The original Steam Controller is undoubtedly one of the coolest pieces of gear I own—and one of the most innovative, too.
I got mine right when it launched in 2015. I wanted to solve a very real problem: I was trying to turn my PC into a console.
You see, Valve had Big Picture Mode, which truly turned your PC into a console-like experience. The problem was that some of my favorite PC games didn’t support controllers. They were keyboard-and-mouse only.
But then—here comes the Steam Controller. Suddenly, I was able to reprogram all the inputs. I could take basic keys, like the spacebar, and map them to a button on the controller—like the A button. And once you did that, you could share your controller configuration with the Steam community, or reuse a config someone else already made. It was pretty awesome.
And those dual trackpads? They were swank. Incredible for first-person shooters and real-time strategy games. They were the next best thing to a mouse. And because of the angle of the handles, it all felt very comfortable in the hand—probably the most comfortable controller experience I’ve ever had.
It’s funny—just a little over five years ago, gamers hated it. Not because they ever used one, but because it was a failure. And as we all know about gamers, there’s nothing they hate more than a failure. It was dismissed as a novelty—something no one would ever use again.
Well, Valve had the last laugh. A few years ago, they released the Steam Deck. And what do you know? It’s a direct evolution of the Steam Controller. And now everyone loves the Steam Deck.
Just take a look at it—it’s got so many of the same things the Steam Controller had: dual trackpads, back paddles, the ability to remap buttons and customize layouts. Having owned a Steam Deck since launch, I can say this confidently: the most killer features on the Deck originated with the Steam Controller.
That said, it wasn’t perfect. There were a few quirks I wish they had fixed. For one, it would’ve been nice if it had dual analog sticks instead of just one. Using a trackpad in place of a right stick is fine in theory, but let’s be real: a trackpad does not replace an analog stick.
Also, unlike most modern controllers, this one didn’t have a rechargeable battery. You needed AA batteries. Now, to be fair, those batteries lasted a long time—but it still would’ve been nicer to just recharge it and forget about replacements.
Then there’s the back paddles. Only two of them. In hindsight, yeah, Valve knew they needed to evolve. I’ve grown so used to having four back paddles on the Steam Deck. They’re incredibly useful—especially in games with lots of inputs. Just good to have.
Still, this was one of the first mainstream controllers to even have back paddles. So hats off to Valve for that.
Honestly, I really wish there was another Steam Controller on the market. I know Hori makes a licensed controller for the Steam Deck in Japan, but it’s missing a core feature the original had: the dual trackpads.
To me, the dual trackpads make the Steam Deck experience. It’s something almost no other handheld has. My wife has a Legion Go, and it does have a trackpad—but only one. And honestly? That makes all the difference. It’s fine. But man… it would’ve been a better handheld with two.
Definitely one of the most innovative controllers ever made.
And yeah, I still use mine. I use it when I dock my handheld. Or when I’m on my living room PC.
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No d-pad is an instant dealbreaker.
Edit: Y’know what I’ll properly expand on this. The Steam Controller failed because it tried to replace vital functionality people expect from a controller. The Steam Deck learned from this mistake and just supplemented that functionality.
TBH, the way I see it, the Steam Controller was designed for games I don’t want to play on controller, while being bad for games I do want to play on controller.
It walked so the Steam Deck could run.
That’s the key. If you’re wanting to play something like Street Fighter VI, the Steam controller probably won’t fly.
But because I wanted to play Dungeon Siege on my TV, it works far better than a traditional controller ever could.
For the Steam controller to work for you, you have to come in with the mentality of it replacing a keyboard-and-mouse.
They’ve made it too niche, basically just fps and rts pad.
I loved mine for Rocket league but was really missing the right stick. And the shoulder buttons were super stiff. And you also absolutely had to set up controls because it was so different and the pads were atrocious replacements for dpad or sticks
Hey, the Steam controller is good for one other kind of game I play quite often: Diablo-style hack-'n-slash RPGs that are mouse-driven.
Ok, valid! But it’s basically same controls as rts tbh
For me it mostly excels in games that were designed exclusively for mouse and keyboard. Ime it’s pretty bad for fps games though, maybe if you used the gyro, but I haven’t tried that much personally. I love it for Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, and lots of little indie games that don’t have gamepad support ootb.
