Serafim S3 mobile cloud gaming controller review

While I respect those who can master the art of playing mobile games with touch-screen controls, there’s nothing quite like a good, old-fashioned controller. That’s where the Serafim S3 mobile cloud gaming controller comes in, minus the old fashioned bit.

This Backbone-style controller clips onto virtually any USB-C enabled phone (Android and iPhone), with the central bar of the controller stretching to fit most devices. The USB-C connector has plenty of give, though you’ll have to align the opposite side of your phone to keep it level. Once you’ve done that, it grips on quite securely. And, while it wasn’t pretty to look at, I was able to use it with my case attached.

It’s an impressively well-built device and does come with interchangeable rear plates for a thinner profile, but I preferred the extra bulk. It boasts a USB-C passthrough port for charging and so on, but what’s especially useful is it has a 3.5mm headphone jack, to plug in headphones. As cool as Bluetooth headsets are when you’re across the room from your device, or elsewhere in the house, when it’s on the table in front of me I’ll take wired any day.

Button-wise, the Serafim S3 mirrors an Xbox controller, with the exception that its thumbsticks and triggers are Hall effect (which should make drift a non-issue). It has an additional Serafim button and, as with the GameSir X5 Lite, you can take a screenshot with the touch of a button, too.

It lacks vibration motors, which makes it lighter than an Xbox controller, but it doesn’t feel remotely flimsy. Thanks to the slightly textured rear, I retained a firm hold on it, even when frantically attempting to perform Zangief’s spinning piledriver in Street Fighter 2.

Massively illegal wrestling moves aside, the S3 performed impressively well with every game I threw at it, from Forza Horizon through to Starfield. I was streaming the latter two, but there are plenty of mobile-only games, such as the Dead Space-style Dead Effect 2, which support the device.

As a controller in its own right, the Serafim S3 is a capable piece of kit; with face buttons that offer just enough feedback without feeling overly clicky. So, given how much work Serafim has gone into getting the controller right, it’s baffling how bad the accompanying app is.

Dubbed Serafim Console, both Serafim’s website and the S3’s manual encourage you to download this app to get the most from the controller. Once you fire it up, and get past the compulsory login, you’re encouraged to subscribe to the app, free for the first year but then it carries a £28-a-year price tag. And if you forget to cancel after that first year, you’ll get charged.

No, I am not making this up. The same kind of app that GameSir and other companies provide for free, Serafim wants to charge for. And if you don’t subscribe, you can do virtually nothing with the app, except go into the settings.

I did bite, immediately cancelling my renewal, to discover that the paid version of the app offers… next to nothing of value. Most of the buttons in the app require point you to additional apps, some of which, themselves, are paid.

Try to stream PlayStation 5 games and it points you to the the third party PXPlay app. There’s little point to launching it within Serafim Console, since you can download it from your phone’s app store and launch it directly. Is it a little neater to have the various apps arranged this way? Sure, but not to the point where it’s worth paying nearly £30 a year, especially factoring in the Serafim S3’s £68.99/$89.99 price tag.

Those settings I mentioned earlier, by the way, don’t let you tweak the controller in any way. You can test the controller, and that’s it. As far as I’m aware, there’s no way to tweak dead zones, change button layouts and so on, all options that GameSir’s own app offers.

If you’re prepared to forgo the polish and extra features the Serafim Console should have offered, you’ll find that the Serafim S3 controller is a quality mobile controller. It’s pleasingly responsive and comfortable to use, even during extended gaming sessions. It feels like it’s built to last, and the Hall effect triggers and sticks lend weight to that. But until Serafim can level up its app, and put aside notions of charging for it, the Serafim S3 falls short of its full potential.

Thanks to Serafim for providing a unit for the purposes of this review