Scavland Controls
The keys we can prove, plus the pad the studio actually built for.
Scavland has full controller support and a keyboard that creators actually used on camera. This page lists confirmed PC keys from public gameplay, then tells you not to treat a fan wiki as a rebind dump. If the in-game mapper disagrees after 4 September 2026, the game wins. Pair this with how to play for the verbs behind the keys.
Confirmed keyboard (PC footage)
| Action | Key | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Move | WASD | Standard in keyboard videos |
| Run | Shift or a dedicated run, depending on build | Creators sprint; confirm in your mapper |
| Interact / take | E | Doors, loot, objects |
| Melee | F | Finishes and panic |
| Journal / quest book | J | Physical book UI |
| Use item / aimed fire | Right mouse | Medkits and zoom-aim in footage |
| Fire | Left mouse | |
| Inventory rummage | Backpack interaction | Pack can be dropped on the ground to sort |
That is the honest table. We do not add Q for lantern or C for craft because a different game used them. If Early Access prints a full list, this table grows.
How the camera behaves
Top-down. Public play does not orbit the world. Aimed fire on right-click is the zoom. There is no “spin north” in the demo tapes. Learn to peek with footsteps, not with a camera stick. Combat needs that sentence more than this table does.
Controller and Steam Deck
NoShadow rebuilt inventory, looting, combat, interactions, and menus for pads. Steam lists full controller support, DualShock, DualSense, and Steam Input. Deck and handhelds were a design goal. If you play on a couch, start with the official template, then rebind melee off a face button you keep missing.
Do not assume keyboard legends map 1:1 to a pad. The journal will be a face button or a menu cluster. Aim will be a trigger. That is fine. The verbs stay: look, use, melee, journal, run, leave.
Rebinding without wrecking yourself
Rebind after you understand the tutorial, not during the first medkit. The scrapyard is trying to teach J and E. If you move them immediately, every guide on this wiki will feel wrong, including Getting Started.
Good rebinds:
- Melee on a mouse side button if you keep punching with F by accident
- Journal on a key you can hit while moving
- Interact not sharing a key with fire
Bad rebinds:
- Putting fire on the same key as use
- Hiding the journal because you “do not like quests”
The journal is how jobs and factions exist. You need it.
Accessibility of the boring kind
Readable pixel UI, controller, Cloud saves, and a low spec are the studio’s accessibility story. There is no public colour-blind statement on this wiki. If a patch adds it, updates will note it. Until then, the best accessibility setting is eating before you fight, which is not a key. See survival.
If a video disagrees
Older demo builds may have moved a bind. Creator overlays may be lying. This page prefers keys spoken in the audio (“press J”, “press F”, “that’s E”) over on-screen guesswork. The demo walkthrough is one of those tapes. System requirements will not fix a bind. The mapper will.
Learn four keys. Then stop thinking about keys. Zalesye has other plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
What key opens the quest book in Scavland?
J in public PC gameplay. The journal is a book, not a tiny tracker.
How do I melee?
F on keyboard footage. On a controller, use the official melee bind. See combat for when melee is the right idea.
Can I play Scavland entirely on a controller?
That is the intent. Full controller support and Deck-oriented inventory were part of the pre-launch work.
Why is this list short?
Because we only list keys we can source. We will expand after the Early Access mapper is public.