The Scuf Envision Pro's biggest selling point is exactly why I wouldn't recommend it

Scuf recently launched its second PS5 controller, the Omega. But looking at it, I could only see a very clear resemblance to the brand's PC controller from a few years ago. As it happens, the Envision Pro has always eluded my testing bench until now, so now that the PS5 model is out, it makes for an interesting time to finally go hands-on with it.

When you look at the Envision Pro, you can see a PS5 controller that never was. I'm very curious to know the story behind this, because without a PlayStation button and official licensing for Sony's console, this thing is a deadringer for the Omega that launched this year. I wonder if the brand had difficulties securing licensing for it at the time, and the Envision Pro ended up being a PC-only venture that had always been geared toward PlayStation's ecosystem.

Either way, for the $169.99 / £169.99 it retails for, it offers a lot of unique charm. It has four back buttons, a magnetic faceplate you can swap out at will, Hall sticks, and perhaps its most standout feature, additional side buttons for you to map. I've loved these on other controllers, and have been so keen to try them out here. Unfortunately, what should be the biggest reason for me to recommend you the Envision Pro is the exact reason I'd probably tell you to steer clear of it.

Design

If you caught my manager Tabitha reviewing the Scuf Omega in recent months, you can go ahead and skip this section of the review. Literally without the PlayStation branding and some renewed designs, this is the same controller, which makes the Envision Pro feel a little surplus to requirements now, if I'm honest. With PlayStation and PC support, as well as extra bells and whistles, you might as well pay for the new model. That said, if you have no interest in PS5 compatibility, this could be a cheaper option.

There are accents and design points here that scream PlayStation, but without the licensing, it becomes a tad uncanny. For example, there are symmetrical thumbsticks, which is excellent for giving the Envision Pro its own identity and appeal to folks who prefer this thumbstick configuration and don't feel represented in the PC controller market.

But far weirder is the glaring space in the middle of its face where a touchpad should be. Surely, even if the story went that this was supposed to be the Omega a few years earlier, Scuf could have just committed to the bit and thrown its own touchpad or interface into the middle of the pad instead? Without one there, it's so obvious that something was supposed to be there, so you feel like you've been robbed of what the product designers actually wanted to give you.

Of course, this is a Scuf pad, so that means talking about its design is a little difficult. All of this brand's products now come with magnetic faceplates, which means you can swap them out for other designs if you so wish. You can also perform a full custom color sweep and design the controller of your dreams. There's a lovely selection of colorways outwith going full custom though, and despite my qualms about the missing touchpad, I do think this is a bloody good-looking controller.

I'm also happy to report that Scuf's best-in-the-biz grip texture is present on the Envision Pro too. It's got that embossed, rubberized, hex-shaped texture dotted all over the grips that means it's a joy to hold. There's plenty of room for all four of my fingers to wrap around them and grip comfortably, and the back button placement is ingenious, creating a small nook for my middle fingers where, in theory, a twitch should be able to actuate either one.

Features

Speaking of which, the Scuf Envision Pro features four back buttons, but as mentioned, these aren't set out vertically like a lot of other pro controllers, with one pair obviously on top of the other. Instead, they're set almost level but angled in opposite directions. This means they're designed for you to use them with your middle finger as opposed to your middle and ring fingers, and that would work wonders, but the way these buttons have been designed lets them down.

The "top" back buttons are mostly fine. They're angled microswitches that click in really easily, and I don't have too much of an issue with them. Unfortunately, the other extra buttons create an ergonomic mismatch that becomes the Envision Pro's self-sabotaging flaw.

The "bottom" buttons are angled, plastic panels that feel as though they want to be magnetic back paddles like the ones found on the Gulikit KK3 Max, but they're too rigid and wrapped too well around your finger for them to be that easy to actuate. That means they take quite a lot of pressure to press in and, because of their shape, the only way to really apply that pressure is by squeezing the grips of the controller from the side.

Your middle finger flexes with enough force to actuate the plastic back panel, and as a result, the palm of your hand gets pulled into the side of the controller.

Why is this a problem? Because the Envision Pro also features two side buttons, which the palm of your hand/inside of your index knuckle are responsible for actuating. To make these easier to press, they're angled outward so only a bit of pressure from your index knuckle is needed to press them in. But that means if you're not careful about it, you're going to be accidentally pressing these every time you squeeze the bottom back buttons.

In fact, Scuf has made these side buttons so easy to press that even if you're working quite hard with your thumbs on the microswitch face buttons, or you're pulling the trigger a bit too keenly, you'll be pressing these side buttons constantly without meaning to.

For the record, my problem is not the inclusion of side buttons. In fact, these are actually why I was so keen to check out the Envision Pro to begin with, because controllers with side buttons are so rarely seen. I have had great experiences with them, especially on the CRKD Nitro Deck+, where they're integrated right into the side panels of the controller, unraised, and take a more intentional press to use.

As I'll come onto, this has been causing me loads of problems, but thankfully, you can create and hot-swap between five onboard profiles thanks to some handy buttons, and unassigning the side buttons (or swapping out the buttons for blanks) on some of them might be your best solution. You can map the back buttons without the use of additional software, which is a relief, but if you want to fine-tune, you're annoyingly going to be at the mercy of Corsair's iCUE program. I get on better with this than I do Razer's Synapse or SteelSeries' software, but I stand totally against a need for these gaming hardware brands to force their intrusive, annoying, and bloaty software onto us just for buying one of their products.

