Gloomwood finally gets controller support and Steam Deck verification

Gloomwood, the Thief-inspired immersive sim from New Blood Interactive, has just received full controller support alongside an official Steam Deck Verified rating, according to PC Gamer. It's a significant quality-of-life upgrade for a game that previously demanded a keyboard and mouse setup.

For those unfamiliar, Gloomwood is a first-person stealth game dripping in Victorian atmosphere, where you skulk through gothic environments armed with a cane-gun and a whole lot of patience. It entered Early Access back in 2022 and has been steadily building its reputation as one of the more faithful modern successors to Looking Glass Studios' classic stealth formula.

Why this matters for Deck players

Getting that Verified badge on Steam Deck isn't just a rubber stamp - it means Valve has confirmed the game runs well on the handheld's controls, screen, and performance targets without requiring any manual tinkering. For a game as input-sensitive as Gloomwood, where careful timing and precise movement are core to the experience, that kind of assurance matters a lot.

Controller support in immersive sims is notoriously tricky to get right. Games in this genre often rely on complex UI interactions, inventory management, and quick tool-switching that can feel clunky when mapped to a gamepad. New Blood apparently put in the work to make it feel natural rather than tacked on.

A game worth picking up

Gloomwood is still in Early Access, but the current build already offers a meaty chunk of content for fans of old-school stealth design. The game leans hard into its influences - methodical movement, light and shadow mechanics, and a world that rewards exploration and observation over brute force.

If you've been holding off because you wanted to play it on your Deck during a commute or stretched out on your sofa, that barrier is now gone. New Blood has been consistently transparent about development progress, so the full release is on the horizon even if a firm date hasn't been locked in yet.

It's a good week to be a fan of games that don't hold your hand.