ROG Xbox Ally X20 Bundle: A Pricey Holiday Gift Whose Handheld Carries the Package

The ROG Xbox Ally X20 Bundle arrives in a Pelican case with a carry handle, closer to a briefcase than a retail box. The reviewer at Comic Book Resources says it looks like something a bomb squad would haul into an emergency. He wouldn't take it on a trip, since it is too bulky, but he sees uses for it at home, either to keep the gear safe or as an extra storage spot.

The bundle marks ROG's 20th anniversary and sits inside a lineup the company calls X20. It reunites two recent collaborations, one with Xbox and one with XReal. Inside the case are the ROG Xbox Ally X20 handheld, XREAL R1 20 AR glasses, a dbrand protective case, a custom skin for the handheld, custom joystick grips, and the handheld's charger. The reviewer calls the dbrand pieces among the best in the business at protecting gaming gear. Setup comes with clear, simple instructions, and the protection adds no noticeable weight or bulk. The grips were already comfortable in the earlier ROG Xbox Ally X, so he treats the extra protection as a bonus. The vinyl skin is unexciting, but its gold-and-black design pairs well with the glowing green Xbox symbol at the top left.

The handheld is the real draw. The original ROG Xbox Ally X remains a strong device, but the X20 is a major step up because of its OLED screen. The reviewer calls the comparison night and day, with peak brightness of 1400 nits against 500 on the X.

He tested the screen and performance across a range of games, and kept returning to Hollow Knight Silksong, the game highlighted in the original ROG Ally X marketing. On OLED, he says, it looks even better, and the storybook colors of Hornet's journey through Pharloom are jaw-dropping. He rates the game a 10/10 masterpiece.

Silksong is only a couple of gigabytes, so he also tried something heavier. With Grand Theft Auto VI due in a couple of weeks, he played Red Dead Redemption 2. The X20's improved cooling was clearly noticeable, and the device was never overwhelmed by heat. Playing a game that large on the go, with this display and this power, is what handheld fans want, he writes. Sold alone, the handheld costs $1300. He concedes that is not cheap but notes it is priced below other handhelds and is more powerful than the OLED Steam Deck for large games.

The XREAL R1 glasses, the bundle's other centerpiece, give players a big display for gaming and watching, with 240 Hz play and OLED screens. Some people would use them lying in bed, but the reviewer prefers them for travel, where a train ride or flight becomes a gaming setup.

His main complaint is not the glasses themselves but the missing control dock, which would connect them to a Switch 2 and other home consoles. He allows that ROG may have wanted to focus on the handheld. Still, including the dock would have raised the bundle's value considerably. What baffles him is that the dock isn't sold separately either; it only comes with the standard ROG XReal R1 glasses.

The bundle costs $2500, which he acknowledges is expensive, though he says the contents add up. He argues that anyone buying it likely already owns a home console such as a Switch 2, making the dock's absence more frustrating. Even so, he calls it the ultimate holiday gift for gamers, a lofty ask but one he stands behind. The bundle is available now, and the handheld and the ROG XREAL R1 Edition 20 are also sold separately. ASUS provided the review unit in exchange for an honest review. Whether ASUS addresses the dock question is the thing to watch.