Controls and Interface

Coming next

Hover over an item in an inventory or Barter list to see its name and short description beside the pointer. Click the item or use the eye icon in its radial menu to inspect its full characteristics in the description pane. Weapons show damage per hit, damage type, range, attack cooldown, and Stamina cost; armor shows the damage threshold and resistance for each damage type. Other items show their effects, capacity, purpose, and conditions of use. The item’s upgrades and condition are included. Item damage is shown before character bonuses and the target’s protection.

Objects with dialogs can now show their own names and pictures in the dialog window. The Vault 17 medical ward ventilation hatch uses this presentation.

All injuries now appear on separate rows in the status panel, with no overlapping labels.

The PDA encyclopedia shows item thumbnails in lists and search results, with a larger picture on each item page. The Sections button and the bottom search row sit inside the PDA screen.

The cold and the creatures leave no time to fumble with the controls: the faster your hands memorize the basic commands, the longer your character lives. Below is how to move, look around the world, fight, and switch screens in Last Frontier.

Three control schemes

The game supports three input schemes and switches between them automatically — based on whatever you’re using right now:

• Mouse and keyboard — the main scheme for PC.
• Gamepad — sticks and the D-pad handle movement and aiming.
• Touchscreen — taps and gestures for tablets and phones.

Just nudge the mouse, press a key, move a stick, or touch the screen — the controls reconfigure themselves to that input method, so you can freely alternate between them within a single session.

Movement

Your character walks on a hexagonal grid, but you don’t need to keep that in mind while playing.

• The WASD keys set the direction: W — up, S — down, A — left, D — right. Their combinations give eight directions, which the game itself maps onto the hexes.
• A left click on the map sends your character to the point or object under the cursor. It’s also the main "do an action" command.
• Switching between running and walking. Holding either Shift key (the left bumper, LB, on a gamepad) temporarily changes walking to running or running to walking; releasing it restores the original mode. The HUD walking buttons keep separate preferences for combat and travel outside combat. The character can run only when running is available to them.
• Gamepad: movement is set by the left stick or the D-pad.

If you can’t move (a condition or an obstacle is in the way), the game briefly tells you that your character can’t move, instead of "silently" stalling. A separate utility command — F5 — asks the server to re-sync your character’s position if the picture and the real position have drifted apart.

Looking around and facing direction

While your character is idle, they turn to face the cursor (or the selected target) — that’s "where I’m looking." Hovering over an available creature or item changes the cursor to show the action. An outline marks the target while you use an item or weapon, choose an action in the radial menu, or carry out an action.

• A yellow outline — a target for peaceful interaction (talk, use, pick up, search).
• A red outline — a hostile target ready to be attacked with your active weapon.

During extended physical work, such as gathering resources, moving the cursor does not turn your character. You can turn freely again after finishing or cancelling the work.

Actions and the radial menu

That same left click on an object performs the "obvious" action depending on what’s under the cursor and what you’re holding: approach, talk, use, search, pick up an item, or attack.

When there are several options, the radial action menu comes in handy: a ring of buttons opens around the cursor, filtered for that specific target. With the mouse, it’s called up by a right click on the selected object (which also resets a non-standard cursor back to normal). And holding the right button while dragging scrolls the map — to look around without moving your character.

The cursor and combat mode

The cursor hints at what will happen on click, and it has three states: normal, weapon attack, and item use.

• Entering combat automatically sets the weapon cursor, and leaving combat returns the normal one.
• An attack triggers only if the target is within weapon range; otherwise the character closes the distance first.
• Auto-attack in melee. If it’s enabled in the settings, the character "locks onto" the target and keeps hitting it while it stays reachable — without a click for every blow.
• Gamepad in combat: the right stick aims and locks the target.
• A plain click on a peaceful NPC does not attack. An ordinary click on an allied or neutral character starts a conversation if it has something to say and does nothing if it has not, even with a weapon in hand. You can still attack on purpose: with the Attack item in the radial menu or with the attack cursor selected.

The combat move strip is hidden by default. Z or the aim button shows or hides it; X toggles burst fire. The strip preserves your weapon mode and leaves the battlefield visible. Locked or incompatible moves are hidden; temporarily unavailable unlocked moves are dim.

Buttons select one move for your next attack: Precise strike (Ctrl+1), Painful strike (Ctrl+2), Head strike (Ctrl+3), Spoil aim/Arm injury (Ctrl+4), Slow down/Leg injury (F3), Blind (F4), Disarm (F6), Pin down (F7), Whirlwind (F9), and Overwatch (V). Another choice replaces the previous one; pressing it again cancels it; an accepted attack clears the button even if it misses. Overwatch requires a direction click on the map and clears after its first automatic shot. Tooltips contain the description, stamina, cooldowns, and shortcut; see Abilities and talents for conditions.

Interface button tooltips show their assigned hotkeys. Keys use the same availability conditions as their buttons. While you are typing, Z, X, and combat action hotkeys do not activate.

Combat status shows two enemy counts: NPCs currently attacking you, and living NPCs on the map that can become enemies based on relations and aggression. The second number does not mean they are all already firing or in view. The nearby timer shows seconds until combat mode ends; another combat action can extend it.

