The SteelSeries Aeon Pro is a controller that costs $250, but after two weeks of playing with it, I can't work out why

The SteelSeries Aeon Pro is the most expensive controller I've come across in my four years of reviewing them professionally. At a cost of $249.99/£229.99, it's about $50/£30 more expensive than a DualSense Edge, Nacon Revolution X Unlimited, and Razer Wolverine V3 and V4 Pro. That means it's about $70 more than the Victrix Pro BFG pads, and a staggering $170 more expensive than the popular GameSir G7 Pro. Even against the most expensive and most recent PS5 controllers like the Scuf Omega and Razer Raiju V3 Pro, SteelSeries is still coming in about $40 higher up the price scale.

I'll be honest, I like the SteelSeries Aeon Pro, but when an Xbox Series X controller is this expensive, it better not miss and hit the wall. SteelSeries has definitely shot its shot with the Aeon Pro. This thing feels distinct; it has a unique identity because it's not afraid to take big swings or just do some things a bit differently. Its charging stand cancels out the need for a carry case because it holds all its parts together. Its removable battery ensures you never run out of charge. Its screen has a bold interface that flies in the face of most on-board gamepad menu systems. All of these things are impressive, but are they $250 impressive? I'm not so sure.

For context, I think even a $200 controller is still way more expensive than it needs to be. That much is clear when brands like GameSir, Gulikit, FlyDigi, and PowerA are charging far, far less than the licensed brands for much the same features on PC. $250 is a lot of money for you to spend on a controller, so let me tell you why you should probably wait for a price drop on this one.

Design

I'd love to say the design of the Aeon Pro feels original since we haven't seen an officially licensed Xbox controller from SteelSeries before, but it's very reminiscent of the GameSir G7 Pro. That is hardly a bad thing, and SteelSeries, whether intentionally or not, has managed to recreate some of the best parts of that popular controller. Particularly in the white colorway, its grey, textured grips are grabby, contrasting beautifully with its eggshell body that feels really sturdy.

The G7 Pro and the OG Xbox Series X pad from Microsoft itself feel like inspirations here, but SteelSeries has absolutely souped up some of its parts in ways that feel unique to this product.

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For starters, there are four large, metallic back buttons on the rear of the Aeon Pro. These aren't your average GameSir back buttons that hide away in the grips of the controller, camouflaging themselves into the shape of the handles. These are loud, brushed silver paddles that don't try to blend in neatly in any way, shape, or form. They understand that largesse is easier for your fingers to find when they're wrapping around a controller, and they click in with absolute delight. They draw a lovely line between back buttons and back paddles. They're not quite the magnetic ones found on the Elite Series 2 or the Gulikit KK3 Max; they're non-removable and a signature part of the Aeon Pro's identity, but they're longer levers that actuate with more flexibility, feeling more premium than your average pro controller's back buttons.

That element of metallic design flourish is present elsewhere on the Aeon Pro too. The D-pad, triggers, and bumpers are all a brushed steel vibe, even if they're actually just a different type of plastic and not the real thing. It all offers a temperature contrast to the Aeon Pro's plastic and rubberized textures you find for the most part. If this were a cheaper controller, I'd be applauding the trickery this plays on your brain to make you think more expensive materials have been used, but when this thing costs $250, I end up raising an eyebrow in the same way I would when an unfamiliar charge appears on a bill I need to pay.

Thankfully, the microswitch buttons, which click with a deep, almost "thocc" sound like premium keyboard switches do, feel luxurious. Again, I don't know if I'd argue they feel and sound more premium than the ones on the Nacon Revolution X Unlimited priced at $200, and that's really the crux of the issue with the Aeon's design. It's got top-shelf features, but they're not worth $50 more than its competition.

Unfortunately, there's a design flaw staring you in the face here, and it's the options and in-game menu buttons being at the bottom of the controller's body, not on either side of the integrated screen. I don't care who you are, how expensive your controller is, or how many fancy features you give it. Those buttons should be at the top of the controller, not the bottom.

Yes, I can adjust to this, and have had to for a few controllers that I've reviewed, but it is always, always, objectively wrong to place them here. Twisting the knife is the fact that there is so much space at the top of the body for these buttons to fit.

The Aeon Pro has a deep and long face, which I enjoy the look of. I suspect this was to give the screen a bit more room to glow, but when it isn't actually that large, it feels like there's a lot of dead space bordering it where functionality could have been squeezed in.

