If you consider yourself a PC gaming enthusiast, yous've probably selected every component of your build advisedly, including your peripherals. Whether y'all're a fan of slower-paced RPGs like the Witcher 3 or fast-paced first-person shooters, you undoubtedly understand the importance of a solid keyboard.

High-quality, clicky mechanical switches, remappable keys, and -- of course -- fancy RGB lighting can brand your gaming experience all the more satisfying. Even so, throughout my many years of PC gaming, I've e'er had one major gripe with using keyboards equally a controller: variable movement, or more accurately, the lack of variable motion.

To elaborate, if you've played games on a modern console, you're probably aware that you lot can precisely control your graphic symbol's speed by but moving your controller's joystick less than its total range of movement.

In some games, this does lilliputian more than than add together to your immersion, but in other games (such as Skyrim, Fallout 4 or Splinter Cell) having precise command over your graphic symbol's speed is critical for stealth sections or keeping up with NPCs.

Unfortunately for PC players, we've never really had that level of command. Almost games force the states to either walk at a painfully slow pace or break into a full jog. We don't tend to have access to any of the "middle" speeds. I can't tell you how many times I've alerted an unabridged Bandit camp in Skyrim during a would-exist stealth infiltration because of this.

The obvious solution to this dilemma is to plug in a controller, just that's far from ideal. By opting to avert the use of a keyboard and mouse, you lot lose the many benefits they offer, such as keybinding customization and (arguably) superior aiming accurateness.

That'southward where the Wooting one comes in.

What is the Wooting ane?

Successfully funded via Kickstarter back in 2022, the Wooting 1 (yes, the lack of capitalization is intentional) is, to my noesis, the world's first true tenkeyless, analog mechanical keyboard.

It features pressure-sensitive keys that are specifically designed to give PC gamers the same benefits panel gamers take admission to. You can move at whatever speed you'd like, which is particularly useful for racing games, first-person shooters and stealth titles.

...the Wooting ane has received numerous firmware and software updates over time that take improved its functionality and added new features.

As of writing, the keyboard comes with its own customization software (appropriately named "Wootility") and per-primal RGB lighting with customizable lighting patterns. Furthermore, the Wooting one has received numerous firmware and software updates over time that take improved its functionality and added new features.

Every bit lovely as all of that sounds, though, the device'southward bodily functionality is what matters the most. To determine how the one performs, I decided to option i upwards to see for myself.

Analog functionality

So, three months after my initial purchase appointment, does the Wooting one deliver on its promise of console-like movement for PC titles? Well, yes and no.

Prior to writing this piece, I tested out a wide variety of games. I tried competitive shooters like Overwatch and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, likewise as singleplayer titles like The Witcher 3 and Metro: Last Light. While I don't play many racing games -- which Wooting's founder Calder Limmen tells me are platonic for the Wooting i -- I likewise decided to exam Grand Theft Auto 5's driving.

The overall results of my tests were mixed.

On the one hand, I plant that shooters similar Fortnite, Overwatch, CS: Go, and Metro: Last Light all performed flawlessly with the Wooting. In-game movement speed adjustments were smooth and precise, much like they would be if I were using a traditional joystick. The joy I feel after slowly creeping effectually a corner to pop off a headshot cannot exist overstated.

Grand Theft Auto V's driving also handled quite well, which was a breath of fresh air given the problems I commonly have when it comes to managing vehicle speeds in PC titles. Turning and accelerating was smooth and precise, though I'll admit it wasn't entirely on par with the game'due south controls on a panel.

On the other mitt, when I attempted to try out a few of my favorite single player RPGs, such as the Witcher 3, Skyrim, and Fallout 4, the keyboard's effectiveness quickly diminished. Speed adjustments in these games either didn't work at all or worked only intermittently. As I spend the vast majority of my gaming hours in titles like this, I was disappointed, to say the least.

However, Calder said these problems mostly come up down to a lack of in-game support for the Wooting ane's technology. "It'southward the major drawback at this moment, not many games accept the right type of support or really cover the pick," Calder told me. "Simply we're getting there. We have the developer portal coming out, and we'll mainly be focused on [indie game] developers."

That certainly sounds like an excellent idea, but for the foreseeable future, information technology seems we'll still demand to constantly toggle between walking and running to go along up with certain inconsiderate NPCs in these games.

Earlier moving on, there's 1 more than feature I should mention.

