A gamepad is the preferred way in, and couch co-op requires one
Steam marks Chained Beasts as gamepad-preferred, with full Xbox controller support plus DualShock and DualSense support, including Bluetooth. The system-requirements note says at least one gamepad is required for same-screen co-op. A merchant screenshot also prints Tab and RT prompts, so keyboard glyphs appear beside controller glyphs.
What the Steam page flags
The store’s controller block on the captured page sets these flags:
- Full Xbox controller support is on. Partial Xbox support is off.
- PlayStation 4 DualShock support is on, including Bluetooth.
- PlayStation 5 DualSense support is on, including Bluetooth.
- A gamepad is marked preferred.
- The “no keyboard” flag is off, which means the page is not declaring the game keyboard-free.
- Steam Input API support is off in that same block.
The feature categories alongside those flags include full controller support and gamepad recommended. Shared and split screen co-op is listed separately, and that is the mode the gamepad note attaches to.
Prompts printed on the merchant
On that screen the Deadly Obsidian Sword card carries a Shift key marked Info. Along the bottom, P1’s inventory shows a Tab prompt, and RT prompts sit with the other fighters. The page can show a keyboard key and a controller trigger in the same shop. This guide quotes the glyphs and the word Info. It does not invent the rest of the binding list, because Steam does not publish one in the captured listing.
The Day I preparation screenshot, on the co-op guide, shows four inventory grids at once, labeled P1 through P4. That is the couch-party layout the gamepad note is about: at least one gamepad for same-screen co-op. The note does not say a second, third, or fourth pad is optional or required, so this page leaves the count at the sentence Steam printed: at least one.
GamesStarter review
The GamesStarter review describes the melee as light attacks, heavy strikes, parries, and blocks, and it says timing matters more than mashing. It singles out a flail whose arc keeps going against shields, and throwables that include boulders, jars, and jars of snakes. The store page already names thrown weapons, urns, and pits of snakes. The flail and the button-level melee list are the reviewer’s additions.
The same review says the chain’s resistance comes through as haptic feedback: trips, pulls, and sudden stops. Steam flags DualSense and full Xbox support, and it does not describe haptics in the captured text. The haptic claim stays with the review.
Online and shared sessions
Online co-op and Remote Play Together are both store features. Remote Play Together is Steam’s invite-a-friend session feature. It is listed here because it changes who needs a pad in the room: a remote Steam player joins a session the host is running. The same-screen gamepad line still applies when people are sharing one display.
Keyboard prompts on the merchant mean a keyboard is present in the interface. The preferred-input line, and the same-screen requirement, both point at a gamepad for the way the store expects co-op on one screen to work.
What these sources leave open
- A full keyboard or controller binding chart. Steam does not print one on the captured page.
- Which action Tab, RT, and Shift-Info perform, beyond the Info label on the sword.
- Whether chain haptics are on every flagged controller, or only in the reviewer’s setup.
- How many gamepads a four-player couch party needs beyond the published minimum of one.