Does Once Human have controller support?

In Once Human, you’re able to explore a huge open world and battle the paranormal enemies, the kind you might meet in a sci-fi military shooter book, occupying it for increasingly powerful loot. You can also gather resources to build your ultimate home on wheels or in the mountains, but playing with a controller is up in the air.

There’s no denying that games like Once Human are easier to play with a controller. As someone who mainly plays games on consoles, I believe that there are definitely merits to using a keyboard and mouse. However, it’s nice to have the option to hop between controller and keyboard and mouse, especially in games you’ll be committing hundreds of hours to like this one. While many developers prioritize controller support in their titles, there are those who don’t.

Does Once Human have controller support?

No, at the time of writing, Once Human doesn’t have controller support. Developer Starry Studio has explained why in the game’s launch FAQ. Initially, it wasn’t an important factor in getting the game to run, so the development team hasn’t pushed to get it into the game at launch.

However, there is a silver lining for all of us who prefer playing with controllers. Support is incoming for Once Human, but it’s going to take a little while for the team to get around to implementing it. I’ll update this section of the article as soon as controller support goes live, but it’ll be a decent chunk of time before we even see it mentioned in possible update notes down the line. This game needs players and support for their requests before anything else.

Once Human was released on July 9, 2024, and I wouldn’t expect to see controller support on any date close to that. This is because the team will likely be swamped with bug fixes and server updates for a few weeks as this new online looter shooter settles into a rhythm with its new player base.

The same is true here of Steam Deck support for the game. Starry Studio insists this isn’t live at launch, though I’ll still be trying it out. I’ve spoken to developers who have pushed to build games with controller support from day one because it makes console ports much easier. I don’t see console support on the cards for years, at the very least, for Once Human, which is just another reason controller support has fallen by the wayside.