When you name your controller after Doom’s most devastating weapon, you’re making a clear statement about just how powerful you think it is. With the Victrix Pro BFG, that initial statement is backed up by one of the most versatile and impressive controller packages in recent years.
The Victrix Pro BFG is a wireless modular controller for PS5, PS4 and PC, our review unit decked out in PS5-centric white, with a proprietary USB dongle for connections. There’s also a black Xbox-flavoured version if that’s more your thing. Alongside the wireless option, there’s a 3-metre-long USB-C braided cable, to give the reassurance of a wired connection and reduce latency as much as possible, but that’s not all that you’ll find tucked away in the box.
This is where the Victrix Pro BFG’s package really starts to impress, and that’s before you’ve even tried playing a game with it. There’s a sturdy, hard-shell carry case, boasting the same white and purple colour scheme as the controller. Within it, there’s everything you could need to customise the Pro BFG to exactly how you like it, or exactly what a particular game needs.
This is a modular controller, much like the Thrustmaster eSwap series, and what that means is that you can swap around some of the components to suit your tastes. The left-hand module can be unscrewed – a nifty little screwdriver is included – so you can have either symmetrical or asymmetrical analogue sticks. If you’re a former Xbox player who now dabbles in the PlayStation side of things, you can at make your controller layout feel “right”, to go with the rather Xbox-like form it takes.
Alongside that, the right-hand module can be swapped out entirely, and there’s a fightpad – a six-button microswitch setup that ditches the analogue stick – that you can slot into place, and is ideal if you’re trying to perfect your combos in Street Fighter 6 or Tekken 8. Personally, this is a game-changer, and while it takes a few moments to swap, it’s well worth it for the huge advantage it’ll give you if you prefer playing fighting games with a pad rather than a stick. If you like an arcade stick, you should definitely check out Victrix’ own Pro FS stick, incidentally.
While you’re swapping out or switching around your buttons, you can alter the analogue sticks themselves, and there’s a choice of a tall, hyper-accurate stick or a standard-length one with a PS3-style rounded head, alongside the two standard dimpled ones. There’s only one of these domed sticks, so you can’t completely mimic the old-school Dualshock 3, but it’s great to have this level of customisation. I found using the taller stick made my Overwatch 2 accuracy much greater, though it took some getting used to before I settled in.
In addition to that, there’s a choice of different gate types too, which are the sections that sit around the analogue stick. Current pads have circular gates, but octagonal gates can be really useful for some fighting games and other genres that would benefit from the more definite input – also N64 and GameCube emulators. It’s a shame that these aren’t using Hall Effect sensors, but Victrix are seemingly all set to release replacement Hall Effect modules in the coming months, and they are a step cheaper than some of their rivals.
You can also change the D-pad, and there’s a standard cross style, a circular version with a raised cross, and then Victrix’s own diamond-shaped offering. I’ve always preferred the old-school cross, but depending on what you’re playing you might want to swap it on a game-by-game basis. This is a pad that you can truly make your own, and while it can feel a little like Frankenstein’s monster – especially with the two analogue sticks changed out and a different gate in there – I genuinely can’t fault the options that Victrix have given us.
The Victrix Pro BFG weighs in at 271g – lighter than Victrix’ own claims – which is 13g lighter than the DualSense, and a whole 20g lighter than the standard Xbox Series X controller. There may be a few grams to be added with different sticks and gates, but our set up it was lighter and also better balanced than its standard rivals. This meant that even during the longest, sweatiest Overwatch 2 sessions – I do play other games, I promise – I never felt any fatigue thanks to my controller, just my occasionally terrible play.
The Victrix Pro BFG looks sleek and futuristic, but it’s also pleasingly understated. Its pure white plastic construction is interspersed with purple highlights, and large texturised grips sit comfortably beneath your palms, while a lighter texture wraps around each arm. It’s not shifting in your hands, that’s for certain, and thanks to a much improved battery life compared to the DualSense – up to 20 hours versus 8-12 – you won’t have to.
From there, it’s a bevy of inputs, and while you’ll find everything you’d expect on the face of the controller, there’s also a cavalcade of extra inputs and controls hidden away around the back. There’s a tiny platform selector, which is a little fiddly, but also small and precise enough that there’s no chance you’re going to catch it mid-game. You’ve then got four programmable buttons that nestle beneath your fingers, and I found these to be the most comfortable and well-placed rear buttons I’ve come across. They’re just right there, which… is kind of the point.
You can then control the range of each analogue trigger, and the spring-loaded selector is easy enough to figure out, holding them as you push the trigger as far as you want it to go, before then releasing them. Alternatively, you can set them with a hair-trigger so you barely have to press them – the perfect thing for lining up an instant headshot. I found that when I started using the controller, I kept undoing the settings for my triggers, somehow catching the release mechanism, but after a short amount of time, it just stopped happening. Thankfully.
If the level of customisation that Victrix have placed in your palms isn’t quite enough, they’ve gone even further with the Victrix Control Hub, a PC-based (or Xbox-based) app that lets you update the controller firmware, tinker with the stick and trigger deadzones, and choose from three different EQ settings for the wired audio connection. The biggest problem? The app isn’t on mobile or native to PlayStation itself, meaning that you’ll need a PC to finetune your experience. It’s a wrinkle in an otherwise flawless package.
There’s clearly some serious competition out there for pro controllers, and with the Victrix sitting around £170 it’s right in the centre of that conversation. It’s cheaper than the Dualsense Edge and the Nacon Revolution 5 Pro, and boasts wireless where the Thrustmaster eSwap does not – we’re considering the Xbox variants, as Thrustmaster’s eSwap doesn’t have a PS5 native controller yet. It has more customisation options than all three, barring the Thrustmaster’s tiny driving wheel, and the only clear downsides are the lack of haptic rumble, and the inability to start your console up via the PlayStation button on the pad. Sony reserve such things for their own controllers, and that’s as frustrating here as it has been elsewhere.
