Clair Obscur turned me into a controller convert… thanks to a €40 underdog

The night Clair Obscur shattered my keyboard ego

I was halfway through a tense encounter in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 when it finally clicked that I was playing the game wrong.

Not “I should have picked a different build” wrong. I mean fundamentally, structurally wrong. I was getting bodied not by the boss, but by my own bloody input method.

I’ve spent my entire life as a mouse-and-keyboard hardliner. I grew up on PC. I played RPGs, shooters, MMOs, even janky ports with the same smug certainty: controllers were for console peasants and couch co-op. I tolerated gamepads for fighting games on console and that was it. Everything else? WASD or get out.

So when Clair Obscur booted up and immediately flashed that friendly little “For the best experience, play with a controller” hint, I did what any stubborn PC purist would do: I ignored it and clicked through like it was a EULA.

Twenty minutes later, I was eating my words.

My parries in Clair Obscur felt inconsistent, not because the timing window was unfair, but because the rhythm of the inputs didn’t gel with a keyboard. The combat wants a flow-that smooth, repeatable sequence of dodges, counters, and special attacks you can’t really get when half your left hand is trying to remember whether you bound “Switch Target” to R, T, or some unholy combo involving Ctrl.

Every time I tried to land those precise, timed reactions the game is built around, my fingers were fighting my brain. Instead of thinking about the fight, I was thinking about my keybinds. And nothing kills an RPG that thrives on combat rhythm faster than your own controls getting in the way.

That was the moment I finally admitted to myself: Clair Obscur wasn’t the problem. I was. Or more specifically, my stubborn refusal to touch a controller was.

From “keyboard or bust” to “I need a pad, right now”

Here’s the thing: a lot of modern PC games are designed with controllers first, even if nobody wants to say that out loud because it upsets the “PC Master Race” crowd. You can see it in everything from radial menus to camera behavior to how often tutorials mention buttons instead of keys.

Clair Obscur is a perfect example of that design philosophy. It’s a turn-based RPG, sure, but the way it mixes reactive inputs and timing-based counters screams “thumbstick and face buttons.” The cinematic pacing of the fights, the way you’re flicking between targets and reacting in micro-second windows-it just wants a gamepad.

So after a couple of evenings of forcing my will onto the game, I finally cracked. I needed a controller. But I wasn’t about to drop stupid money on some branded “pro” pad with RGB scars and an esports tax.

My checklist was simple:

• Wireless (I’m not adding another cable hydra to my desk)
• PC-compatible without firmware hell
• Comfortable enough to survive multi-hour RPG sessions
• Cheap enough that I wouldn’t feel scammed if I hated it and went back to keyboard

That’s how I ended up with the ISY IGP-2000-WT, a MediaMarkt own-brand controller I would’ve previously written off as bargain bin junk.

And I’m very happy to admit I was dead wrong.

The €40 “no-name” pad that embarrassed the big brands

The ISY IGP-2000-WT is not pretending to be some elite, prestige accessory. It’s a budget wireless controller that sits at around €39.99 at MediaMarkt and Saturn, both in white (WT) and black (BK). No fancy marketing, no influencer unboxings, no fifty buzzwords about “pro-grade paddles.”

For that price, I expected mushy buttons, sketchy Bluetooth, and maybe a dead thumbstick in six months. Instead, what I got felt suspiciously close to what the big boys are offering-just without the brand tax.

The design is clearly inspired by the Xbox Wireless Controller: same general shape, familiar asymmetrical sticks, matching ABXY labeling. If you’ve held an Xbox pad, your hands already know what to do here. That matters, because the last thing I wanted when trying to relearn how to play with a controller was also fighting some weird experimental layout.

In the hand, it’s immediately obvious that someone actually thought about ergonomics. The grips sit nicely in my palms, the triggers have enough resistance to feel deliberate, and the face buttons have a sharp, clean click. I’ve used controllers that cost more and felt cheaper. I’ve also used ones that somehow manage to be uncomfortable within an hour despite all their “ergonomic design” marketing fluff. This ISY pad? I’ve sunk five-hour Clair Obscur sessions into it without my hands turning into claws.

