If you talk to any hardcore PC fan, one of the things they will eventually tout is the “superiority” of the mouse and keyboard. But there are plenty of gamers who, for various reasons, don’t or won’t play games on PC unless they’re using a controller.
Earlier this week I saw a video of a top 500 Mercy player in the United States, a player who exclusively plays Overwatch on PC with a controller. I imagine it’s a familiarity thing: a mouse is easy as buggery to use if you grew up with it, but far less so if the N64, original PlayStation, Xbox et al. was your gaming hub of choice.
There are plenty of couch co-op games on PC, of course, that are built around the controller. Driving games are infinitely better with a controller than a keyboard, for obvious reasons. The one that surprised me was Elite Dangerous: I found it a little more comfortable flying around with an Xbox controller than I did mouse and keyboard. It was probably a matter of not having finely tuned the controls enough, but as someone who loved the pickup and play nature of Freelancer, the work Frontier did for controllers was pretty exceptional.
What games on PC do you play with a controller – and are there any you play that most people would ordinarily use a mouse and keyboard for, like Overwatch? Let us know!
Comments
43 responses to “What Games On PC Do You Play With A Controller?”
None, controllers are for losers. Mouse and keyboard rule.
i see you’re not actually a gamer then. good to know. keep walking.
i find controllers to good for gaming. especially because i have huge hands. however i find aiming on PC to be amazingly better with a mouse and keyboard then controller.
I am a strict PC gamer, however there are some games I would rather play with controller, fighting games for example, I find it easier to use color coated controller buttons than using grey keyboard keys, though on games like call of duty battlefield and paladins, shooters, I use keyboard and mouse seeing as its easier to use a mouse to aim, because its accurate, so I say there are some games, like killer instinct, that should be played with controller, but also some games, like cod, that should be played with keyboard and mosue
I see you have strong feelings against controllers. However I don’t believe the answer “none” is a good answer. Games like the Dark Souls trilogy and Nioh are much more enjoyable and playable on controller than keyboard. You can still play the games on keyboard but it would take away from the enjoyment for most and add another level of difficulty. Platformers are also a genre that is more enjoyable and easier to speedrun on your controller. Mouse and Keyboard are a powerful tool for aiming but aiming is usually only that good of a tool if you’re playing a Shooter. Third-person RPGs and Platformers are usually more playable on controller. I hope I have been helpful.
Ya know……. majority use controllers for co-op games when they need to play at the same computer
I think I played all of Mafia II with a controller, since I remember keyboard controls being a disaster. First time I played GTA V on PC I used a controller, but since then I grew more fond of the keyboard, even flying isn’t that bad.
But mostly car games, because you can at least control the accelerator/brakes with a controller. Keyboard it’s either 100% or nothing, which sucks.
Dark Souls & Witcher
I bought my controller after the PC port of Dark Souls. The keyboard/mouse support was unusable, so the controller was the only option.
Since then, Witcher III, GTAV and Mass Effect all got played with the controller, though the keyboard was nearby for quick keys.
Anything other than aiming or RTS I play with a controller.
I’ll only play FPS and RTS/other strategy games with a keyboard and mouse, everything else I use a controller. Third person games, platformers, anything with driving in it, controller all the way.
No keyboard and mouse for me. I use them all day for spreadsheets and it feels too much like work…
I had to read that twice. The first time I read that I thought you use a controller for spreadsheets. LOL
Back when I was working night shifts, someone actually asked me if you could rebind the keyboard to an Xbox controller. I showed him the basics of how to do it, and he rigged it up so he could do his nightly job (basically a program reading through press articles and sending/rejecting them to certain clients) with a 360 pad. Pretty sure he still uses it.
None. Very occasionally I might opt to use one for a racing game, but it’s rare.
none. even 3rd person games like tomb raider and bayonetta, i still use a keyboard and mose because otherwise i look like that wanker from polygon playing doom
Basically only FPSs, puzzle and strategy games with the KB+M.
