The missing feature — Razer Abyssus Essential review

The Razer Abyssus Essential mouse is almost great. It has the normal Razer customization options through Razer Synapse. The mouse moves smoothly and accurately and has a nice, firm click. However, it fails to be a go-to product because of one major flaw that makes it hard to recommend over the competition, which is a shame, because this mouse could have been a great entry mouse into PC gaming.

Razer is well known for its pricey, but fantastic, mouse and keyboards. The Razer Abyssus Essential is its attempt at a cheaper, quality mouse to serve as a jumping off point for those just getting into PC gaming. However, for whatever reason, Razer decided to build this mouse without any side buttons at all. Most PC gaming mice on the market are going to offer at least two side buttons, and their absence is very odd and very noticeable. Those two extra buttons are fantastic for rebinding. Personally, I almost always move my melee attack and grenades to the two side buttons. Even if you aren’t into action games, they are useful. In a game like Pillars of Eternity, I use them to pause and fast-forward time. Their absence severely hurt the overall usefulness of this mouse, especially one marketed as a gaming mouse.

In Razer’s defense, I kind of understand the move. I’m sure the idea was that this is supposed to be an entry-level mouse so there was no reason to worry about extra features. The side buttons can be on the next mouse someone uses once they have gotten the hang of gaming with a mouse and keyboard. Still, for a $50 mouse, that is quite the feature to leave off. It would have made sense for them to just forgo the DPI button, which they did, and keep the side buttons.

As it is, the mouse does everything else pretty well. The 10-million-click Omron switches feel great. The wire doesn’t get in the way and the Razer Chroma looks as good as ever. Razer Synapse continues to be a simple to use customization option to help make your mouse exactly as you like, as you can customize the different color options and adjust the DPI to your liking. This is good and all, but just about every Razer mouse offers this, and those have side buttons and a better design to them.

The Razer Abyssus Essential went with an ambidextrous design. While this sounds nice, it really means that it just isn’t suited for either hand and feels rather odd. The only real way to use this mouse is to go with the claw-grip. While that is how I normally use a mouse, it still didn’t feel as comfortable as it should. That problem is likely because of how small the mouse is. It has a very low profile which prevents it from fully filling the hand when you grip it. This is definitely not for those who use the palm-grip or those with larger hands. There is nothing to palm here.

The Razer Abyssus Essential has the potential to be an excellent product. As someone who naturally uses the claw-grip, I can get over its low profile. Especially since it does still have the Razer quality to it. However, I just can’t get over the lack of side buttons. Those buttons are found in most of its competitors and its competitors offer a cheaper price for a similar product, even if you don’t get as many customization options as with Razer. The lack of a DPI button also may be a turn off for some, but I never found it that important. Most people are going to stick with a single DPI and adjust the in-game sensitivity to make it work. As it stands, The Razer Abyssus Essential is a decent mouse that just isn’t quite on par with the competition.

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