Pollex on a Gamepad

Earlier coverage on this wiki treated Pollex as keyboard-and-mouse only because the public copy talks about first-person hands. That was incomplete. The Steam store categories for app 4593810 now include Full Controller Support, Gamepad Preferred, and a DualShock note that USB is listed. This tools page is the correction. It is still not a fake overlay of invented face buttons. It is a checklist so you do not buy the wrong pad, and so you do not discover a USB-only limit in the middle of a pin.

Pair it with controls for camera comfort and with system requirements for the PC that has to run Unreal Engine 5 while a pad is plugged in.

What the listing actually says

• Full controller support. Steam is willing to show the gamepad category. That is stronger than “maybe Steam Input someday.”
• Gamepad preferred. Valve’s store is telling pad players they are in the intended audience, not an afterthought. That fits a grip-and-pin verb set better than a thirty-key loadout.
• DualShock controllers (USB only) appears among hardware categories. If you planned to play a PS pad over Bluetooth only, treat that as a risk until a shipping build proves otherwise. Have a cable.
• Steam Input-class PC play is still implied by a Windows 10 / DirectX 12 listing. Xbox-style pads on Windows are the boring, likely path.
• Not published: a picture of the radial menu, a list of holds versus taps, gyro aiming, or adaptive-trigger tricks.

If a YouTube short shows a DualSense with a custom Pollex wrap, it is a skin, not a bind table. We will add a table when Kooky Studios or the in-game prompt provides one. Until then, keep a keyboard in reach for menus, text, and a stuck cursor.

How to prepare before Q4 2026

1. Pick one pad and stick to it. First-person body horror is timing. Swapping from a Xbox pad to a PS pad the week of launch is how you mis-press a pin. See how to win.
2. Test USB. If you own a DualShock or DualSense, confirm Windows sees it on a cable. Bluetooth can wait until the client proves it.
3. Map a panic control in your head. You want pause, mute, and a way to drop a stake confirmation. Steam’s listed Custom Volume Controls and Subtitle Options are the other half of this — content warning explains why mute is not a joke.
4. Calibrate look sensitivity in a quiet room. The apartment screenshots are the kind of space you want for stick testing, not the ring.
5. Do not buy a fight stick because the game is a “war.” Thumb wars on a stick would be a novelty. The listing did not ask for an arcade lever.

Keyboard is not cancelled

Gamepad preferred is not gamepad exclusive. A first-person Unreal title on Steam will almost certainly still boot to mouse look. If you stream, keep WASD documented so a viewer who only has a laptop can follow getting started. If you play in a small room with a TV, the pad is the reason this page exists.

Steam Cloud, if wired, should store whichever device you last used. After a crash, look at the prompt before you accept a match. A reset to default look speed is a lost finger. Performance covers hitching; this page covers the hands on the plastic.

Accessibility that is actually listed

Along with the pad categories, Steam lists Subtitle Options, Custom Volume Controls, Contrast Controls, Stereo Sound, and Adjustable Difficulty. Read those as:

• Subtitles: useful if the crowd is loud. See the crowd.
• Volume: separate buses, we hope. Until sliders have names, assume a master volume at least.
• Contrast: first-person pits are dark. Contrast is a pin tool, not a cosmetic.
• Difficulty: may change opponent timing, not necessarily gore. Do not expect it to replace how to survive.

None of those lines contradict single-player. A pad does not add a second debtor to the ring.

Related

Controls for camera and binds, performance for frame time, store snapshot for where these categories were read, official links for the Steam page, roadmap for if Bluetooth notes change, wishlist so you are ready when the client exists.