3 reasons to buy the Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 (2025) gaming laptop
Brash and bold has been the signature trait of Asus' ROG line-up of gaming laptops for years. With the ROG Strix Scar 18, Asus took that formula, gave it the bleeding edge silicon treatment and added a dash of upgradability, without compromising a bit on the gamer aesthetics.
There's still plenty of RGB fun here, and the cool AniMe Vision LED matrix on the display is here to stay. You can't mistake this 8-inch behemoth for any other laptop out there. Of course, performance is why you're splurging on this laptop, and you get just that by the oodles. But there are more reasons to get this machine than meets the eye.
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Hello, ease of upgrades!
One of the biggest advantages of investing in a gaming laptop, especially a big and bulky one, is the upgrade flexibility. Yet, it's not always convenient. And definitely not without its own set of risks. I learnt that lesson the hard way.
About four years ago, I tried to upgrade my Asus ROG Zephyrus GA502, one of the slimmest and lightest gaming laptops back then. I ended up breaking the latches and few other plastic bits flew, while the screws could never fully go back in place. In retrospect, I should've read the manual, but at the same time, removing the back panel shouldn't have been an exercise in fragility.
The latest iteration of the ROG Strix SCAR 18 solves that dilemma for anyone who is interested in DIY upgrades but lacks the nimble hands of a seasoned electronics repair guy. The hefty gaming laptop from Asus goes for a tool-less design, which lets you replace the storage and RAM modules in a few seconds.
Thanks to the next-gen Q-Latch engineering, which is a mainstay on Asus' desktop motherboards, users can easily access the RAM, SSD, and fans without requiring screen drivers. 'A specially designed frame covers the rest of the mainboard to protect the other components, but can easily be removed with a few screws for users who want to tinker further,' says Asus.
Also, both the SSD slots can take PCIe Gen 5 modules, so it's pretty future-proof, as well. We love to see the focus on designs that ease repair and replacement, and it's great to see Asus following in the footsteps of Framework, even if these are baby steps.
Dazzling, in the right ways
This one is an unabashedly gaming brute, which means it matches all the braws with the most outlandish gamer-pleasing aesthetics you will find on a gaming laptop. In addition to the per-key RGB lighting flexibility for your keyboard, you get an RGB strip that surrounds the entirety of the base.
Think of those flashy JDM rides that light up the motorway. But if you look closely at the lid, it's not just the backlit logo that stands out. Asus has equipped the ROG Strix Scar 18 with a secondary dot-screen that is made up of 810 LEDs bleeding light through over nine thousand tiny holes.
Asus calls it the Anime Vision display, and in the true spirit of gaming customizability, this secondary screen can dance to your creative tunes. Flash your name across it, put up a fun GIF, or animate any other image of your choice. Just make it fun, will ya?
Talking about display, the 18-inch QHD+ (2560 x 1600) panel is nothing short of a visual treat on this one. It's a mini-LED panel, the same tech that you will come across on the MacBook Pro. In a nutshell, it's gorgeous, thanks to deep contrast, wide viewing angles, and stunning color reproduction.
It offers nearly double the sustained SDR brightness compared to its Apple counterpart, and also beats it at contrast levels, based on lab tests. Overall, if you're eyeing creative work where color accuracy matters, the ROG warrior fares better than the MacBook Pro in our sRGB, AdobeRGB, and DCI-P3 color gamut coverage tests.
Oh, this vibrant panel is pretty fast too, thanks to the 240Hz refresh rate. 'For gamers, it promises outstanding high dynamic range (HDR) performance along with a super fast refresh rate that supports Nvidia G-Sync for tear-free gaming,' says Digital Trends' review of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 18. Another underrated perk? There's also an IR camera atop the display for Windows Hello facial recognition.
You want performance? Cool!
Digital Trends' reviews expert, Mark Coppock, labeled the ROG Strix Scar 18 as 'very large, and very awesome, gaming laptop.' This machine certainly has the substance to go with its flashy looks. Lots of it, actually.
