I got my hands on Razer's new $50 mechanical mini keeb and it makes a damn good first impression

Razer had a bountiful display of products to show at Gamescom 2026, many of which come with substantial price tags. However, my eyes lit up when I saw the new Razer Reclusa X Mini 65% keyboard, especially as it's got a $50/£60 MSRP.

I picked it up and twisted it around in my hands, expecting it to bend like a piece of cardboard thanks to some budget materials. Nope, it seems like a very solidly-built device—which is pretty impressive given the affordable price tag.

The doubleshot ABS keycaps, in combination with Razer's Gen-3 orange tactile switches, feel downright high-end. It makes a good noise, too, producing the sort of weighty thock I normally associate with much more expensive keebs. I've used enough $50 boards to know that you usually don't get a whole lot for your cash, but this one feels like a proper enthusiast offering—even if it does come in a shrunken 65% form factor.

The switches are hot-swappable, with both 3-pin and 5-pin models supported. The orange ones it comes with are designed to deliver a "crisp, satisfying tactile bump without the click," according to the press release, and I can confirm this to be true.

I hate overly-clicky tactile switches, but these are rather nice. They're specced out with a 3.5 mm travel distance and 50 g of actuation force, which combines with the keycaps to make for a satisfying typing experience. At least, for the brief time I got to play with it. It was torn from my hands eventually, as there were more RGB-lit sights to see. Shame.

The Reclusa X Mini 65% also supports Snap Tap, Razer's version of the somewhat-controversial SOCD tech, which uses the most recent input when two keys are pressed for faster counter strafing. It also supports Snap Flex, which can be used to bind two key inputs into a single press. Nothing revolutionary there, but it's probably enough to keep the competitive gaming crowd interested.

Details

That being said, as someone that primarily likes a good keyboard for its feel underneath my fingertips, not necessarily for its esports-like credentials, I'm more interested in the build quality combined with the price tag.

As PC component costs skyrocket, any cash you can save on decent peripherals means more in the kitty for your next graphics card. And while the market is full of well-priced gaming keyboards, a lot of them are pretty uninspiring affairs. This one? I've got high hopes.

A review sample is winging its way to PC Gamer Towers as we speak, so I'll give it a proper test once it's arrived. In the meantime, enjoy some of the pretty pictures I took above. Everyone loves a good-looking keeb for reasonable cash, right?