[Steam Input] "Old Gods, New Blood" - Controller Does Not Work on Startup *03/06/26 Balance Patch Bug Remains*

ISSUE:

Controller (8bitdo Ultimate 2 Wireless, Switch Pro Controller, DualSense) will not respond on startup with the new update, it will only respond when connecting when the game is already running.

OS: Windows 11
Steam Beta Client 23/01/2026 (25/02/2026 beta as well)

STEPS:

1. Start Deadlock with a controller already connected to Steam. (Sony DualSense shows frequent success rate compared to every other controller so test with a different controller such as Nintendo Switch Pro, 8bitdo Ultimate 2 Wireless in Dinput or Bluetooth mode, Official Xbox Controller)

2. Try to press an input to confirm title screen.

3. You'll experience that only holding Start will enter the game but no other buttons will work and prompts are missing.

RESULTS:

Deadlock will not respond with the controller, only KBM

EXPECTED:

Deadlock to work when launching with a controller connected using the recommended Layouts provided by Valve.

TEMPORARY SOLUTION:

Connect your controller after the game has launched and the title screen shows, doing this will then enable the controller to respond to all the inputs correctly.

If you connect your controller before the game launches the in-game Console will show that it detects an SDL event in the [Input System] but button prompts dissapear and no controls work except the holding your controllers designated "Start/Pause" button which will bring up the Escape menu.

Thank you.
 

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Bumping because there was a lot of bug reports yesterday might have been drowned out, again long term issue that might even effect Steam Controller 2026 if this doesn't get addressed.
 
Can confirm this issue persisting. The "workaround" of turning the controller off, booting the game up, THEN turning the controller on works 100% of the time. Something's happening to inputs at the boot up of the game that just causes it to not work at all.

EDIT: Should mention that making any input with an XInput controller during boot up makes it so that the game recognizes any controller that comes up after the fact too.

I'm guessing it's an issue where something fails to boot up because it sees a controller, but can't see any inputs. So the process gets canceled early when it gets to the title screen.
 
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I am curious why OP + a few others has experienced this bug for so long, yet when I started using a controller prior to Apollo release I didn't experience it at all; game updates with his release patch and so many more experience this?

I get why though if any steam input/controller bug isn't a high prio due to, I'd bet, 99%+ of players only use keyboard + pointer device. Would be nice though as OP just mentioned if such bugs become higher prio due to steam controller on the horizon.
 
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