Asus will let you max this one out with Nvidia's top-of-the-line GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, though you can pick up configurations with the RT 5070 Ti and the RTX 5080 graphics cards. Running the processing duties is Intel's Core Ultra 9 275HX, a beastly 24-core Arrow Lake chip and a peak clock speed of 5.4 GHz.
On synthetic tests, it fared better than AMD's Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 silicon, and expectedly outpaced its Core-i9 predecessor. On the PugetBench Premiere Pro benchmark, it even raced past Apple's mighty M4 Max processor.
Of course, you're buying this beast to play games, so let's get into it. The Blackwell 5000-series GPU in this machine is loaded to the neck with upscaling and frame generation tech, and coupled with the DLSS4 goodness, you are assured of immersive visuals in games.
Playing Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra presets and ray-tracing enabled, this machine provides an average 70fps output, while Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1600p resolution and Ultra graphics settings maintains a respectable 87fps output. Playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla at 1440p resolution and Ultra High settings managed a cool 122fps.
This machine also maintains its cool under stress. Asus has fitted an end-to-end vapor chamber, assisted by liquid cooling (on both the CPU and GPU), triple cooling fans, and plenty of vents on the ROG Strix Scar 18. Thankfully, the fans won't hurt your ear canals to the point of shutting down the lid and escaping the desk.
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CNET
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- CNET
Secret Characters in Elden Ring Nightreign: How to Unlock the Revenant and Duchess
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Read more: Elden Ring Nightreign Beginner's Guide: Team Strategy, Level Goals and Survival Tips As the first wave of players come to grips with Nightreign's speed-based roguelike expeditions on May 30, they might gravitate toward more forgiving Nightfarer options, such as Wylder, Guardian and Ironeye. The six Nightfarers available to you when you first start Nightreign aren't the only player classes in the game -- you're missing the ever-deadly Duchess and the spirit-summoning doll known as the Revenant. Here's how to unlock the two secret Nightfarer classes in Elden Ring Nightreign. If you receive this relic after an expedition, you'll be able to unlock the first secret Nightfarer. Screenshot by David Lumb/CNET How to unlock the Duchess The first Nightfarer you'll have a chance to unlock is the Duchess. Once you finish your first Tricephalos expedition, you'll be rewarded with a special green relic -- the Old Pocketwatch. You don't actually have to defeat Gladius in order to obtain the relic, but you do have to complete a full run in order to claim your rewards. This relic imparts decent buffs on any Nightfarer that you're running with a dexterity-based build, but it also doubles as the key item that unlocks the first secret Elden Ring Nightreign class. Once the Old Pocketwatch is in your possession, approach the Priestess in the Roundtable Hold. Her normal dialogue options give some background on what the Nightfarers are doing here and why the fight against the Nightlord is so important. Now, she'll ask about your new relic, and present you with a choice of whether or not to hand it over to her. Even if you've slotted the Old Pocketwatch relic into your build, you have nothing to fear by handing it over to the Priestess. You'll retain the relic and it you can still equip it on any of your playable Nightfarers. When the Priestess is handed the relic, a short cutscene plays where she drops her shroud and reveals that she has been the Duchess all along. She vows to stop standing on the sidelines and join the fight, and with that you'll unlock Nightreign's seventh playable Nightfarer. The Duchess wears a