The ASUS ROG Falcata gaming keyboard is brilliant for gaming, but not for everything else
The Falcata is bold and unusual but its split design and comfort trade-offs mean it won’t suit everyone.
By Zelda Lee -
What maketh a keyboard an ergonomic one? A split chassis? Adjustable tenting? Cushioned wrist pads? For me, I would say some mix of those. By that logic then, the ASUS ROG Falcata looks like it should fit the bill. It ticks all of those boxes at first glance, and yet ASUS hasn’t explicitly once called the Falcata an ergonomic keyboard. Instead, it’s sold firmly as a gaming keyboard, with the ergonomic cues sitting quietly in the background like an afterthought.
That odd positioning ended up defining my time with the Falcata. It felt comfortable enough for long gaming sessions and is packed with features that genuinely change how you play PC games. But using it as your main daily keyboard and the cracks will eventually start to show. And at over S$549, those cracks are hard to ignore.
Playing games, writing this review, and everything in between
At S$579, the ROG Falcata sit on the premium tier.
At first glance, the Falcata looks like most other gaming keyboards until you notice the split layout, which is really its defining feature. I tried the half-keyboard mode first: detaching the right side and leaving just the left half on my desk. In Overwatch 2, it felt liberating at first. I had loads of mouse space and could flick as wide as I wanted without knocking into unused keys. But that feeling didn’t last long. The moment I tried to hit Enter to chat or reached for the arrow keys, my hand just hovered awkwardly over empty space. Years of muscle memory don’t disappear overnight, and unless you’re willing to retrain yourself, half-keyboard mode ends up feeling more like a hassle than an advantage.
Once I snapped both halves back together, everything felt more natural again – at least for me. To be fair, the Falcata’s detachable design might still click with gamers who want their WASD hand sitting closer to the mouse hand, especially in competitive shooters where desk space is king.
It’s the perfect keyboard for gamers who want their WASD hand sitting closer to the mouse.
Speaking of keys, and this is where I thought the Falcata shines best. ASUS’ ROG HFX V2 magnetic switches – also known as hall effect, for the mechanical keyboard otakus – are ridiculously fast. I didn’t realise how lightly I rested my fingers on keys until I started accidentally firing off abilities in Diablo IV. You can adjust the actuation sensitivity, of course. But I left it at default settings and forced myself to adapt. Within a few days, I genuinely felt quicker, almost like the keyboard was retraining the way I play.
Rapid trigger, which resets the key the instant you lift your finger, is another highlight of the keyboard especially in shooters. I found my strafing in Overwatch 2 to be sharper, for instance. Speed Tap is another neat feature, which lets you double-bind keys like A and D for twitch strafing. The Falcata is one of those mechanical gaming keyboards that invites you to experiment, tweaking settings and seeing what combination of actuation points and features works best for your style.
The new (but still in beta form) Gear Link is far superior to ASUS’ Armoury Crate.
Typing on the Falcata was a pleasant surprise too. Thanks to the silicone layers and poron pads, it doesn’t sound or feel hollow and lands closer to the smoothness of a custom-built mechanical board than a typical mass-market gaming keyboard. It reminded me a little of the ROG Azoth Extreme (read our review here) – though the Azoth still feels more premium and refined thanks to its gasket mount and weightier key feel. The Falcata is lighter and snappier, clearly tuned more for gaming speed than typing comfort, but it’s far from unpleasant. I ended up writing big chunks of this review on it, and while I wouldn’t attempt a full eight-hour workday on the Falcata (my wrists would riot), I was surprised by how long I could stay on it before fatigue set in.
I also like ASUS’s new browser-based software, Gear Link. After years of Armoury Crate misery, being able to tweak settings instantly in a browser tab felt liberating – no more unnecessary app installations, no more bloats. Gear Link allowed me to switch rapid trigger profiles mid-session, adjusted lighting, even rebound a few keys without fuss. But it’s still clearly in beta, because some functions didn’t work as it should, and the absence of macro recording feels like a missed opportunity – especially at this price. It’s not a stretch to say that ASUS will continue to polish Gear Link though, and it will only get better.
The multi-function controller is overly stiff.
That said, the multi-function control scroller ended up being my biggest frustration with the Falcata. On paper, it should have been a killer feature – one wheel to rule them all: volume, lighting, actuation sensitivity, playback. There’s even a glowing LED strip underneath to show you what you’re adjusting. In reality though, my experience was anything but smooth. The wheel on my review unit was overly stiff, to the point where I’d overshoot and skip past the function I wanted. This could be an isolated case, but when a premium keyboard’s main control feels this awkward, it’s hard to overlook. I also wish ASUS had made it slightly bigger and more prominent and as it stands, the scroller feels it didn’t get the attention it deserved.
A good keyboard but with an identity crisis
At $549, the ROG Falcata isn’t exactly cheap. But so are most other ROG-branded products anyway. It may not be ASUS’ most expensive keyboard (that honour goes to the $799 ROG Azoth Extreme), but it sits close enough to that top tier that comes with the accompanying expectations. And that’s the problem: the parts the Falcata nails are fantastic, but the parts it misses are hard to ignore at this price.
The switches are some of the fastest and smoothest I’ve ever used, and for competitive play, they’re genuinely an advantage. The split design, while imperfect, does make long sessions feel less cramped. On those counts, ASUS has delivered something worthwhile. But the overly stiff scroller, the beta-level software and even the wrist support that felt awkwardly weak undercut the package.
The Falcata caters to a very niche group of gamers.
So, that leaves the Falcata in a strange place on my desk. It’s not a true ergonomic keyboard per se, and it’s not a straightforward gaming one either. What I think, is that it’s a gaming keyboard with some “semblance” of an ergonomic keyboard. If you’re the type of gamers who want hall effect switches and like the split concept, then the Falcata is made for you. But for everyone else, it’s a harder sell.
Look, I really did enjoy my gaming sessions with the Falcata – it’s fast, responsive, and genuinely fun to use. But outside of gaming, it just didn’t click for me. If you want a keyboard that can handle both work and play, I’d steer you towards the ROG Azoth Extreme or even the excellent Keychron Q1 HE, which also uses hall-effect switches but offers a more well-rounded experience. The Falcata is bold and different, and I respect ASUS for trying something this unusual, but its split design feels like it’s built for a very specific type of gamer – and that’s a niche most people probably won’t fit.