I attempted Razer PC Distant Play and listed here are my ideas

On April 10, 2025, Razer introduced a brand new and utterly free game-streaming app referred to as PC Distant Play. The app works equally to the favored Steam Hyperlink app: You possibly can stream gameplay out of your PC to a secondary system, normally a smartphone. You are able to do this on the identical community as your PC and even from totally different networks worldwide, assuming the web speeds are quick sufficient. In different phrases, you’ll be able to play just about any PC recreation you personal in your smartphone from wherever on this planet.

In fact, with Steam Hyperlink already extremely standard and different choices having been out there for a very long time, I instantly puzzled what Razer PC Distant Play may provide that different providers don’t. Properly, not solely is Razer PC Distant Play a terrific app by itself, however there’s really a side of it that units it aside from the competitors.

First, you need to know Razer didn’t create PC Distant Play from scratch. As an alternative, it’s primarily based on the already current Moonlight app. When you’re not acquainted, Moonlight (and its companion app Sunshine) is an open-source game-streaming shopper that works throughout a number of platforms. Basically, Razer has taken the core of Moonlight, tweaked it a bit to make it simpler to make use of, after which skinned it over with the Razer type.

I welcome this with open arms as a result of, as a lot as I really like Moonlight, it’s a ache to arrange. It’s also ugly, with the Android app, particularly, wanting prefer it was designed 10 years in the past (it mainly was). Razer swooping in to deal with each of those points is good news, so far as I’m involved.

With that in thoughts, Razer PC Distant Play is fairly simple to arrange, particularly for those who’re accustomed to Moonlight. First, you set up the PC Distant Play app in your Android telephone (or Android pill, iPhone, iPad, or any system Razer presently helps). Then, you put in the Razer Cortex app in your Home windows PC/laptop computer. You hearth up each apps and join them collectively utilizing a PIN that the cellular app offers. As soon as the 2 techniques are related, you can begin taking part in any recreation put in in your PC.

Be warned, nonetheless, that Razer will push you to put in different apps as you do that — apps that aren’t essential for PC Distant Play to perform. That is sneaky, however individuals accustomed to Razer as an organization will know that that is simply par for the course. Newbies simply should be conscious that, it doesn’t matter what you see occur throughout your two installations, you solely want two apps for this: Cortex in your Home windows machine after which the PC Distant Play app in your telephone. It’s protected to skip some other set up requests.

When you’ve acquired your techniques related, it’s time to begin taking part in!

For the very best expertise with PC Distant Play, you’ll want a bodily enter, akin to a gaming controller. Not like Steam Hyperlink, PC Distant Play doesn’t presently help on-screen controls. The Android app helps most gamepads, although, and all the things ought to “simply work.” I related my Sony DualSense ($69.99 at Amazon) and my GameSir Tarantula Professional ($69.99 at Amazon) by means of Bluetooth, and each labored nice. It’s also possible to use wired controllers to scale back latency. In truth, Razer has a couple of cellular gaming controllers it might like to promote you for this objective, such because the actually good (however actually costly) Razer Kishi Extremely ($149.99 at Amazon).

As with Moonlight, you’ve got full entry to your total PC as you stream. When you wished, you would skip the controller and join a keyboard and mouse as an alternative, after which use Razer PC Distant Play as a distant desktop app. Clearly, it’s designed to be pleasant to gaming, however all it actually does is mirror your desktop, so you are able to do no matter your wants could be on the time.

For my testing, I performed a couple of Steam video games (Cult of the Lamb and Horizon Forbidden West) utilizing a Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely, and all the things labored flawlessly. Latency was low, speeds have been excessive, and backbone was crisp. Granted, my house Wi-Fi community is absolutely quick, and my desktop PC has an NVIDIA RTX 4090 inside, so my expertise could be higher than most.

I additionally tried to play some emulators. Dolphin and Cemu each labored and not using a hitch. I wanted to leap over to my PC to configure controller help inside every emulator, however as soon as I did that, I used to be taking part in GameCube and Wii U video games and not using a care.

One space of enchancment Razer may work on, although, is with the ability to entry app settings with out backing out of my stream. With the Steam Hyperlink app, for instance, you’ll be able to press 4 fingers wherever on the show, and a menu will pop up that permits you to finish the stream, alter controls, and extra. Razer ought to undertake one thing like this, as a result of it was a ache to chop my stream anytime I wished to tweak one thing.

There’s one factor that even Steam Hyperlink may study from Razer right here, although.

The factor that really separates Razer PC Distant Play from Steam Hyperlink (and even Moonlight) is that it creates its personal digital “monitor” while you set it up on Home windows. This would possibly appear to be a minor factor, nevertheless it makes an enormous distinction, particularly if the facet ratio of the monitor related to your PC is unusual.

For instance, if in case you have an ultrawide monitor related to your PC, out of the field, Steam Hyperlink will mirror that facet ratio in your telephone. This isn’t very best, as what you see in your telephone will probably be tiny, with enormous black bars over and underneath your recreation. There are methods to resolve this on each Steam Hyperlink and Moonlight, however they require you to do further work. Razer PC Distant Play, although, fixes this for you throughout the preliminary setup.

Throughout setup, you’ll see the screenshot above. This enables your PC to create a brand new monitor that’s particularly for streaming with PC Distant Play. Once you activate PC Distant Play, your PC will change to this digital monitor and stream gameplay to your telephone in a side ratio/decision that is smart. You would possibly have to tweak in-game setting for the right look, however you gained’t have to mess with macros, plug-ins, or the rest.

Most individuals studying this seemingly have their gaming rig related to a typical 16:9 monitor, so this gained’t be too massive of a deal for you. When you use one thing much less frequent, although, you seemingly know precisely why this function is a godsend.

I believe Razer PC Distant Play is a welcome addition to the world of recreation streaming apps. It could be behind Steam Hyperlink in some methods, due to its lack of on-screen controls and fast entry to settings, however its progressive show trick is terrific. It additionally may not be as sturdy as Moonlight, however it’s definitely a lot simpler to arrange and use.

I need to shut this out by mentioning that, since that is all primarily based on open-source software program that’s sure to free licenses, PC Distant Play should at all times be free. Razer would want to rebuild the service from scratch to cost something for it, so that you don’t want to fret that this may begin to value cash in some unspecified time in the future. Even when it did, you would at all times bounce to Moonlight, which will probably be free perpetually.

What do you suppose? Will you give Razer PC Distant Play a shot, or are you sticking with Steam Hyperlink or Moonlight? Tell us within the feedback!