On foot
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Move | W / A / S / D (arrow keys work too) |
| Look | Mouse |
| Jump | Space |
| Sprint | Left Shift |
| Control (swim down; also see painting below) | Left Ctrl |
| Main action: take, place, paint, drop, refuel, hand over | Left mouse button |
| Second action: take, put back, leave placement mode, undo a paint | Right mouse button |
| Interact (talk, use, sit, stand up) | E |
| Grab an object | F |
| Release an object | G |
| Pack / unpack | C |
| Cargo doors of a vehicle | R |
| Settings of what you look at | T |
| Hotbar slots 1 to 9 | 1 to 9 |
| Scroll through the hotbar | Mouse wheel |
| Rotate an item you are placing | Mouse wheel |
Read the interaction hints beside the crosshair. They change with whatever you look at and tell you what the buttons will do right now.
What T opens
Look at a vehicle you own, a pallet, a shelf, a product on a shelf or a worker and press T. You get the settings of that thing. Wholesaler and cargo pallets do not have settings. A product must be on a shelf for T to work on it.
Painting walls
While you paint, the mouse wheel picks a color. Hold Left Ctrl while scrolling to cycle through your recent colors. Hold Shift to paint a whole room at once. Right mouse button undoes the last paint.
Everywhere in the game
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Pause menu | Esc |
| Overview (level, XP, reputation, money, mail) | Tab |
| Tablet | B |
| Map | M |
| Invite a friend (co-op) | I |
| Talk in voice chat (push to talk, hold) | V |
| Window mode (fullscreen / windowed) | F11 or Alt + Enter |
Esc can first close what is open (a map or an interaction) before it opens the pause menu. Inside the pause menu you find Save game, Save and quit and I'm stuck.
In a vehicle
When you get into a car, driving keys replace the walking keys. The same keys do different jobs, which is why E gets you out of the car.
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Throttle | W |
| Brake and reverse | S |
| Steer left / right | A / D |
| Handbrake | Space |
| Headlights | L |
| Horn | H |
| Cargo doors | R |
| Zoom the camera in / out | Mouse wheel |
| Switch to cabin view | C |
| Look around | Mouse |
| Get out | E or F |
Zooming in past the closest chase view also switches to cabin view. F as a second way to get out is fixed and cannot be rebound.
Rebinding keys
- Press Esc, open Settings, then switch to the Controls category.
- Find the Key bindings section, pick an action and press the new key. Esc cancels.
- Reset keys puts the keys of the selected device (keyboard or gamepad) back to default.
Mouse speed and inverted axes are in Controls too. Push to talk or open mic is under Audio, and text size under Accessibility. Use the on-screen button prompts in menus. Esc closes or backs out of the current screen.
Other input options
Under Accessibility you find Hold or toggle actions (choose Hold or Press twice), Reduce motion and Head bob. Auto sprint is in Settings as well.
The tablet
Press B to open the tablet and B again to close it. Esc inside the tablet goes back one step: first to the app's main page, then to Home, and from Home it closes the tablet. The apps:
| App | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Home | Overview of your business and the Activity feed. |
| Orders | Incoming customer orders. |
| Inventory | Products, prices and sales status. |
| Staff | Your team and hiring. |
| Finance | Money summary, bills and daily reports. |
| Company | R&D, company identity and your companies. |
| Shops | Stores, services, vehicles and locks. |
| Safekeeping | Where items wait after a partner leaves or after the big update. |
| Museum | Artifact collection, tickets, till and reports. |
Home
Shows the state of your business and a short Activity feed of this session's orders, payments, restocks and warnings. The full Activity screen opens from the bell. Filters: All, Orders, Money, Staff, Warnings. Mark all read marks the notices as read; it does not delete them. There is also a My web profile link on the tablet.
Orders
Five tabs follow an order through its life: New, Preparing, Ready, On Delivery and Done. Select an order to see its products, amount, reward, shipping type and delivery time.
- Accept all ready accepts every new order you can fill completely from stock. It stops when you have no free order slot left.
- Add missing to basket puts the missing products of an order into the wholesaler basket.
- Decline removes a pending order. It costs reputation, but you get an Undo chance right after.
- Go to warehouse sets a waypoint to your warehouse and closes the tablet.
Inventory
Pick a product and change its Sale price and its Listing switch. A product that is not listed is not sold, even if it sits on a shelf. Press Save to apply your change. The screen also shows stock, Sale rate, Popularity, Buying cost, Cargo cost and Profitability. Category and stock filters help in a big catalog. You can also look at a product on its shelf and press T to open the same editing screen.
More tablet apps
Staff
Team and Hire tabs. Give each worker a task: Packing, Shelves, Courier or Free. A worker can be Working, Idle, On a round, On vacation, Burnt out or Unpaid. A worker who is out on a round cannot get a new task until they are back. Select a worker in Team to pay them, Send on vacation or let them go. Hiring happens in the Hire tab.
Finance
- Finance Summary: your cash, deposits and total at a glance. A Bank section shows your account read only: deposits, withdrawals and loans are done at the bank counter, not on the tablet.
- Payments: bills with due dates. An overdue bill hurts your reputation. PayAll pays every open bill in one go. Overdue bills are also collected the next morning if your balance is enough.
- Report: the daily report. It updates as money is earned or spent and shows income, expenses and net.
Company
- R&D: research that unlocks new things. Only one project runs at a time. A pending project shows its cost, required level and prerequisite.
- Identity: your company name, slogan (motto), colors and logo. View site opens your company's web profile.
- Companies: the company types you founded; you also switch between them here.
Shops
Stores and Services sections. A store lists its products; if it is locked it tells you why (it needs a company, a house, a warehouse or a level). Vehicles you bought show up here. Tow moves a vehicle to an available gas station for a fee. Hiring happens in the Staff app; Open takes you there.
Restocking from the tablet
The stock screen has Stock, Supply and Auto supply tabs. The first purchase is made at the wholesaler's counter. After that you order from the tablet and the boxes arrive at the warehouse delivery pallet. For tablet orders you need a supplier, a delivery pallet and free capacity.
Auto supply lets you build a schedule: pick days and products, then create, edit or delete the schedule. It needs an R&D project first (Warehouse Solutions IV), an open wholesaler and a suitable truck. Prices and costs are shown on the tablet itself.
Safekeeping
Items land here after a co-op partner leaves or after the big update. You take them inside your warehouse. Filters: All, Company, Mine. Use Take 1 or Take as many as fit to collect. If your inventory is full you cannot take items into it; pallets are the exception, they are placed in front of you.
Museum
Tabs: Overview, Collection, Tickets, Till and Reports. In the collection, artifacts filter into All, Placed, Waiting and Not opened. You find mystery boxes hidden around the city and take them to the curator. Opening a box is free and every box gives an artifact the museum does not have yet. In Tickets you set ticket prices and Till holds the museum's money. If the museum is not founded yet, the tab says so.
Tips
- If you do not know what a key does, look at the object and read the hint beside the crosshair.
- Want to always run? Turn on Auto sprint in Settings.
- If a key does nothing in a vehicle, remember the vehicle has its own keys.
- Check Orders every time you get back to the warehouse.
- Pay bills as soon as you see them, or use PayAll. Late payment hits your reputation.
- Learn your best days from the Report.
- Stuck somewhere? The pause menu has an I'm stuck button.
Screenshots needed:
- Tablet home screen with the app list
- Orders app with the five tabs and the action buttons
- Inventory app with Sale price, Listing and Save
- Staff app, Team tab with task choices
- Pause menu with Save game, Save and quit, I'm stuck
- Settings, Controls category, Key bindings