I have to say I wasn't completely prepared for the RK84 since it was not in stock until the very last minute, and the RK61 was going to be the plan. In a way, I am quite happy to have gone in not completely knowing what to expect since that just led to a few genuine "What? How is this in here at this price point?" moments. Take the USB hub giving you two whole Type-A ports for a mouse and headset while also running the keyboard from a single Type-C cable, for example. There are some power limits depending on what you use at the source end, but just a year ago, this involved a thick cable that still only went the pass-through route. ASUS, Mountain, and now Royal Kludge are the keyboards I have recently tested with this feature, and the other two cost $270, which is well over thrice the cost of this one.

The rest of the feature set is more understandable, but even offering wired, Bluetooth, and 2.4 GHz connectivity at this price is something else. The plastic case was a given, and yes, some shortcuts have been taken as there are no dedicated LED hardware drivers, which results in inconsistent lighting and minor flickering depending on the lighting effect, brightness, and speed. The switches are another big cost-cutting measure, where simply marking "RK" on the switch doesn't make it very good. I suppose if the intent was to have a switch based on the Cherry MX Brown, the low tactility has been achieved. But this is just fine for a first keyboard, or even a second or third one for that matter.

Using Kailh 5-pin hot-swap sockets also surprised me since Royal Kludge could have easily saved money by going with the CIY socket for 3-pin switches. This adds to the credence of the keyboard and brand, allowing users a wide variety of mechanical switches to choose from with the board if the stock switches are not to their liking. The stock keycaps are also quite good, especially considering there are far fewer aftermarket option for this 84-key layout. Ultimately, that layout is what will make or break it for you. The keys chosen here make sense to me since three have to be lost compared to the TKL form factor, and then there is decent software support on top of onboard controls for further customization. Royal Kludge enters our review database with quite a bang, and I am happy to recommend this keyboard accordingly.