Official Loftia gamepad issues: D-Pad-only settings navigation, no quit from the login screen with a pad, mouse-pad cursor conflict, and the rebinding fix.
Loftia Controller and Gamepad Known Issues
Loftia runs on a controller, and the developers say so: the official FAQ states that Loftia is fully playable with controller / gamepad, in addition to keyboard and mouse, and also supports the Steam Deck. The Steam store page for the same build labels it Partial Controller Support, and that gap is not cosmetic. Qloud Games has published four gamepad-specific known issues for the October 2026 Steam Next Fest demo, and all four land inside the first five minutes: the settings menu only responds to the D-Pad, the Select Region button does not highlight, you cannot quit from the login screen with a pad, and mixing a pad with mouse can leave a stuck Loftia cursor on screen.
- Steam calls Loftia Partial Controller Support, the FAQ calls it fully playable. Both are first-party.
- In settings the D-Pad is the only working input, thumbsticks are unsupported.
- No quit from the login screen with a pad: exit from the in-world menu instead.
- One click into the Loftia window revives a pad that stopped responding after mouse use.
Two official answers about controller support
| Official source | What it says | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Steam store listing, base game and demo | Controller category: Partial Controller Support | Steam storefront metadata used by the store's controller filter |
| Loftia official FAQ | Loftia is fully playable with controller / gamepad, in addition to keyboard and mouse, and also supports the Steam Deck | The developer's own statement about how the game can be played |
Official source: Loftia FAQ
Both statements come from Qloud Games, so this is not a store page contradicting a press release. The store category is the machine-readable label Steam uses to sort games by input method, the FAQ is prose for players, and read together they describe a game you can genuinely play on a pad where a few screens still expect one input style. The demo carries the same category as the full game.
The four published gamepad problems
| Known issue, official list updated October 21, 2026 | What you actually see | Published workaround |
|---|---|---|
| Settings Navigation | Menus, sliders and toggles ignore the thumbsticks | Use the D-Pad to navigate and adjust settings |
| Login Screen Server Selection | The Select Region button does not highlight when picked with a pad | It still functions, press to activate and confirm the region yourself |
| Exiting Loftia | No quit option from the login screen with a gamepad | Quit from the in-world menu |
| Gamepad and Mouse Conflicts | The Loftia cursor stays visible and the pad stops responding | Click into the Loftia window to re-enable the gamepad |
Official source: Steam Next Fest Known Issues
If a menu or slider ignores your left stick, that is the published behaviour rather than a broken controller. Drive every settings option with the D-Pad, and when you need to leave, exit from the in-world menu, because the login screen offers no pad-accessible quit.
Settings navigation: why your thumbstick feels dead
The known-issues entry reads: On Gamepad you must use the D-Pad to navigate and adjust settings, the Thumbsticks are unsupported. Every list you scroll, every slider you drag and every toggle you flip inside the settings menus is therefore driven by the D-Pad rather than the analog sticks. Open settings expecting a stick to move a highlight and the menu looks frozen even though the pad works. It is a settings-menu limitation, and the published list does not extend it to movement outside the menus.
One settings-adjacent bug was fixed in the same patch: patch notes #1 list Fixed title-screen settings disabling depth of field during gameplay, so a graphics option that switched itself off on the title screen is no longer expected behaviour.
The login screen: no quitting with a pad
The entry for Exiting Loftia says you currently cannot quit Loftia from the login screen with a gamepad, and that you can exit Loftia from the in world menu. For a pad-only player, wanting to change something at the login screen forces a trip into a character first, or a switch to mouse and keyboard. Plan where you exit before you log in.
The second login-screen entry is easy to trip over: the Select Region button is not highlighting correctly when selected with a gamepad, but it will function. Because there is no highlight to read, you cannot see your current selection on screen, so confirm the region deliberately.
Mixing pad and mouse: the Loftia cursor
When using both a keyboard and mouse and gamepad you can get into a state with the Loftia cursor visible. To re-enable the gamepad you need to click into the Loftia window. This is the issue most likely to be mistaken for dead hardware: the symptom is a cursor on screen while the pad does nothing, and the published fix is a single click into the game window. If you switch between mouse and pad regularly, expect this state rather than unplugging and replugging the controller.