I don't see any reason why Scuf couldn't implement Envision support into one of its existing Windows apps, because introducing iCUE into a PC that doesn't need it for its internal components could cause performance issues or annoying incompatibilities - this has happened to me with iCUE more than once.

There is vibration feedback here, but it's pretty weak, and I'm wondering if this is an area that Scuf cut some costs on back when it was likely trying to apply for PlayStation licensing. With official PS5 compatibility, the Envision Pro wouldn't have been able to have rumble or haptics inside it, so with whatever plans changed, it feels like Scuf may have just used some quick-fix motors here. Again, this is all conjecture though, so this is really just my best guess.

The Envision Pro is equipped with Hall sensor thumbstick modules, and some swappable tops are provided in the box so you can make them a bit taller if you like. Besides the magnetic faceplate, that's sort of it in terms of physical customization, which is a bit of a shame when so many pro controllers are shipping with carry cases and charging stands.

There is a USB dongle for wireless play, as well as a cable in the box. You can also activate some trigger stops for quicker actuation, and connect a 3.5mm headphone jack. These things are nice, but some more well-rounded customization options, or the ability to add some weights or change thumbstick tensions, would have given the Envision Pro another leg to stand on where its side buttons come up short.

Performance

I want to like, and recommend you, this gamepad based on its comfort, symmetrical shape, design, and decent features, but it's so difficult to ignore the glaring problems it has.

The ergonomic mishaps that I describe above mean that, no matter what genre of gaming I turn the Envision Pro to, its various elements are always dissonant, never singing in pure harmony with one another.

I loved the Envision Pro as a gamepad to have on my desk whenever I hopped into a car to drive around Cyberpunk 2077's Night City. There really is a lot of comfort to be had with this thing in hand, and I absolutely adore the shape of the triggers. They're longer and narrower than a lot of pro controllers tend to shoot with. It makes them reminiscent of the DualShock 4, and keeps them comfortable for driving in particular. What isn't so ideal is when you have the right-side button mapped to the A button, and as I'm squeezing the accelerator, V decides it's time to jump out of the luxury car I'm driving.

Similarly, the face buttons of the Envision Pro are clicky and satisfying to use. I had a lot of fun revisiting Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero for this review, since all that button mashing and ultra instinct reaction time needs a controller with great responsiveness. I managed to win some really hard battles I had struggled with a week prior while reviewing the ELO Vagabond. In fact, this may have been the only time those side buttons came in handy. In the chaos of it all, they just aided the slightly random button-mashy gameplay, and when used on purpose to dodge at a moment's notice or deliver a ki blast, they were great.

The same goes for FPS games, as setting one to a crouch button meant I could shoot and duck at the same time in Hunt: Showdown, which helps level out the movement abilities of controller and keyboard players. The thumbsticks felt smooth to use and helped me aim well, as I'd expect of any Hall sensor controller in this day and age.

Even without the side buttons causing issues, I do think those lower back buttons are just a bit too rigid to really be as helpful as they could be. I respect Scuf's design work in almost wrapping them around your middle finger, but this sort of positioning makes you want to be able to use them with a mere twitch like the switches on the Azeron Cyborg II, not a full-blown squeeze. I certainly found that when using them to jump around in Towerfall Ascension, as I needed that super-fast movement response and I just wasn't getting it.

It was in this game where I really wanted more obvious, crunchy feedback to make itself known, but the Envision Pro played it far too cool. Thankfully, trigger stops help to make it feel snappier. I'm not too sure about hiding the release switches for these under the triggers themselves though. As cool as that is from a design standpoint, it isn't the most practical choice, and it means you're going to struggle to use them mid-game.

Should you buy the Scuf Envision Pro

The Scuf Envision Pro does a lot of really cool stuff that makes me want to recommend it. It's comfortable, it's got some clever design points, it's got a symmetrical layout you don't see all too often in the PC market, and its face buttons feel great. I really applaud the innovative design work of the back buttons because they're positioned well; they've just been executed poorly because of how much pressure you need to apply to use them.

The side buttons are what drew me to this controller, and should be its biggest asset. Unfortunately, they've been integrated in a way that doesn't work well with the rest of the product's features, to the point where it's really hard to ignore it as a flaw. Sure, the solution might be to not have them assigned or replaced with included plastic covers to avoid accidental clicks, but that sort of defeats the point of buying this particular controller because it's then not doing anything differently from the rest of the options on the shelves.

I really want to recommend a controller with side buttons on it, because they're so hard to come across, so it's very frustrating that they haven't been designed well on the Envision Pro at all. If you can do the relearning and adjusting to your controller grip that's needed to adapt to them, I'm sure you'll love them, but for me, they're far too distracting and easy to misuse.

How I tested the Scuf Envision Pro

As is always the case with my controller reviews, I used the Scuf Envision Pro as my main gaming peripheral for around a week before coming to a verdict on it. I tested it across loads of gaming genres and put in hours using it both in more formal tests and as my own everyday controller for gaming. I tested its side buttons in a few different configurations and tried my best to adapt to its unique design points in order to get the best out of it.

I compared my experience closely to other PC controllers I've tested in the last few years, as well as my manager Tabitha's thoughts on this controller's PS5 successor.

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

Not convinced by the Envision Pro? You might want to look at the best TMR controllers instead, or the best Xbox Series X controllers.