Pillars of Eternity and Deadfire Get Full PC Controller Support

Obsidian Entertainment has launched a PC public test that adds full controller support to Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. The test went live on November 4, 2026, on Steam, GOG and Xbox on PC, and lets players finish either game with a gamepad, from character creation to the end credits.

In its announcement, Obsidian says controller play works in both Real-Time with Pause and Turn-Based Mode, and that players can switch back to mouse and keyboard at any point. Deadfire's controls build on the scheme from the game's console editions.

Controller support covers combat, menus and ship battles

According to the patch notes for Pillars of Eternity version 1.3.10.0, a controller now works across character creation, exploration, combat, conversations, the inventory, crafting and enchanting, the Stronghold and the world map. Radial menus give quick access to abilities, spells and party commands, and button prompts appear throughout the interface.

Deadfire's version 5.1.0.0 adds the same coverage plus naval exploration and ship combat. Xbox and PlayStation controllers are supported on Windows, macOS and Linux, along with Steam Deck and Steam Big Picture mode, including the on-screen keyboard for naming characters.

Deadfire's Turn-Based Mode has been reworked

The update also brings the turn-based changes Obsidian made to the first game, whose own Turn-Based Mode went live in April. Characters in Deadfire no longer take one turn per round. Faster characters can act several times in a round, while slower or heavily encumbered characters may skip one entirely.

Turn-Based Mode now increases all damage by 35% to keep fights moving. Swapping weapon sets, drinking potions and toggling modals become free actions, limited to one of each per turn. Players can also switch Turn-Based Mode on or off mid-playthrough outside combat, through the options menu, a new HUD button or the T key.

How to join the public test

• Steam: right-click the game, open Properties, then Betas, and select “public_beta”.
• GOG: open Manage Installation, then Configure, and choose the Public Beta channel.
• Xbox on PC: in the Xbox Insider Hub app, go to Previews, select Pillars of Eternity – Hero Edition and join.

Obsidian's GOG and Xbox instructions name only the first Pillars of Eternity. Steam Deck players need to switch the controller layout to the “Gamepad with Joystick Trackpad” template. Obsidian warns players to expect bugs and says the test “will run for some time” as it prepares a full release. It has not given a date for that release, and the announcement does not mention the console versions.