Platformers, third persons, anything driving all feels more natural to me with a controller. I play sitting fairly far back from the screen (or on a separate TV attached via HDMI) most of the time, so a controller lets me do that more comfortably.
My first console was the Game Boy and Nintendo 64, and didn’t get a decent PC until 2013, so it’s definitely a familiarity thing.
All PC games are played with a controller. I also plug my gaming pc into the TV and sit on the couch to play, so basically my PC is another console.
I need a controller to play Racing games successfully, the triggers allow me to balance acceleration and braking levels for some cool heel toe action, makes a huge difference on tactical tracks. I just dont have the same control with a keyboard as the keys are either off or on.
I will generally switch between keyboard and controller when playing games like GTA where keyboard and mouse for running around and controller for driving/flying.
Third person games. Games I’d normally play on PS3/PS4 – so Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Just Cause…
ITT: Heathens. Abominable, godless heathens.
KEYBOARD AND MOUSE IS THE WAY AND THE LIGHT.
Oh Transient, never change man 😛
The only examples I can think of where KB/Mouse are worse are when devs make the KB/Mouse controls terrible.
In GTA V when I fly a helicopter I have no precision because you are either completely tilting or not tilting at all. In Battlefield 4 they avoid this by having the mouse control the pitch rather than keys.
I’m in the “FPS/strategy on kb/m, everything else on controller” camp.
Bit surprised that Alex was surprised E:D works well/better on controller than kb/m… flight sims of any kind generally suck on kb/m, E:D was pretty much designed for HOTAS (the ingame controls are even modelled n the x52 pro). I was surprised by how well it worked on an Xbox controller when I played the Xbox version, coming from full HOTAS, rudders and headtracking on PC… even more surprised it’s playable on mouse and keyboard (which I’m not even game to try).
That said, X3 had pretty good kb/m controls…
I think m+kb would be more precise eventually, but from the point of just plugging it in and playing seconds later the gamepad setup is done really, really well. You do lose out on a lot of functions by not having the keyboard though.
Be interesting to see how they map things for the PS4 release.
Yeah, once I adapted to needing to throttle up/down with the bumpers and switch between roll/yaw I found using a controller surprisingly effective. The way they implemented panel access and power management on the controller is really good. I’ve been away from ED for a while but the few times I’ve booted up the PC version over the last year I’ve just used a controller rather than set up my HOTAS (partly due to the fact that I couldn’t even get my x52 pro working under windows 10 for a loooong time)
Armello is much easier with a controller.
Pretty much any action game that isnt a FPS.
Japanese third person action games. Dark Souls, Dragon’s Dogma, FF13-2/Lightning Returns, Attack on Titan etc.
I find it easier to play most Third Person games on a controller and First Person on keyboard and mouse.
In my opinion Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends, as a console port, is borderline unplayable without a controller. I welcome you to try, but I went throught some things a few years back trying to figure out how to play Dynasty Warriors 6 on PC with a mouse and keyboard and it is absolutely not worth it. I had to take the time to map out my controls to how it would play on a console, but it was worth it for the muscle memory crossover.
My friend plays GTA V on PC with a controller, but I only started playing open world action games when I got a gaming PC so I’m more accustomed to using a mouse and keyboard in that title and other open world games (Saints Row, Just Cause etc) even when driving, except when flying – I always grab my controller whenever I have to fly anything in GTA V because I never got my head around the keyboard controls for that. Also, Road Redemption, that’s another “controller only” title for me. I’m not big on platformers, but if I played them, they make more “sense” on a controller to me. Pretty much everything else is mouse & keyboard. I don’t see any use in being a snob about one or the other – you pick whatever suits you best.
Yeah, One Piece Pirate Warriors was turd without a gamepad too.
Dark souls III, Nier, Witcher 3, For Honor, GTA V, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Ghost Recon Wildlands (non competitive fps, i tend to play with controller)… the rest are keyboard and mouse.
All of them, unless I’m using joysticks.
