NOTE: I might add to this review as I try different games, which will be added at the bottom.
Other people have made some really good in-depth reviews, so I am just going to highlight a few features. First of all I am a PC gamer, I own/have owned several Xboxes and Playstations and have played with both controllers. I know personal preferences differ but between Xbox and Playstation controllers I prefer the Xbox ones. That said, now that I have the Steam controller, I prefer the Steam one. You can tell it's made with the PC in mind.
I am still going through a period of adjustment as, due to muscle memory, I am used to the 4 buttons on the right hand side to be where the right trackpad is. So I often wind up pressing the B button when I mean to press the A button at the bottom. This is not an issue with the Steam controller, it's just a matter of being used to other controllers.
I don't play shooters with controllers. I play other stuff with controllers, just not shooters. I will always play shooters with mouse and keyboard until someone gives me a VR gun at which point I will be swapping to that. However I decided to give a couple of shooters a try with the Steam Controller to see how well the trackpads would work. I tried with Deus Ex Human Revolution and Warframe.
First thing I noticed is just how much more precise the trackpads are and I love that. I was still pretty bad even with the Steam Controller, but I could still appreciate the difference. I am not such a bad shot with a mouse, honest. Anyway, the precision with the Steam Controller comes at a cost, as you have to remember not to rest your thumb on the trackpad, or remember not to move it unnecessarily as that will move your view. With a stick you could move your thumb around and rest it on the stick itself without actually moving the stick. That's easily solved by moving your thumb elsewhere but I am trying to give you the idea from someone who is making a transition from other interfaces.
The second thing I noticed is that, because I am not using a stick for my view, I am not having the weird inverted axis problem I have with other controllers. I know those who have been using the controllers for shooters for years don't have that issue but I do, i.e., my brain sometimes likes inverted axis, sometimes it doesn't. So sometimes I will want to move the stick up to look up, sometimes I will want to move it down. With the trackpad on the Steam Controller I don't get any of this, I just slide my thumb up when I want to look up or slide it down when I want to look down, that's it.
I tried a couple of other games, one was Injustice: Gods Among Us and the other was Strider. Aside from the issue I already mentioned where I expect the buttons to be higher, there was absolutely no transition, I could just use the controller, it was crisp, it was responsive, absolutely loved it. But those are the kind of games where I lay the mouse and keyboard to rest.
The extra buttons at grip level are welcome, although sometimes you might wind up squeezing them by mistake. Yet, it really hasn't happened after I got used to holding the controller.
I don't have the biggest hands (damn dem girls, you'll say, always complaining!) so I find that if I want to have the index fingers on the bumpers and the middle fingers on the triggers I am more likely to squeeze the grip buttons because of how I have to turn the grip, so I find I move the index fingers in between - but it depends on the combination of buttons I am pressing. I have to do that with the Playstation controllers as well (actually I have it worse with those), while the Xbox wins on this one, I can easily use four fingers for those four buttons rather than two. That said, as I am getting used to the controller, I am learning not to squeeze it to death and this problem is vanishing with time.
Wifi dongle worked just fine, installing the controller was painless. You just plug it in, start Steam and if there is an update Steam will install it, controller just works without you needing to do anything.
There are modes, it will emulate traditional controllers if it needs to or it can also emulate keyboard and mouse, no need to get a third party program to map it for you anymore.
I find the ability to type with the controller while in Big Picture a nice touch. Steam borrowed from the mobile era on this one. You get a virtual keyboard which is split in two, one side for each hand (a bit like a Windows 10 tablet keyboard), and you can use both trackpads to move two cursors (again one for each side) on top of the letters. My slight beef with it is that because the trackpads are so sensitive, sometimes when you then press on the letter you want it winds up moving to the next one. But if you type a few sentences you start getting used to it.
Because the movement with the right thumb is different from both mouse and traditional controllers, some people might need a bit of time to adjust in order for the muscle memory to kick in and being able to aim that cursor as you want it.
I love the haptic feedback on this controller. On the Xbox controller sometimes I have to dial it down a notch because it sends vibration down my wrist and I find that uncomfortable. It isn't very easy to explain the Steam's experience in words, since the best way to experience it is through touch, but it doesn't shake the whole controller and it gives a nice textured feeling when it happens; not once have I had the urge to go find the settings to change it.
TL;DR - If you have never used a controller before, a lot of these things might not even be a factor for you. You will just get used to this controller and be done with it. If you have used others, you might find you need to settle in. Regardless, I am already thinking of selling my Xbox controller because I just outright prefer the Steam one.
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Addition 02/01/2016
STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT
I decided to try and do the Fighter Squadron mode in Star Wars: Battlefront with a controller. The game seems to have limited support for controllers, to the point when even using Xbox controllers you need to use a third party app to map your keys. Also do note that the Steam Controller will work in Battlefront without the Steam Big Picture, but then you run into the keybinding issue as stated above.
First I added Battlefront as a non-Steam game. Note that you don't need to do any "Add to Origin and then change the shortcut" stuff. Just add the Battlefront exe file and turn off the Origin overlay. Turn on Big Picture, then go and config your controller.
But that is not the end of it. You can go and look for player-created configs. You will think, that's cool, you can just use other players'. Yes, but remember, this is a non-Steam game. Yet, Steam figured out it is the same non-Steam game others were playing and had no problems showing me a full list of the configs. I found one, changed one setting, got into Battlefront, and now I can play Fighter Squadron without crashing my ship every 2 minutes.
