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Sony could be forced to delay the launch of the PlayStation 6, while the Nintendo Switch 2 could get more expensive, due to the ongoing RAM shortage.

I’ve been dipping in and out of Serif Affinity for years now. It always struck me as a very impressive set of apps designed to compete with Adobe’s core offering: Affinity Designer was their answer to Adobe Illustrator, Photo was their Photoshop, and Publisher took on InDesign, all for a remarkably competitive price.

So what do you do for an encore? You get bought out by Canva for $500 million, of course! This happened back in March 2024 and everything went silent - until a few months ago. That's when Affinity merged all three apps into one and dispensed of licenses to become free for all.

I took a look at the all-new Affinity (sometimes known as Affinity by Canva) to see what's going on and how the new, completely free version stacks up.

• Try out Affinity by clicking here

Affinity: Pricing & plans

• Free to use
• Some optional AI tools locked behind a Canva Pro subscription

Price is the biggest change to the all-new Affinity.

It's completely free. No subscriptions, no perpetual licenses. 'Free forever' is the promise. But there’s no such thing as 'forever' in the business world, so how is Canva expected to make its money back from such a huge investment?

The current answer is by offering most tools for free, while restricting some higher end ones behind a paywall. Canva currently have an impressive 200 million total users, out of which 16 million pay for their premium subscription. The company is banking on Affinity luring a few more to it.

As a guide, Canva Pro would cost an individual $15 / €12 a month, or $120 / €110 a year, which will unlock all those AI tools, as well as everything else Canva’s premium side of things already offers.

So yes, in reality, Affinity is more freemium than free. However, these 'advanced' tools are AI-based, and all the tools you used to enjoy - and pay for - in Affinity 1 and 2, are free in 3.

Right now, and especially if you’re not a fan of AI, you can download, install and make use of Affinity 3 without spending any money. That's a heck of a deal for three Adobe-killer apps. And even if you were to fork out for the Pro subscription, it’s far cheaper than what Adobe charges.

Affinity: Interface

(Image credit: Affinity // Canva // Future)

• Superb interface consider it's three apps in one

Launching Affinity for the first time will reveal a slight wrinkle: you need to log in to your Canva account, or create one, before you can use the software. It’s not that big a deal as setting one up is free, and you’ll still be able to access the app when offline.

You may wonder how Affinity manages to combine three apps with vastly different sets of tools, into a single interface. It's achieved by dividing the interface into a number of ‘studios’, which are essentially separate interfaces depending on what you wish to work on.

Toggling between them is done through a menu, top left of the window. By default, you have ‘Vector’ (for Illustrator-type work), ‘Pixel’ (what’s where your photo editor tools are located), ‘Layout’ (where your desktop publishing software tools can be found). And, of course, ‘Canva AI’ if you pay the subscription for AI-laced tools.

But that’s not all.

Click on the three dots to the right of that menu, and you’ll find other workspaces are available, such as ‘slice’, ‘color grading’ and ‘compositing’, and you’ve even got the ability to create your own ‘Studio’, starting by cloning an existing one, and modifying it until it only contains the tools you need.

In that respect, this is a very elegant design. Better still, while working on a project, you can effortlessly switch between studios without having to save your work or anything. You’re in ‘Pixel’ and need to add some curves, just click on ‘Vector’ and carry on working. It’s that simple.

Furthermore, to help designers along in their Affinity journey, mouse over any tool and you’ll get some information about its purpose. Big deal you might think: almost every other software program does that.

True… except here, they go into great detail for each of them, and if that’s not enough for you, there’s a ‘learn more’ button that opens a ‘Help’ window with even more information.

A feature I quite liked deals with additional tools hidden in a single icon. Just like with Adobe, you can tell there’s more there thanks to a little chevron lower right of the icon. In other apps, were you to click on it, it would reveal the additional tools in a sub palette; select the one you need and that extended menu promptly disappears.

Here, it opens up a floating window, making it easy to access those tools again and again should you need to. Click on a different tool’s chevron, and its additional tools will overwrite the previous selection in that floating window, so you won’t end up with a proliferation of floating windows, which can only be a good thing.

All in all, I felt the interface was well designed and considering Affinity now does the job of three apps in one, it all works impressively well.

Affinity: Importing from Adobe

(Image credit: Affinity // Canva // Future)

• Importing Adobe projects works - mostly
• More complex files can take a while

Importing Adobe documents into Affinity wasn’t as seamless as I had hoped. Now don’t get me wrong, it works, and it works pretty well - for the most part - but there are flaws.

