Resident Evil Requiem: Keyboard or Controller? Controls & Best Settings

Keyboard or controller? Use mouse and keyboard for Grace’s first-person sections and a controller for Leon’s third-person sections — that is the consensus across reviews and player discussion, and it matches how the two halves of Resident Evil Requiem are built. If you only want one input for the whole game, mouse and keyboard wins on precision; a controller wins on comfort and immersion.

Looking for arrow keys? You cannot bind movement to them in-game — Requiem reserves the arrow keys for menu navigation and will not let you reassign them. There are two working workarounds, both covered below.

Best controller settings, short version: drop Dead Zone from its default (around 25) to about 5, set the Sensitivity Curve to linear, and run Aim Assist on Follow at a low-to-middle strength. That trio fixes about 90% of what feels wrong with the defaults.

Keyboard and Mouse or Controller in Resident Evil Requiem?

This question comes up more with Requiem than with any recent Resident Evil, and there is a structural reason: the game splits between two protagonists with two different camera systems. Grace plays in first person, Leon in third, and those perspectives genuinely favour different inputs.

Mouse and keyboard: better for precision

Mouse aiming is meaningfully better in Grace’s first-person sections. Requiem asks for a lot of small, fast corrections — headshots on staggering enemies, tracking something moving through a doorway — and a mouse does that with no acceleration curve fighting you. On higher difficulties, where ammo economy makes every missed shot expensive, this is the practical choice.

The trade-off is that Requiem’s default PC key layout is cramped. Q for Quick Heal and Space for Parry both ask you to break your movement grip at exactly the moment you cannot afford to. Fix that before you judge the input.

Controller: better for feel

Leon’s third-person sections feel more natural on a pad, and player discussion consistently frames controller play as the more relaxed and more immersive option overall. Analogue movement suits the deliberate, heavy pacing of survival horror in a way that digital WASD does not, and third-person camera control is exactly what a right stick is designed for.

The catch: Requiem’s default controller settings are genuinely bad. A large dead zone makes fine aim feel mushy, and most players who bounce off controller in this game are reacting to that rather than to the controller itself. Fix the dead zone first, then decide.

The honest verdict

If you have both, switch when the game switches: mouse for Grace, pad for Leon. It sounds fussy and it takes about one chapter to become automatic. If you have to pick one, pick based on what you want from the game — mouse and keyboard if you are playing for the challenge and the shooting, controller if you are playing for the atmosphere.

Arrow Keys in Resident Evil Requiem (and How to Get Them Working)

A lot of players — particularly those coming from older survival horror, or anyone who simply prefers right-hand movement — want to move with the arrow keys. Requiem does not let you.

The arrow keys are reserved for menu navigation, and the game will not let you delete or reassign those bindings. This is a hard limit in the keybinding menu, not a bug you can wait out. Movement is locked to W A S D as far as the game’s own options are concerned. Everything else on keyboard and mouse rebinds freely — it is specifically the arrow keys that are off limits.

Two workarounds actually work, and both operate by translating arrow key presses into WASD before the game ever sees them.

Method 1: AutoHotkey (simplest, most reliable)

This is a four-line script that only activates while Requiem is the focused window, so your arrow keys behave normally everywhere else.

• Install AutoHotkey v1.1 — the script below is v1 syntax and will not run on v2.
• Create a new text file, rename it re9.ahk.
• Paste in the following:

#IfWinActive ahk_exe re9.exe
Up::w
Down::s
Left::a
Right::d
#IfWinActive

• Save it, then double-click to run it before launching the game.

The #IfWinActive ahk_exe re9.exe line is what scopes the remap to Requiem only — leave it in. If you prefer AutoHotkey v2, the same idea works using #HotIf with explicit key-down and key-up handling.

Method 2: Steam Input

If you would rather not run a background script, Steam can do the same translation:

• Right-click Resident Evil Requiem in your Steam Library → Properties → Controller.
• Set Steam Input to Enabled.
• Open the game’s Controller Configuration from Steam (not from inside the game).
• Start from a keyboard-style or desktop layout template so the layout behaves as a keyboard rather than a gamepad.
• Map Up Arrow → W, Down Arrow → S, Left Arrow → A, Right Arrow → D.
• Save and test.

Neither method changes Requiem’s native bindings — the game still thinks it is receiving WASD. That is the point, and it is why both approaches survive patches.

