Roccat Isku+ Force
Is the world’s first pressure-sensitive keyboard a tour de force?
The Roccat Isku+ Force FX is a gaming keyboard with a name that’s almost as intense as its feature list. The latter includes plenty of elements that we’ve previously seen on the German company’s other Isku ‘ boards, plus one potentially game-changing new addition.
The ‘Force’ part of this membrane-keyboard’s name refers to a technology built into its QWEASD keys, which sit on a polymerpiezoelectric composite layer, enabling them to detect varying degrees of pressure. This innovative pressure sensitivity is, as far as we know, a world-first in gaming keyboards and it aims to bridge the gap between analog joysticks on console controllers and the on/off nature of computer keys. Roccat’s Swarm config software comes with all the fine-tuning options you need, letting you assign different pressures to keys and key combinations, and there are even some presets for games like CS:GO.
The visual feedback provided by the five profile indicator lights helps shorten the learning curve, but despite being able to adjust the specific pressure cut-offs for different actions, the precision needed to operate them accurately will take some seriously adjusting to. Also, all three levels of pressuretriggering won’t prove as useful for some games, considering the lowest movement speed (typically when you’re sneaking or walking) is often hardwired to a ‘toggle’ key rather than combination ‘hold and move’ keys. So while the feature has its uses, it could just as easily become an industry standard as a niche novelty, depending on whether or not the games support it.
Outside of this feature, the Force FX combines the best components of its predecessors to become the apex of the series. The form factor is almost identical to previous iterations, with the same overall bulkiness, but now with an improved ‘granular’ surface, offering better grip and resistance to smudging. This reviewer found the wrist rest a bit too large to be comfortable, and not having the option to detach it was frustrating.
However, the reason for this is likely the inclusion of the Thumbster macro keys below the Spacebar, providing quick access to profile selection and Roccat Swarm. This software is your control centre, and while, at first, it can be overwhelming, it manages to lay out the multitudinous options intuitively. You can create and manage up to five profiles, each with its own indicator light, that store information on your key assignments, macro settings and RGB colours.
You have16.8 million RGB options to illuminate your keys, with six different brightness settings and a variety of effects. However, the media and utility keys can’t be lit, and the soft grey text on the black plastic is very difficult to read.
Aside from this, there is the familiar array of dedicated macro keys as well Roccat’s signature Easy-Shift technology, which allows a large zone of keys to have easily accessible secondary functions.