Nanoleaf light panels can turn a dank gamer lair into a swanky hotspot

The phrase "gamer decor" doesn't have the best connotation. It brings to mind a tidal wave of neon green and black plastic, weirdly muscular chairs, and anime wall scrolls. While a lot of video game accessories and peripherals still hew to this teen-bro design ethos, Nanoleaf's light panels are an eye-grabbing exception.

Nanoleaf's wall-mounted LED panels come in three shapes — octagonal, square, and two sizes of triangles. The panels are capable of displaying more than 16 million colors, and can be interconnected to create completely unique and customizable wall art that syncs to match your games, music or TV.

What's great about Nanoleaf

• Completely customizable
• The new focal point of any room
• Lots of inspiration and ideas online

Nanoleaf's basic starter kits range from $119 to $199, and include five to nine panels (prices vary depending on the shape). Each starter kit also includes a power supply, remote control, and all the equipment you need to mount the LEDs to your walls. The company also sells supplementary expansion packs to expand your artistic possibilities and ready-made bundles of larger designs like hearts, musical notes, and geometric patterns.

For more detail on how Nanoleaf stacks up against other smart lighting alternatives, check out this October 2020 article from our sister site, Input.

While there are some truly impressive Nanoleaf designs that might entice you to open your wallet a smidge too far, even a relatively simple setup makes an eye-grabbing focal point in any room. A dedicated app automatically figures out the alignment of panels once you've connected them, which makes creating custom lighting effects and enabling the panels to react to touch or ambient audio a far more straightforward process than you'd expect.

What's not-so-great about Nanoleaf

• Pricey
• A confusing array of options

There's no getting around it — Nanoleaf costs a pretty penny, especially if you have your heart set on creating a particularly ambitious design. Once you start moving beyond the starter packs, it's easy to blow through several hundred dollars mighty fast.

While an abundance of customization options makes Nanoleaf enormously appealing as you're casually adding items to your shopping cart, all those possibilities can feel overwhelming once it's time to pull out the old credit card. It doesn't help that navigating the Nanoleaf website isn't particularly intuitive. For instance, there's not a clear way to see all the expansion packs on offer in one place. With multiple varieties of triangular panels listed in more than one place, you'll need to double-check closely to avoid ordering errors. A prominently placed "getting started" video or a more straightforward FAQ section would help make the process a little less daunting.

You don't need to be a gamer to love Nanoleaf. If you're someone who's learned to tolerate a television as the looming focal point of your living space, this easy-on-the-eyes lighting solution is as much a treat for you as it is for the video game lover in your life.

Sophisticated Gamer is a series all about elevated gaming accessories you won't be embarrassed to show to your Tinder date. We only recommend products we love and that we think you will, too.