Controls (PC) are awful

[Gleitfrosch]

Last RS game I played was GTA 4 so I thought I know how the controls will work in this game.

But would have never expected them to be so bad. Overcomplicated and absolutely not intuitive, at least not for me.

Are there any options to make the controls somehow better?

[Tooluka]

Yeah, I just started and controls are a mess. Multiple buttons, some you need to hold a long time (2-3 seconds), sometimes hold one button and press another button, some only register when you approach something and simply walking is hard too. I managed to tie down an enemy with a rope after like 3 tries :)

[Jaunitta 🌸]

Do you guys mean the keyboard
It took me a while to learn them as well since RDR2 published this game for PC M&K but ingame it still uses controller.
so if helps ya here's what I learnt
L=Shift on keyboard
X=D
R1=Q
Use Q to take cover
R to block with F
To stop a horse I used either the Alt key or Ctrl cant remember

[Gleitfrosch]

yes, mean pc mouse/keyboard controls.

Already changed the horse camera control.

But if I have to Google how to f.e. stop a horse or perform (in other games) basic actions, then something is really wrong with the game.

And to be honest, I have 1,7 hours played and not sure if I should keep playing or just refund.

[TyresTyco]

You can change it so you dont need to tap anymore. But other than that. Yeah it's awful. But still better than controller imho. At least the gun gameplay.

[globefish23]

Originally posted by Tooluka:

some you need to hold a long time (2-3 seconds)

This is a great addition.
Prevents a lot of misclicks and accidental triggering of some action, especially purchases in the catalog.

Originally posted by Tooluka:

sometimes hold one button and press another button

Well, you only have so many buttons that can easily be reached from the WASD hand position.
This way it allows to open up sub menus with more options.

And the most used action is a double button press: aiming and firing a weapon

Originally posted by Tooluka:

some only register when you approach something

This is standard in computer games for about 30 years now.

Originally posted by Tooluka:

simply walking is hard too.

I only dislike that there is no easy way to trigger the 4 different on-foot speeds.

With a keyboard you can only do:
Walk --> sprint

With an analog stick you can do:
Slow walk --> walk --> jog --> sprint

[odji888]

It's not actually that bad, once you get used to it.

Consider that you can freeaim with ease now that you have a mouse and keyboard., and don't have to rely on assisted aim (which is cheating tbh) that's the biggest bonus.

I don't think its the controls that are bad - its the clunkiness of the gameplay.

The tactile element of RDR2 is way heavier and deliberately more sluggish than GTA4 and GTA5. The latter game is more arcadey... so it plays and feels like that.

In fact, the whole pacing of RDR2 is wayyyyyyyy slower than GTA4. It's a deliberate design choice, and quite a brilliant one by Rockstar.

It can be annoying, especially when looting and trying to move gracefully in RDR2. However, I wouldn't give up just because you don't like the bindings. Keep playing and you'll get used to it, because at the core it all, it's basically an RPG with FPS elements, using the same format as all other similar games - WASD / mouse look with the familiar radial menus that you usually encounter in such games.

RDR2 is unique in how it handles these elements. Like anything, after enough time, it becomes muscle memory :)

[cruinne]

It's ridiculous. R, open drawer, R, open drawer, wait, now R is pick something up? And E is close that drawer? God, whatever. No guarantee it will carry to other situations - some new key is cooked up for that .

And it's worse for the left-handed because no thought at all was given to people who might be using the other side of the keyboard because their mouse is on the left-hand side of it. But at least it's mostly re-mapable with some effort.

[odji888]

there are mods available where you can change the bindings. However, because there are quite a lot of interactive commands, most of the keys around WASD will be bound, so what I think Rockstar tried to do is to simplify the looting process by just using R.

Don't forget that if there are several interactive things around the player, or different lootable items, you can cycle through them by pressing Q. It helps a lot.

[AC Denton]

You get used to it after a few hours. It's annoying but oh well.

[Mistah]

Originally posted by Luke Fartwalker:

In fact, the whole pacing of RDR2 is wayyyyyyyy slower than GTA4. It's a deliberate design choice, and quite a brilliant one by Rockstar.

No it's a terrible choice. RDR2 isn't a "game." It's an interactive story at this point. I've never been so frustrated with the control scheme in any game and it's over a year from its PC release. Horrible game design.

[Nite69]

Most of the controls are for personal tasks, but during moving/combat/horse its not bad I finished the story and am playing on keyboard/mouse

and yes be sure the horse is set to Horse Relative its much easier

[Asigion]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulpYhm0s6tA

[Friends with Benedicts]

It's simply how input works on coding. They do like that to make it easier for devs to simply code the game's based on inputs, like "FIRE INPUT". Now which button will represent this input will depend on which type of controller you're using. This is a modern thing so they don't have to code 2 separate set of coding (or more) for each different possible controller a player might try to use.

I know that becomes a hassle but... Kinda on you for not doing the proper research before buying, if that's enough for you to ask for a refund. There are lots and lots of people complaining about how bad the game feels on M&KB.

I play on controllers since they are better for 90% of the games out there. Constantly clicking the mouse breaks it quickly, unless it's one of those gaming mouses with much more durability on the left button. Still, constantly using middle mouse button for example is sure to break that thing in a year.

[Dolomite83]

Use a joypad

[ELi]

It's not the best for sure, but you will get somewhat used to them after like 30 hours or so.