How I saved $150 this month on games for my ROG Ally X

I spent a lot of time in my basement office.

It’s where I do most of my work for Pocket-lint, write in my free time, and even game (which, these days, primarily consists of Clair Obscur and Halo Infinite on my Xbox Series X). However, sometimes, it’s nice to get out of the depths of my dark habitat and still game the evening or a lazy Sunday away on my balcony, my backyard patio, or in my living room. I also really enjoy taking games on the go, whether I’m headed into the city for a meeting or flying to a keynote. This is where high-powered handhelds like the

ROG Ally X
and

Steam Deck OLED
come in. They let me take that AAA gaming experience with me, while still allowing me to plug them into my monitor for that sit-back experience, offering the best of both worlds.

But sometimes, despite how impressive these handhelds are (especially the ROG Ally X), they don’t run games quite as smoothly as I’d like them to. I felt this fidelity pain with Final Fantasy XVI, which runs okay on the ROG Ally X (roughly 30fps/900p with a few heavy graphical tweaks). Whenever I played the game at home, I found myself wishing I could continue from that same save file on my PlayStation 5. Of course, I can’t do that since FFXVI is on Steam and there’s no cross-save with the PS5 version of FFXVI. Beyond that, I’d also need to buy two copies of the game, which isn’t something I’m willing to do.

But if you stick to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription platform, you can access hundreds of games across an Xbox console, PC, and even the ROG Ally X since it’s Windows 11-powered (as long as you install the Xbox app). If you install Windows 11 on the Steam Deck or opt for Xbox Cloud Gaming (which I’ve never found works very well) you can do the same thing on Valve’s handheld, too.

ROG Ally X

Dimensions

11.02 x 4.37 x 0.97-inches (28.0 x 11.1 x 2.47 x 3.69cm)

Number of Games Included

Steam, Xbox Game Pass, Epic Games Store, and more

Playing Time

3-4 hours

Brand

Asus

Weight

1.49lbs (678g)

Chipset

AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Processor

Expand

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is low-key the ROG Ally X’s best feature

Microsoft’s gaming subscription platform keeps getting better

Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to show Xbox Game Pass to me as a kid — I just wouldn’t believe it. The amount of value the $20/month Netflix-like platform offers is off the chart, especially now that Clair Obscur, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and Avowed have hit the console. There are big-name titles like Tony Hawk’s 3 + 4 and Doom The Dark Ages close on the horizon, too.

But back to the topic at hand. Like I previously mentioned, I’ve been playing a lot of Clair Obscur lately (if you’re a fan of old-school JRPGs like Final Fantasy VI and Lost Odyssey, you’ll likely really like the game). I’ll often start off my evening by playing for an hour or so after work before my partner gets home. I then shut the game down and head upstairs to hang out and eat dinner. Inevitably, at some point, I’ll grab my ROG Ally X and boot up Clair Obscur again while watching TV. Because Xbox Game Pass saves are stored in the cloud, I can pick up precisely where I left off earlier in the evening on my Xbox Series X. It’s a subtle convenience I’ve really grown to appreciate over the past few weeks, and part of me never wants to give up this versatility.

While Clair Obsur runs pretty well on the ROG Ally X and actually looks surprisingly good on Medium graphics settings (1080/35-40fps with the help of XeSS AI upscaling), I’ve been forced to turn the visuals down considerably to get Avowed and Oblivion to hit about 30fps (here’s hoping FSR comes to both games at some point). Still, both titles play reasonably well, and it’s awesome to be able to take that same game experience and save file with me wherever I want, whether that’s my living room, the doctor’s office waiting room, or my parents’ place. More so than a high-end gaming PC, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5 or gaming PC on its own, the combination of my ROG Ally X and Xbox Series X feels like a true next-generation gaming experience.

Related

This $35 accessory turned my ROG Ally X into my main gaming device

Jsaux’s 6-in-1 Multifunctional Docking Station is one of the most full-featured, cost-effective handheld game console docks available

Playing the same game wherever I want is freeing

It’s going to be difficult to give up this convenience

There are other benefits to Game Pass, too. The combo package of the Xbox Series X and ROG Ally X has me trying games I otherwise wouldn’t even think about playing, like Expeditions: A Mud Runner game, for example, expanding my gaming horizons in a way I didn’t expect. As an added bonus, I’ve found that relying primarily on Game Pass with the ROG Ally X also has me spending far less money on games than I used to.

Sure, I still buy the occasional game like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, but generally, I’ve only played whatever lands on Game Pass, in part because it saves me money, but also because I know that if I stick to Xbox’s Netflix-like gaming subscription platform, I can take my AAA gaming experiences with me wherever I want.

I know at some point a game will drop that I want to play and that isn’t part of Game Pass. But given the limited time I have for gaming these days, I really appreciate the versatility Game Pass offers — and I think a lot of other people will, too.

Related

The ROG Ally X’s best feature will blow your mind (if you actually use it)

As long as the game you’re playing supports the feature, FSR feels like the ultimate cheat code.