Gaming in the dark just feels better. No harsh lights, no distractions, just you and the screen. Whether it’s a late-night ranked match or a slow-burn story game, a dark set-up pulls you deeper into the experience. It's no surprise so many gamers prefer it.

But over time, your eyes start to feel it. Dryness, fatigue, and even headaches. The issue isn’t the darkness itself. It’s the intense contrast between a bright screen and a completely dark room. Your eyes are forced to constantly adjust, and eventually, that strain adds up.

You don’t need to turn on overhead lights and ruin the atmosphere. What you need is the right kind of lighting—soft, balanced, and placed exactly where it helps without shining directly into your eyes. That’s where ScreenBar Halo 2 comes in. It gently illuminates your desk and the wall behind your monitor, not your screen or face, reducing eye strain while keeping the immersive, dark-room vibe intact.

A dim environment just feels better for gaming. No distractions, only the screen pulling you in. Whether it’s a high-stakes ranked match or a story-driven adventure game, turning off the lights helps you focus and stay fully immersed.

For many gamers, it’s about the atmosphere. The space feels quiet, personal, and separate from the outside world—something regular lighting can’t easily replicate.. Even RGB setups can feel too bright or chaotic if the light doesn’t match the mood. Darkness works because it removes distractions, but when your screen becomes the room's only light source, it can start to strain your eyes over time.

Gaming in the dark might feel amazing at first, but the longer you play, the more your eyes begin to strain. Dryness, fatigue, even mild headaches can creep in slowly and linger linger than you'd expect. Many gamers assume it’s just from staring at a screen too long, but the real culprit is often something called contrast glare.

Contrast glare occurs when your screen is much brighter than the surrounding environment. In a completely dark room, your pupils stay fully dilated to adapt to low light. Then, when a burst of brightness hits from the display, your eyes try to adjust again. This ongoining shift between a dark background and a bright screen puts your visual system under stress, gradually leading to discomfort that builds quietly in the background. 

Ophthalmologists, including experts from the American Optometric Association (AOA), note that this kind of lighting imbalance doesn’t just cause fatigue. It can also reduce your ability to see detail and contrast clearly. When your pupils are fully dilated, your vision becomes softer and less precise, similar to how a camera loses sharpness when its aperture is wide open. The effects might not be obvious at first, but over longer gaming sessions, they adds up.

Here’s a look at how different lighting conditions affect your pupils and vision while gaming:

That’s why gaming in dim environments often feels immersive at first but gradually becomes uncomfortable. The problem isn’t the screen itself, or even the darkness, it’s the sharp contrast between the two. Solving it doesn’t require turning on harsh overhead lights. What you need is the right kind of ambient light to bring things back into balance: quietly supporting your eyes while keeping the mood intact. 

However, that balance is what most setups get wrong. A lot of gamers try to fix the issue by adding RGB or LED strips, but those lights aren’t designed to help your eyes. They often light up the whole room or bounce off walls in ways that make the screen feel even more disconnected. When colours are constantly shifting or pulsing, it adds motion where you don’t want it— not just to your setup, but to your peripheral vision.

A good gaming light does 3 things well: 

1. Stays Out of Your Eyes 
   The light never shines directly on your face or reflects off your screen. When lighting hits the wrong angle, your pupils constantly adjust, breaking focus. Proper ambient lighting stays out of the way, letting your eyes relax and settle.

2. Softens the Screen’s Harshness 
   A gentle glow behind the monitor helps balance the contrast between a bright screen and a dark room. This reduces the intensity of the display, so your eyes don’t have to work as hard to keep up.

3. Maintains the Mood 
   No flashing effects or rainbow cycling. Just a consistent, stable light that blends seamlessly into the background, supporting the game’s atmosphere instead of distracting from it.

The best lighting doesn’t demand attention. It works quietly in the background, reducing strain while letting the game stay centre stage. It doesn’t break the vibe. It protects it. 

ScreenBar Halo 2 is designed for gamers who want to enjoy a dark-room setup without sacrificing comfort. It delivers all the key benefits of ideal ambient lighting: it stays out of your eyes, softens harsh screen contrast, and maintains a consistent, immersive vibe from start to finish.

• ASYM-Light™ Technology: No Glare, Just Focus 
  A custom asymmetrical beam lights your desk without hitting your screen or shining into your eyes. With a 24° adjustable lamp head, 8-section reflector, and 18° cut-off angle, Halo 2 keeps reflections off your display and light out of your line of sight, so your eyes stay relaxed, even during long gaming sessions. 
  

• Backlight Glow: Smooth Contrast, Wider Coverage 
  The tri-zone backlight gently lights up the wall behind your monitor, easing contrast between the screen and background. Compared to the previous generation, ScreenBar Halo 2 offers 423% wider coverage, creating a more balanced glow that feels natural and reduces visual tension.

• Auto-Dimming: Lighting That Adapts As You Play 
  Always balanced, never breaking the vibe. The front light responds to your room’s brightness, while the backlight softly illuminates the wall behind your monitor. Together, they miantain an ideal contrast, following the recommended 1:3 screen-to-ambient brightness ratio. This visual harmony reduces eye strain and helps you stay focussed and sharp, no matter how long your gaming session lasts.

ScreenBar Halo 2 doesn’t just add light. It adds comfort. Every design detail supports the way you game in the dark — immersive, focused, and now, easier on your eyes.

Gaming in the dark isn't the problem. In fact, it’s part of what makes long sessions feel immersive and focused. The real issue is using the wrong kind of lighting: setups where the screen is too bright, the background too dark, and your eyes are constantly caught in between.

You don’t need to sacrifice your vibe to stay comfortable. With the right ambient lighting—placed, shaped, and balanced correctly—your eyes feel at ease, and the game stays front and centre, exactly where it belongs.

Because it’s more immersive. Darkness removes distractions and makes the screen feel more cinematic. Many gamers also find it easier to focus when the surrounding space fades away. But without proper ambient lighting, it can strain your eyes.

Yes. As long as your lighting is done right. The real problem isn’t darkness itself, but the contrast glare. A bright screen in a pitch-black room puts your eyes under constant strain. Soft ambient lighting, like the kind provided by the BenQ ScreenBar Halo 2, reduces that contrast, keeping your setup immersive while protecting your eyes from fatigue.

Not really. At least not if your screen is the only light. The sharp contrast makes your eyes work harder, leading to dryness, fatigue, and even headaches. Adding soft, indirect lighting helps reduce that strain while keeping the room dim and immersive.