It’s absolutely fantastic for FPS. I use it for games like Doom Eternal and The Finals.
That last paragraph is on point. That’s why I have two controllers at my desk, one regular and one Steam Controller! I love playing casual Civilization or XCOM on it and it’s surprisingly great with some FromSoftware games, especially Sekiro (for no reason in particular, it just felt good and the touchpad worked without any issues).
Yea the only target audience for the Steam Controller seems to be people who want to play kbm games with a controller if they’re playing on a TV or something. But I reckon most PC gamers who get a controller use it to play on their usual PC setup for games that play better on a controller, they’ll just use kbm for their kbm games.
Yeah, it seemed to be for a time when controller support on PC was shit.
Yeah, but counter point.
It’s got Steam branding.
Another win for the good guys.
Why are Valve the good guys?
I was being sarcastic.
Valve are monopolistic, popularised micro transactions, directly profit from loot boxes and gambling.
If gamers weren’t so brainwashed and Stockholmed syndromed they would realise that.
Definitely needed the /s there. I’m sure you saw the 3 or so other comments who were explaining why Valve are good guys, lol
That’s why I don’t put the /s there. Always draws out the Stockholmed masses.
Because the Cult of Gaben says so.
Because they’ve been good guys so far. They made PC gaming so much easier and have pushed linux into the mainstream.
Yeah, I consider them “better guys,” since they’re better than their competitors. I say this because:
- they firmly support Linux, which was my platform of choice before Steam came to it
- they have useful Greeks features like Steam input
- they have a good refund policy
It didn’t fail because of a lack of a dpad but because of lack of two joysticks, but I’m glad the controller exists because I came to absolutely love the dual touchpads. And I wouldn’t trade the left touchpad a dpad, since I like using it for movement.
I wouldn’t trade the right touchpad for a joystick either, since I like using it to do quick 180s, quick swap between 5-10 inputs to bypass reloading in games like Doom Eternal by setting a dpad modeshift on a click, and touch activate gyro all on one touchpad.
Will probably be the last controller of its kind but I’m glad at least one did get made, since otherwise I’d still just be using a xbox or playstation controller like I did before getting Steam Controller.
Exactly, I’d rather lose a D-Pad than a joystick, and the Steam Controller lost both. That’s why my Steam Controller sits on my desk largely unused, while my PS4 controller gets all the love (I prefer XBox controllers, but PS4 has better Linux support).
I’d love to see the Steam Deck controller be made standalone, it’s super comfy and preserves both joysticks and the d-pad while having useful trackpads.
Sad thing is for me I don’t find the touchpads on the Deck useful, since unlike most users of the Deck I want to use them for movement and camera and quick input switching. And I haven’t found the Deck touchpads good for primary use in place of joysticks, so I end up ignoring the touchpads on the Deck for the joysticks despite using my Steam Controller for most games on the desktop.
I use them for point and click games and other games where a mouse is better.
I’m a controller player so it might be why I warmed up to it when it first came out, since I went from using Xbox controller on the PC to being blown away by touchpads moving as fast as a mouse without joystick speed limitation while being able to aim precisely with gyro without having to use aim assist.
So maybe an outlier as a PC gamer who preferred gamepads to mouse and keyboard, but wanted to find an improved method of using controller without reliance on aim assist.
I also prefer controllers (grew up playing Halo on controller), and gyro aim is sweet, but touchpads never felt good to me. I like physical buttons for d-pad style input (even a joystick is fine), and the right touchpad felt too much like a mouse to the point where I’d rather just use a mouse.
The Steam Deck strikes the right balance for me. The touchpads work when the mouse really is preferable, and they stay out of the way when I use the joysticks.
I like touchpads because I like being able to turn the camera as fast as I can swipe like a mouse while retaining X and Y axis control unlike stuff like the flick stick approach. And I like that I can also click up, down, left, right, center and also hold the left grip to set up chords for an additional 5 inputs for a total of 10 I can quickly change to without having to reach down to the facebuttons.
And that’s where the Deck fell short for me because I didn’t find it good for that type of functionality I want to use the trackpads for compared to users who primarily use the sticks.
since I like using it for movement.
