Steam Controller Review – Valve's New Gamepad Takes All the Friction Out of Playing PC Games on the Couch

Valve’s new Steam Controller is seen as a strong upgrade over the original, adding traditional thumbsticks, capacitive touch, TMR sensors, rear buttons, and Steam Deck-style touchpads.

After two weeks of testing, the controller reportedly performs very well and feels like a more practical PC gamepad for living-room play.

The redesign borrows key ideas from the Steam Deck while keeping Valve’s PC-first flexibility through Steam Input and heavy customization.

Its main appeal is solving long-running issues like precision, customization, and stick drift, putting it closer to a serious rival to Xbox and PS5 controllers.