Genius GX Gaming Scorpion K215 Gaming Keyboard: A Good First Gaming Keyboard < NAG

I’m starting this review by kicking the elephant out of the room. This keyboard isn’t a mechanical masterpiece that’s going to envelop your fingers in thocky goodness or allow some hall-effect rapid trigger plays. No, the Genius GX Gaming Scorpion K215 is an entry-level gaming keyboard set for someone just starting their journey into gaming. It provides a little bit of RGB, some colour-coded gaming keycaps, and a stellar price that anyone can be happy with.

With that out of the way, let’s dig into how it games.

First off, the membrane beneath the keys is just fine. As someone who has played around with many keyboards in the past, I’ll admit it’s not my favourite setup, but it does the job. The key presses feel spongy, and the membrane pushes your fingers back up with quite a bit of force. It’s pretty quick, meaning you can probably sneak some fast taps on the keys if you time everything just right.

Atop that spongy membrane is a little bit of a rainbow-style RGB effect that’s not quite bright but does the job of adding a bit of colour to your setup. It’s not configurable in any way, with just an on and off switch, interestingly tied to the scroll-lock button. Your choices are, obviously, on or off.

There are some neat gaming-centric features to add to that, namely the colour-coded WASD and arrow keys. Most PC gamers will know that WASD are your primary keys when it comes to gaming, so it’s nice that they are easily targetable with your peripheral vision with those bright blue keycaps mixed into the standard black.

Since this is a full-sized keyboard, you also get access to all the keys, from Numpad to F12, but Genius has gone so far as to add media keys above the function keys that are just plain lovely. I love being able to access shortcuts straight from my keyboard. From volume control to opening up your email client, it’s all there.

My current desk setup usually requires a wireless keyboard for me to switch between work and gaming mode, but the cable on the Genius K215 is long enough to work. 1.5m doesn’t sound very long, but the right-hand connection means I can just shift it to the right place with my case also being on the right.

There are feet on the bottom of the keyboard to raise it slightly, but it still feels a little too low for my liking.
Genius claims that the keyboard is quite durable, and I suppose it could be. It’s got a full plastic casing and has quite a lot of flex if I force it, but when typing away, or gaming at full speed, that flex doesn’t rear it’s ugly head.

Overall, I would say that I didn’t not like gaming on the Genius K215, considering I’ve become a spoilt mechanical keyboard brat, but even so I can happily say that this keyboard does handle gaming perfectly well. The best part? It’s only R230, and for R230, this is an easy pickup for your kid that’s eager to get into gaming, or a handy little sub keyboard, just waiting in the wings when your old faithful decides to kick the bucket.