At least the basic movement from that video could easily be done with a regular joystick, it’s just the developer chose to not implement it.
It could but I prefer it over joystick because large touchpad makes it so its easier to not accidentally activate sprint on the outer edge.
But, the biggest part is being able to use the touchpad clicks for added move sets like dash, slide, crouch. Which lot of people wouldn’t even enjoy doing with joystick click.
It has a D-pad, though…
Where?
The left touch zone is pressable, and four zones are four separate buttons. It’s a bit less convenient to use than a regular d-pad, it’s bigger and you need to reach slightly further, but other than that it works.
That is not a d-pad. That is a touchpad with a plus drawn on it.
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It’s actually the other way around, it’s a big d-pad with touchpad capabilities plastered over it. It’s the same physical mechanism as a d-pad, 4-way button, it’s just big.
If you don’t count arbitrary clusters of buttons as a d-pad, I think this is an invalid comparison.
Do you count, e.g., the A/B/X/Y buttons as a d-pad?
D-pad for me, functionally, is a 4 directional buttons clustered together, oriented along the X-Y axis. To conserve parts, it’s quite often made not as 4 buttons but as a combined shifter, because you realistically wouldn’t be pressing the opposite buttons at the same time.
The left track area on the steam controller is that. The buttons are fuzed together (which is normal for D-pad) and big and harder to tell apart (which is less normal)
I agree that not including the D-Pad was a bad move, but if you play games that use the d-pad just for functions like map or switching of equipment, there was the option to use the trackpad like a weapon wheel where you could define i think 8 functions with OSD, and using one of the back buttons made that 16 functions you could define freely - you could replace the hotkeys of a game that used half the keyboard with this thing lol
The touch zone is the d-pad, it’s pressable and you don’t need to do anything, just use it regularly
i know that it’s configured as a D-pad by default, but it’s missing haptic feedback - there’s not enough of an indicator where on the touchpad your finger rests, and if you lose the central position, have fun finding it again without looking. i often tried it. but it’s simply inadequate as a D-pad.
I didn’t say it was a good d-pad
Agreed on it being a bad replacement for controller games. I got one around the time one of the FROMSOFT games came out (I think it was Sekiro?) and I tried using for that and it was just not usable for something like that. I haven’t really tried it for anything else since then because I don’t really play games away from my PC, so I don’t have a need for a worse but acceptable way to play M+KB games.
Honestly, IMO the lack of D-pad was less of an issue than the lack of a second analog stick. The lack of a second stick made the controller almost impossible to use in any game that was designed with 2 sticks in mind. For example Nier Automata 9S hacking minigame was a horrible experience with the Steam controller.
One tip that could make twin stick experience better on the touchpads is to bring down the range where the joystick does max output. That makes it much more responsive over default where twin joysticks do not need small granular movement. Ramblecan has video covering it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXC2f_dD0g0
It actually has d-pad, it’s just combined with one of the touch areas, you can press it like a button, and 4 zones behave like a d-pad. Granted, it’s a bit inconvenient so if you need it often, it’s not the best. But it’s there.
agreed to all of the above. I also found the texture on the trackpads to be quite irritating after a while.
If the Steam Controller was designed the way lot of people wanted it than it wouldn’t have been a Steam Controller and just another Xbox or Playstation controller and added nothing new. Would have been more successful but in the end another generic twin joystick controller. So even if it didn’t succeed it brought new things to the table like touch activated gyro and touch pads that could be considered for other controllers in the future.
I still cry when I remember that they were clearing them out at $5 a pop. I’ll cling to mine until the day it dies.
I bought three of them when they went on sale for $5
I remember seeing the headlines but they were already sold out when I went to look :(
I remember the couple of times you could pick up a controller and steam link for free. And my dumbass still didn’t do it :(
The touchpads always made my thumbs feel weird after a short time. It was a functional marvel, but I couldn’t use it for long.
I wish it had a d-pad rather than the left trackpad, but otherwise yeah
If only mine weren’t broken 🥲
Yeah, the left trackpad sucks. I think they could also fit another joystick if they made the right trackpad a little smaller.
I love the left trackpad. I love it for movement, since I like setting stuff like dash, crouch, slide to it on a click which doesn’t feel good doing the same with a joystick click. And I like setting a sprint activator on the very edge which is easier to avoid not accidentally triggering, because of the trackpad size.
