I don’t feel comfortable using a mouse and I have no interest in working on my mouse skills. I play all of my games with either a controller or a keyboard, and I’m looking for 3rd-person shooters I can play with a controller.
I’m mainly interested in action games. I’m OK with a world with gated areas a la metroidvanias/soulslikes, but I’m not interested in full-on open world or narrative-driven games.
Examples of 3rd-person shooters I enjoyed playing with a controller: Gungrave, Vanquish, and Evil West.
Examples of 3rd-person shooters I don’t enjoy and have no interest in: Uncharted, The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption, Dead Space, Control/Alan Wake, or GTA.
I mainly play on PC, Steam in particular, but I’ll boot up emulators if the game is worth it.
Have you played Returnal? It’s an action focussed third person shooter bullet hell roguelite. There’s a story of sorts, but I’m sure you can play without acknowledging it.
Maybe the new shadow warrior games, or painkiller series. I imagine any game made in the past decade would play just fine on a controller. God of War, while having quite a bit of narrative is still very much an arena fighter. The new doom games, while not third person, also fit that slot very nicely. Star Wars Fallen Order is quite souls-like. Helldivers 2 is really fun if you want some casual multiplayer fun. Control might fit the bill. You’re free to wander around, but you can also just follow the quest markers for a streamlined experience with solid combat. I hope one of those games might inspire you! I tend to gravitate towards more first person story driven shooters myself.
I’m also a PC gamer who prefers using a controller. No doubt a mouse is better for aiming, I just find a controller more comfortable and easier to relax with while playing, especially after working a desk job all day.
You should check out Remnant 2 and Risk of Rain 2.
People play FPS games on a PC using a controller?
Hey, people are allowed to play with a handicap if they want.
I played through the Tomb Raider reboot with a controller, mainly because I thought it would be mostly non-gun stuff (and I was sort of right) and the non-gun stuff played easier with it. Also I use IJKL instead of WASD and I didn’t want to have to rebind literally every single key on yet another game. Controllers suck for aiming regardless of which thumbstick I use to aim, so there’s no point rebinding it and I can just use defaults.
I don’t feel comfortable using a mouse
I mainly play on PC
You sir, are definitely one in a million
Not by a long shot. There’s a reason Steam has an entire section of the library page that shows controller compatibility. Not to mention Big Picture mode and all the living room gamers. Keyboard sand mouse on a couch is terrible, no matter what hardware you have or how you try to convince yourself it’s not.
I personally use a controller 99% of the time. In both casual and competitive games.
Huge difference between not feeling comfortable at all with using a mouse and preferring to use a controller depending on context
That’s not even close to true.
15% of Steam sessions are using a controller on a PC
https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/4142827237888316812
Yeah, these days I play everything with a controller - because I’d rather sit on the couch than in a desk chair.
Please explain how people sometimes using controllers on PC means that there exists a considerable amount of PC gamers who are uncomfortable with using a mouse.
Every person who games on a PC has a keyboard and mouse available to them. If 15% of those on average choose to use a controller instead that’s a lot of people who are more comfortable using that than keyboard and mouse.
No. It might simply be that people prefer using a controller for specific games, which is a very reasonable explanation if you’re familiar with video games. The statistics says nothing about this because it’s too general.
It might simply be that people prefer using a controller for specific games
So you could say, it’s more comfortable for some to play those games with a controller…
Some games literally don’t use a mouse. For instance Baba Is You or The Binding Of Isaac or Shank would, at best, use the mouse for menus. You could play them exclusively with a keyboard but 1) you’re giving up analog input, and 2) unless you have a gaming keyboard, some of those games will have horrific keyboard ghosting especially if they have any sort of combos like Shank does.
OP specifically wrote:
I don’t feel comfortable using a mouse
This is in general and not specific to any game… There exists a myriad of people who are comfortable with using mouse and keyboard while still preferring controllers for some specific games. You should try to better your reading comprehension.
This is in general and not specific to any game
My reading comprehension? Please show me where I said anything that contradicts that.
I wish I wasn’t if true, but I already put all of my skill points in keyboard and controller, and I don’t have enough reasons to work on my mouse skills.
Wait keyboard and controller? At the same time??
Keyboard for fighting games and shmups, and controller for anything else.
Keyboard for fighting games
Wh-what?
This can’t be surprising if you’re part of the FGC in any way.
To elaborate for the uninitiated: a keyboard functions similarly to a leverless controller—a popular controller among fighting games players—minus XInput, which is not an issue if you mainly play online and won’t have to worry about plugging two controllers in the same PC.