Best Controller Settings for Resident Evil Requiem

Requiem’s controller defaults are the reason so many players describe the aim as sluggish. Three changes do most of the work.

1. Dead zone — the single biggest fix

Path: Options → Controls → Basic Settings → Controller, where you will find Dead Zone and Sensitivity.

Requiem ships with a fairly large right-stick dead zone — commonly reported around 25 — which means small stick movements do nothing at all. Drop it to roughly 5. That one change is what turns “mushy and unresponsive” into “precise,” and it is the change every controller-tuning guide for this game converges on. If you have an older pad with stick drift, creep it up a point at a time until the drift stops rather than jumping back to default.

2. Sensitivity curve — go linear

The same menu exposes a Sensitivity Curve Type setting. Set it to the linear option. Curved response makes slow tracking feel sticky and fast flicks unpredictable; linear means the stick does exactly what you asked, which is what you want when something is closing on you and you need a headshot rather than a spray.

3. Aim assist — use it, but tune it down

Under the aim assist settings you get a Mode with Off, Snap and Follow options, plus a strength value.

• Follow is the better mode for Requiem. It helps your reticle stay with a moving enemy rather than yanking toward one, which matters because Requiem’s enemies move erratically and Snap will fight you when two are close together.
• Keep strength low to moderate. Enough to smooth tracking, not enough to pull your aim off the head and onto the torso. Turn it up if you are struggling, turn it off entirely if you are playing for the challenge — it is a comfort setting, not a crutch.

Camera settings: Grace vs Leon

Under Options → Camera you get camera sensitivity, aim sensitivity and acceleration — and separate values for the different perspectives. This is worth finding, because the two characters need different setups:

• Grace (first person): higher aim sensitivity and more acceleration. First-person horror needs quick 90-degree turns when something makes a noise behind you.
• Leon (third person): moderate aim sensitivity, medium acceleration. Precision matters more than speed here, and a twitchy camera is miserable when circle-strafing a group.

Give any sensitivity change a full encounter before judging it. Your thumbs need a few minutes to recalibrate and everything feels wrong for the first ninety seconds.

Other controller options worth knowing

• Controller Vibration — a simple on/off. Turning it off is a legitimate accessibility and precision choice; rumble during aiming genuinely costs you accuracy on longer shots.
• Button Configuration — presets (Type A/B) plus custom slots. Start from a preset, then change two or three actions rather than rebuilding the whole layout.
• Button Icon Type — switches the on-screen prompts between Xbox, PlayStation and Switch styles. It only affects icons, not behaviour. Locking to Xbox prompts on PC is worth doing if you follow along with guides and videos.
• Head bob / camera shake — reducing this under the Camera options makes tracking enemies noticeably easier in Grace’s sections, and helps a lot if first-person motion bothers you.

What about gyro or motion aiming?

There is no confirmed native gyro or motion-aiming toggle in Requiem’s options on any platform. On PC and Steam Deck you can add gyro yourself through Steam Input, which is how most gyro players are handling it — our Steam Controller gyro setup guide covers the configuration side.

Complete Keyboard and Mouse Controls

The out-of-the-box PC mapping:

• Move: W / A / S / D
• Look / Aim camera: Mouse movement
• Aim weapon: Right Mouse Button
• Attack / Fire: Left Mouse Button
• Parry / Ready melee: Space
• Crouch: Ctrl
• Quick Turn: X
• Interact / Confirm: F
• Reload: R
• Quick Heal: Q
• Flashlight: G
• Open Map: M
• Open Items / Inventory: Tab
• Pause Menu: P
• Select weapon: mouse wheel to cycle, number keys 1–6 for direct slots

Two rebinds worth making immediately: move Quick Heal off Q onto a mouse side button, and Parry from Space to Shift. Both are actions you need while moving, and both defaults force you to compromise your movement hand at the worst possible moment.

Default Controller Layout (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch)

The core layout is consistent across pads; only the labels change.