I’m actually opposite where I wish the left joystick on the Steam Controller was a dpad.
Left trackpad is also a d-pad though
I also want six face buttons for fighting games. Somebody, please release a controller like this already. I haven’t seen one since the Sega Saturn.
There’s a whole class of controllers, often called “fightsticks”, which have a full-size arcade-style joystick and a ton of buttons, to reproduce the feel of arcade fighting games.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fightsticks/
[email protected] (not very active)
But I don’t want a fight stick. I want a single controller that can do it all.
Modern fighting games aren’t really designed for 6 buttons. I guess if you want to play SF6 with only face buttons that could be neat, but you’d still want to map parry and DI to shoulder buttons. The reality is that developers know that most pad players have 4 face + 4 shoulder buttons and most stick and leverless boxes have 8 buttons.
That said, 6 face button pads definitely exist. Most of the ones I’ve seen are from Hori, but there are quite a few brands that offer one.
Okay lol maybe I want them for other games too.
Six face buttons, two joysticks, a D-Pad, a touchpad, four triggers (two being analog with a click at the end of the range), four paddles (like the Steam controller), HD rumble. That’s what I want in a controller. Nothing less. Such a controller does not seem to exist.
8bitdo M30. Phenomenal.
Not quite what I’m looking for (but thanks). I should probably mention that I also need dual joysticks, quad triggers, quad paddles, a touchpad, and a D-Pad. Basically everything you can get on both a Steam controller and an XBOX controller, except with two extra face buttons.
I spent more time fucking with that thing’s settings than actually playing games. Give me a normal controller every day of the week. Just cause it was niche doesn’t meant it was good.
I have 2. I absolutely love it. I prefer it for playing 3rd person games like the witcher and monster hunter too. I like the granular control and momentum for panning around the world.
I bought the second one for $5 when valve was doing the discontinuation liquidation sale. Someone commented that the Vive wands use the same track pads and other parts, so it’s a no brainer to buy one to have the parts on hand. At this point the Vive wands are extra parts for keeping my steam controllers going.
I loooove my steam controller for first-person games. The right track pad for camera controls just clicks with me. I guess it’s because I’m a PC gamer first and foremost, so I’m used to mouse-like aiming rather than the analog-style stick aiming.
I never really used the left track pad though…
That being said, I was let down by the steam deck trackpads. Maybe I just have big hands, but I could never use the right track pad the same way I do with the steam controller.
Also a general comment: AA/AAA is the best if you get some rechargable batteries. No waiting for charging when something is out of juice! Plus you can just get a new set of batteries if they ever die instead of a whole new controller
I prefer the Wii U Pro Controller, similar layout but with a proper d-pad. I got to have a proper d-pad.
Strong disagree. If anything, it was the opposite.
The Steam Controller was AMAZING for playing games that did not have gamepad support. And I still think it is the best way to play Stardew Valley. But it also came out at a time when PC ports to console were more or less expected and even RTSes had gamepad support out of the box.
At which point you have a controller that only makes sense for a very limited subset of games.
That said, a Steam Controller 2 that is basically the deck minus the display would be amazing.
Okay, but I didn’t want to buy a new console. Instead, I wanted to use my PC as a console replacement.
But also, there’s a surprising amount of games that never got a console release. For example, Blood and Septerra Core—never arrived on any console. I own those games, and the Steam controller let me play them on my TV very easily.
“ahead of its time” to let people play a game from 1999 is kind of my point.
The Steam Controller was very much designed with 90s/VERY early 00s gaming in mind where you might have a closet full of controllers for every game you like. A wheel for racing, a HOTAS for flight sims, a different HOTAS for mech sims, a gamepad, a guitar controller, a spinning knob, etc.
But it came out at almost the exact same time that the entire industry standardized on xinput with different face button labels. AND when xinput was making it trivial to just use that xbox controller on your PC.
And yet, when I look at my library, only half of new games released within the past five years support X-input. They are still exclusively keyboard-and-mouse.
Granted, that’s way more than what was available 10 years ago, but it’s still a problem.
Or it would be if the Steam Deck didn’t make it trivially easy to adapt keyboard-and-mouse controls to a controller. Which happened because of the innovation first introduced with the Steam Controller.