For one thing, although Affinity is broadly on par with Adobe’s tool palette, some are missing. If you created documents with those missing tools, the result may not be replicated perfectly as you import your file into Affinity. For instance, Smart Objects fall into that category.

Another hindrance I found is based on the fact Adobe doesn’t solely make use of the fonts installed on your computer, but also relies on Adobe Fonts, a collection of cloud-based typefaces. If you use those in your work, it won’t come as a surprise to see that those won’t transfer over when you open your project in Affinity. But as long as you only use fonts installed on your computer, you’ll bypass that problem.

Affinity can read PSD (Photoshop) and AI (Illustrator) files without too much problem. INDD (InDesign) ones however, can’t be read. In order to open them, you need to export your work from InDesign into the IDML format (InDesign Markup Language). It’s frustrating, but it’s nothing new: this was the case for when Affinity Publisher existed, before it was merged into this all-in-one new version.

Finally, the worst part of importing I experienced, was the wait. Go to File > Open, select the document you want and… nothing happens. Or at least, nothing seems to open.

You get no progress bar, no nothing, so I was left with the impression that it didn’t work. I tried again, and again, and again… and then after a while all those files eventually opened, one after the other.

This does show Affinity can handle multiple commands at once, which is not a bad thing, but it would be good to know something is happening which you wait for the file to open. Now this doesn’t happen for every document, but the more complex it is, the more likely you’ll have to wait, with no clue as to when your project will eventually deign to appear.

Affinity: Tools

(Image credit: Affinity // Canva // Future)

• A huge selection of tools
• All well organized with helpful assistants

If you’re used to other design tools, you’ll understand the concept right away. You have a sidebar where all the tools you need are located (these change depending on which studio you’re in as mentioned above).

On the other side of the interface is your contextual inspector, showing you all your changeable parameters, along with your project’s layers, and more. At this rate, you’ve seen one image processing app, you’ve seen them all.

And yes, don’t expect Affinity to possess all the tools Adobe cram into its own software. Adobe is renowned for that. But to be frank, the overwhelming majority of users don’t use all these tools, and if the one you need happens to be missing from Affinity, chances are there are other ways of doing the same - or similar - thing.

But it’s the little things that I greatly appreciated. Say you want to add a new object to an existing project. You get your paint brush, start drawing, only to realise you forgot to create a new layer and are messing up an existing part of your work.

So, you have to undo what you did, and start again. Well that doesn’t happen with Affinity, as a little clever assistant just automatically creates a new layer as you start drawing. It’s not a big deal really, but it makes using this software a more enjoyable experience.

Now of course, as I keep mentioning, some tools are missing if you’re used to Adobe. I brought up Start Objects earlier on, but a bigger omission is the lack of Curve tools in Illustrator - sorry, I meant Vector. You can use the Pen tool instead, but if you’re migrating, it’s another adaptation you need to make. Thankfully, a lot of the keyboard shortcuts are the same, greatly easing the transition.

If you’re upgrading from Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher, you might be puzzled as to where the filters have gone to in the Pixel Studio: they’re still there, but now they’re located in the menu bar’s Pixel menu, which means you gain access to those filters whichever Studio you’re in, so you could apply one of them to a vector layer if you wish (doing this will get an assistant to automatically rasterise the selected layer for you).

Since you can so easily go from a vector layer to a rasterised one, you’ll be pleased to learn that Affinity can also do the reverse, thanks to its impressive Trace tool. Select the layer you wish to alter, activate the tool, tweak the couple of parameters, check the result before applying it, and you’re good to go. I found the outcome to be remarkably good.

One thing to bear in mind, is that Affinity Photo - now the Pixel section of Affinity - is designed to be a competitor to Photoshop, not Lightroom. As such, it has no file management capabilities, so you’ll need to get yourself a separate app to sort out your images on your computer - or failing that, just be very good at maintaining order in your computer’s file system.

Affinity: Premium AI

(Image credit: Affinity // Canva // Future)

• Tools designed for subscription don’t feel good enough to achieve that goal - for now

All of the above is free. It’s a huge gamble, but one that will certainly benefit those who are tired of renting their software by paying expensive ongoing subscriptions to the likes of Adobe and others to gain access to creative tools.

