Samsung's 55-inch curved gaming monitor is going to swallow you whole

pcgamer.com:

The Odyssey Ark is «the world’s first 55-inch, 4K curved gaming screen with 165Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time,» according to Samsung. It's also a gaming monitor that's perfect for the solo gamer looking for a personal gaming getaway.

The Odyssey Ark first made its presence known at CES 2022, but this was the first time I got to see it up close. And, man, this thing is intimidating. I've seen large format displays before there's something about the curvature at this size that feels like it's enveloping you more than any semi-enclosed workstation could.(opens in new tab) 

I got a chance to spend some time with the Odyssey Ark a few weeks ago at a Samsung press event in New York City. The first impression is that this thing is an absolute beast. Because you have to sit fairly close to it to get the most out of it, it's easy to become fully sucked in whatever game you're playing. 

I spent about 90 minutes playing games like DOOM (2018), Forza Horizon, and Microsoft Flight Sim. An hour was enough for me because if I spent any more time playing Doom, the Odyssey Ark was actually starting to look like a portal into Hell, which is a compliment.   The Samsung rep stressed that the Odyssey Ark is about a more personal immersive experience. Because of the curved nature of the screen, the Odyssey Ark is best enjoyed by one person sitting at the center at a pretty close distance. This isn't something you could realistically put in your living room and have a bunch of buddies over and watch the game since the viewing angles aren't the best. Plus switching from Cockpit Mode back to horizontal mode felt unwieldy since it requires a little muscle to lift and turn the thing.

If it becomes too much, you can shrink the screen size to