Steam Implements Gyro-Based "Flick Stick" Controls

If you've ever had a friend who prefers inverted sticks pass you their controller, you know just how disorienting a new control setup can be. If you're looking for a new way to play shooters on a controller, however, Steam has added a galaxy-brained new option for you, and it's a bit weird.

First innovated by programmer Jibb Smart, the "Flick Stick" control scheme maps the right stick into a 360-degree scheme, meaning that pressing left on the stick will always turn you 90 degrees to your left, down a full 180, and so on. The vertical aspect of aiming is then performed by tilting your gyroscope-enabled controller, similar to the tilt controls in the Splatoon series. If that all sounds a bit confusing, check out the above video, as it's the kind of thing that makes much more sense once you see it in action.

If you'd like to try this unorthodox control scheme, go into Steam's control settings and bind the right joystick to Flick Stick, and the Gyro to Mouse. Again, you'll need a controller with a gyroscope to try this out, so if you have a DualShock 4 lying around, that's probably the best option. Neither the popular Xbox 360 nor the Xbox One controllers have gyroscopes.