Kingston’s first step into the gaming keyboard market, the HyperX Alloy FPS is almost an instant hit. You can tell just by opening the package – they mean business. The HyperX mechanical keyboard comes with a very cool pouch – first thing you see when you open the package. Remove that and you’re hit by this handsome black and red beauty.

In the following HyperX Alloy review, I’ll talk about why I think this is a really great effort from Kingston and a strong competitor on the gaming keyboard landscape. It’s just the type needed to shake things up a bit.

What we played: Far Cry 5 Dead Living Zombies DLC, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, The Witcher 3, Fallout 76

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

COMFORT

Right off the bat, the HyperX Alloy FPS is very easy to set up and use. It’s a no-nonsense version of the traditional mechanical gaming keyboard and by the Light of the Seven, we needed that. Useless gimmicky buttons? – nope. Unnecessarily large size? – nope. Still has multimedia buttons? – yep. Looks cool? – double yep.

And the best part about such an intelligently comfortable design is that you can effortlessly reach everything you need without having to work your fingers too much. I’m taking off half a star because of the FN button that might be an issue for some. I personally have no issue with there being a function button.

DESIGN

The next talking point in our HyperX Alloy Review is the design. In terms of design, there’s not much I can say against this keyboard except one thing – no RGB lighting. If you’re fine with red – it’s ok. Personally, I could’ve used some customization on that part, but it was far from being a deal-breaker.

It still looks like it could kill. And since it’s marketed as an FPS keyboard, you can be sure it will.

The HyperX Alloy FPS mechanical keyboard has a minimalist design, continuing the no-nonsense idea behind the whole thing.

The switches (extra keys) that come with the package are made of metal, and the WASD keys are textured for better grip during gaming.

The HyperX board features a long, detachable, braided cable. It’s fairly long at 1.8 meters, but it might become annoying because of the braid (tends to be very rigid).

On the back of the HyperX Alloy board is an extra USB slot so you can charge your devices, but it doesn’t work as a USB connection to your computer (bummer). The keyboard will, unfortunately, take up two USB ports, so if you’re gaming on a laptop with an external keyboard, this might be a major issue for you.

COMPACTNESS

Probably the strongest point of the HyperX Alloy is its compact size. It’s small but that doesn’t mean it lacks any of the features of a traditional mechanical keyboard.

Now here’s a confession: for a long time, I’ve been gaming on cheap office keyboards because mechanical keyboards designed specifically for gaming are typically unnecessarily bulky, heavy, and too big overall. I chose the HyperX for this review specifically because it’s neither of those things. Ok, well, it’s a bit heavy at 1 kg or 2.2 pounds, but still lighter than most.

As such, the HyperX Alloy FPS is probably one of my favorite keyboards out there, despite lacking some very important things I’ll go into further down in this review.

STURDINESS

As I just said, the HyperX is reasonably heavy, but compared to other gaming mechanical boards, it’s actually lightweight.

The product seems very high-quality and the plastic used in the keys doesn’t seem cheap at all.

The high point of the sturdy design is in the keys. They’re laid down on silicone pads that are very resilient and will probably last a long time, even if you remove all the keys once a month to clean it.

Speaking of which – I have to briefly mention cleaning. If you remove all the keys, the intelligent design leaves you with an almost completely flat surface that’s such a breeze to clean.

The keyboard also comes with a tool to remove all the keys, which eliminates the risk of damaging them.

The keyboard will undoubtedly handle hours of punishment without any signs of stress. The grip pads on the bottom make sure it does not slide around everywhere – which might be a pro or a con depending on your style.

For me, it’s a con, I like a keyboard which I can move around easily with one hand. But I might just be the unpopular opinion here.

CUSTOMIZATION

Here comes the bad part. Similar to the Corsair K63, the HyperX is very weak in terms of customization options. But while the K63 does have a dedicated software, the HyperX Alloy FPS Mechanical Keyboard comes with no software whatsoever. This is downright disappointing for those of you who play RTS games competitively. Maybe in the future, Kingston?

The keyboard does come with a “game mode” which disables the Windows key and enables the ability to press all the keys at once… if you’re into that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

NOISE

The second major con about the HyperX Alloy FPS is the noise. The keys are very, very noisy. Now you might say that’s normal for a mechanical keyboard. But even within the realm of mechanical keyboards, this one stands out like a pair of bagpipes in a string orchestra. Roommates wanna sleep? Tough luck.

CONCLUSION

All in all, the HyperX Alloy is a perfectly viable option for those who are looking for a keyboard that is built, from the ground up, strictly for gaming. While the lack of customization options and the infernal noise are certainly nothing to sneeze at, the overall quality of the keyboard makes up for these design quirks.