Dark Souls Firekeeper mask, but her overall aesthetic is much more Bloodborne-y. Screenshot by Tyler Graham/CNET What is the Duchess' role in a team? The Duchess is a dexterous attacker who can flit in and out of battle to keep up the pressure. She doesn't have high poise, defense or health, but she can hold an enemy's attention and easily evade their attacks. The Duchess greatly benefits from weapons like fists, daggers and curved swords, though any weapons with powerful lunge attacks will feel right at home in this Nightfarer's arsenal. The Duchess' passive ability lets her expend less stamina when attacking and dodging, allowing her to stay in the battle longer before taking a tactical reprieve. Her class ability, Restage, rewinds time and inflicts additional damage against enemies who have been wounded in the past few seconds. Her ultimate ability, Finale, shrouds the Duchess and any nearby teammates from enemies during a fight, allowing the team to heal up and prepare attacks with long wind up times. The effects of Finale instantly wear off on any person who attacks an enemy (or gets hit by a stray attack themselves). After you unlock the Duchess, a new item will be available in the Jar Bazaar. Screenshot by David Lumb/CNET How to unlock the Revenant You'll need another key item in order to unlock the Revenant, the eighth and final playable Nightfarer. However, this item becomes available as soon as you unlock the Duchess -- it's nestled down toward the bottom of the Jar Bazaar. The Besmirched Frame will cost you 1,500 Murk and, just like the Old Pocketwatch, it's a relic you can use in your Nightfarers' builds. The Old Pocketwatch gives you an insight into the type of Nightfarer it's connected to, boosting dexterity-related stats. The Besmirched Frame is a great relic for any Nightfarer with an affinity for magic, and that's no coincidence. Once you've obtained this item, a Lost Phantom will spawn in the east hallway of the Roundtable Hold. This NPC will be denoted by a girl's portrait on your map -- there will be an exclamation point icon by the portrait's head. Approach this phantom and interact with the girl. You'll be warped to the plateau where you fought the Margit the Fell Omen in Nightreign's tutorial, but this time a unique boss will be waiting for you. Taking on the Night Idol is much easier once you defeat her summons, but you'll still have to avoid some of the spells she slings. Screenshot by Tyler Graham/CNET The Night Idol is an easy boss fight, but there are a couple of enemies you'll have to micromanage. She has three spirit summons she fields against you: Helen, an agile page who will quickly press the attack; Frederick, a bulky cook who swings slowly but delivers devastating blows; and Sebastian, a massive skeleton who can't move but has deadly melee attacks and magic beams. Focusing on these spirit summons is imperative, because they don't come back once they're defeated. You can beat this boss with any Nightfarer, but I found it was easiest with Ironeye. You can use your bow to zone out the summons, peppering them with arrows until they fall, and then move in on the Night Idol boss using your action skills. Once the Night Idol is defeated, you'll be transported back to the Roundtable Hold and informed that you've unlocked the Revenant, the last of the Nightfarers missing from the roster. The Revenant is a doll, like Ranni the Witch. 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Now that you have a full stable of Nightfarers, it'll be easier than ever to take the fight to the Nightlord. If you're still having trouble with Elden Ring Nightreign's first set of expeditions, follow these beginner tips and make sure you're utilizing all of the advantages from the game's meta-progression systems. Elden Ring Nightreign launched on May 30 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Series S and Xbox One consoles for $40. Owning the original Elden Ring is not required to play this game.
