The Steam Deck combines familiar gamepad controls—A/B/X/Y buttons, a D-pad, analog sticks, bumpers, and triggers—with Steam-specific controls that are easy to miss: two clickable trackpads, the Steam and Quick Access buttons, gyro aiming, and four assignable rear grip buttons.
The LCD and OLED Steam Deck models use the same basic control layout and naming system. What each button does in a game depends on the title’s controller support and its active Steam Input layout, so no single action is guaranteed for every game.
Steam Deck button layout at a glance
Valve’s official Steam Deck specifications and diagram use these names:
| Control | What it is commonly used for |
|---|---|
| D-pad | Four-direction movement, menu navigation, item selection, and discrete commands. |
| Left stick | Usually character movement. Pressing it is L3. |
| Right stick | Usually camera movement or aiming. Pressing it is R3. |
| Left and right trackpads | Mouse control, aiming, scrolling, radial menus, virtual buttons, or custom actions. Both can be clicked. |
| A, B, X, Y | Face buttons whose functions vary by game. |
| L1/R1 | Digital shoulder bumpers. |
| L2/R2 | Analog shoulder triggers that can detect partial and full pulls. |
| View and Menu | Usually map, inventory, scoreboard, pause, or options functions. |
| Steam | Opens SteamOS controls and provides system shortcuts. |
| Quick Access | The three-dot button that opens the in-game Quick Access menu. |
| L4/L5/R4/R5 | Four assignable rear grip buttons. |
The Deck also has a touchscreen, gyro, power button, and volume buttons. These are inputs or system controls rather than ordinary in-game face buttons.
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Front controls
D-pad
The D-pad is the four-direction control on the front left. It is useful for menu navigation, retro games, turn-based games, fighting-game commands, and item or weapon selection. Unlike an analog stick, it sends distinct up, down, left, and right inputs.
Analog sticks and L3/R3
The left and right thumbsticks provide continuous directional input. The left stick commonly moves your character, while the right stick commonly controls the camera or aim.
Pressing the left stick inward is L3; pressing the right stick inward is R3. A prompt that says “L3” does not refer to a separate button—it means clicking the corresponding stick.
Stick clicks are often used for sprinting, crouching, melee attacks, or camera resets. If clicking a stick while moving is uncomfortable, Steam Input can move that action to one of the rear grip buttons.
A, B, X, and Y
The face buttons are arranged in the familiar Xbox-style pattern:
- A: Often confirm, select, jump, or interact.
- B: Often cancel, go back, crouch, or dodge.
- X: Often reload, use an item, interact, or attack.
- Y: Often switch weapons, change equipment, or inspect.
These are conventions, not fixed rules. A game can assign different actions, reverse the usual confirm and cancel behavior, or use a keyboard-and-mouse layout instead.
View and Menu buttons
The View button is on the left side of the screen, near the trackpad. It is comparable to Select or View on other controllers and may open a map, inventory, scoreboard, journal, or alternate view.
The Menu button is on the right side and is comparable to Start or Options. It commonly opens a pause or options menu. Both buttons remain programmable, so their exact in-game use depends on the active layout.
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- International (UK) Version
- 7.4” diagonal, HDR OLED, 1280 x 800 x RGB, up to 90Hz Refresh rate, High performance touch, <0.1 ms Response time, 1,000 nits peak brightness (HDR), 600 nits (SDR)
- SteamOS 3.0 (Arch-based)
- 512GB NVMe SSD, 16GB LPDDR5 on-board RAM (5500 MT/s quad 32-bit channels), microSD UHS-I supports SD, SDXC and SDHC
- 6 nm AMD APU, CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32
Steam and Quick Access buttons
The Steam button sits below the left trackpad. Its normal system role is to open SteamOS’s game-related menu. Holding it displays the currently available Steam button shortcuts. Valve also documents Steam + X as the shortcut for opening the on-screen keyboard.