Some pause buttons would happily border the OLED display without ruining the Aeon Pro's look.

Features

For years, some of the higher-end wireless Xbox controllers have been shipping with charging stands, but SteelSeries has well and truly broken the mold. The charging stand here is the most robust offering I've seen, acting not only as a place to holster your peripheral between sessions, but a connection hub for your gaming platforms, and as a hold-all for the swappable parts the Aeon Pro has at its disposal.

The Aeon Pro features extremely convenient magnetic thumbstick tops, which are fantastic. I hate swapping out controller thumbsticks because it's such an anxiety-inducing process. You feel like you're going to break something when you pull it off, and putting a new one on takes such a faffy angling process that you're never confident it's on correctly. SteelSeries clearly understands this, and using magnets is absolutely genius to snap on and snap off to your liking. According to Razer and its new Wolverine V4 Pro, however, using magnets so close to the Hall effect thumbstick sensors could cause issues with calibration. I haven't encountered any.

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These swappable thumbsticks slot right into the top of the charging stand - a convenient and simple way to keep them safe without warranting the need for a carrying case.

Like a lot of the SteelSeries gaming hardware you might come across on PC, the brand has provided a "limitless" battery life system, which essentially means that you're supplied with all of the capability and means of never running out of battery life, and if you do, it's your fault and not SteelSeries'.

That includes a swappable battery, and a spare that slots into the charging stand too. If you somehow run out of charge in a session and don't use the stand itself to refill, you can remove your battery, replace it with the one in the stand, and hot-swap as you need to. It's a genius system that's hard to fault, but it's another small innovation that I'm not sure warrants the extra $50 SteelSeries is demanding since one or the other (a charging cradle or a spare battery) would have sufficed for a lower cost.

Offer me a "limitless battery life" claim if you want, but when it's on me to make that happen, don't also charge me $50 extra for it.

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The charging stand does double as a USB dongle as well, since there's no separate receiver supplied in the Aeon Pro's box. Around the back you'll find an Xbox and PC USB-C port so you can connect to two platforms at once and switch out on the controller's menu depending on which you want to game on. That's a really nice touch for folks who do play across Xbox and PC at the same setup, and could be a reason to buy this particular controller if you find yourself in that section of the gaming Venn diagram. Personally, I haven't found this all too useful and would have much preferred the ability to connect to two different PCs at once. Bluetooth does work great, however.

The thumbsticks here are Hall effect. I'm fine with that, since Hall effect still feels great to play with. Again though, if you're going to charge this much for a controller, I expect to see the gold standard of TMR sticks included, thank you very much.

Like many other gamepads these days, there's an integrated screen and menu system. I do like this; it uses bold lettering and clever haptic feedback to help you navigate, which goes against the norm of tiny text and janky but navigable menu systems on most of these controllers. It feels like it has a purpose by easily helping you connect via Bluetooth, Xbox, or PC, but it's nothing revolutionary, which again, for a product of this price, maybe should be. The Manba One's menu still did it better, even if the haptics and navigability on the Aeon Pro are among the clearer and more satisfying controller settings menus I've tested. When the Genki Manta eventually launches, I fear both might become irrelevant anyway.

Rounding up the rest of the features, there's wireless charging, a 3.5mm headphone jack, USB charging, and two trigger stop switches.

Performance

The Aeon Pro is a very comfortable and usable controller across the board. I played about 4 hours of Big Walk with two friends using this controller in my hands, and time melted away without me realizing. That's the sort of experience you can have with it; it'll provide plenty of functionality and decent comfort for general gaming needs, and you won't complain about a thing. I think sometimes, the best controllers are the ones you don't notice or even have to think about; they work and let you immerse yourself in the game you're playing, and the Aeon Pro does that.

As a controller that's trying to be an all-rounder for console and PC play, the Aeon Pro succeeds. Its swappable thumbstick tops are super easy to use and feel like a breath of fresh air. Its microswitch buttons are well cushioned and feel responsive. Its grips wick moisture well and help you hold it securely. It looks nice on a desk, adding a touch of class to your setup. Platformers, exploration games, driving games- they all work really well with this controller, and for anything you're looking to casually kick back and enjoy alone or with friends, the haptics are precise and add a good layer of feel to the mix.

