Split keyboards have been a thing in the enthusiast space for years, but it’s only recently that we’ve seen big name gaming brands take a stab at the idea. Case in point is the Asus ROG Falcata, an ergonomic mechanical keyboard that, when angled apart, forms a similarly curved design to the falcon-shaped Iberian sword it’s named after. As well as offering a more comfortable posture for typing, the keyboard can also be used with the left half alone, making it a revival of the classic “gamepad” design: all the keys you need for FPS, and nothing more. Modern magnetic switches lie underneath each key, sound dampening ensures a lovely typing experience, and there’s even low-latency 2.4GHz wireless, on top of Bluetooth and wired USB-C, providing a ton of extra flexibility.
Unfortunately, all that functionality comes at a cost. The Falcata is a wince-inducing £335 in the UK, and a similarly outrageous $420 in the US. Discounts to £300 or $350 soften the blow slightly, but we’re still talking about a truly premium keyboard that needs to hit on all levels: great typing, performant gaming, significant ergonomic benefits, sensible software and impeccable design.
The ROG Falcata comes close to hitting that high-water mark, but I’m not quite sure it totally delivers. Still, it’s a fascinating piece of kit to use, and does at least set a new standard for the nascent ergonomic gaming keyboard category.
Design and Features
The ROG Falcata is a 75% size keyboard of two halves, which are joined together by a short (or slightly longer) USB-C to USB-C cable. Each half has a long integrated palm rest, nearly the size of the keyboard itself, giving the whole assembly a vaguely square aspect ratio, though these are removable if you don’t need or want them.
The 75% design is fairly ordinary, with Function row keys along the top, arrow keys in the lower right and a volume wheel in the upper left, though the LED lighting strip along the left side of the board which shows your volume setting and keyboard brightness levels, amongst other metrics, is unique and genuinely useful. Tiny icons illuminate to show you what you’re adjusting, and light races up or down the LED strip to signify your current level.
The split space bar also makes good sense here, allowing you to jump or create a gap with either hand, and there are even switches for connectivity and rapid trigger mode tucked behind the Escape key.
The one thing here I simply cannot abide is the Copilot key in the lower right. Its placement borders the arrow keys, and I find myself hitting it constantly when I don’t mean to. It’s meant to be possible to disable it in software, but for whatever reason this setting doesn’t work, so the unwanted Copilot window regularly appears – much to my consternation.
The magnetic switches inside the keyboard allow for some interesting features versus standard mechanical switches, but feel very similar to traditional linear switches. Asus has included four layers of sound dampening here, meaning the tone of each key press is deeper and more pleasant, and the key action is also refined: moderately weighted (49g), relatively quiet and extremely smooth. The backlit PBT keycaps are easily readable in dark environments, and of course RGB can be disabled to save battery life or if you simply prefer the look of a single colour or nothing at all.
The Falcata can be used in wired or 2.4GHz wireless mode at up to 8000Hz, or in Bluetooth mode at up to 250Hz. Battery life is rated at up to 200 hours with 2.4GHz and RGB disabled, which is typical for this category, but expect 2000Hz, 4000Hz and 8000Hz polling rates to cut this longevity to days or mere hours.
Software
The Falcata is supported by Asus’ web-based Gear Link software, which allows you to remap keys, change the lighting, set up FPS features like SOCD, and change other keyboard settings. The software is considerably more polished than Cherry Xtrfy’s equivalent software I looked at over at Eurogamer recently, with polished English language text, an intuitive layout, and sensible default settings.
There are even some quite rare features here, including the smart ability to swap the left Windows key for a Function key if only the left side of the keyboard is being used, or enable an 8000Hz polling rate for frequently used keys only in so-called ‘Zone mode’. It’s easy to set the actuation point and dead zones of the keyboard on a per-key or entire board basis, thanks to live readouts of how far each key is being pressed – a bit like Logitech has done with the similar sensors inside its revolutionary X2 Superstrike mouse.
Similarly, rapid trigger is smartly suggested for the WASD movement keys by default, while the counter-strafing aid SOCD (called ‘speed tap’) is on A and D, another sane choice. At every turn, it’s clear that Asus has invested the time in making sure its features are well explained with little tooltips and set up to be of immediate use – a surprising rarity in some keyboard software.
Performance
The ROG Falcata is noticeably rapid in fast-paced games, as you’d hope, and I appreciate the huge amount of extra mousing space that running with just the left half of the keyboard provides. Of course, it’s a bit of an annoyance when you remember a critical key is on the right side of the board – such as ‘y’ for chatting in Counter-Strike – but even with both halves in use, the compact 75% design works well.
The Falcata includes magnetic switches, as is the vogue for FPS-focused gaming keyboards these days, and the rapid trigger, SOCD, and adjustable actuation points are all useful tools in your toolkit for speeding up your inputs. SOCD is particularly vital for counter-strafing in tactical FPS games, but it’s worth bearing in mind that it’s banned in Counter-Strike 2 and is of limited usefulness outside of the shooter genre. Finally, 8K polling shaves a few microseconds off your inputs, but does have a higher CPU impact than the default 1K polling, so I wouldn’t suggest enabling it unless you have a beefy computer and a particular interest in eking out fine margins to attain victory.
The usability of the keyboard outside of gaming is also strong, with the left-mounted scroll wheel proving surprisingly useful for adjusting the volume without needing to lift your hand off your mouse. The more ergonomic positioning that the split design allows isn’t too tricky to adjust to – I mainly needed to train myself to press the ‘b’ key with my left hand instead of my right – and there are screw-in lifts in the box to allow you to angle the keyboard as you see fit. A bit of ‘tenting’ – having the inside of the keyboard raised slightly – is meant to be a bit more comfortable for your wrists, and this is fully possible here, though you don’t get the kind of fine-grained adjustability that the posable legs of an Ergodox EZ provides, for example.
With its integrated palm rest, I found the Falcata a bit too bulky to easily tuck into a bag, especially as you need to pack a cable to connect the two halves even if you’re planning to use the Bluetooth or 2.4GHz wireless connectivity options. That makes for a slightly messy setup, though there is an included shorter cable if you want only a slight gap between the two boards (or to use them fully joined up). The magnetic switches here are comfortable and relatively quiet for typing, whether you’re writing an article or coding a script, though the PBT keycaps are a little slick for my liking. Still, I can’t complain about the overall feeling of the board, which is suitably premium.
Will is former deputy tech editor for IGN, specialising in PC hardware, sim racing and display tech. He has been publishing about games and technology since 2001 (age 12). Will was formerly Deputy Editor at Digital Foundry. He is currently playing BattleTech Advanced Universe.
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