Just before I began typing this, I bashed my fist down on my Halberd Chimera Strike gaming desk hard, just to double-check how sturdy it is. Honestly, it’s hard to know where to begin with reviewing a desk, something that essentially blends into the background of my daily life. When I’m typing out any article, my eyes are fixed on the screen, occasionally flicking onto the keyboard so my big dumb fingers know exactly where they’re supposed to sit. The desk’s job in this situation is to effortlessly blend into the background and become something I won’t even think about for a moment - and that’s exactly what it manages to be.

But this is exactly why the Chimera Strike gaming desk from Halberd is so good. It manages to seamlessly blend into my new office space, never bringing attention to itself, while still giving my workspace a sleek and professional look that would never be the same with any old furniture from the 90s - which is what I usually find myself relegated to. But should you be paying such a high price for a stylish new desk, when that old furniture would probably do the same job for less? That’s a tougher question to answer.

Installation

halberd chimera strike gaming desk

The desk itself didn’t come with an instruction manual, so instead I had to bring a PDF version of it up on the TV while myself and a friend unpacked four separate boxes, each of them heavy, and each of them containing pieces of the desk, in addition to plenty of packing materials. Needless to say, you shouldn’t have to worry about the desk coming scratched or damaged during transit, but you may need to make a fair amount of space in the recycling to get rid of all the cardboard.

The tabletop itself is consists of three large pieces of powder-coated MDF, a central piece with a cutout for you to sit up to the desk, and two side pieces. They connect together with a metal plate, and then 16 bolts which are screwed in using the provided tools. The feet of the desk are screwed into the stand, and then the legs are screwed into those. Finally, the main part of the desk is assembled by putting a thick, sturdy metal bracket from leg to leg, and then using a provided piece of wood and hammer to bash and lock them in place before bolting them in. You will need to warn or apologise to your neighbours, depending on what time of day you decide to take a mallet to your desk. Please refrain from midnight desk-building shenanigans.

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The desk face is sturdy but very heavy, so you shouldn’t assemble it by yourself. The metal bracket that stretches from leg to leg has the face sit on top of it, which makes the entire desk feel very strong at the centre, despite the legs being at opposing ends. Once the desk face is bolted on with four bolts on each side, it’s an incredibly solid piece. While the PDF instructions weren’t always as clear as I’d like, since it included instructions for multiple desk variants and not just the one I was actually assembling, they were still just enough to get things put together in around an hour - once everything was unpacked.

Aesthetics

halberd chimera strike gaming desk

Once things are in place and the cardboard has been thrown into the garden until you can figure out what to do with it, it’s finally time to appreciate what this desk can bring to where you work and play. I had the black variant, and that really makes it feel professional and stylish. There are variants with blue or red side pieces for the desk’s face, and while these look nice in pictures, they also have a little bit of a “Lego” feel, thanks to the focus on primary colours. The black version meanwhile is stylish and minimalist, providing everything I need for my hybrid work and gaming space. The more colourful iterations would look great in a child’s bedroom, mind.

The desk frame is strong and thick steel, which makes the desk fairly heavy, but once it’s in place you shouldn’t try to move it without dismantling the entire thing. The 180cm version of the Chimera Strike desk is very wide - well, it’s 180cm, so it’s as wide as you would expect if you get a measuring tape out - but that means there’s plenty of space to put your desktop rig on top of or underneath the desk, and still leaves plenty of space for a large mouse mat, keyboard, and an array of monitors. If you need more space on your desktop, this is the way to get it.

Features

halberd chimera strike gaming desk

It’s hard to exactly nail down what features a desk offers, other than being a table you can place things on top of, but this desk does have a few nice aspects for gamers. One is cable management. The desk comes with a large metal cage to hang underneath the rear of the desk, and this gives you plenty of space to put cables, including a full power extension lead strip. In addition to that, the central bracket that stretches across the desk also has space for cable storage, and finally, the legs of the desk itself have metal plates that come off, and inside is a rubber housing that you can use to tuck cables into, allowing you to hide them entirely.

In addition to all of the cable management you’re not supposed to see, the desk itself has multiple holes at the rear of the tabletop, designed so you can neatly tuck your cables for your keyboard, mouse, monitor, and everything else underneath the desk so you don’t have to see it. I thought these holes would be a pain, but they’re actually more handy than not, even if the hole for my mouse cable is a bit moot since I’m using wireless.

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But also this feature set is pretty limited. A cable management cage is nice, but not special. The cable management legs are smart, but not as useful for me personally as I’d like. Frankly, when paying more than £400 for a new desk, it’s understandable if you would like more features than that. Adjustable height desks are much cheaper, and while it seems this desk has gone solidly for build quality over all else, it feels like the easy option. This desk isn’t too low or anything, but if you’re sitting in a somewhat taller chair, like my T-Pro 2, then you might find yourself wishing you had the option to add a bit more height.

Verdict

halberd chimera strike gaming desk

I am torn on this desk. On the one hand, it does exactly what I want it to do. It’s a solid piece of furniture, blends into the background as I work or play, and really does make the corner of my office it sits in look more eye-catching and stylish than the rest of the room. It’s a centrepiece, and the first time you tuck your stomach up to the groove in the desk and feel the room you have to place monitors and decorations, you’ll feel like a king. And then you’ll remember it’s over £400.

For that price, I would trade some of this admittedly impressive build quality in for a smaller desk with adjustable height, so I could stretch my legs while working occasionally. While everything the Halberd Chimera Strike gaming desk does it does right, it doesn’t do enough for me to justify such a premium price.

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You can find out more about Halberd Gaming Desks here. Product was provided to TheGamer for the purposes of review.