But Canva hopes that you will choose to take advantage of the Premium subscription to gain access to the AI tools now added to Affinity. These include features such as AI-based object selection, generative fill, upscaling, generative edit, portrait blur, lighting, colorise and depth tools.

To be honest, they’re not show stoppers, must-haves, revolutionary tent pole features. In fact, compared to the tools available for free, these feel pretty average at best.

Still, it’s early days, and Affinity may well release over time tools that feel indispensable and worth their - let’s face it - quite affordable subscription. But today doesn’t feel like it’s that day.

Should I download Affinity?

(Image credit: Affinity // Canva // Future)Get it if…

You’re looking for powerful image compositing tools that are free with no strings attached, that combine the best of raster, vector and page layout design, in an impressively well made interface.

Don’t get it if…

You’re 100% wedded to Adobe’s portfolio, and regularly rely on the tools Adobe has, but Affinity lacks.

For more tools, we've tested the best graphic design software you can get.

Paint, draw curves, layout a magazine, all for free.

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Styx: Blades of Greed isn’t an Assassin’s Creed game. It’s not a Sniper Elite, a Hitman, or part of any of the other popular stealth action franchises that have received new entries in the last couple of years. This is a proper, old-fashioned stealth game - the kind that you really don’t see much of anymore.

Review info

Platform reviewed: PC
Available on: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S
Release date: February 19, 2026

The focus is entirely on the act of sneaking, surreptitiously sticking to shadows, and creeping around environments in order to avoid detection entirely, rather than trying to blend in or silently take out enemies from afar.

As the titular green goblin Styx, you’re certainly not a fighter, and detection means an almost certain demise. Sure, you can fend for yourself against one or even two low-level enemies in a pinch, but your health pool is extremely limited, and open combat quickly spirals out of control as more guards are alerted by the sound of the fray.

You can hardly break out of a crouch when you’re moving around maps, as your footsteps alone are enough to trigger a chain reaction that inevitably ends with you getting skewered by an army of heavily armed goons. It sounds frustrating, and believe me, it sometimes is, but I simply wouldn’t have it any other way.

Nothing beats the satisfaction of pulling off the perfect heist, and some smart quality-of-life features stop the experience from ever becoming too exasperating.

Styx and stones

(Image credit: Nacon)

Its big innovation is a clever, quick save system. You might see the phrase ‘save scumming’ (the practice of frequently reloading saves made before your mistakes) tossed around as a derogatory term in discussions about other titles, but in Styx: Blades of Greed, it’s not only necessary for success, but actively encouraged.

It’s instant and bound to pressing down the left thumbstick on your controller, with a successful save signaled by a small on-screen notification that doesn’t break your immersion. Get slashed by a guard, fall off a ledge, or accidentally come into contact with water (goblins dissolve instantly like the Wicked Witch of the West, apparently), and you’re back to your save point after just a brief loading screen.

It’s a little awkward at first, but after a few hours, saving every time you make any significant progress becomes second nature, and it’s absolutely liberating.

(Image credit: Nacon)

Rather than annoyingly setting you back, deaths become your signal to experiment. "What would happen if I tossed an acid trap on that carpet just as the guard saw me?” “Can I actually take out that worker without his mate seeing me?” “Would that falling chandelier really land on that armored patrol if I timed it just right?"

Best bit

(Image credit: Nacon)

In this instalment Styx is more mobile than ever before, with an incredibly fast default move speed and rapid double jump. It makes scurrying across open rooftops or darting down empty corridors a joy, and really helps you feel like a devious little goblin.

The game’s three main levels are mammoth and filled with multiple avenues of approach that really reward trying new approaches. With endless ledges, chimneys, the undersides of tables, inside barrels or chests, and maintenance passages, you’re never short of places to hide, and making full use of every available spot in order to infiltrate somewhere flawlessly is satisfying.

Don’t be worried about the fact that there are ‘only’ three maps either. Side quests and collectibles incentivize you to scour them thoroughly, and an intelligent metroidvania-esque progression system sees you gradually acquire new traversal tools like grapple hooks or gliders that open up vast new zones in them to explore.

Each story chapter also ends in unique, more linear segments that are a refreshing change of pace after such openness and help you get acquainted with each new mechanic as they come.

Carrot and Styx

(Image credit: Nacon)

Styx is a seasoned master of infiltration, so he has a wealth of abilities to play around with that are unlocked through a modest but impactful upgrade tree. The most interesting of these are tied to your acquisition of Quartz, the sinister new material that Styx and his rag-tag crew of allies are pursuing.

