User Experience

The provided accessories come in handy when tuning the user experience of the SCUF Impact tremendously. Take the longer covers for the L2/R2 shoulder triggers, for example, which come in handy for those with larger hands and longer fingers. Replacement is extremely easy and requires no tools whatsoever. The included EMR Mag Key is arguably the single most important accessory for the SCUF Impact, allowing mapping and remapping of the paddles on the back. This begins with the placement of the magnetic key on the back as seen above, and SCUF has a useful page with a video on the process. The allowed functions are X, O, ∆, □, left on D-pad, right on D-pad, left thumbstick down, and right thumbstick down, and for someone who is more comfortable with the XBOX controller and had to re-learn the DualShock layout for this review, I can not state enough how easy the learning curve was. Interestingly, Sony has a Back Button attachment that offers first-party support on a similar level, but does things differently via two vs. buttons and a screen to display the current settings, and a 3.5 mm audio out. It costs $30, and there are also rumors that the DualShock 5 might have paddles by default.

A part of getting used to it was also due to the absence of the printed face button legends on my sample, but it took less than a day to get the controller to my liking, and by the end of the first week, I was already doing multiple configurations depending on whether I was playing a racing game or a shooter. The EMR process takes very little time and is foolproof, but does mean you have to keep track of what functions were prior to testing the controller. By default, the paddles are set to X, □, ∆, and O going from left to right. The paddles are also designed well, offset lengthwise and curved with grips to allow for the ring and little fingers to be supported at the bottom, where they click into the switches underneath to actuate. It is an ergonomic benefit in many cases as its aim is to reduce hand strain, but there remains a reason for something such as the Microsoft Adaptive Controller to exist as this will not solve everything.


The paddles themselves are easily removable, which is explained in the manual as well, and underneath the right-most paddle is access to the reset button on the controller. Doing so is as simple as turning the controller off and using the provided 0.9 mm key to press it in for ~5 seconds before releasing it. This same key is used to fine-tune the actuation of the triggers, be it as a hair trigger for FPS games, or more deliberate for, say, VR game actions. For the default triggers, you can also choose the stop point, similar to the actuation and travel distance of a mechanical switch. SCUF also offers customers multi-actuation triggers or digital triggers during purchase.


Another of their patents allows for the ring and lock system on the SCUF Impact, which is where the first accessory we saw before comes in. This ring-lock tool fits into the grooves of the rings made out of self-lubricating materials, for turning the rings clockwise/anti-clockwise to lock or remove them respectively. Once the rings are unlocked, the entire ensemble of ring, tool, and thumbstick can be pulled upwards to remove the thumbstick for replacement. This allows SCUF to provide different shapes and heights of thumbsticks as desired. A similar method is employed for the optional control disc, which is a rubberized surface that goes over the D-pad underneath. These removable pieces are then all customizable for color and finish, too.

There are other things here that merit discussion, and an underrated aspect is the grip on the back, especially during intense couch-gaming sessions. The old memes of giving your friend the bad controller ring especially true here with all the available customization, and don't underestimate how useful the grip is. SCUF also allows for the removal of the rumble vibration motors on either side, even at the time of checkout, and this also has the added benefit of not effecting aim, for example. Indeed, the company says this feature came about after eSports players said they turn off vibration anyway and would prefer a lighter controller. Too light a controller or an imbalanced weight distribution can be an issue, however, so I suspect most will go with the default option and have the controller rumble included.

Customization aspects aside, the SCUF Impact is still at its heart a Playstation DualShock 4 wireless controller. Pairing it to a PC as a Bluetooth device is straightforward (BT 2.1, so don't expect low power modes), which has it recognized immediately by Steam as a PS4 controller. Non-Steam launchers may not support it natively on Windows, but that is where the excellent DS4Windows tool comes in, which helps emulate XBOX functionality on the controller if you need it. Battery life is mediocre at best, but that is again more a Sony than a SCUF thing, with ~5 hours on average depending on the rumble settings and LED brightness. In an ideal world, SCUF would have changed the battery system too, but with the pending launch of the DualShock 5, it is understandable that they would not change it now.

People who have used controllers, be it an XBOX or DualShock one, know the advantage of analog control over movement. This is especially true in racing games—gone are the jerky on/off inputs for acceleration in particular, with much smoother input as well as finer control with turning. While controllers are also more typically used in third-person games purely because of the mouse advantage when it comes to first-person games, there are also situations where having analog control over movement in FPS games can be useful, a typical example being stealth sections where AI behavior is often tied to the speed of the character's movement, which is translated into created "noise". There is not a whole lot more to say here since you either already want a controller for the PC or not, and only for the former are such items as the SCUF Impact relevant.