With the risk of sounding ridiculous – we’re talking about a piece of hardware, after all – there’s a certain grace about the Corsair Dark Core that is very hard to put into words. As soon as you plug it in for the first time, you can feel that a lot of care, skill and craftsmanship went into the development of this mouse. Why? Read our Corsair Dark Core RGB SE review and you’ll have your answer. 

What we played: Divinity: Original Sin 2, Rainbow Six: Siege, War for the Overworld, Rimworld, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun

*This item was not provided by Corsair. It was purchased by Unleash The Gamer for review purposes only.

COMFORT

As in the case of many gaming mice, the comfort is entirely dependent on the size of your hands. For a guy with big hands like me, using the Corsair Dark Core felt as natural as it can get. The curvature of the mouse makes a comfortable, claw style grip possible.

I was especially impressed by the finger-rest located on the left-hand side of the mouse. While, admittedly, it felt a tad uncomfortable at the beginning (probably because I’ve never owned a mouse with a finger-rest before), after half an hour of gaming I was won over.

However, the same design elements that make this mouse so good – namely, the upward curvature of the mouse and the way the buttons are spread around – might prove a tad uncomfortable for people with small hands. Nothing a small period of adjustment can’t solve.

DESIGN

This is a really, really handsome mouse. It’s also a pretty big departure, design-wise, from Corsair’s other products. The likely cause of this design departure is to fit the QI charging components located on the rear. Speaking of components, while previous Corsair models feature a minimalistic look, the Dark Core is very busy.

There’s a lot going in terms of buttons and options, but they’re spread around evenly enough as to prevent accidental button presses. I was especially impressed by the sniper button that lets you temporarily reduce the sensitivity of the mouse.

As for the look itself, the mouse is a mix between hard plastic and soft-touch material. The textured surface is both nice to look and practical, as it’s comfortable and prevents over sweating.

The cable length is nothing to write home about. It’s long enough to accommodate an average-sized desk and short enough as to not swirl around the desk and cause havoc.

COMPACTNESS

While the Dark Core is certainly on the bigger side, at no point during tests did I feel it took too much space on my desk – which, as you probably know by now, is pretty cluttered. The design is ergonomic, so it’s unlikely that the average person will encounter any real estate issues. It’s worth mentioning, however, that the Corsair Dark Core is on the heavier side, but whether or not this is a problem comes down to personal preference.

BUILD

At 128 g, this mouse can be easily included in the ‘’brick’’ category. While this might seem unsuited for gaming, we are happy to report that the unusually high weight of the mouse didn’t cause any issues during tests. You’d think this would be an issue while playing tense first-person shooters such as Rainbow Six: Siege, but the sturdy build didn’t cause any performance drops.

And considering its weight, you can be sure it doesn’t feel like a cheap piece of plastic. Finally, pressing the buttons gives a very pleasant physical and auditory feedback – so pleasant, in fact, that you’ll often find yourself clicking absent-mindedly just to hear the ‘’clicking’’ sounds.

CUSTOMIZATION

The Corsair Dark Core RGB offers lots of options in terms of customization. While the left-side thumb-rest is fixed, you can add a similar pad on the right side for the pinky finger, adding an extra level of comfort – which becomes especially convenient in micromanagement-heavy games like MMO’s. In fact, the number of buttons makes the Dark Core more of an MMO-specific mouse than anything else, though you won’t encounter any problems playing other types of games. All buttons are customizable, so if you don’t like the default setup, you can very easily modify them via their official dedicated software.

NOISE

Unlike some of the mice we’ve tested for our series of reviews – yes, we’re looking at you, Logitech G502 -, the sound that the Corsair Dark Core makes is barely noticeable. Which is quite surprising since it’s, you know, a Leviathan of a mouse.

CONCLUSION

This concludes our Corsair Dark Core RGB SE review. It’s a weird looking mouse, for sure, but as far as gaming is concerned, it’s one of the best choices you could make at the moment. The upward curvature of the body keeps the hand in a natural position, while the diverse set of buttons caters towards a wide variety of players, from MMO, RPG to FPS gamers. Furthermore, the same things that make the Dark Core a great gaming mouse are the reasons why it’s also office-appropriate, and since we love versatility, it gets a big thumbs-up from us, Siskel & Ebert style. If you’re on the fence about buying a gaming mouse, take this one into consideration.