Questions

How to play Alien: Isolation on a Mac with a controller

Feral's Mac version of Alien: Isolation supports gamepads, and its FAQ lists more than sixty it tested, the PS4 and PS3 DualShock, Xbox One and Xbox 360 controllers and Logitech's F310, F510 and F710 among them. Newer pads such as the PS5 DualSense are not on that list. The game offers preset controller layouts, and Feral's manual says individual gamepad controls cannot be reassigned.

Those facts and the default keys are from Feral's FAQ and manual, read on October 7, 2026. I haven't tested Alien: Isolation myself. If your pad does nothing in it, or you want a layout the game does not offer, InputConfig, the free mapper I make, sends the game's keyboard and mouse controls from the pad.

On this page: 9 sections

1. Steps
2. Start with the game's own gamepad support
3. If the pad does nothing
4. Send the game its keys instead
5. Build the layout
6. Tune the camera stick
7. Use one route, not both
8. The short version
9. Questions

Steps

1. Connect the controller and check it under System Settings, Game Controllers.
2. Quit the game, wake the controller, and open the game again.
3. In the game, choose a layout under Options, Game, Control Scheme.
4. If the game ignores the pad, send its keyboard and mouse controls from the pad with a mapper.

Start with the game's own gamepad support

Connect the pad before starting the game. With a tested pad, the game picks it up, and Options, Game, Control Scheme lists the layouts it offers. Feral's FAQ also names fifteen older pads that work only in part, because they have too few buttons. A PS4 or Xbox One controller is on Feral's tested list, and that is the safe pair.

InputConfig is completely free on the Mac App Store. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon.

If the pad does nothing

1. The Mac sees the pad. Open System Settings, Game Controllers, and press a button.
2. Relaunch with the pad awake. Quit the game, press a button on the controller, and open the game again.
3. Flip the Steam Input override. In the Steam library, right-click the game, open Properties, then Controller, and try the other setting.
4. Set a Logitech pad to D. Feral's FAQ says the game needs DirectInput mode, the D position on an F310, F510 or F710.

If nothing lights up there, Alien: Isolation has no chance of seeing the pad either. Controller works in Steam but not in the game has more on the Steam layer.

Send the game its keys instead

The game plays fully on a keyboard and mouse, and the manual says its keys can all be changed under Options, Game, Input Mapping. These are the defaults:

Thirteen controls cover the whole game, so the layout is a few minutes of work.

Build the layout

• You: In InputConfig, make a new preset. Set the left stick to WASD and the right stick to mouse movement. Put the right mouse button on the left trigger and the left mouse button on the right trigger.
• InputConfig: Sends those keys and mouse moves while the preset is active.
• Check: In the game, the left stick walks, the right stick looks, and the triggers aim and fire.

• Shoulders. Space, held, for the motion tracker, and V to peek.
• Face buttons. E, R, C and F.
• Stick click. Shift to sprint.
• D-pad. Q for the radial menu, and Tab for the map.

Put the motion tracker on a shoulder button, since you hold it for half the game. Play any Mac game with a controller walks through a layout like this.

Tune the camera stick

Slow, careful looking matters more here than in a shooter. In InputConfig the stick's speed, curve and deadzone are set per row, so the camera can be gentle near the center and still turn quickly at full tilt. A slower look stick suits a game where you spend most of it hiding. Deadzones and sensitivity has the settings.

Use one route, not both

If Alien: Isolation does read your controller, a mapper sending keys at the same time makes every press arrive twice. So pick one route. In InputConfig, a preset tied to the game only runs while that game is in front. If Alien: Isolation already reads your pad, you don't need a mapper at all. Per-app switching sets that up.

The short version

• Tested pads. PS4 and PS3 DualShock, Xbox One, Logitech in D mode, by Feral's FAQ.
• Layouts. Presets only in the game.
• Your own layout. Keys and mouse sent from the pad.

Use the game's layouts if they suit you, and send keys when you want your own.

Questions

Related

• Play any Mac game with a controller
• How to play Tomb Raider on a Mac with a controller
• Controller works in Steam but not in the game on a Mac
• Resident Evil Village, 7, 2 and 3 on a Mac with a controller
• Deadzones and calibration
• Per-app profiles that switch by themselves
• How to play BioShock on a Mac with a controller

Completely free. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon. Open source on GitHub.

Updated October 7, 2026