FraserG

@jesse_dylan Moonlighter 2 is getting a console version down the road, but it's PC only for now (early access launch).

@Chip-Douglas I'm enjoying the Simpsons season personally! It's actually the first time I've got back into Fortnite in years.

Worth booting up for a couple of games at least.

@Oldgamer03 Why do we need to pick a side though? We're trying to find a balance - highlight the positive stuff and the negative stuff, rather than one or the other.

We actually used to get criticised for being too negative, so that was a piece of feedback we took on board at the time.

In regards to BO7 on the Ally, this is just meant as a quick "Hands On" of what it's like to play on there - nothing more, nothing less. We highlighted the Series X, Series S, Xbox One and Xbox One X versions last week, so this was the last remaining "Xbox" version to cover.

The full review of the game itself is coming soon (the previous one was just for the campaign).

@BaldB3lper78 It's improved for Ultimate members recently, yeah. Few things were changed in early October:

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/10/xbox-cloud-gaming-expands-with-unlimited-usage-and-special-perks-for-game-pass-members

@themightyant Yep, I don't know what's happened there. Perhaps Square Enix didn't have their timings right? Who knows.

@Kaloudz I believe it's a new version with new achievements, yeah. Again though, they haven't spelled it out yet.

@Banjo- Rockstar suggests it does, but they haven't spelled it out - so we'll have to wait and see.

Article has been updated with all the deets

Great to hear how much you're all enjoying your ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, and thanks for the kind feedback!

@Pigrotto Thank you very much!

@Questionable_Duck I picked up the DS original recently, haven't made much progress yet though. Like you, I'm curious about Victory Road but probably unwilling to fork out that much for it.

@Fiendish-Beaver Thank you!

In regards to the mods, it works exactly the same as it does on a standard Windows PC - you can get into the desktop and move files around (or just use the likes of the Steam Workshop).

Honestly, I'm not sure about your second point. It definitely seems a big risk as you say, but I assume they're having those discussions right now and trying to make it make sense. Who knows?

@BaldB3lper78 Yeah yeah, I think that's fair. The cost is definitely offputting, but it's still a great handheld PC all the same.

@Balaam_ No word on Xbox versions for those yet.

@Questionable_Duck Leave it with us! We're going to try and cover this today if we can

@Kadir I've removed it for now and will try and remember to test it soon. Dusk has also now been added, thank you @Spectrus6006.

@GuyinPA75 He's part of the team at Unity:

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2024/06/former-xbox-exec-major-nelson-announces-next-move-in-gaming

@Balaam_ Yeah, I believe those are the only differences.

@Jonnybekeww I didn't! That's ridiculous 😅

@Fiendish-Beaver Yes, I imagine they will have a Plan C too!

@smoreon Nah, nah, nah... you must have misread

@RiverGenie 2005, of course

@Fiendish-Beaver It's for "Xbox and PC", so technically the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC, but it'll likely apply to the next Xbox console as well.

Update: Article has been updated with the other four Free Play Days titles for this week.

@Kramlar I see it too now. Sorry! 😅

@Fiendish-Beaver It's Beast of Reincarnation! The one being made by Game Freak.

Would have liked to see South of Midnight in here, but otherwise I think it's a very solid list.

Expedition 33 or Split Fiction should win IMO.

@MrStark Your wish is my command!

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/11/xbox-gets-one-nomination-for-ultimate-game-of-the-year-at-golden-joysticks-2025

@ElectricWizard Yep, good shout! Added that in.

Thanks everyone! Apologies for the slow update - I've been on holiday for the past couple of weeks.

List has now been refreshed with your additions / a bunch of other indie games that have been confirmed by Xbox to have mouse and keyboard support.

@Cvantez You're welcome!

It works well from a UI and general ease perspective. The dashboard has a section for cloud gaming (as it does on the normal Xbox PC app) and you just go in there, find the games you want and play them. Simple as that really.

@Cvantez Hmm, I see what you mean, but I feel like it is a fairly strongly noted caveat in the review itself? I certainly want to get across that "your typical console traditionalist" should not be looking at the ROG Xbox Ally like it's a console as things stand.

Xbox Cloud Gaming experience is fine, but I didn't delve into it much (I mentioned it a bit in our battery life feature) because the experience feels basically the same as a phone, as a TV, as a PC, etc. Obviously it's a neat feature to have on the device, but IMO it's not worth buying such an expensive system unless you want to play games natively for the most part. Otherwise, it's best to just get a cheap phone controller and use your phone.