It’s now at the point where keyboard-and-mouse is optional—just a preference if you want to use it.
I mean… if you look at what I bought in the past five years you would think everyone was obsessed with spreadsheets and 100 hour CRPGs. That doesn’t change the fact that the vast majority of games are made with cross platform in mind and many historically “M+KB only” games have excellent gamepad support. Sometimes, annoyingly, only in the console build but…
Yes. I do think Steam Input is awesome (even if it was basically just a cleaner interface to xpadder/joy2key). That isn’t the Steam Controller. The Steam Controller is what Valve was using to promote The Steam Machines which was their failed attempt at a console.
Again, just to make this clear: I am not saying the Steam Controller was bad. I am not saying Valve is bad. I AM saying it was not “forward thinking” and was very much rooted in a PC gaming era that was ending as orders were being shipped out.
You’re not wrong that the market has changed.
I often tell people that the biggest innovations in PC gaming are not graphics but form factors and inputs.
I’ve had a PS5. Gave it away. I still have an Xbox. I don’t even know if its plugged in. The steam deck got me back into gaming in a way that I haven’t been in years. I feel like a kid again with the amazement of a piece of technology that can entertain me the way the steam deck can. I even bought a dbrand skin for it just because I love it so much. I’m playing prototype 2 and my fiancee is playing baldurs gate. When we have money we want to buy another one so we don’t have to share lol
It’s a brillant device, I often use it more than my PC.
It gives me the feeling that playing the Gameboy as a kid gave me. The switch would only make my hands cramp because the controls are only made for small hands.
I have one of these, and it’s my least favorite controller I’ve ever owned. The touch sticks feel like the touch controls in my car… They leave me wanting real, tactile controls.
It was truly a piece of shit. Imagine trying to play a game with a cheap touchpad. Worst controller I’ve ever owned.
I think it’s been fine in Doom Eternal, Left 4 Dead 2, The Finals, etc.
Was the first controller that allowed me to completely drop aim assist for good and not feel slow against PC players and offer keyboard like functionality for input swapping.
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It’s funny—just a little over five years ago, gamers hated it. Not because they ever used one, but because it was a failure. And as we all know about gamers, there’s nothing they hate more than a failure.
Nice try, but that’s not why I hated it.
This smug revisionism triggers me hard. As a hard core steam fan I loved the idea of the SC, I bought it and really tried to use it, but the reality was just too clunky for primary use. It has no dpad, a single crappy convex analog stick, terribly placed ABXY buttons, horrible shoulder buttons, and just a bit too much input lag on the trackpads. On top all that was (actually, still is) a remapping system that’s way too convoluted to use regularly. There’s also the sad fact that alarmingly many games don’t allow simultaneous gamepad and mouse inputs, and simulating the mouse through right stick inputs feels like shit. I really didn’t find any use case where it’s ergonomically superior to a regular gamepad beside the always cited Civ on the Couch, and I’ve tried with sooo many games.
The deck’s control layout fixes most of the issues – the placement is better (except maybe the Salvador Dali inspired B button but I digress), there is a great d pad, two pretty good analog sticks and the input is snappier. Surprise surprise, the deck is a success.
Was the SC innovative, bold and ahead of its time in many ways? Sure. Was it a good controller to play games with? Hell no.
Fully agree. I tried to make the SC work and wrote off a lot of it as “I’m just not used to it”, but it really is asking a lot. In its defence, it was a first run product. The fact that it’s still ass usable and as weird is impressive enough to me. But it’s better as a piece of gaming history than a good product. It was just a good try.
I also agree with the Steam deck controls being actually good. I want the SC2 that’s just a steam deck without the screen or computer.
So I guess the opposite of the steam brick.
I’d gladly pay $100 to have a steam deck like control scheme for my desktop. Rechargeable batteries and a Linux first design would be awesome. I don’t mind just using cables all the time, but I would like better wireless options for Linux gamepads (though to be fair, I haven’t tried connecting a wireless controller to a Linux box in 5 years).
I bought it and really tried to use it, but the reality was just too clunky for primary use. It has no dpad, a single crappy convex analog stick, terribly placed ABXY buttons, horrible shoulder buttons, and just a bit too much input lag on the trackpads.