There is one glaring downside to the physical design, and it lines up exactly with what other users have pointed out: the glossy surface is a mistake. It looks sleek out of the box, sure, but the second your hands get even slightly sweaty during a tough boss fight, the controller becomes just slick enough to be annoying. Not unplayable, but you know that feeling when you realize you’re gripping harder than you should to compensate? Yeah, that.

If this thing had a matte or textured finish, it would punch way above its weight class. As it stands, the gloss is the only thing that really screams “budget” in a bad way.

Bluetooth that just works (and doesn’t hold your inputs hostage)

One of my biggest hang-ups with going wireless has always been latency. I play a lot of action-heavy stuff and fighting games, and if a controller feels like it’s thinking about your input for even a fraction of a second too long, I’m out.

The IGP-2000 connects via Bluetooth, and here’s the shocker: it’s actually solid. On PC, pairing it was painless. Windows recognized it without a tantrum, Steam picked it up cleanly as a generic gamepad, and in Clair Obscur I never once felt like a missed counter was the controller’s fault.

Beyond PC, being able to flip over to Android or iOS is huge. This isn’t some locked-in “works best on our console ecosystem” nonsense. I’ve used it for cloud streaming on my phone, with platformers and action games running off the cloud, and the pad held up just fine. Is it going to replace a wired fight stick for tournament-level precision? No. But for everyday gaming, the Bluetooth latency is a non-issue.

Battery-wise, you’re looking at around a full evening’s worth of gaming without anxiety—roughly in the 8-9 hour range in my experience, which matches what others have reported. It’s enough that I don’t constantly think about the battery level, which is all I want. Charge it, play your sessions, plug it in overnight. Done.

Battery-wise, you’re looking at around a full evening’s worth of gaming without anxiety—roughly in the 8-9 hour range in my experience, which matches what others have reported. It’s enough that I don’t constantly think about the battery level, which is all I want. Charge it, play your sessions, plug it in overnight. Done.

Macro buttons: the cheap feature that changed how I play

Where this controller genuinely blindsided me is on the back. The IGP-2000 has two programmable macro buttons tucked underneath, right where your middle fingers naturally rest.

Now, back paddles are usually where controller makers start tacking on extra zeroes to the price. “Pro” controllers flaunt them, but you’re often paying double for the privilege. ISY just quietly throws two of them onto a sub-€40 pad and lets you get on with your life.

In Clair Obscur, those macro buttons went from “neat gimmick” to “why doesn’t every controller just do this?” within a day. Being able to map multi-button combos or awkward inputs to a single, reachable button completely changed the way I played.

Instead of doing finger gymnastics to line up a defensive reaction that required a trigger plus a face button, I just set one of the paddles to that combination. Suddenly, those tight timing windows felt human again. I wasn’t fighting my controller; I was fighting the boss. As it should be.

And it’s not just Clair Obscur. In other games, having a macro on the back for things like “jump + dash” in platformers or “reload + melee” in shooters turns awkward, claw-style grips into clean, repeatable actions. Macro abuse can absolutely cheapen a game if you go too far with it, but used sensibly, it’s accessibility and comfort, not cheating.

The fact that I’m getting that level of functionality on a controller that costs less than a standard Xbox Wireless Controller still annoys me on principle. Not at ISY, but at the big brands that keep locking basic quality-of-life features behind “elite” pricing tiers.

Price vs. the usual suspects: who’s actually trying to win us over?

This is where I get a bit salty about the state of controllers in general.

Premium pads like the official Xbox Wireless Controller usually float somewhere above €49, depending on deals. That’s the entry point. You want paddles, interchangeable sticks, or extra profile settings? Congratulations, now we’re talking elite editions and double or triple the price.

The ISY IGP-2000, both in white (WT) and black (BK), has been sitting at around €39.99 with no dramatic discount rollercoaster. It launched into a market where Clair Obscur had just stormed into GOTY 2025 conversations, and honestly, that timing feels poetic: a breakout RPG priced aggressively low, and a no-nonsense controller doing the same thing in the peripheral space.

Is the ISY going to outmuscle a DualSense in haptic wizardry? No. Does it have the software ecosystem of an Xbox pad with native console integration? Also no. But as a cross-platform, Bluetooth, PC-friendly gamepad with macros for around forty bucks, it does the one thing I actually care about: it makes games play better, without ripping my wallet in half.

