This review of the ROCCAT Horde AIMO keyboard can also be decoupled as a review of the ROCCAT Horde (no AIMO lighting) with their new lighting system added on. As it stands, I probably would have found the Horde a better value for money at $80. If you read the entire review, you would have understood why by now, but for those who have not, allow me to expand.

There a few features in the Horde AIMO that helps it stand apart from the rest of the $100 keyboard market today. For one, and for better or worse, ROCCAT decided to not go with mechanical switches. Instead using what they call Membranical switches, the keyboard uses an adapted membrane switch with a different stem and rubber dome relative to what we know as a membrane switch, thus allowing the switch to actuate before the keycap bottoms out while providing a different tactile feedback than just a rubber dome by itself. This makes for a typing experience that is ultimately not identical to anything else I have had thus far, a hybrid of a few other switches put together. Ultimately quieter, it may well be what a lot of people are looking for, but it comes with a few cons, be it the stabilizers I personally did not care much for or, more importantly, the limitation on the lighting that ends up being a big deal here.

For a keyboard that should have been the crown piece of ROCCAT's new AIMO intelligent lighting system that adapts to colors on your display, the underwhelming brightness as seen by the user ultimately makes it very hard to appreciate. It does not help either that we have multi-zone lighting here with a few transitional effects, and again, this is because of the use of an LED sheet rather than a larger RGB LED per switch, which mechanical switches would have been able to accommodate. ROCCAT tried to spin this off as the best case scenario while continuing to use their Membranical switches, but I feel that was the wrong decision here, and the Horde AIMO should not have been their intro keyboard for this feature.

It is a good thing then that the rest of the keyboard manages to hold its own, and in ways even make for a compelling keyboard. The combination of the tuning wheel and keys allowing for multiple functions to be associated with the wheel for quick and easy changes is fantastic, and I really want ROCCAT to add this to every other keyboard they have. The macro-key column is also added in a sensible manner that does not take away from the rest of the keyboard, and the detachable wrist rest is great in providing an option rather than forcing users to accommodate the otherwise bulkier ROCCAT keyboard designs. The non-AIMO Horde comes with all these, albeit in single-color blue lighting which is also not as bright as on, say, their Suora FX keyboard. As it is, it is a good thing that ROCCAT has given people the option to purchase either of these because both offer enough to merit a strong consideration.