It's 2022, and for some reason a game is asking me to take my hand off the mouse to use the arrow keys to switch items. You know, the arrow keys? The ones we used to move around in Wolfenstein 3D back in 1992, before WASD took over? After a full decade of releasing its games on PC and selling millions of copies, FromSoftware is still putting out games with bizarre and barebones mouse and keyboard controls, and in some ways Elden Ring is actually a step backwards.But it's not a total disaster, which is what makes Elden Ring's shortcomings especially frustrating. Being outright good is even within reach! FromSoftware's biggest game ever deserves better on PC, and some small changes would go a very long way.
It’s 2022, and for some reason a game is asking me to take my hand off the mouse to use the arrow keys to switch items. You know, the arrow keys? The ones we used to move around in Wolfenstein 3D back in 1992, before WASD took over? After a full decade of releasing its games on PC and selling millions of copies, FromSoftware is still putting out games with bizarre and barebones mouse and keyboard controls, and in some ways Elden Ring is actually a step backwards. But it’s not a total disaster, which is what makes Elden Ring’s shortcomings especially frustrating. Being outright good is even within reach! FromSoftware’s biggest game ever deserves better on PC, and some small changes would go a very long way. It’s been a long road to decent mouse and keyboard controls Since FromSoftware started releasing its games on PC, the developers have clearly been trying to improve their mouse and keyboard controls from game to game. The original Dark Souls’ mouse input was unusably jittery without a mod, and some of the default keybindings were so esoteric it was hard to believe they were chosen by someone who’d ever used a keyboard. Those bindings changed with Dark Souls 2 and again with Dark Souls 3, at which point everything at least functioned smoothly despite some strange keyboard layout choices It somehow took until 2019’s Sekiro for us to get the option to show keyboard prompts in the UI. The implication has always been that the mouse and keyboard options only exist as a last resort alternative for those who don’t (or can’t) use a controller. FromSoftware’s games are designed around controllers: They’ve essentially been using the same layout since Demon’s Souls in 2009. If FromSoftware hadn’t recently made Sekiro, a fast-paced combat game starring a superhumanly athletic ninja, I doubt Elden Ring would even have a jump button—it’s the single biggest change in years. Otherwise, you still use the D-pad to swap between weapons and items, still use the shoulder buttons to attack with whatever’s in your left or right hand, still use the same face buttons to drink a potion and two-hand a weapon. Those controls must have carved permanent neural pathways into the brains of every FromSoftware designer at this point, which would explain why the PC layout seems to be trying to replicate the controller experience, rather than adapting it to the keyboard’s strengths.