Mind control has you manually piloting adversaries that would otherwise be too powerful to defeat and commanding them to jump to their deaths, while slowing down time helps you escape otherwise impossible situations in a flash.

This is on top of some returning favorites from the past Styx games, like invisibility, throwable clones that latch on to the faces of foes, plus basic tools like throwable bottles, acid mines, and more. It’s perfectly possible to get through the game without using the majority of these, but fully engaging with every tool at your disposal invites exciting gameplay possibilities.

It’s unfortunate that there are plenty of jagged edges here that might trip up those coming over from more casual stealth experiences. I really appreciate the commitment to make Styx: Blades of Greed a faithful sequel to both Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness (not to mention a prequel to Of Orcs and Men), but it’s almost too faithful at times when the last instalment was almost ten years ago.

Without knowledge of the previous entries, the otherwise surprisingly decent story isn’t going to make a lick of sense, and many of its coolest moments, like returning to the ruins of an old map, simply won’t resonate.

(Image credit: Nacon)

Even true Styx heads like me might struggle to stay fully engaged with it, given the fairly dire voice acting, though. The performance for the protagonist is excellent, especially his many ironically charming one-liners, but the lines for side characters and NPCs are often amateurish. Cutscenes feel cheaply animated, with stilted motion and odd cuts that never seem to flow quite right.

There’s plenty of more general jankiness to get past, too, from frame rate stutters and typos in subtitles to bugs that see you fall through the floor, get seen through solid objects, or have the entire game crash without warning. Thanks to its strong foundations, the experience was never truly spoiled for me, but I do hope there are some patches in the works to make everything more stable.

Should I play Styx: Blades of Greed?Play it if...

You want a true stealth experience
Fighting back if you’re caught? Forget about it. Styx: Blades of Greed is a true stealth game that’s all about using the tools at your disposal to infiltrate areas undetected - and very satisfying if that’s what you’re looking for.

You’ve played the other games
The story of Styx: Blades of Greed would probably be impenetrable for a newcomer, but if you’re a true Styx head like me, you’ll love diving back into the universe and appreciate the call-backs to other games.

Don't play it if...

You’re not willing to overlook rough edges
This is not a high-budget game, so some level of jankiness should be expected. Still, there are plenty of issues with performance, crashes, and a wealth of bugs to overcome if you want to get to the good stuff.

Accessibility features

Styx: Blades of Greed has three difficulty levels, in addition to a modest accessibility menu. Aside from the option to disable controller vibration, all of the settings relate to color blindness.

There are three vision filters: deuteranopia, protanopia, and tritanopia. Subtitles are enabled throughout the game by default.

How I reviewed Styx: Blades of Greed

I went full goblin and played more than 20 hours of Styx: Blades of Greed on PC over the course of a few days. During this time, I completed the entire game, thoroughly explored all of the levels, tested every single ability, and worked my way through many of the side quests.

The keyboard and mouse support is pretty dire, so I relied on a DualSense Wireless Controller to play in addition to my Astro A20 X gaming headset.

I reviewed the game at full graphics settings on my system, which is a 5070 Ti-powered model from retailer Scan that features a compact Corsair 2000d RGB Airflow case, Asus ROG Strix B860-I Gaming Wifi motherboard, Intel Core Ultra 7 265K CPU, a 2TB WD Black SN770 SSD, 32GB of DDR5 Corsair Vengeance RAM, and an Nvidia 5070 Ti manufactured by Asus.

First reviewed February 2026

Styx: Blades of Greed isn’t perfect, but its excellent stealth foundations make it well worth playing.

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Fractal Scape review: one-minute review

The bar keeps being raised in gaming peripherals lately, and as such, there’s no room for overpriced or feature-bloated models whose specs don’t translate to a great user experience. Fractal Design clearly knows this very well as it enters the wireless gaming headset market with a $200 model that looks like something Apple would try to sell you for $500, and comes with a charging dock and feature set that you’ll be more accustomed to seeing from pricer Astro headsets.

The looks will be a big selling point for many, as you’d expect from Fractal and its reputation for understated, Scandi-style PC cases. Available in both black and white, it’s got a grown-up look quite apart from the gaming peripherals of yesteryear, and with a detachable mic and Bluetooth connectivity, you can quite comfortably leave the house wearing the Fractal Design Scape as your smartphone’s headset without broadcasting an overstated ‘gamer gear’ look to the world and its judging eyes.