The Wooting i features Double Keystroke (D.K.S.) technology, which substantially allows you to create 2 separate key actuation points for a single keystroke. This feature is particularly useful for MOBA's or MMOs where spell targeting accurateness is critical.

Rather than needing to tap a hotkey twice (once to aim a spell or ability, again to unleash it), y'all can hold it down ever-so-slightly to brainstorm targeting and printing the central the rest of the way to terminate casting. Though I didn't test the feature extensively myself, Wooting informed me that D.G.S. would also work quite well in games like Fortnite, due to the mode the title's building construction system works.

Build quality and overall experience

The Wooting 1 feels incredibly sturdy, with an aluminum height plate and house plastic backing. While I don't make a habit of dropping or otherwise damaging my keyboards, I feel like this device could withstand quite a bit of penalty.

Past default, the keyboard ships with either Linear55 "Ruby" or Clicky55 "Blue" switches, which are intended to simulate the feel of Cherry'southward pop similarly-named switches. Additionally, both switch types are rated for 100,000,000 clicks, so they should concluding you for quite some time.

Personally, I opted for the Clicky55 "Blueish" option, as I've always enjoyed the loud, clicky feedback other Cherry MX Blued keyboards emit. Still, no matter which keyset you choose, the Wooting one is fully modular. Wooting claims users tin can bandy out the device'southward keycaps, switches or height plate for other 3rd-party alternatives if they then choose simply I did non exam this out for myself.

As far equally typing goes, the Wooting 1's keys experience almost the aforementioned equally any other high-end mechanical keyboard, such equally Corsair'due south K70 or Razer's Blackwidow. I've never felt like I need to press downwardly harder on the one's keys to, say, write a news article or chat with my friends on Discord than I would with whatever other keyboard.

"Wootility" customization software

The one's build quality and key switches aren't the merely areas where the device excels. Its customization software, Wootility, is another high signal of the overall Wooting experience. The software is attractive to expect at and easy to navigate, primarily thanks to its simple blueprint.

Wootility comes with four customizable keyboard profiles, 3 of which are "analog" profiles intended for gaming.

The final "digital" profile, on the other mitt, effectively disables the one's analog tech, assuasive for normal typing or spider web browsing.

Wootility allows you to customize everything from a given fundamental'due south controller counterpart (you could bind WASD to four joystick directions, for example) to its actuation point (I recommend ii.6mm for about games) and actuation curve.

As I briefly mentioned before, Wootility also lets you adjust the ane'due south lighting effects. When I first bought my device, I was limited to static, per-fundamental RGB customization. Information technology was adequately boring. Fortunately, a recent software update saved the day by bringing numerous lighting effects for users to play around with.

Furnishings include moving ridge, rainbow, ripple, and far more than. I'thou not ashamed to acknowledge that I've collectively spent hours toying around with these new options.

As much equally I love the software, I do have one complaint about information technology. Equally of writing, it'due south non possible to remap your keys to other keys. You tin can simply bind them to controller buttons, triggers or joystick movements. This seems like an oddly restrictive pattern choice that I'd like to see tweaked at a afterward date since enough of other modern keyboard makers already offer this characteristic by default.

Closing Remarks

The Wooting ane is an first-class device that is well worth its $150 price tag. It's not without issues, but the one'due south analog technology is impressive and effective, for the most role.

I'm nonetheless a bit frustrated that the device didn't work with some of my favorite single player games, merely the fault mostly lies with lack of in-game support. Since analog keyboards (or controllers in general) are not a common standard in the PC platform, developers don't build support for the tech into their titles. That said, the device more than makes up for its shortcomings with its premium construction, in a higher place-average key switches, and easy-to-utilise customization software.

The Wooting community is also swell. When I encountered problems while performing specific game tests with my keyboard, I merely stopped by the official Wooting Discord server and several customs members were fix and willing to assist.

If you desire to give the device a effort for yourself, you can pick it up through Amazon or directly from Wooting'southward site.

If tenkeyless keyboards aren't your affair, Wooting merely recently launched a Kickstarter project for their upcoming Wooting 2, which volition include a full numpad (only volition otherwise be functionally identical to the 1).

Pros: Sturdy, quality build. Unique analog ability adds levels of pressure level which works great in many titles. Double keystroke feature is another plus. Fully mechanical keyboard can rival summit contenders. Bully software, back up and community.

Cons: Not all titles are ready to support analog keyboard input. Tenkeyless is not for everyone.