Govee x Evangelion gaming light kits review | PC Gamer

Oct 30, 2024

A genuinely thoughtful and exciting collaboration where sci-fi anime style meets banging gamer RGB.

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Even as a lover of RGB lighting, I admit that gamer lights have gotten kind of ridiculous, and it's amazing. Sure you can use lighting to have a subtle splash of colour, but if I'm going to have an RGB lit battlestation then I want the works, and wow is Govee's Evangelion themed kit exactly that.

The line includes two different kinds of anime aesthetic wall mount lights, as well as gaming light bars to splash colour all over your room. All together they create a package so over the top even Nerv would be jealous.

Each piece is available separately and comes in its own sealed black box with red imagery from Nerv, the company in the anime. Get past that and you get to the brighter purple packaging themed after Unit 01 with its vibrant green trimmings to match. Inside each set has a little envelope with more Nerv call backs including a QR code to scan to download exclusive themes for the lights in the Govee Home app. I usually prefer minimal packaging but exploring these lights as I opened each box was actually quite exciting. This is one of those products where opening it feels like a part of the experience.

The housings for each light are predominantly Unit 01 purple with themed touches like circuitry or lineart in the matching green. They're quite striking and even if I wasn't a big fan of the anime I think I'd still want these just for the look. It's not that common to find purple accessories, let alone ones this cool to stare at.

Connectivity: 2.4 GHz + BluetoothColours: RGBICControl: Mobile and desktop apps. Matter support for basic controlFeatures: Aux for sound response; desktop app for screen mirroring

Govee Gaming Wall Light: 6 bars + connectorsMSRP: $200 | £200

Govee Glide RGBIC Y Lights: 5 packMSRP: $180 | £180

Govee RGBIC Wi-Fi Gaming Light Bars with Smart Controller: 2 lights + controllerMSRP: $90 | £90

The packs also include all the extras you need to get set up like connectors, adhesive stickers, cables, as well as a few extra ties and what not for good measure.

The light bars are the best place to get started when setting up this kit. Each bar fixes to a stand that you can easily move around your desk to find the best placement. They plug into the back of the control box, right between the power and audio ports.The power one is self explanatory, but the aux allows you to send audio straight to the device for responsive lights. It even has a splitter so you can send the audio on to your headset or PC from there. The purple Eva themed box has four buttons and a knob allowing you to turn them on or off and do things like change modes and brightness without needing to open an app.

Having the direct aux input gives you a lot of control over what these lights hear and react to, and you can use the DreamView feature to set all the other lights to follow these. This combined with an update to the Govee PC app that lets it do screen reading to send colour to the lights makes for a super responsive setup. All the Eva lights are RGBIC so you miss out on warm whites but I'm glad the money was saved there for this setup. You still get more than enough vibrant colours that match flawless across devices to really transform your space.

Being able to light paint the room to match my game or movie is super immersive and it was really easy to get set up. The Govee Home mobile app, which is a notoriously mixed bag, is still needed for some things but the desktop one is finally a useful thing to download.

Next, I went for the wall lights, which come in a few different configurations. This set is 6 bar lights and one of each a triangle and square connector. The bar lights come with tabs so you can slot them into each other at the ends, and the connectors allow for offshoots and angles. These are a bit fiddly to put together because the tabs snap out of place really easily, but once it's on the wall and supported I had no such troubles.

The connectors and bars make your design options a bit limited, so you may want to figure out your design before purchasing. I was one more square connector away from a huge H initial, and the triangles sold more of an R or K. It makes the expansion kit a really tempting addition, and I like that Govee has those options to add on to this display so I'm not just stuck with making another huge purchase for a few more pieces. I'm largely considering it because the circuit cut outs that allow the RGB lighting to shine through easily make these the coolest looking wall bars I've ever seen. Or I would be, but I can't get it in Australia.

If I had to guess there's something like the Govee Cob strip light in the back that shines through as it can achieve some beautiful tight gradients. It's independent of the light bars in the middle and you can even set them individually in the app, so they look like legitimately separate things. Plus the themes (Not just the Eva ones) will often pulse from the connection points which can really elevate the designs. Even the tiny screws on the front panels are green and I just love them. It's a funky sci-fi vibe that absolutely captures the aesthetic of the anime.

The Glide Y lights are a bit more toned down, with purple plastic casing over the front. These output more light to the side and are much more about lighting your wall than yourself. The Y shape allows you to get a lot of coverage out of the five panels included in the pack, in a variety of shapes. I found the tabs on these easier to connect as they weren't holding as much heavy plastic, and there's a flexible one included for wrapping the design around the wall. These hold together without as much support required as the wall lights so they're a bit more versatile for experimentation.

✅ You're a Neon Genesis fan: Tie in products like this can be crinji like Shinji but not these. From the packaging to the device, these lights are a great love letter to the IP. The Evangelion themed details on the wall lights alone would be enough to have this fan on board.

✅ The aesthetic is your jam: I'm a huge dumb nerd and the colours and circuit details would probably be enough to convince me to get these. They're pretty unique and I genuinely love how they look.

❌ You're on a budget: The money to get this kit sure does add up after adding a few pieces together. If you're on a budget there are cheaper and simpler lights around that can still give you that neon vibe.

Both of these wall mountable lights have a themed connection to the power cable, as opposed to a boring basic plug. I know I'm a sucker but I just love a good detail like that. The cable gets boring after that though, featuring a three button controller for basic options on a normal black cord, that leads to a power brick. This outputs via a figure 8 to the plug though, which is especially handy for avoiding power adapters for different regions.

The Govee themed set of Evangelion battlestation lights have got to be one of the coolest collaborations I've seen in a long time. They're relatively easy to get set up and kick along in harmony all together, mirroring your screen, or alone doing their own thing. Like most of Govee's offerings, these aren't the cheapest gaming lights. For the ease, versatility, and just excellent aesthetics, they also aren't that pricy at $200/£200 for the 6 bar set, which has to be the coolest of the lot. The whole kit is just under $500 RRP, which doesn't feel too awful considering you're getting mirrored screen lighting.

It's worth mentioning I'm yet to see these listed for full price so it's worth checking, especially if they're on sale like they are at the moment.

A genuinely thoughtful and exciting collaboration where sci-fi anime style meets banging gamer RGB.

Hope’s been writing about games for about a decade, starting out way back when on the Australian Nintendo fan site Vooks.net. Since then, she’s talked far too much about games and tech for publications such as Techlife, Byteside, IGN, and GameSpot. Of course there’s also here at PC Gamer, where she gets to indulge her inner hardware nerd with news and reviews. You can usually find Hope fawning over some art, tech, or likely a wonderful combination of them both and where relevant she’ll share them with you here. When she’s not writing about the amazing creations of others, she’s working on what she hopes will one day be her own. You can find her fictional chill out ambient far future sci-fi radio show/album/listening experience podcast right here. No, she’s not kidding.

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