Also included is a wireless charging station, which will juice up the headset with up to 40 hours of use when RGB is disabled, and up to 24 when it’s enabled. Taking the headset out of the magnetic dock automatically powers it on, which feels like an incredibly decadent feature for this price.

While the materials and design generally lend themselves well to comfort – with a particular shout-out due to the high-grade memory foam earcup covers – this definitely favors a smaller head size, and I have concerns about the amount of padding on the headband itself. If you’ve got a larger head, you may start to feel the headband dig in during longer sessions.

It’s not perfect then, but that imperfection is effectively offset by how generous Fractal has been by adding not just a detachable boom mic but a built-in omnidirectional mic too. Not to mention fundamentally crisp and clear sound with some meaty bass response.

(Image credit: Future)Fractal Scape review: price & availability

• List price: $199.99 / £169.99 (around AU$285)
• Astro-like features for a far lower price
• Priced competitively against Razer Blackshark V2 Pro and PlayStation Pulse Elite

The price point is a big win for Fractal out of the gates. How the manufacturer has managed to bundle a high-quality headset and charging station that look ready to sit in the window of an Apple store is anyone’s guess, but somehow that very thing has been achieved. The choice of two mics and strong construction materials and finish quality are further bonuses that make this a frontrunner in the $150-$200 market.

The competition? Probably still two members of the old guard. PlayStation’s official PS5 Pulse Elite headset features similarly elegant looks and hassle-free wireless operation, while Razer’s older Blackshark V2 is more of an all-rounder that features similar device compatibility to the Scape.

(Image credit: Future)Fractal Scape review: Specs

Fractal Design Scape

Price

$199.99 / £169.99 / around AU$285

Weight

11.8.oz / 338g

Compatibility

PC, Mac, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS/Android

Connection type

2,4 GHz Wireless via USB-A dongle, Bluetooth 5.3, Wired via USB-C to USB-A cable

Battery life

40 hours RGB off, 24 hours RGB on

Microphone

1x detachable unidirectional 50–16 000 Hz, 1x omnidirectional (built-in)

Fractal Scape review: Design & features

• Typically minimalist looks
• Wireless dock will beautify your desk
• Sensible controls layout

Fractal’s headset was never going to be an aggressive, overwrought affair. Its cases are recognizable for their elegant minimalism, and the same is very much true of this Scape. It’s reminiscent at first glance of Steelseries’ Arctis range, but has a ‘debadged’ look and the most minimal of RGB zones that carries through the Scandi operation’s less is more philosophy.

The dock features magnetic connections that keep the headset in place and carries through the understated look, guaranteed to bring some culture and sophistication to your desk, no matter how many Funko Pops it’s sharing the real estate with. A USB-A dongle is hidden on the underside of that dock so that you can plug the dongle into the dock and use the USB cable from the dock to your device’s USB port, keeping things nice and clean and giving you a bit more choice over where to position the dock.

In addition to the usual physical controls at the rear of each earcup (power, wireless/Bluetooth connection, and mic mute on the left, RGB on/off on the right), there’s a ‘control crown’ in the upper-left rear which controls volume and provides some multimedia controls for pausing music and skipping tracks. While every other control works well, feels sturdy, and is easy to find without having to take off the headset, I find the control crown a bit fiddly. It’s too small to make precise volume changes easily, and pressing and holding the crown to pause or skip feels awkward.

With that said, it’s extremely impressive that the two mic options have bespoke mute mechanics. The boom arm is flip-to-mute, whereas the built-in omnidirectional is controlled with a button.

(Image credit: Future)Fractal Scape review: Performance

• Strong and precise sound
• Great battery performance
• Headband comfort can be an issue

Great care has clearly been taken to build a lot of comfort into these cans. That’s most evident when you give the earcup cushions a squeeze and find the most luxuriously squishy memory foam pads you ever squished. This is seriously high-grade material, equivalent to flagship Bose models.

And it’s a vital piece of the comfort puzzle, because the Scape offsets its middleweight heft (11.9oz / 338g is on the lighter side of average for wireless sets now) with a lot of clamping force. The idea is that the tighter the earcups clamp around your ears, the less weight hangs from the headband on top of your head. Plus, you get a nice bit of passive noise cancellation and a tight acoustic chamber for low-end frequencies to resonate in.

