CONTROLLER AND STEAM DECK
BORE has full controller support, and it runs on Steam Deck. This post is the detail. It gets updated as things change, so it is worth a second look after a patch.
FULL CONTROLLER SUPPORT
- Every verb is on the pad: moving, the lamp, tools, the cabin stations, the Stores, the menus, the survey plot. Nothing is keyboard-only
- Prompts follow the device in your hands. Pick up a pad mid-session and the prompts change to match it, with no setting to flip
- Keyboard and pad are both live at all times. Mixed play works and there is no input mode to choose
- Rebinding is handled through Steam Input, back grips and all. There is deliberately no second remapper inside the game to disagree with it
ON STEAM DECK
- On the first boot the game picks its own display and frame targets for the hardware. Everything stays yours to override in Settings afterwards
- The on-screen keyboard appears on its own wherever the game asks you to type
- Prompts read L1, R1, L2 and R2 on a Deck, and the in-game controls sheet draws the Deck itself rather than a keyboard you are not holding
- Interface text was checked for legibility at 1280x800
- The induction films and the equipment demonstrations play on the Deck, same as on desktop
- It holds its frame target through a full dive, and it survives a lid close mid-run
THE COMPATIBILITY BADGE
Valve has not reviewed BORE for Steam Hardware yet, so the badge reads Unknown. Unknown means unreviewed. It is not a verdict on whether the game runs, and this post exists because we would rather tell you than let a blank space do it.
IF THE BUTTONS ARE WRONG, READ THIS
BORE ships an official Steam Input layout, and a Deck or a pad picks it up on its own. There is one case where it will not: if you played BORE early, before that layout was published, Steam saved you the layout it had at the time. That older one was built for a keyboard, so it hands the game keyboard keys wearing controller clothes. B interacts instead of crouching, the shoulder buttons behave like a scroll wheel, and the prompts show PC keys because PC keys are honestly what arrived.
It is a thirty second fix, and you only do it once:
- On Steam Deck: press STEAM, open BORE, choose the controller icon, then Controller Settings, and pick the Gamepad layout
- On desktop: right click BORE in your library, then Properties, then Controller, and let it use the game's official layout
Everything works from there, and you can rebind whatever you like on top of it, back grips included. If your buttons are wrong and this did not fix it, that is a bug we want to hear about: discord.gg/brnrvEjcdQ
THE EARTH IS LISTENING.