@Stocksy Thanks for your kind comments about myself and Pure Xbox

I think the problem with scoring something like this is that people are going to look at it in different ways - my review was specifically geared around the device and whether it lived up to what it's meant to be, which is a powerful handheld PC with support for Xbox PC games, Xbox Cloud Gaming titles, Steam games, Epic Game Store titles, etc.

So in that regard, I think it's a 9/10 because it's an awesome device taken at face value. At the same time, I can see why someone might give it a 5/10 because they don't feel it should be called an "Xbox" when it can't play native console games. But personally, that's not how I chose to approach the scoring system for this particular review.

Article has been updated with a new statement from Dotemu.

@Jsb5150 Yeah it does, but the marketing material here says it's "installed" on the ROG Xbox Ally, which is something that isn't possible right now unless you're on Steam (and in that case, it has a little Steam logo next to it).

@Fiendish-Beaver Yeah it's live, but I don't think it's showing up on the Microsoft Store (on console) yet for whatever reason.

You can find it on the Xbox website though:

https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/browse/shocktober-sale?orderby=Title+Asc

@Decimateh Bizarrely not. I don't know what's going on with that, but it's definitely not on sale at the time of writing.

@Banjo- Thank you!

@Dimey It's all good, you're entitled to your opinion anyway

@Runex2121 Nah, just in-game settings and through the Command Center button.

Nothing too complex, certainly no need to mess around with text files.

@CallMeDuraSouka Thank you very much! I appreciate it 😊

@Dimey We'd be crazy not to cover a big new hardware release with the Xbox name attached to it, even if it's there's controversy surrounding it being called an "Xbox".

I get what you're saying, but I wanted to provide as much coverage as possible today for people who are interested in this thing, especially considering I'm one of the first people to get my hands on it and able to share some early impressions.

@Runex2121 It can be, but you might want to look at limiting the FPS in the in-game settings for these titles.

Most of them are going to run uncapped otherwise, and you may end up with uneven performance. Again, take everything on a game-by-game basis and you'll find the sweet spot that works for you.

@Banjo- Yeah, I've played with the wireless off but didn't feel much difference to be honest. I'm sure you'll get a bit more out of it, but nothing too crazy.

@perkalicious @Spectrus6006 Updated, thank you!

@Fiendish-Beaver Yeah, some interesting takes for sure!

@Fiendish-Beaver It can be docked, but you'll need to either buy a dock or a specific cable to make it happen.

I haven't got either of those right now, so haven't tested it. I assume battery life will be similar though, as long as you use the same resolutions and settings as you do in handheld mode.

@TrollOfWar

1. Not quite as fluid, but perfectly reasonable IMO.

2. There's not really a Quick Resume alternative (but there's something called "Hibernate" that's fairly close to it). You do have to manually close games, although you can press the Xbox button and then shut it down immediately without having to go to the main menu.

3. Yeah, so some games automatically detect your device's capabilities and then set the graphics settings accordingly. In some games I had to tinker a fair bit, in others not at all.

4. Yes, this is easy - you just press the Xbox button and scroll along to the friends tab, works the same way as console.

5. Yes, achievements pop on the screen when you're playing Xbox games. To be honest, I'm not about Steam and Epic Games when it comes to achievements yet.

6. No, I wanted to do this but ran out of time - they didn't send us a dock so I didn't have the means to connect to an external monitor as I don't have a USB-C to HDMI adapter or anything. I can only imagine it'll be a good experience though, certainly comparable to a low-budget gaming PC at the worst.

@Vipor007 It can do anything a Windows PC can do (in theory).

That's because it IS a Windows PC with an Xbox UI on top of it.

@themightyant I only have the Ally X. I know they sent the standard one to other reviewers though - will have a roundup of reviews on Pure Xbox soon.

I'm specifically thinking about one game when it comes to the 30FPS "struggle", but I'm not able to say what it is. What I will say is that it's improved since I first started playing it, and now it actually reaches 60FPS in some situations. It's just inconsistent and requires you to think carefully about the settings you pick.

In general you're going to be fine with most games as long as you're happy to make visual sacrifices in some of them.

@Coletrain Thank you! I've got an informal unboxing going live on Pure Xbox soon, but yeah you do get a little makeshift stand - it's nothing special, but it does the job.