Snob
I used to play WoW that way back when all I had was a laptop (2004?). Got surprisingly good at it. Still, I would recommend using a mouse.
TIL WoW can be played with a controller
Maybe, but it certainly couldn’t be back then.
Is that not what you just said you did back in 2004? The conversation is about playing games with a controller on PC is it not?
No, I played it on an IBM ThinkPad, which was a laptop that had a nipple in the middle (yes, that is what they called it), which can be used as a mouse. I used the nipple a lot.
There was an era, very early on, when PC first-person shooters were generally played with the keyboard. Wolfenstein 3D. I remember people who specifically wanted to play Doom with the keyboard rather than the mouse.
Doom 1-2 was for the keyboard the same way as Wolf3d.
I’m pretty sure that Wolfenstein 3D had mouse support, unless it was added later, and I’m sure that (original) Doom did.
checks
https://soulsphere.org/apocrypha/keyboard/
Debunking the Myth that Doom was Keyboard-only
It also mentions Wolfenstein 3D:
I don’t know if I used the mouse with Wolfenstein 3D when it first came out. But I recall playing the Mac port later with a mouse, and that it didn’t feel great there.
Doom could be played with a mouse, but it was made for the keyboard. Because of the only horizontal freedom of turning, the mouse was just uncomfortable.
I suppose it depends on perspective, but I feel like if John Romero says it was made with mouse controls intended as the default, he’s probably right, as he would be one of the few people to know what they had in mind when making it.
Are you sure you’re not talking about Quake? Because Quake, while perfectly playable with the keyboard only, can get some nice usability nuances from the mouse.
Did you miss the screenshot of JOHN ROMERO, the man himself, saying that Wolf3D and Doom were made for mouse input?
Nerds need to grow up and stop this nonsense. Millinials are pushing 40 and you still don’t understand that non casuals are the minority. Even on steam you get something like 20% of users in controller.
OK with emulation? Then start with the first Ratchet and Clank game and play through all of them in order up to the most recent one on Steam.
I don’t feel comfortable using a mouse
You might also consider, if you’ve never tried one, using a trackball. Might be a benefit outside of just games, too, if you’re using a PC. There are some people who really strongly prefer them and dislike mice for various reasons (including some people who find mice to be more-problematic for some sort of repetitive stress injury they have).
I prefer a mouse as pointing device, but one can’t really use one if lying on a couch or in bed or something, and I keep a trackball around that I sometimes use in those cases.
Trackballs aren’t as common these days as a mouse alternative, given that laptops with trackpads have become more-prevalent, but I’m more accurate with one than with a trackpad, and if I couldn’t use a mouse, I’d probably spend a lot more trackball time.
We do have a trackball community here: [email protected]
Interesting, I may consider picking one up, thanks.
You may also consider a vertical mouse.
There are cheap but decent ones on Amazon, Kysona and Nulea (I think? sp?) make some, and there are also rather expensive ones.
Basically, you hold the mouse as if you are holding a cup of soda, like you’re pounding your fist on the table, not palming the table.
They were basically mainly marketed as ergonomic, for carpal tunnel sufferers… but when you think about it, a very long gaming session, everyday, all the time, whatever… yeah the ergonomics do actually make more sense, they’re fairly close to the same grip and shape of many trackball mice.
Alternatively, get a new Steam Controller when they come out in a few months.
Its a controller; sticks, buttons, pads triggers, also has two little uh, kinda like laptop track pads.
Its basically a Steam Deck w/o the screen in the middle, but lighter and more ergonomic.
I play older shooters (often emulated) with sticks, newer ones with a pad.
As far as a third person shooter that works well with controllers?
Uh… Splinter Cell Chaos Theory?
You can get that on Steam.
Metal Gear Solid V?
Those are both probably narrative driven though, MGSV has multiple open worlds, basically?
???
As someone who has spent far more hours with a trackball, and has been using them for over 2 decades. They are fantastic. Great for avoiding RSI. Best mouse you can use outside of a standard desk environment including standing, or at a couch.
But they aren’t good for FPS games.
I just use a controller and I don’t play competitively.
Feel like you’d have a better time buying a console IF you ONLY wanted a controller AND you wanted to only play competitive PVP games. Neither trackball nor controller can compete without some kind of aim assist.
Gears of War, which was built for consoles and thus controllers.
I was gonna reccomend splatoon 3 but its a switch game that’s primarily online multiplayer matches, and while you can absolutely play it with sticks only it REALLY shines brightest with motion controls (yes, really. Motion control for fps aiming is amazing), but lots of people do play with purely analog sticks for aim.