CNET
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Elden Ring Nightreign Director Interview: He Solo'd Every Boss and So Can You
Elden Ring launched in 2022 to great acclaim as the culmination of director Hidetaka Miyazaki's successes with the Dark Souls and Bloodborne series of games. When calls went out in studio FromSoftware to explore more modest spinoff projects, Elden Ring combat director Junya Ishizaki raised his hand -- and proceeded to direct the just-released Elden Ring Nightreign, the multiplayer-only spinoff game. Nightreign is an ambitious attempt to distill the Elden Ring experience into under-an-hour repeatable runs killing enemies and mini-bosses before taking on a unique and deadly Nightlord main boss. Faster, meaner and in some ways tougher than the game it originates from, Nightreign is FromSoftware's expedition into multiplayer. And while it inherits a lot from Elden Ring, the studio's next game was developed to scratch a very different player itch -- a co-op pressure cooker to produce the highest and lowest moments that Souls games are known for. There are a lot of ways the games differ, but Nightreign's director summarized it by saying "I would describe the Elden Ring experience as more of a journey while Nightreign's experience is more of that on the battlefield." In part one of my interview with Ishizaki about his directorial debut in Nightreign, we chatted about what was kept and cut from Elden Ring, how the map design changed over development and whether he himself beat every boss in the game he helmed. (Yes, he solo'd them all.) Read more: Elden Ring Nightreign Beginner's Guide: The Essentials for Not Getting Wrecked in the First 5 Minutes Bandai Namco/Screenshot by CNET David Lumb: With its co-op focus and fast pace, Nightreign's gameplay is different than Elden Ring. What was kept and what was cut from the latter? Junya Ishizaki: While it's not limited to Elden Ring, with a lot of our games, we keep this sense of exploring the world and traversing the world. Building on these RPG systems and growing your character was definitely an element of Elden Ring that we wanted to keep and transfer into Nightreign. I think in terms of, not what what we cut because boss battles are still a large part of Elden Ring, but more as a good focus point on where we had to deliver something new for Nightreign -- we wanted these large-scale boss battles to feel really epic and really unique to this game. DL: What's it like to tweak the difficulty in a FromSoftware game, especially one built upon Elden Ring's specific challenge level from the lethality of everyday enemies to the biggest bosses? JI: These challenging elements to our games are always under scrutiny and that we're always looking at closely. We felt like we needed to step back and review that process for difficulty balancing with Nightreign in particular … being a multiplayer-focused title, the player is constantly evolving and changing their power level on the fly during any one session. So you really need to focus on what that power curve and that difficulty curve looked like within each session quite closely. Of course, as I say, we do look at this approach carefully from title to title. It's not just an all-in, make-it-hard approach. That said, Elden Ring, we did go too far in some areas and I feel we didn't go far enough in other areas. So we're always learning from our projects and past experiences, trying to create a game that feels fair and satisfying and gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you do overcome these challenges. DL: Hold on -- I think everyone would like to know your opinion on which bosses in Elden Ring went too far and which didn't go far enough! JI: This is not necessarily related to the difficulty specifically, but I think in terms of the battle system with Elden Ring -- which is something I was quite involved in the development of that game -- where the player feels too pressured or too restricted in what they can do within that framework and that setting, I feel like that created a lot of the feeling of difficulty for a lot of players. That is somewhere that we felt we were able to release the valve a little bit with Nightreign and allow for more player freedom and to have a more liberating experience. So with Nightreign, I think really leaning into something new was at the heart of this game, even though we're using Elden Ring as a base, that really gave us a lot of room to explore these battle systems and explore how the player traverses the world. Really really lean into creating a fresh experience there that doesn't feel like it's too tied to the original game in that sense. Screenshot by David Lumb/CNET DL: Speaking of traversal, I can't be the only one who's wondered this: Was there ever fall damage in the game? I love dropping down from a great height. JI: There was actually fall damage at one point, very momentarily. We did study it and try it for a bit but we felt like the game could exist without it. We felt like the game stood up on its own and didn't need it in order to feel thrilling or to feel trepidation of other areas of the game. DL: What are other things players might be surprised to discover had been cut during development or refined into something totally different? JI: I'd say one example of this is the terrain changes that occur in Nightreign. At one point, there was the idea to have different maps -- specific set maps for when you play each session. At