IINE Chronos Review

Spontanity is something that we could all do with more of. One of my favorite feelings in the world is being asked, whether at a party or just when visiting a friend, is, “Do you wanna play a quick match?” It immediately invites this feeling of readiness, like I’m raring to go at the drop of a hat.

“Hey…I’ve only got two controllers.”

That comes up a lot more often than you’d expect. Sometimes, they might only have one! Especially when there’s multiple people involved, its usually the turn-taking and deciding who doesn’t actually want to play all that much that follows, when in the best case scenario we could just have another controller.

Enter: The IINE Chronos.

IINE’s Chronos controller is just portable enough.

The Chronos takes the form of a small slate approximately 124 x 65 x 20 mm in size, but has all the features you’d expect out of a fully-fledged controller. It’s designed to be brought, not left, and so features inset analog sticks and a flat, gripless design. Pictured is the gray/blue model with an Xbox button layout, though many other colorways are offered; most of them using a Nintendo button layout instead. Every model is identical internally, to my knowledge, but I have not tested any of the newer colorways for updated internals. If they’d been around when I bought mine, I’d’ve bought the retro gray/red.

The first standout thing about this particular model is how compact and portable it is, despite having two full joysticks. It even has rumble! Since there’s no screen or major board laying around to get in the way, the wells for the sticks are very smooth and easy to access. In my testing, I rarely even noticed that I was using inset sticks, outside of their depth compared to the buttons. They sit significantly lower than all the other controls - nearly flush with the shell - but it’s not something that feels uncomfortable to use.

The buttons themselves aren’t the most impressive in the world. The ABXY are a bit too springy for my personal preference, and they’re just a bit unbeveled for my liking. That’s not a detraction from the controller itself, just my own preferences. The d-pad is the same way. Start and Select are placed similarly to an NES controller, horizontally between the ABXY buttons and left analog stick. The shoulders are side-by-side, a requirement to keep them from protruding out the back any.

In my testing, I found the controls themselves perfectly responsive and concise. The d-pad had the slightest of issues with false diagonals, but for the most part behaved as I expected. Similarly, the analog sticks felt slightly too sensitive compared to something higher quality like a Switch Pro Controller, but again, only barely. Everything functioned just well enough that I didn’t have major complaints either way.

It’s worth noting that a long gaming session will probably cause your hands to start cramping when using the Chronos, but that’s not necessarily a fault of the controller in any way. The shape is a prerequisite; and likely, this particular controller isn’t going to find itself involved in many intense hours-long sessions.

Actually using the controller was stupid easy. It works without flaw on both Switch and PC, and Android as well, if you’d planned to dock something equally as portable like a Retroid Pocket 5 or Anbernic RG Rotate. It also supports a wired connection, in case you find yourself needing to charge and play at the same time.

The last noteworthy plus I have for the controller is that it weighs almost nothing - just barely past 80 grams! That weight does unfortunately lead to the controller feeling slightly less than premium, but i’m glad its so light regardless.

One complaint I will raise is with the geometry of the inline shoulders; LT and RT are very small compared to LB and RB, although they are the kind of buttons that are less likely to find themselves used in party games or lighter fighting games, depending on your control scheme.

I do think there are improvements to be made with this controller, but they’re only small, incremental things that could get better, not that they necessarily need to. For that, the IINE Chronos gets a high rating, and a permanent place in the side-pocket of my backpack. Keeping in mind what it is, there’s nothing I’m left wanting for with this controller.

Final Rating: 85 / 100

If you’d like me to review a product, email me: me@jaw.fyi