Magicka, with three other players for local co-op each with controllers, because using keyboard and mouse won’t destroy friendships nearly as fast.
Only games where kb&m is completely borked do I use a controller which boils down to dark souls, brothers and a few select others.
Also, mercy and Reinhardt are probably the only characters in ow where you could play at parity to kb&m with a controller. Not because they’re easier but because of their mechanics aren’t reliant on aiming.
Rocket League and any platformer
I don’t PC game much but if I wanna bust out some quake I’ll use mouse/keys.
Anything emulated from consoles I use controller.
Anything 3rd person i’ll play with controller – its just better. And Racing.
1st person, MMO, etc ill play with kb and mouse
FPS is keyboard and mouse and some 3rd person – depending on the type of third person it is.
controller for everything else.
GTA V was interesting as it was the first time i would play with KB and M AND a Controller.
driving with controller is so much easier for me in GTA (although ive got significantly better with practice on KB + M now). sometimes ill start driving with controller (and flying, oh dear god of games, flying a helicopter in GTA V i need the controller) and if enemies come up ill flick to the keyboard and mouse so i can drive and shoot and then for escaping ill drop back to the controller. i like that the seamless-ness is only limited to my reaction speeds. they did a good job on that game for sure.
i mostly use keyboard and mouse on my PC just personal prefference but there are a few games i have played and still do play with controller.
American Truck Simulator – easier with analog controls from a thumbstick
Yuka Laylee – just feel more natural playing that with a controller
Saints row 3 & 4 – just felt better with a controller.
i wouldnt play and fps with a controller though that would just feel to clunky.
its just personal prefference.
Witcher 3, Shadow of Mordor, and…… Farming Simulator :oD
Almost any game that prefers analogue controls that isn’t FPS.
PC isn’t king because of mouse and keyboard, it’s king because you can use mouse and keyboard AND controllers.
In GTA5 I used mouse and keyboard for weapons and controller for vehicles. Controller was straight up not good enough for shooting, and keyboard is just as bad for driving.
It’s not too impressive that healbeam Mercy can be top 500 with a controller. Let’s see Widowmaker or McCree get up there with a controller, then I’ll be impressed.
Controller if possible.
I tend to get sore wrist/rsi using mouse now.
Besides, it lets me lonunge back in my PC chair and relax instead of being cramped in front of display annd keyboard.
Games currently and recently with controller which you you would not expect:
World of Warcraft
Diablo 3
Guild Wars 2
Elderscrolls Online
(**Keyboard/Mouse for interface/gui only)
Other with built in support:
Witcher 3
GTA 5
Grim Dawn (some keybord/mouse for interface)
Some I play mouse and keyboard and they are ok as they are not ‘twitchy’ plus conttoller just would not work.
eg Factorio
Starcraft is now alomost a writeoff except in short sessions.
Tomb raider, hitman, rocket league and any platforming I usually play with the ps4 controller. I play overwatch with a mouse and keyboard but when I want to lay on the bed and play I’ll switch to the controller (don’t shame me). Most gaming I play late as relax time so I like to lay on the bed, keeps the missus happy too
Pretty much any game that lets me. Been a console gamer since the mid 80’s and just find controllers more comfortable than a keyboard and mouse (though I can still play games with a KB&M when I have to).
* “Rocket League” (Multiplayer)
* “Track Mania²” (Offline/Online)
* “Assetto Corsa” or” NfS Shift” or “Dirt 3” or “F1 2013″(Racing)
* The “Dark Souls” series 1-3 and “Nioh”
* “Borderlands 2” (FPS)
* “GTA 5”
* “Nidhogg” (Minigame)
* “Mortal Kombat X” (Fighting Game)
* “Cuphead” (Sidescroll-Shooter)
* “Metal Gear Solid 5”
* “Okami HD” (Japan)
* “Batman Arkam”
* “South Park the Stick of Truth”
* “Witcher 3”
* “Portal 2”
* “Don’t Starve” (Survival)
* “Binding of Isaac”