The removable leatherette wrist pad is comfortable, but those with larger hands may find that the curve of the pad (to maintain the lines of the rest of the keyboard) causes their palms to hang off the bottom.  Still this is such a minor complaint that it should not in any deter you from considering the Reclusa.

What may deter you from considering the Reclusa are its limited features. Depending on the type of games you play, you may find these limitations to be a serious issue.  For example, the four bumper buttons (flat buttons on either side of the main button array) and six programmable gaming keys only support macros of up to 8 keystrokes or pauses. If you want to add any more, you are out of luck.

You are likewise limited to only 5 custom game profiles. Since many of the competing keyboards allow for more extensive customization, if you are a player who relies on heavy customization, you may want to look elsewhere. On the other hand, if you aren’t a customization enthusiast, the user interface for the Reclusa software is simple, and easy to use. There are even pre-set media player profiles (itunes, windows media player, winamp, etc.) for the gaming keys, which is a fun and convenient little feature.

Conclusion

In the end, there is a lot to like about the Microsoft Reclusa. It is a well built, responsive and comfortable keyboard. The backlighting is cool and the unobtrusive design will fit in on any desktop. For an average gamer, the customizable keys may come in handy, and the software is easy to use.  Unfortunately there are some things not to like about the Reclusa. The limited number of keystrokes that macros allow, and the likewise limited number of game profiles may deter the more hardcore user. At $69.95 MSRP (it can be had online for around $54.99) the Reclusa is right in line with other competing gaming keyboards. Depending on the feature set you are looking for, Razer’s and Microsoft’s collaborative product may or may not be what you are looking for.