The Quick Access button—the button marked with three dots below the right trackpad—opens the Quick Access menu. Depending on the SteamOS version and context, that menu can contain performance settings, notifications, controller layout controls, help, and other in-game options. It is not simply another equivalent of the Menu button.
Shortcut behavior and available options can change with SteamOS updates, so the hold-to-view shortcut screen is the most reliable reference on your Deck. See Valve’s Steam Deck input support page for documented guidance.
L1, L2, R1, and R2: bumpers versus triggers
The upper shoulder controls are L1 and R1, also called LB and RB on Xbox-style prompts. They are digital bumpers: they register as buttons rather than measuring a range of pressure.
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The lower shoulder controls are L2 and R2, also called LT and RT. They are analog triggers, meaning the hardware can detect how far you pull them. Games may use that range for acceleration, braking, aiming, throttle control, or pressure-sensitive actions. A particular game can still configure an analog trigger as a simple on/off button.
| Steam Deck | Xbox-style prompt | PlayStation-style equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| L1 | LB | L1 |
| R1 | RB | R1 |
| L2 | LT | L2 |
| R2 | RT | R2 |
| L3 | Left-stick click | L3 |
| R3 | Right-stick click | R3 |
What are L4, L5, R4, and R5?
L4, L5, R4, and R5 are the four assignable grip buttons on the back of the Deck. “Paddles” is a common informal description, but Valve calls them assignable grip buttons.
They do not have permanent default actions. A layout can use them to:
- Duplicate A, B, a bumper, trigger, L3, or R3.
- Press a keyboard key or mouse command.
- Open a radial or touch menu.
- Switch action layers or temporarily change another control’s behavior.
- Trigger a long press, double press, or other activator.
This makes the rear buttons useful for sprinting without clicking the left stick, jumping while maintaining camera control, or adding commands to PC games with many keyboard shortcuts.
What do the Steam Deck trackpads do?
The square trackpads below the sticks are configurable touch surfaces, not just laptop-style cursor pads. Valve lists two 32.5-mm square haptic trackpads with haptics and clicking.
Depending on the game’s layout, a trackpad can act as:
- A mouse or cursor.
- A joystick-like camera or aim control.
- A scroll wheel.
- A D-pad or group of virtual buttons.
- A radial menu or touch menu.
- A game-specific input surface.
A touch menu presents actions in locations on the pad, while a radial menu arranges selections around a circle. These features are particularly valuable in strategy games, simulations, cursor-heavy RPGs, older PC games, and titles that need more commands than a conventional controller provides.
What is the Steam Deck gyro used for?
The Deck contains a six-axis motion sensor. Steam Input can map gyro movement to aiming, steering, camera control, or another action. A layout may activate gyro continuously, when the trackpad is touched, or only while a button is held.
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For example, a player might use the right stick for broad camera movement and make small aiming adjustments by tilting the Deck. Gyro behavior is controlled by the active layout, so unexpected motion input usually means the current configuration has gyro enabled rather than indicating a hardware fault.
Why do the on-screen button prompts look different?
The physical labels on the Deck never change, but a game may display Xbox-style, PlayStation-style, keyboard, or Steam Input prompts. This depends on the game’s native support, whether Steam Input is translating the controls, and the active layout.
For example, an on-screen “LB” prompt means the same general location as L1, while “LT” means L2. The face-button labels are physically A, B, X, and Y, but a game can display different glyphs or use different actions.
Do not assume that a prompt mismatch means the hardware is wrong. First compare the prompt with the button’s physical location and inspect the game’s controller configuration.
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- Valve is entering the gaming console marketplace with the new Steam Deck, a console geared towards PC gamers. The Steam Deck can be docked to a monitor, and used as a PC, or docked to a TV.
- Players can play a huge variety of games at any time with the comfort of a console and the freedom of a PC. Not anti-glare screen.