Hard truths.
Why did they feel the need to replace analog controls with these weird, inconsistently responsive, difficult to map touch controls when every other console platform had already demonstrated why that’s a bad idea?
Was the SC innovative, bold and ahead of its time in many ways?
NO. It was kitsch and poorly engineered and obviously not play tested sufficiently before release. It was a hobbyist’s attempt at reinventing the mousetrap that got shoved into a major distribution pipeline when Playstation and Nintendo and XBox had already demonstrated why you don’t build controllers this way ten years earlier.
Why did they feel the need to replace analog controls with these weird, inconsistently responsive, difficult to map touch controls when every other console platform had already demonstrated why that’s a bad idea?
I have no idea what you’re talking about. The DS4 had a trackpad that was clearly positioned and intended for menu navigation. Nobody used trackpads as a primary game control input before the SC. That’s not because sticks are some god-given pinnacle of technology but because potentiometer-based sticks are cheap and people are used to them. Analog sticks were always, and still are, a crappy way to control a camera. Building a 1:1 thumb based input source into a controller absolutely was innovative and, like it or hate it, I don’t see how you can contest that. The Steam Deck’s pads are actually pretty great to use.
Playstation and Nintendo and XBox had already demonstrated why you don’t build controllers this way ten years earlier.
Again, what are you talking about? The SC was released in 2015.
I have one too. I love it so much. It’s really, really good. Could map things exactly how I want them! Use it mostly playing Sekiro and Elden Ring.
I love the TouchPads really makes it easier to control those small movements
Is there some meta to using the touch pads? I never use them on my deck due to the lack of being able to have continous motion like a joystick. If I’ve just been using them wrong I’d love to try them out in the way that makes people rave about them
I think some of it comes down to what your brain is used to.
I usually use mouse/keyboard, that kind of constant movement from holding the stick in a certain position is kind of foreign to me. Whereas having the right track pad basically emulating a trackpall mouse instantly felt really natural. In this case it’s like a mouse in that your movement directly translates to camera movement.
You may just be more used to analog sticks
I think it might just be one of those things you get used to. There are so many different ways of setting them up as well,
When I play Sekiro or Elden Ring, I have the right one set to “ball” or “mouse ball” or something like that, basically, so I can flick the camera and also just drag, the left one is on joystick mode I’m pretty sure, with various deadzones that I felt comfortable with.
What’s nice is things like on the right trackpad, I have it set on a tilted axis, because I don’t swipe my thumb perfectly horizontal, I swipe up towards the right, but you can account for that. So when I do my normal swipe, the camera still moves horizontal. I don’t know about the deck, I don’t have one. But the various settings and options for all the things you can set it up with is incredible.
I know on the left, movement. I have a certain zone that if I’m within it, you’ll move slowly, but once you go to the edge you move quickly. In short terms, it’s not linear, because I don’t want it to be.
I do certain actions of “fast pull”, where you press the bumber quickly past its “click”, and another if it’s a slow one. Can probably get very overwhelming but you just find what you like and set it up do it. If you want it a certain way, chances are very good there’s an option for it.
I really love mine and necer realised how “hated” it was. For me the biggest downside is that the level of customisation is almost overwhelming. Which is a good problem to have, honestly, but it led me to sometimes use the shitty xbox controller instead of fumbling with options.
Yeah for sure, I know what you mean. But like, the ability to activate gyro aiming when holding down right bumper past its “click” for those accurate shots is just cheifs kiss
Then there’s the back paddles. Only two of them.
Speak for yourself. Mine has 14 lol
Lol omg no
When your villain origin story is getting banned from a truck simulator mod because you forgot the macro to turn the headlights on.
I admire the cut of your jib.
Pretty sweet. Original back shell, and battery cover?
You can download an stl for the battery cover. I modified it to allow the backpack controller to attach to/detach from the main controller. The original is in a box somewhere safe and well.
You can download an stl for the battery cover.
The hackability and first-party endorsement thereof was another big underappreciated feature of the Steam Controller.
