I Bought the ROG Xbox Ally X and Now I Have Serious Buyer’s Remorse

by

As an Xbox gamer, I was excited but hesitant about the ROG Xbox Ally X. Being able to play my Xbox games on the go sounded great, and it would be really convenient for playing co-op and multiplayer games with my wife without needing another console and TV. I was surprised by the $1,000 price, but I thought I’d use it enough to make it worthwhile. I’m not so sure now, though – right now, I regret buying the ROG Xbox Ally X.

The ROG Xbox Ally X is being marketed as an Xbox handheld, but that’s misleading. It’s essentially a ROG Ally with Xbox branding and features added on. While it might appeal to Xbox fans, it doesn’t offer full access to your Xbox game library directly. I learned the hard way – don’t buy it expecting to play all your owned Xbox games on the device without relying on cloud streaming.

ROG Xbox Ally X Isn’t a Real Handheld Xbox Experience

I own games like *Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2* and *Borderlands 4* on Xbox, but I can’t download them directly onto my ROG Ally X. I have to stream them instead. I was hoping to use the handheld to play *Borderlands 4* on my own screen while my wife uses the TV, as the split-screen version isn’t great. While cloud streaming usually works okay, it’s not as reliable as being able to download and play the games I already own on this Xbox device. Plus, a big reason I bought a handheld console was to play my Xbox games on the go, and I can’t do that with games I have to stream.

I was really looking forward to playing *Mass Effect: Legendary Edition* on my ROG Xbox Ally X. This collection includes the original *Mass Effect* trilogy with updated graphics and improvements, and I already own it for Xbox. It’s also available through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, so I thought it would be simple to play. However, because the Ally X is essentially a handheld PC, I had to download the PC version of the game. This meant installing the EA App and, unfortunately, I couldn’t use my saved progress from the Xbox console. While I *can* stream the console version through the cloud, that doesn’t really take advantage of having a portable handheld device.

The ROG Xbox Ally X is a technically strong device and runs almost all the games I’ve tried flawlessly. I did encounter one crash with an older Steam game, but overall performance has been excellent. While it’s a well-made and powerful handheld, it doesn’t quite deliver the Xbox experience I was hoping for, which is a real letdown.

I’m really hoping to get more playtime with my ROG Xbox Ally X, especially with how good Game Pass is. Looking ahead to November 2025, there are a few games that will be perfect for it – I’m thinking of jumping into the 4-player co-op in *Call of Duty: Black Ops 7* and definitely checking out *Voidtrain*, which looks like a blast with friends. I’ll get my money’s worth eventually, but honestly, if you’re expecting the ROG Xbox Ally X to be a true handheld Xbox experience, you might be a little let down.

Read More

2025-10-18 23:08