- Like the name suggests, the Steam Deck will include upgraded 1TB storage, and will include a carrying case. A micro SD slot will also enable expanded storage.
- Valve partnered with AMD to create a specialized APU optimized for handheld gaming, and Valve says the chip will deliver performance to run AAA gaming titles.
- The Steam Deck is outfitted with a 7-inch touchscreen, and two trackpads under the control sticks that allow gamers to operate games never designed outside of mouse and keyboard capabilities.
How to remap Steam Deck controls
Steam Input lets you map physical controls to gamepad actions, keyboard keys, mouse inputs, menus, and more. It can also use activators such as regular press, long press, double press, release press, or a button chord.
- Open Library.
- Highlight the game.
- Press A to open the game details.
- Select the gamepad icon.
- View or edit the current controller layout.
- To browse shared layouts, select the current template and press R1 until you reach Community Layouts.
- Choose a layout, apply it, and return to the game.
You can edit face buttons, bumpers, triggers, stick clicks, D-pad directions, trackpads, gyro, and rear grip buttons. Steam Input supports both traditional mappings and action-based configurations, so the game may receive a named action rather than a literal “A button” event. Valve documents these concepts in its Steam Input documentation.
Gaming Mode versus Desktop Mode
A control can behave differently in Gaming Mode and Desktop Mode. In a game, a trackpad might aim or move a cursor; on the desktop it may control the mouse. A face button that commonly confirms in SteamOS menus may instead be assigned to a keyboard or mouse action in a desktop configuration.
That is why “A always confirms” and “B always goes back” are useful Gaming Mode conventions, but not universal hardware rules.
Troubleshooting Steam Deck buttons
A button or another control does nothing
- Open the game’s controller layout and apply the default or official layout.
- Check whether the game is showing controller prompts or keyboard prompts.
- Confirm that the action is actually assigned in the game’s own controls.
- If necessary, try a well-rated Community Layout.
- Test the physical control in SteamOS.
A game may be using Steam Input, native controller support, keyboard-and-mouse bindings, or a launcher and compatibility layer that interferes with input. The same physical button can therefore appear to work in one title and do nothing in another.
The rear buttons do not work
L4, L5, R4, and R5 are assignable rather than automatically duplicating the shoulder buttons. Inspect the active layout and confirm that each rear control has an action assigned. Also check whether the assignment belongs only to a particular action set or mode.
The trackpad or gyro behaves unexpectedly
Inspect the layout to see whether the trackpad is configured as a mouse, joystick, scroll control, radial menu, or button pad. Check whether gyro is set to activate on touch or while another button is held. Steam Input’s mode-shifting feature can temporarily change one control’s behavior when another is pressed.
How to test whether a button works
Valve’s support instructions direct users to Steam > Settings > Controller > Test Controller Inputs. Use that test suite to determine whether the Deck detects the physical input before changing a game’s layout. If the test detects the button, the problem is more likely to be the game, layout, or input mode than the hardware.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchLCD versus OLED controls
The LCD and OLED Steam Decks have the same overall button vocabulary and basic control arrangement: A/B/X/Y, D-pad, clickable sticks, L1/R1, L2/R2, trackpads, Steam and Quick Access buttons, and L4/L5/R4/R5 rear grip controls. Their major differences are display and internal hardware rather than the layout a beginner needs to learn. Valve’s official technical specifications provide the model details.
If you are deciding whether to buy one, use Valve’s official Steam Deck buying page for current availability and pricing; those details can change.
Quick Recap
Quick terminology reference
| Prompt | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Start | Usually the Menu button. |
| Select | Usually the View button. |
| LB/RB | L1/R1 bumpers. |
| LT/RT | L2/R2 analog triggers. |
| L3/R3 | Click the left/right analog stick. |
| Guide or Xbox button | Closest general comparison is the Steam button, though behavior is not identical. |
| Rear paddle | Usually one of Valve’s L4, L5, R4, or R5 assignable grip buttons. |
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