Rebinding controller buttons: fixed in patch notes #1
Patch notes #1 for the demo, published October 21, 2026, list this fix: Fixed being unable to rebind controller buttons while using a controller. The bug was live in the first demo build and is listed as fixed in the current one, so if you cannot rebind a controller button, check that your demo is up to date. The fix shipped two days after the demo opened on October 19, and no rebinding problem has been published since.
Official source: Loftia Demo - Patch notes #1
Keybinds: what is published, and what is not
| Input | What the official sources say |
|---|---|
| Hold R | Opens the tool wheel, and the known-issues page names the associated gamepad button |
| Left click | Pulls an item out of the bag through the tool wheel, with the same gamepad button named |
| D-Pad | The only control that navigates and adjusts settings on a gamepad |
| Quit | In-world menu only, when playing with a gamepad |
What does not exist yet is the bigger chart most players expect: no published control scheme for keyboard and mouse, no controller button map and no documented remap screen, in the demo, the FAQ, the official site or the patch notes. The table above is therefore the complete list of inputs you can confirm from official sources as of the October 2026 Steam Next Fest demo, and any full keybind list in community channels is player-compiled.
The tool wheel matters even on a pad, because it doubles as the fix for another demo bug: patch notes #1 improved its tutorial prompt, which now appears during the planting step, stays visible for up to four minutes, and dismisses only when you open the wheel.
Other friction in the same session
Two other demo friction points have a control dimension, and both have official write-ups. Seeds you need for a quest, or that you bought from Hazel, may not be visible in your bag: hold R, or the associated gamepad button, to open the tool wheel, then use the left click, or the gamepad button, to add the item. And Amani's Ready to Rumble does not count skills you levelled before the quest started, needing three additional skills.
Hardware-side problems land in the same session: installing to an external drive greatly increases loading times and can cause timeouts and crashes, and older Macs, especially below 16 GB of RAM, need Low graphics settings. The Loftia on Steam Deck guide covers the handheld side, the patch notes and known issues page has the full official list, the Loftia beginner guide covers the demo route, and proficiencies and perks explains the Level 5 demo cap.
What to expect at Early Access launch
The list these four entries come from is titled Steam Next Fest Known Issues and was last updated October 21, 2026 at 10:07 AM, so it is scoped to the demo, which runs from October 19 to October 26, 2026 (October 20 to October 27 in Beijing time) per the demo page. When Early Access opens on November 3, 2026 at 1pm EST, or 2am on November 4 in Beijing, a new list for the launch build is expected, and the Early Access page describes the launch scope. No separate Early Access controls document exists yet.
Until then, the demo known-issues page is the only official statement on Loftia controls. A store page reading Partial Controller Support next to a FAQ calling the game fully playable is not a contradiction you have to settle on your own, it is the state of a game where most things work on a pad and a few screens still want the D-Pad.
FAQ
Does Loftia support controllers?
Two official lines exist. The Steam store page lists Loftia under Partial Controller Support for both the full game and the demo, and the official FAQ says Loftia is fully playable with controller / gamepad, in addition to keyboard and mouse, and also supports the Steam Deck. The known-issues list then documents the screens that fall short, which is the detail a controller buyer needs.
Why can I not quit from the login screen with my gamepad?
This is a published known issue: you currently cannot quit Loftia from the login screen with a gamepad, and you can exit Loftia from the in world menu. Load a character and use the in-world menu to leave.
Why do the thumbsticks not move anything in the settings menu?
Because on a gamepad you must use the D-Pad to navigate and adjust settings, and the thumbsticks are unsupported there. It is a settings-menu limitation listed in the official known issues, not a fault with your pad.
My gamepad stopped responding after I used the mouse. What do I do?
Using a keyboard and mouse and a gamepad together can leave you with the Loftia cursor visible and the pad inactive. The published workaround is to click into the Loftia window, which re-enables the gamepad.
Can I rebind the controller buttons?
Yes, as of the demo patch published on October 21, 2026. Patch notes #1 list the fix for being unable to rebind controller buttons while using a controller, so update your demo build if it still appears.
Where can I find the official keybind list?
There is not one yet. Qloud Games has published no control chart for Loftia, only the individual inputs named in the known-issues page, such as holding R for the tool wheel.
Related Guides
- Loftia Beginner Guide: First Steps in the Demo The demo route, with the tool wheel and seed bag.
- Loftia on Steam Deck: Setup and Performance The pad-first platform, plus shader and loading problems.
- Loftia Patch Notes and Known Issues List The rest of the official list, from localisation to Mac crashes.
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