Controls
Mouse and keyboard, or a gamepad mapped to the same actions. Every control in the game on one page.
Shellfall is played with a mouse and keyboard or with a gamepad. The gamepad is mapped 1:1 to the same actions, so nothing is out of reach on either. These are the controls as designed; they may change as the game is built and tested.
All controls
| Action | Mouse and keyboard | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|
| Switch battlefield and gun (cloud dive) | Tab | Select |
| Traverse the gun | A / D, or drag the barrel | Left stick, left and right |
| Elevate | W / S, or scroll on the dial | Left stick, up and down |
| Pan the camera | Middle-button drag, or edge scroll | Right stick |
| Zoom | Scroll on the map | Triggers |
| Select shell / charge | 1–6 / Q, E | D-pad |
| Fire | Hold Space for 1 s | Hold A |
| Pin to notebook | Right-click a target or a radio line | Y |
| Send the recon plane | Drag a path on the map | X, then the stick |
| Relocate | R, then click a siding | LB |
| Pause / half speed | P / Shift | Start |
At the gun
In the gun yard, A and D turn the barrel. The turntable is heavy and turns about 6° a second, with a rumble and a bearing ring around the gun. W and S raise and lower the barrel against the elevation dial in the bottom-left corner.
The number keys pick one of the six shells from the ammo rack, and Q and E change the charge, from 1 to 4 powder bags. See Shells and Charges and range.
To fire, hold Space for one second to pull the lanyard. Recoil shakes the camera and a smoke ring rolls across the siding. Then comes the long, quiet flight. See The shot.
On the map table
Right-click a target, or a line in the radio log, to pin it to the gunner's notebook. Drag a path across the map to send the recon plane along it; it then needs 90 s before it can fly again. See Recon: spotters, balloons and planes.
When the enemy has found you, press R and click another siding. The crew limbers up, travels and emplaces, and your pinned solutions turn stale until you work them out again. See Exposure and moving the gun.
Time
P pauses the war anywhere, at any moment. Shift runs it at half speed. On a gamepad, both sit on Start. The war clock shows when time is halved or paused, so you always know. See The war clock and Accessibility.
Prompts
Short control hints appear on screen only where an action is possible right now, and fade once you have used it a few times. They show keyboard or gamepad keycaps, whichever you used last. To switch between the two views, see The map table and the gun yard. For a first try at the gun, see Your first shot.