The divisive Steam Controller was a testing ground for some of the ideas (touchpads, back buttons, haptics) that eventually made their way to Valve’s Steam Deck. While the company didn’t follow up on its 2015 wireless gamepad, peripheral company Hori did, in a sense. New $59.99 The wireless Horipad, which is available for pre-order on Amazon (launches December 16), has a Steam logo that doubles as the home button and is probably the closest thing we’ll get to the fresh Steam Controller. Fortunately, it borrows some features you may recognize if you own a Steam Deck.
It’s worth noting that its sticks are capacitive, just like the Steam Deck, which means they know whether your thumb is resting on them or not. This feature allows you to program stick functions using Steam’s controller customization tools, whether that triggers gyroscopic aiming (handled by the controller), a minimap display, or any other command you can think of by simply keeping your finger on the stick. Horipad for Steam has almost all of the same buttons found on Steam, including the most significant system-level buttons, as well as two pairs of remappable macro buttons. While Deck places both pairs at the back near the handles, the controller places one pair at the front (under the D-pad and right stick) and the other at the back.
Horipad for Steam supports Bluetooth and can also be used as an XInput controller if you connect it to your computer using the included 3.8 meter USB cable. A switch on the back allows you to switch between wireless and wired mode, and another switch changes whether the triggers are analog or digital. As for what the Horipad lacks, there’s no rumble support, and there’s no trackpad or headphone jack.
The controller seems worth the price, although if you have consoles at home, you may already have your favorite gamepad for using Steam or the Steam Deck. My former Verge colleague Sam Byford reviewed the Horipad on his blog Multi-core before announcing it in more regions, saying it was an intriguing but not impressive controller.