Stars Reach Controls, Camera and Keybinds

The camera is third-person

Stars Reach is described by Playable Worlds as third person action arcade combat with just a hint of bullet hell. If you have loaded in and the camera feels wrong, that is the intended default view rather than a setting you missed — there is no announced first-person mode.

What is adjustable: the game supports classic tab-targeting and homing bullets as an alternative to free aim, specifically so that players who do not want to aim manually can still play the combat weapons. That is a targeting choice rather than a camera choice, but it is usually the real fix when third-person combat feels unmanageable.

Keybinds Playable Worlds has named

This is deliberately a short list. It contains only keys the studio has stated in a patch note or dev post — not keys reconstructed from footage.

Everything else is best read from your own settings screen, and since Update 8.4.0 that is easier: all slots with keymappings now display the associated keybind on the slot itself, and the display updates correctly when you remap. If you rebind something, the UI follows.

The utility slot change worth knowing

Before Update 8.4.0 there were dedicated grapple and shield slots. There are now two generic utility slots on C and R. That means you can equip two reflector shields if you want, or move the grapple to whichever key suits you. Older guides describing a fixed grapple key are describing a build that no longer exists.

The full slot layout — Tools, Utility Gear, Mobility Gear, Clothing and Accessories — is on the character creation page, along with the note that some clothing occupies multiple slots at once.

Controller support

Steam lists Stars Reach with Partial Controller Support, plus explicit DualSense Controller Support. Partial is Valve’s own classification and it means what it says: a controller covers some of the experience, not all of it.

For this game specifically, expect the gaps around inventory management, the paginated skill window and tool swapping — all of which are drag-and-drop or multi-pane interactions. Keep a keyboard reachable.

Settings worth changing in your first session

• Gamma Correction. Added under the Graphics settings page. Stars Reach spends a lot of time in caves, deep space and night cycles, and this is the setting that makes those readable.
• Every slider takes typed input. The options screen was reworked so each slider has a direct-entry field and a reset button. If you know the value you want, type it rather than dragging.
• Adjustable Text Size and Custom Volume Controls are both listed as supported accessibility features on the Steam store page.
• The Pathfinder compass is an accessibility alternative to the audio hot-and-cold survey cues — see the Ranger guide.

Interacting with the world

Update 8.4.0 moved world interaction onto contextual pop-up menus rather than the older nested interface. Two things came with that:

• Nameplates on everything interactable. Hover over something you can interact with and it now shows the object’s name.
• An Inspect option. It tells you more about items you find in the world — including whether something is functioning or needs repair, which is the route to repairing gear rather than a dedicated repair screen. See crafting for the durability system behind that.

Crafting stations may still need multiple clicks; the studio has said it is actively smoothing that with a further contextual interaction.