After a random encounter, the original leader has a Resume journey button on the global map to continue toward the previous destination. Returning does not start movement automatically; wait for the other members before departing.

Labels on standard metal buttons are light gray.

Work progress and overhead icons

To cancel unfinished work, click its progress bar above your own head. The bar’s tooltip shows the current percentage and explains cancellation. Previously completed actions are kept.

Hover over an icon above a character or another creature to learn its meaning: a status, group membership, companion order, trading, conversation or behaviour signal. Map object icons also have tooltips: resources, caches, locks, technical panels, repair benches and mines. A mine’s payload and its relation to you have separate explanations. You can disable tooltips in the interface settings.

Touch controls

On a touchscreen, the basic gestures mirror the mouse logic:

• A single tap — the main action (like a left click): move, interact, attack.
• A double tap on a target opens the radial action menu (like a right click).
• Dragging across the map scrolls the view, and a two-finger "pinch" gesture changes the zoom, if map zooming is allowed.

Game language

The language is switched in settings, and there are four options: Russian, English, and one adult edition of each. An adult edition is the same interface and the same messages, but the game speaks rougher and does not mince its words. The meaning does not change, so you can switch either way at any time.

Moving items quickly with the mouse

In the loot window, a double left click moves an item between the open container or corpse and your inventory in either direction. It moves the whole stack; when taking from an external source, it takes as much as your remaining weight allowance permits. In the barter window, the same gesture adds the whole stack to the offer or returns it, on either side that you can edit. You still confirm the deal with its button.

A single click leaves the item in place. To move part of a stack, drag it or use the context menu. In the loot window, bags and boxes move as items with their contents; use the context menu to open them. The usual item restrictions still apply in barter.

After a transfer, the destination list scrolls to show the received item. When stacks merge, it shows the stack that gained the units. If the transfer is refused, the item reappears on its original side. By default, the received or restored item fades in.

Main screens

The main screen is the in-game HUD over the map: it holds combat information and buttons to access the other windows. The key screens open with a click on the panel buttons:

• Inventory — your character’s belongings; weight is tracked constantly, and when overloaded some item actions are blocked.
• Character — stats, skills, and abilities. Combat previews are also shown here: the chance to hit an adjacent target with your active weapon and the damage per minute.
• PDA — orders, quests, characters, achievements, connections and the encyclopedia, plus a second row of tabs for letters, schedule, condition, possessions, diary, places, radio and the guide. The “Sections” button at the bottom of the PDA screen lists every section by name, and quests, achievements, places and the encyclopedia have search and filters. The diary keeps an adventure journal: every entry, page by page, with world time, place and faction; it can be narrowed down to quests, the world, your character or factions, and an entry’s details lead on to the quest or the map.
• Report a bug and suggest an idea — two icons, a bug and a light bulb, right after the version number in the top-left corner; they can be clicked above any window. The report window attaches a screenshot of the current screen (you can untick it), Enter in the text breaks the line, Ctrl+Enter sends, and once the report is sent the game names its card in the tracker on the site.

There are also separate windows for specific situations: dialogue with an NPC, barter, crafting, the vehicle garage, the elevator, the minimap, and choosing an entry point at a public location. When you hover over a target, the cursor shows the hit chance as a percentage — accounting for the enemy’s evasion, even before the server rolls.

On the main game screen, I opens the inventory, C opens the character screen, and P opens the PDA. Press the same key again to close the window. These commands do not trigger while you are typing.

Inspect an item in your inventory with the eye icon in the radial menu to see its characteristics in the description pane. Weapons show damage per hit, damage type, range, attack cooldown, and Stamina cost; armor shows the damage threshold and resistance for each damage type. Other items show their effects, capacity, purpose, and conditions of use. The item’s upgrades and condition are included. Item damage is shown before character bonuses and the target’s protection.

When you open the inventory or change equipment, the same pane shows your character summary: stats, Health and Stamina, protection, equipped items with their characteristics, total weight, and carrying capacity. Scroll the pane to read a long description or the full summary. After inspecting an individual item, reopen the inventory to return to the summary.

For distance communication, see Radio Communication; for contracts, see Caravan Contracts.

Repeating and queuing moves

The main button selects one accepted attack; pressing it again cancels selection, and another move replaces it. On the right, ∞ repeats one move in subsequent attacks; press ∞ again to stop. + appends one attack in click order, up to 99: head, head, slow down, head executes in that order. +N shows how many attacks with that move remain, and the tooltip shows the order. The main button and ∞ clear the queue. Repeating uses your existing attack cycle against the chosen target; selection itself does not attack.

An accepted attack consumes one entry even if it misses; rejection consumes none. Attacks become ordinary when the queue ends. A special move waits for its cooldown, stamina, and a working loaded weapon. A basic move works without its enhancement and, in repeat or queue mode, uses it again when ready. A single basic selection does not upgrade itself after a cooldown. Every attack pays its own full stamina and cooldowns; building the program is free. Pausing and changing targets preserve it; changing weapons, hands, attack mode, map, dying, ending the session, or switching characters clears it.

Statistics and competitions

Character and account statistics, separate confirmed-completion scoring and permission for public stories are described in Statistics and competitions.