Probably not quite what you’re looking for, but it does have a single player story and a really cool looking rougelite/roguelike mode, though I haven’t played the latter. And then it also has an online cooperative mode.
Splatoon is a really unique movement shooter where shooting or attacking leaves colorful ink on the ground, which you can then swim in for mobility, health regen, and refilling your ink tank (your ammo). The enemy (in single or multiplayer) leaves their own ink color that slows you down, stops you from swimming, and slowly damages you when you’re standing in it.
The result is a really interesting, fast paced fps about controlling space effectively and out maneuvering your opponent with a wide variety of weapons all with their own playstyles- the unique weapons are a huge highlight of the game
Remnant from the ashes 1 and 2,
Gunfire reborn also
I was just looking at Remnant before posting this. Good to know it’s fun with a controller!
Those games are super underrated imo… Have a great “Dark Souls with guns” kinda vibe and so many secret outfits
Steam list of third-person shooters sorted by user rating for which controllers are preferred or full controller support is present.
FYI, the filters are AND, not OR, making this list really small. Kinda weird for Steam to have it like this even for controller filters.
Huh… Yeah that is odd, “or” probably would have been more helpful 😅
Or two separate lists, since controller being preferred probably does generally come with controller support
Maybe you need a controller with motion / tilt support?
I think that it’s the other way around — he’s fine with using a controller, is unhappy with the mouse.
Though if someone does want to play first-person shooters on a gamepad, I understand — I’ve never done it myself, that the preferred route by people really serious about the gamepad is the gyro-using flick stick. I understand that Steam Input plus appropriate configuration can provide support for it to games that don’t natively support it, and the WP article says that there’s some kind of direct support that went into Steam Input a few years back that I hadn’t been aware of.
My line of thinking is that games optimized for controllers will usually have sticky aim or aim assist, whereas those that maybe lack controller support won’t necessarily have those features.
Gyro adds that last little bit of precision that could potentially bridge the gap
Depends on the system sometimes.
A chunk of games will have be on multiple systems, and some form of aim assist but for reasons unknown only allow aim assist on console. It’s kind of frustrating becahse they allow PCs to use controllers. And I am talking single player only games as well…
I seem to recall one of the early cross-platform competitive multiplayer games having full controller aim assist on PC, they had to dial it back because players were figuring out how to combine it with mouse input and ending up with such a massive advantage that console players were disabling crossplay.
Oh, gotcha, good point.
You might like the Max Payne series.
Third-person action shooters with bullet time.
I tried all 3, the aiming cursor is too small. I remember looking into the options, and I couldn’t find any way to make it larger. Maybe I missed the option or there’s a mod for this?
If you’re playing PC games on a TV from a couch — I’m just guessing here, but if you’re (a) using a gaming controller and (b) having difficulty seeing the aiming cursor, I’m wondering if that might be the case — one other issue you might run into with PC games is FOV.
It’s pretty normal for FPSes (I haven’t looked at third-person shooters, though I assume that the same is true) to have something of a fisheye lens effect, because the monitor actually represents only a small portion of your visual arc, yet you want to let the player see something comparable to what the character would. Even more true for a TV (bigger, but also usually so much further away that it is a smaller portion of the visual arc) than a monitor.
https://expertbeacon.com/do-humans-have-120-fov/
Research shows the average person sees about 135 degrees horizontally per eye. Stitch our binocular vision together, and we get approximately 114 degrees of FOV.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Glossary:Field_of_view_(FOV)
- PC games should be designed with a high FOV of around 85-110 because players normally sit closer to their display.
- Console games should be designed with a lower FOV of around 55-75 because their players usually sit further from a display; normally the distance between a couch and a TV.
Usually there’s still going to be some fisheye lens effect (the FOV setting is higher than the actual portion of our visual arc that the display takes up), but it’s not so dramatic as to make people nauseous or look weirdly distorted.
You can typically fiddle with the FOV setting in PC games, but games are also gonna be balanced for one FOV, so if you crank your FOV in a PC game down, it may make the thing more-difficult than the game designers intended.
Idk if its exactly the genre you’re looking for, but Armored Core 6 is on PC, and pretty much all the other games in the series were on console, so the game plays well with a controller. You customize and control a mech in 3rd person and shoot stuff in different missions.
I prefer Borderlands on a controller.
Honestly these days if it’s had a console release rather than a PC exclusive it will run fine with a controller.
