efficiently, the makes an attempt shall be fairly entertaining, I’m certain. To different individuals, not less than.