I assume you’ve been mass reported in whatever game you made this for
I actually made it because I got banned because I couldn’t use my lights in euro truck simulator 2 multiplayer mod. I’m not sure I’d want to use it in any competitive games as it’d likely break off if I got mad.
wtf
If traffic rules were that strictly punished in real life there’d be like max 7 cars on road globally
I wish
Sounds like a good thing, honestly.
Real life: yes
Game: harsh
Like, they could have put him in the naughty corner or something. I don’t like the idea of banning as a game mechanic.
I think it was only like 24 hours. It’s all automated though. So you get a thirty second countdown mashing buttons to try and work out how to get your headlights on if you spawn at night.
whole new buttons or just remap face button functions?
It’s an extra 12 button Bluetooth controller using an esp32 dev board. So your games need to allow you to use multiple controllers. You could also program it to send keyboard keys but I haven’t tried it.
That sounds super useful for simulator games.
I’m struggling to wrap my head around how a controller without two joysticks is supposed to word in the year of our lord 2025
It has two trackpads, which can be used as an alternative to joysticks. It’s actually kinda cool since it kind of works like a mouse with quick flicks and whatnot.
Eh I am not a big fan of the track pads, I have them on my deck and the only real useful ness for them is having them emulate a mouse in games so I can use a mouse for ui navigation instead of the joysticks or dpad. Having to constantly readjust my thumbs to keep moving in a direction and lack of ability for smooth continuos motion just makes them super impractical
I don’t like them either, but that’s because I prefer the feel of joysticks, not because of any functional reason. For the Steam Controller trackpads, you don’t need to readjust anything, you just hold in the direction you want the camera to be changing, just like a joystick, and they’re massive so you have a lot of range of motion for controlling speed.
It’s a different feel than on the Steam Deck, so I can totally see someone liking the SC trackpads and not the SD ones.
Ah that makes sense, I’ve never tried the SC so I just assumed they worked in a similar manner to the decks track pads. I think I would still probably prefer joysticks but now I can see the appeal for some regarding how the SC track pads work.
If you are curious here is some of my gameplay video in games like Doom Eternal, Left 4 Dead 2, The Finals, etc.
Was the first controller that allowed me to completely drop aim assist for good and not feel slow against PC players and offer keyboard like functionality for input swapping.
I just assumed they worked in a similar manner to the decks track pads.
By the way I don’t like the Steam Deck trackpads either since I found trying to use them as primary inputs in place of joysticks like on the Steam Controller was not ergonomic for my hands,and camera swipes weren’t as consistent on squares compared to concave circular pads. So on the Steam Deck despite wishing I could use the touchpads I opt for joysticks. So I don’t really see Deck touchpads as a good endorsement for using as primary inputs, since even I can’t find myself using it like the SC.
That’s sounds truly awful lol
Some people really like it, especially combined w/ the gyro. I think it’s fine, I just prefer the feel of joysticks.
Understand the Steam Controller came out 10 years ago and was meant to be used in the decade or two prior to that when “real PC games” didn’t support gamepads. Contrast that with today where CRPGs and RTSes often have official bindings.
There are two ways to use a trackpad. The first is to swipe (like a laptop trackpad) and the second is press and hold. For the former, the delta between where your thumb is and where it was is used to translate to cursor movement. For the latter, think of it like an analog stick. The center of the trackpad is 0 and your input is the delta between 0 and the location of your thumb at this moment.
So press and hold lets it emulate an analog stick and swiping is very useful for moving a cursor on the screen. And there are/were plenty of ways to switch between the modes on the fly.
For real it looks like complete garbage. Joysticks are good, not bad. I’ll take a Playstation controller any day over this shit
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I have one somewhere. The right track pad can work like a joystick, but without the physicality and feedback it just was awkward and unpleasant. Using tracking as a mouse also felt off whenever you needed any sort of precision. Right track pad/dpad seemed to be impossible to click just right to press a direction without also activating the trackpad mappings sending both inputs at once or the wrong one. I could not really get use to it and forgot about it in a box somewhere.
Didn’t hate it, just couldn’t find a use that mouse and keyboard couldn’t cover enough to get a feel for it.
If you are curious here is some of my gameplay video in games like Doom Eternal, Left 4 Dead 2, The Finals, etc.
Was the first controller that allowed me to completely drop aim assist for good and not feel slow against PC players and offer keyboard like functionality for input swapping.