one point, we had the idea to try to collapse this into a single map, and instead have these different layers and transformative changes that occur during that session. We thought this could be a new challenge that could set it apart from previous and existing games, give us a new challenge to work with on Nightreign and provide a different gameplay experience as well to extend the breadth of each play session by having this layering feature to the terrain features. We found this added very different gradients to the exploration and to the way each session pans out. When we tried this, we felt like there's no one right answer. There's no one correct way you can do this, it just depends on the game. And this presented a new and interesting challenge for us and a way to, again, spice up the new gameplay in Nightreign. DL: That's interesting and sounds like a lot of development in the game experience. Was Nightreign ever considered as a full-size game like Elden Ring? JI: In a word, no, Nightreign was always considered a smaller, lighter title in comparison to the likes of Elden Ring. But to give a little bit of context to that, during the development of Elden Ring, I myself expressed interest in wanting to direct my own title, and this was picked up by Miyazaki and the other staff at From and I was given this opportunity. Being a new director, we wanted to take things from a smaller scale and a smaller perspective and start with a strong base with Elden Ring. Of course, having had this experience as director, I'd very much like in the future to start completely from scratch and have my own project and see where it can go scope-wise, so I'm looking forward to that opportunity as well. Bandai Namco DL: Now that you've finished Nightreign, what's your favorite part of it? JI: There's a lot of nice things to choose from, a lot about the game I like. But I think one thing we've honed in on with Nightreign in particular is the feeling of being both approachable and light in terms of an RPG, but also quite involved and quite in-depth if you want it to be. I think this is an area that we've managed to hit quite well. DL: And what have you and FromSoftware learned from making Nightreign? JI: I think there's a lot of experience we can take forward into future projects. One thing in particular I think has been really successful and really valuable to work with is this new approach to characters and character design, both from a gameplay and narrative perspective. I think this is a really unique aspect of Nightreign and it's something I think could be developed even further with our future titles, characters feeling unique and interesting in terms of the way they play, the way their controls translate to their unique game feel, and also how you as a player approach and explore their backstories and narratives. These are areas that make Nightreign stand apart from other titles and I think this is something we could definitely improve on and refine going forward. DL: Great. Last question: I beat the final boss yesterday and I just want to know -- have you, in fact, beaten every boss and the final boss yourself? Bandai Namco/Screenshot by CNET JI: Yes, I can hopefully give you reassurance to know that I have beaten all of the game's bosses. I've seen everything it has to offer, both in multiplayer and as a solo player. So I want you and players to know that this is very possible and I want you to have the confidence to give it a try yourself. And in terms of secrets and a narrative as well, I think there's a lot there for players who were invested in that side of it to uncover and I hope you look forward to experiencing everything that Nightreign has to offer. DL: Just to clarify: you solo'd every boss in the game? JI: Yes. And without relics. Elden Ring Nightreign launched on May 30 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One consoles for $40. Owning the original Elden Ring is not required to play this game.
The Verge
an hour ago
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The Switch 2's promising start hides an uncertain future
With the Switch 2 launch days away, analysts and consumers are watching to see how well Nintendo can follow-up the best selling home console in its history. Judging from the pain of trying to secure a Switch 2 pre-order, it seems like Nintendo has nothing to worry about – at least at launch. Down the line, however, concerns about tariffs, a steadily rising cost of living, and a saturated market might cast a shadow on the Switch 2. The Verge talked to analysts, journalists, and normal video game playing people to put the Switch 2 launch in perspective. The key takeaway? While the console will assuredly have another blockbuster debut, its future looks much less certain. The Wii U gets brought up a lot in the conversation surrounding the Switch 2, as it's the most famous example of a Nintendo failure. 'The Wii U, with its confusing controller-screen gimmick, sluggish user interface, and lack of a great Custom Robo game, was one of Nintendo's worst flops,' GameFile author Stephen Totilo explained in an email to The Verge. It sold less than 14 million units, a dramatic drop from the Wii, which sold over 100 million. And while Nintendo expects to sell one million more Switch 2 units in its first year than the Wii U sold in its life, that's not necessarily indicative of long-term success. 