And that’s the part that stings a bit when I look at the big brands. Because they absolutely could be doing this. They choose not to. They’d rather upsell us on “pro” variants while their base models stay deliberately barebones. ISY, of all companies, looked at that situation and went, “What if we just didn’t do the anti-consumer thing?”

Clair Obscur, GOTY hype, and how it forced me to be less stubborn

Part of why this whole conversion story hits so hard is because Clair Obscur itself followed a similar logic. It undercut a lot of bloated AAA RPGs on price while delivering something sharp, stylish, and mechanically distinct enough to crash the GOTY 2025 party. A “bargain” that didn’t feel cheap.

It’s no coincidence that a game like that is what finally dragged me over to the controller side. Clair Obscur doesn’t treat input as an afterthought; it builds its identity on how you interact with it. Those reactive counters, the way skills chain together, the timing-based flourishes—it’s basically a love letter to players who enjoy execution, not just number crunching.

Playing that kind of game with a setup that didn’t fit it felt like playing a rhythm game with a laggy TV. You can muscle through it, technically, but you’re robbing yourself of the point. Once I accepted that, grabbing a pad wasn’t a betrayal of my PC heritage, it was just finally respecting the game on its own terms.

And because I landed on a controller that actually pulled its weight instead of some rattly no-name trash, that first impression stuck. I finished Clair Obscur on the IGP-2000. Then I stuck with that controller for other games too—action RPGs, indies, even some old platformers that had been gathering dust in my library because they felt off on keyboard.

At this point, the “keyboard for everything” part of my brain is officially dead. I still want WASD for shooters, strategy, and MMOs. But for games built around timing, movement arcs, and analogue control? I’m reaching for the ISY without thinking about it.

Who this controller is actually for (and who should skip it)

I’m not going to pretend the IGP-2000-WT is some universal, one-size-fits-all solution. It isn’t. But it fits a very specific, very real type of player perfectly.

• If you’re a PC-first player who usually lives on keyboard and mouse but keeps running into games that obviously play better with a pad—Clair Obscur, action RPGs, character action games—this is a low-risk way to actually give controllers a fair shot.
• If you want a single pad for PC, phone, and maybe a handheld or console that accepts generic Bluetooth, the multi-device support makes this thing way more flexible than most “official” controllers locked to one ecosystem.
• If you’re on a budget or just refuse to pay premium prices for features that should be standard, the value here is ridiculous. Wireless, macros, decent ergonomics, under €40. That’s exactly the kind of deal that should exist in a sane hardware market.

On the flip side, I wouldn’t recommend it if:

• You’re obsessed with elite-level competitive play in genres where every millisecond counts and you want wired-only, ultra-low-latency setups.
• You hate glossy finishes with a passion and know slippery plastic is going to drive you mad long term.
• You need deep software customization, profiles, or integration specific to PlayStation or Xbox consoles.

But for the majority of players eyeing the current “deals: GOTY 2025” wave, finally picking up Clair Obscur on sale and realizing the keyboard controls aren’t doing it justice, this is exactly the kind of controller that makes sense. You don’t need to turn the controller purchase into a second game-level expense just to experience that combat the way it was clearly meant to be played.

Where I landed: my practical recommendation after crossing the line

Clair Obscur forced me to admit something I’d resisted for years: refusing to use a controller on principle is just self-sabotage at this point. Too many modern games are built with pad-first design. Fighting that doesn’t make you hardcore, it just makes you miserable.

The ISY IGP-2000-WT happened to be the pad that broke that wall for me, and it did it without costing more than the damn game. It gave me:

• Comfortable, familiar Xbox-style ergonomics
• Reliable Bluetooth across PC and mobile
• Macro buttons that genuinely improved how I play timing-heavy games
• A consistently fair price around €39.99, without premium nonsense

In return, it asked me to live with a glossy shell that gets slippery when things get sweaty. That’s the trade. For me, that’s more than acceptable.

If you’re staring at Clair Obscur in your library—or any of the other modern games that quietly assume you own a controller—my practical advice is simple: don’t overthink the hardware. You don’t need to drop €150 on some overbuilt Frankenstein pad to do the game justice. Grab something like the ISY IGP-2000-WT, make use of the macros, and let the game breathe the way it was designed to.

That’s how a stubborn keyboard purist like me finally crossed over. Not because of marketing, not because everyone else was doing it, but because one good game and one honest, affordable controller left me with no excuses.