I was impressed with the HyperX Clutch Gladiate RGB, especially when it can be a challenge to find solid third-party controllers on the market. There was a time when finding a reliable third-party controller for consoles, let alone the PC, left little room for choice outside of the usual suspects from the manufacturers, who often delivered dubious results at best and nowhere near the standard experience.
But it’s 2023, and despite Microsoft opting to ban unauthorized controllers on their Xbox platform, the tech giant is continuing to offer officially licensed controllers with trusted partners. Enter the HyperX Clutch Gladiate RGB— an Xbox Series-inspired wired controller solution with full RGB, dual trigger locks, and two programmable buttons on top of your standard suite of Xbox-style offerings.
In the package, you will get the HyperX Clutch Gladiate RGB itself, along with a quick-start pamphlet and USB-C style cable. The HyperX Clutch Gladiate RGB sports a translucent outer shell with the face of the controller ever so slightly raised, giving both the left and right grip of the device a feel reminiscent of an original Xbox pad.
“In terms of button feel, the HyperX Clutch Gladiate RGB feels relatively close to a standard Xbox One/Series controller, particularly the sticks, which have a similar textured grip.”
In terms of button feel, the HyperX Clutch Gladiate RGB feels relatively close to a standard Xbox One/Series controller, particularly the sticks, which have a similar textured grip. Outside of the share, view, and menu buttons, the HyperX Gladiate offers two extra recessed buttons on the back of the gamepad, which can be easily programmed using a button combination.
Speaking of programming, creating button macros and changing the RGB colour hue or style is all done through button combinations and is easy after taking a quick glance at the included manual. The lack of any dedicated software on the PC side of things might seem like a negative — but HyperX has managed to make the programming on the Gladiate intuitive enough, where additional software would feel extraneous, something that I believe benefits the PC user, who already has to tend with multiple launchers and game clients for their RGB powered battle stations.
Finally, the HyperX Clutch Gladiate features two trigger stops on the back of the controller, which allows the left and right triggers to either require a full motion or quick hairline pull to actuate or register an input. Personally, I like keeping the right trigger on the quicker of the two travel modes, which allows for quicker response times when playing FPS titles.
As the HyperX Clutch Gladiate has Microsoft’s blessing, the controller works flawlessly on any Windows machine on top of the Xbox, which has quickly made it my go-to controller for when I have company over and want to play some PC-focused co-op games or emulators.
In terms of anything new, the HyperX Clutch Gladiate RGB is just that, an RGB, or colour-changing translucent variant of HyperX’s already-existing product, making it a hard sell for those who may already have its first iteration but a great choice for those looking for a solid wired Xbox-style controller.