(Image credit: Future)

That works on two of three fronts. It’s great at blocking out noise, and the bass response sounds full-bodied. But personally, I still notice the weight of the headband during longer sessions, and when I examine its construction, I find considerably less padding and considerably lower-grade cushion material.

It’s still absolutely possible to adjust the Scape so that it sits comfortably for marathon sessions, by extending the headband as big as possible and thereby placing more emphasis on the horizontal clamping force. But it’s something to keep in mind if your mind is kept within a larger skull.

The sound quality isn’t audiophile stuff, but with a standard-issue 20Hz-20KHz frequency response range, its drivers are more than capable of articulating power, detail, and nuance all at the same time in your game mix. Even with a Discord buddy shouting callouts with their 2011 headset mic.

The battery goes for just as long as the specs suggest, and during my real-world testing, I found more than 40 hours could transpire before I got the beeps. It’s so welcome to have an RGB off button on the headset rather than having to delve into Fractal’s (actually very decent, zero-footprint, web-only) software app, and similarly, I found that enabling the lighting didn’t quite reduce the charge life down to 24 hours. Perhaps I like to play at a lower volume than Fractal does.

Onto the choice of mics. It’s a double-edged sword, this feature, because although it’s incredible value to have two inputs on one headset, the noise cancellation on the unidirectional boom mic isn’t very strong, and external noises can leak into your voice chat. That’s even more true when using the omnidirectional mic, obviously. So: yes to dual mic design, no to the noise cancellation. This is the sort of thing that can be remedied in firmware updates, though, and I really hope it is because otherwise this is an exemplary package, and it’s priced low enough to have established brands like Razer, Logitech G, and Corsair worried.

(Image credit: Future)Should you buy the Fractal Scape?Buy it if...

Your desk needs a centerpiece
The Scape’s wireless charging dock exemplifies the same Scandi minimalism that Fractal made its name with in the case market.

You’re not into flashy RGB
It’s very handy to have an RGB off mode and save some battery life instead.

You like talking but hate boom mics.
There’s a choice of a detachable unidirectional boom mic and a built-in omnidirectional, giving you a very rare choice of outputs.

Don't buy it if...

You’ve got a large head
This headset’s built around a particularly snug fit. Works great on smaller heads, but bigger craniums may notice the headband digging in.

You play in a noisy space
The noise cancelling on the boom mic still allows some ambience through, and even more so when using the omnidirectional option.

You want one headset to rule them all
The combination of a wireless docking station and a lack of Xbox compatibility means this isn’t the all-in-one battlestation headset you’re looking for.

Also consider...

Does this Fractal leave you in two minds? Consider these premium wireless alternatives.

Fractal Scape

Razer BlackShark V2 Pro

PlayStation Pulse Elite

Price

$199.99 / £169.99 / around AU$285

$199 / £199 / AU$349

$149.99 / £129.99 / AU$239.95

Weight

11.84oz / 338g

11.2oz / 320g

12.1oz / 347g

Compatibility

PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, iOS/Android

PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch

PS5, PlayStation Portal, PC, Mac

Connection type

2.4 GHz Wireless via USB-A dongle, Bluetooth 5.3, Wired via USB-C to USB-A cable

Bluetooth, 2.4GHz wireless (Hyperspeed dongle)

Wireless (PlayStation Link via dongle), Wired (3.5mm audio jack), Bluetooth

Battery life

40 hours RGB off, 24 hours RGB on

70 hours

30 hours

PlayStation Pulse Elite
Sony doesn’t do its official console peripherals by half measures. Not only is the Pulse Elite an object d’art, but its specs stack up very competitively among other wireless headsets in the $150-$200 bracket.

For more information, check out our full SteelSeries PlayStation Pulse Elite review

Razer Blackshark V2 Pro
It’s no longer the latest and greatest Blackshark in Razer’s pool, but it’s still pretty great. Wireless, full of features and boasting a ridiculous 70-hour battery life, the V2 can usually be found for less than retail now, too.

For more information, check out our full Razer Blackshark V2 Pro review

How I tested the Fractal Scape

• Weeks of daily use on PC, PS5 and iPhone
• All connection types tested
• Tested in online games, Discord comms, and work calls

This being a wireless product with a ton of usability options, including an on/off RGB battery saving setting, it was important to stress-test the Scape’s stated battery capacity and wireless stability.

That meant tracking hours of use without charge, putting in some long mountaineering sessions in Cairn, and plenty of Discord walk-and-talks to test out the wireless range.

First reviewed February 2026

Read more about how we test

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