Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded controller review: The shape-shifter of controllers comes back stronger

The Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded is an iterative upgrade over the original Victrix Pro BFG from early last year, but it brings a key feature while retaining the familiar modularity and ergonomics. Available in Xbox/PC, PS/PC and PC only versions, the controller comes with the much-needed Hall-effect joysticks and triggers, and a more ergonomic fight pad module. There’s plenty of customization that few others offer.

The lack of haptic triggers may push some gamers towards the DualSense Edge but they will miss out on the modularity, Hall-effect tech, additional back buttons, and much better battery life. A worthy compromise in our opinion.

Priced at $210, the Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded is available in black and white colors. This is pricing for the Xbox/PC and PS/PC variants, but there is also a PC only variant that is a bit cheaper at $190. Notably, the PC only variant does not come with the fight pad module and is only available in black. The Xbox/PC and PS/PC versions are available on Amazon and the Turtle Beach website. The PC only variant will arrive later on October 26, as per the website.

The Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded is not a budget controller by any means but is priced just $10 more than the DualSense Edge and the Nacon Revolution 5 Pro. It is also cheaper than the Razer Wolverine V2 Pro but offers more modularity than all of them. That being said, for Xbox/PC gamers, there is another option that offers a fight pad within Turtle Beach’s portfolio, the Stealth Pivot, but it doesn’t have the modularity of the Victrix Pro BFG series.

The Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded makes minor yet key improvements over the original, retaining the modularity and improving the durability.

It always good to see carrying cases included with accessories and the Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded is packed inside a hard case with purple accents. The case houses not just the controller but all the modules and accessories. There is a separate pouch for the braided purple USB cable as well. Included in the case are:

• Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded controller
• USB Wireless Transmitter
• 3 meter braided purple USB-C cable
• 6-button fight pad module
• 2 D-pads
• 2 Thumbstick (1 tall Sniper stick + 1 dome cap)
• 2 gates
• Module customization tool

The Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded has the same design as the original Victrix Pro BFG which is a good thing. They have a familiar Xbox controller shape, but more comfortable and grippy. We got the PS/PC version so there’s a centrally located touch pad and a PS button near the bottom edge. The touch pad has a Victrix logo that lights up in purple (not customizable) signifying a connection.

There are four textured buttons at the back that sit perfectly where your fingers would normally rest, but this sometimes led to accidental inputs. The back is also where the toggle for wired or wireless connection, trigger adjustment, and profile button is. The headphone jack is at the bottom and the USB Type-C port, along with the platform switcher is located at the top.

The controller has textured rubber padding on the front and the back where your palm would grip the controller, and while that does improve ergonomics, the controller picks up more skin oil and sweat leading to smudges. Having used the controller for over a month, there were minor smudges on the edges of the grips.

The build quality of the controller overall is quite solid, though the buttons on the fight pad have some wiggle and a bit of a dead zone. This makes them rattle with light touches which is kind of annoying. As for the controller, there is no creaking and the joysticks feel sturdy, though not as firm as day one, but that’s normal. Swapping the modules requires unscrewing two captive fasteners using the included tool. Once the modules are detached, they allows access to the swappable gates. The thumbsticks, however, can just be pulled out and replaced.

The Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded has a 2.4 GHz connection enabled by a dongle, as well as a wired connection. I personally prefer the Xbox layout for the D-pad and analogue sticks so I rotated the left module 180 degrees from the get go. There were no connectivity issues on either platform, but the Victrix Control Hub is only available on Windows so you need a PC to customize the controller, more on that in a bit. Once connected, the controller performed as expected. There were no missed inputs, the joysticks were precise and responsive, with minimum dead zone as the default setting.

The default face buttons are not mechanical so they feel soft and mushy just like most other controllers. The fight pad, on the other hand, has Kailh microswitches and they feel a lot more clicky. Having the ability to adjust the trigger between five levels of bottoming is a bonus, but doesn’t seem to be very useful for most users. Most would either switch to hair trigger or leave it unlocked for the full distance, and Victrix (or Turtle Beach) doesn’t do a very good job of explaining how the trigger stops are adjusted.

As for battery life, Turtle Beach advertises up to 20 hours but in our testing, we found that it was around 15 to 16 hours which is still pretty good. The Victrix logo starts to blink when the battery is low but since there are no percentages, it’s impossible to know at what stage the blinking starts. This is a major miss for the controller. Even the Windows exclusive Victrix Control Hub app doesn’t show battery percentage. Using it with a PlayStation console does provide battery information, just like with a DualSense controller. What’s clear is that it only lasts about an hour from when it does start to blink. Still, the battery life is much better than the DualSense Edge’s battery life, which itself is even worse than the standard DualSense controller. Furthermore, the touch pad and audio jack on the PS/PC version of the controller are disabled when using with PC. Both work just fine when connected to a PS5. However, the touch pad on the PC only version of the controller allows for moue emulation on desktop.