Combat and movement

• Move: Left Stick
• Run / Walk toggle: Press Left Stick (L3)
• Look / Aim camera: Right Stick
• Crouch: Press Right Stick (R3)
• Aim weapon: Xbox LT / PlayStation L2 / Switch L
• Attack / Fire: Xbox RT / PlayStation R2 / Switch R
• Parry / Ready melee: Xbox LB / PlayStation L1
• Quick Heal: Xbox RB / PlayStation R1
• Quick Turn: hold the Left Stick back and press Xbox B / PlayStation Circle / Switch A

That quick turn input catches everyone out. Pressing B or Circle on its own does nothing — you have to be pulling the stick backwards at the same time.

Interaction, menus and utility

• Interact / Confirm: Xbox A / PlayStation Cross / Switch B
• Cancel / Back: Xbox B / PlayStation Circle / Switch A
• Reload: Xbox X / PlayStation Square / Switch Y
• Inventory: Xbox Y / PlayStation Triangle / Switch X
• Open Map: Xbox View / PlayStation Touchpad / Switch –
• Pause Menu: Xbox Menu / PlayStation Options / Switch +
• Flashlight toggle: D-Pad Up
• Weapon shortcuts: D-Pad Left / Right / Down

If you switch between platforms, the mirrored confirm and cancel buttons on Switch versus Xbox and PlayStation will bite you in menus. You cannot change Nintendo’s system convention, but you can remap the in-game actions if you want consistency across your devices.

How to Rebind Controls

From any platform: Options → Controls → Button Configuration.

• Pick a preset (Type A/B) as your starting point.
• Select a Custom slot if one is available.
• Highlight an action, confirm, then press the key or button you want.
• Apply and test somewhere safe — not mid-boss.

Change two or three things, play a chapter, then adjust again. Remapping ten actions at once means you spend the next hour fighting your own muscle memory instead of the enemies.

PC Controller Troubleshooting

Controller not detected, or double inputs

Almost always Steam Input sitting between the game and your pad. Requiem supports Xbox, PlayStation and Switch-style controllers on PC directly, so the fix is to get Steam out of the way:

• Right-click Resident Evil Requiem in your Steam Library.
• Properties → Controller tab.
• Set the override to Disable Steam Input.
• Restart the game.

Note the tension with the arrow-key workaround above: that method needs Steam Input enabled. If you use both, expect to troubleshoot one against the other — which is a good reason to prefer the AutoHotkey route if arrow keys are what you are after.

Keyboard and mouse stop responding

Occasionally after a long session the game keeps playing audio but stops accepting keyboard and mouse input. Alt+Tab to the desktop and back usually restores it; if not, Ctrl+Alt+Del and return to the game; failing that, relaunch. Capcom has been patching Requiem steadily since release, so keep the game updated.

Field of view

We have not found a true FOV slider anywhere in Requiem’s menus — unlike RE4 Remake, this does not appear to be adjustable. That makes getting your sensitivity and camera settings right more important, since they are the levers you actually have.

FAQ

Is Resident Evil Requiem better with keyboard or controller?

Mouse and keyboard for precision, especially in Grace’s first-person sections and on higher difficulties. Controller for comfort and immersion, especially in Leon’s third-person sections. If you have both, switching between them as the game switches protagonists is the best of both — and it takes about one chapter to stop feeling awkward.

Can you use arrow keys in Resident Evil Requiem?

Not through the game’s own settings. Requiem reserves the arrow keys for menu navigation and blocks you from reassigning them, so movement stays on WASD in-game. You can get arrow-key movement working with a four-line AutoHotkey script or a Steam Input keyboard layout, both of which translate arrow presses into WASD before the game receives them.

What are the best controller settings for Resident Evil Requiem?

Dead Zone down to roughly 5 from its default of around 25, Sensitivity Curve set to linear, and Aim Assist on Follow at a low-to-moderate strength. Then tune camera sensitivity separately for Grace and Leon, since first-person and third-person want different values.

Does Resident Evil Requiem have a FOV slider?

No FOV slider appears in the game’s menus. Since you cannot widen the view, dialling in camera sensitivity and reducing head bob are the practical alternatives.

Does Requiem support gyro aiming?

There is no confirmed native gyro or motion-aiming option in the game’s settings. On PC and Steam Deck you can configure gyro yourself through Steam Input.

More Resident Evil Requiem Guides

• How to set brightness without ruining the fear
• How to disable film grain
• How to optimise Requiem for Steam Deck
• How to survive the early game

Spend ten minutes in the Options menu before your next session. Requiem’s defaults are the worst version of this game, and it does not take much to fix them.