'The Wii U nevertheless sold out at launch back in November 2012,' Totilo said, 'pulling in sales that reportedly topped the US launch sales of the Xbox 360 and PS3.' When looking at launch sales projections and predictions, Mat Piscatella, video game analyst for Circana, warned that what a console does during its launch period is no indication of what it'll do overall. 'Sales around the launch period are more reflection of available supply than anything,' Piscatella said. Another, more important factor for a console launch is the audience. 'With anything regarding gaming right now, we have to separate the enthusiast market from the mass market, because they're behaving very differently,' Piscatella added. According to Piscatella, it's the enthusiasts driving most of the Switch 2 hype we're seeing, particularly since the last major console launches – the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S – happened five years ago. 'We haven't had new hardware designed for the masses in a long time,' he said. 'So we have a big pent up demand just for something new.' We're seeing part of that demand satisfied by the Switch 2 pre-order frenzy. The day pre-orders opened in the US (after a few weeks' delay because of President Donald Trump's tariff chicanery) they sold out within hours. GameStop held in-store pre order events that saw people lining up outside storefronts for hours to secure one. But what will really determine the success of the console is how the bigger, mass market reacts, the same one that made devices like the Wii and original Switch such hits. Piscatella says this group is biding its time right now, 'leaning into free-to-play and the content they already have.' It's a tricky time for the industry. New blockbuster titles are getting ever more expensive to make. Consumers, in turn, are buying fewer of them in favor of spending their time and money in established games, all while persistent layoffs three years running are making it harder for new games to come out on time. Add that to 2025's unique and volatile US tariff situation and the associated price increases, and now is one hell of a time to launch a video game console. 'A games console is for a lot of people [...] an unaffordable luxury, especially for families,' said Keza MacDonald, video game editor at The Guardian and author of a forthcoming book about Nintendo's history. MacDonald believes that most people who want a Switch 2 will have already pre-ordered one and that Nintendo's real work will be to convince everyone else they want one too – a job the company doesn't seem to be doing that well. Silvie Krekow, a gamer who works at Vox Media as a creative director, says she knows 'almost nothing' about the Switch 2. She doesn't frequent gaming websites or consume gaming media, but she noted it was odd that 'a 33-year-old gamer with disposable income who owns a Switch, PS4, and Xbox One' didn't casually come across at least some Switch 2 information. Other colleagues and self-described 'gaming casuals' I spoke to expressed similar sentiments. According to MacDonald, Nintendo is handling this launch period very conservatively. 'It's like, 'We know everyone's going to buy this anyway. We don't have to sell you on it,'' she said. 'But I'm not sure if that's true.' At the Switch 2 Direct in April, Nintendo showed off a console with some slight quality-of-life and performance upgrades. That may work for the enthusiasts – they get more of what they already liked about the original. But without something more to entice consumers beyond the diehards, the Switch 2 may struggle to find its audience. 'As for the [Switch 2 features] I'm not particularly excited,' said Kushal Raval, an operations manager at Vox Media. 'The rolling controller sounds interesting, but the voice chat feature seems a bit pointless.' Kushal owns a Switch, which he said didn't run games like Fortnite as well as he wanted. And while the Switch 2's technical upgrades will likely improve this, Kushal said, 'With a $450–$500 price tag, I'm leaning much more toward getting a Steam Deck.' The Switch 2 also has to compete against people content with its predecessor. 'I have a Switch Lite that I bought during the pandemic,' said Jackie Noack, a video producer at Vox Media. 'My husband has the Switch 1, and I don't think we use them quite enough to justify replacing them.' For Noack, the console's price is also a major factor. '$500 does seem steep to me!' The Switch 2 will not be a dud like the Wii U, but it likely will not reach the heights of the original Switch. The price and lack of defining new features are two reasons, but perhaps the biggest is that the circumstances that fostered the OG Switch's success were incredibly unique. 'The Switch really picked up during the pandemic with Animal Crossing. That was an enormous hit,' MacDonald said. 'And obviously that was such a unique combination of circumstances, I'm not sure that could happen again.' Piscatella agrees: 'The Switch is an outlier success. I think [the Switch 2] is unlikely to do Switch numbers in the long term.' The lead up to the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 has been filled with so much built-up pressure from the anticipation of hungry gamers eager for any news, which was exacerbated by prolific leaks and Nintendo's typical propensity for silence. With the console's official reveal and the enthusiastic response from dedicated fans, that pressure could not be higher – and with launch coming next week, the release valve is finally about to open.