As for anything more? I think the Aeon Pro falls flat, and with its aforementioned price tag, it should be offering you more. As a controller for FPS games like Hunt: Showdown or Titanfall 2, I don't think the back buttons/paddles help as much as they should. I even found this in challenging singleplayer games like TowerFall Ascension and Control Resonant. Despite their clicky actuation and bold design, the lower back buttons especially take a bit too much force for my ring fingers to press in an instant. That leaves me feeling like I'm lacking the twitchy speed a controller like this should give me, and it feels like my gameplay suffers as a result.

The Aeon Pro doesn't feel as responsive in Control Resonant as the FlyDigi Apex 5 or the Nacon Revolution X Unlimited do, and both are more affordable. Perhaps more telling is that both of those alternatives have two additional bumper buttons as well as four back buttons, so they outclass the Aeon Pro for less money. For a bit of context on how I come to that judgment, let me explain.

In Control Resonant, you use the dodge button a lot. I map my "B" button to the right-hand additional bumper on these sorts of pro controllers, with the back buttons filling in UI and other combat or movement abilities. I can do that on cheaper alternatives to the Aeon Pro, but I can't do that here because there aren't additional bumpers, and yet it costs more. Combat gets significantly more difficult and feels clunkier, then, because my right thumb is going to have to come off its stick all the time to press dodge.

Then, I need to pause the game, and my thumb hits absolutely nothing on the top right of the gamepad. Remembering the awkward button placement, I clumsily bump my thumb on the right stick on its way down to the bottom of the controller, and I remember that price tag again. If I had paid for this controller and not been supplied with it by SteelSeries, I'd feel a bit like a clown putting on his makeup for throwing so much money at it.

There are lots of more affordable options that are an objectively better bargain than the Aeon Pro if you're after absolute speed and responsiveness. It seems to have misplaced priorities that are invested in comfort and connection convenience, not functionality.

That just about sums up my experience with the Aeon Pro; for anything relaxed, like driving in GTA, Cyberpunk, or Forza, you'll have a great time. For light platforming, exploring a big open world, playing a sports game like Tennis Elbow 4, or narrative-driven first-person games, it offers a premium feel and good comfort. The issue is that a $40 gaming peripheral can offer you great experiences across those sorts of genres too, so why should I recommend this to you for $210 more?

For players who want to top leaderboards, improve KD ratios, and best their time trial records, there are so many more affordable controllers I'd recommend over this one, and that's the problem with SteelSeries pricing this thing so high. There's a great controller to be had here, and if it were even $200, this review would be very different. But it doesn't give you enough to warrant its expense. Yes, the charging stand is excellent; it's cool having a swappable battery, and magnetic thumbstick tops honestly rule. But they don't feel like they warrant the extra expense when the gamepad itself isn't as good as the cheaper competition.

Should you buy the SteelSeries Aeon Pro?

If you're going to charge significantly more than the competition, it better be for a good reason.

That's the golden rule with any product, but in a competitive market like that of Xbox and PC controllers, it's especially true. Having tested the Aeon Pro for a few weeks now, I find it hard to pinpoint why it costs so substantially more than its rivals, and that's an issue.

While the SteelSeries Aeon Pro has a lot going for it, I feel as though SteelSeries has slightly misjudged where its priorities should be. It might demand a higher cost because of its innovative charging stand/accessories hub and spare battery, but I would have been more open to paying a premium if there were more additional buttons and TMR thumbsticks on top of the clever innovations the brand has made. If it were like the Steam Controller and offered some funky PC navigation, or extra ways to use it and make life easier, sure, charge more, but the Aeon Pro doesn't do any of that.

As it stands, the Aeon Pro is an great, truly comfortable controller, but it's not the best controller. Being the priciest, that makes it difficult to recommend. Once the price inevitably drops because no one can afford it, or when it hits the discount shelf, it'll be a better investment, but until then, shop for something else.

How I tested the SteelSeries Aeon Pro

I used the Aeon Pro for all of my gaming for about two weeks before writing this review. I tested it across PC and VR platforms, using it in all sorts of gaming genres to see how it fared. While I compared it closely to other premium Xbox controllers in how it performed, I also used my knowledge of the controller market to evaluate it and drew from my four years of experience as a gamepad reviewer.

For more on how we test controllers, take a look at the GamesRadar+ hardware policy.

You can see some more alternatives by looking at the best TMR controllers, or the best PS5 controllers.