Guide · Controls
Cobb Can Move Controls
Cobb Can Move has one of the smallest control schemes in horror gaming: move, and interact. That simplicity is deliberate — but it means one button does seven different jobs, and knowing which is which is the difference between feeding the furnace and standing still while Cobb closes.
Last updated July 27, 2026 · documented against v1.7
Keyboard controls
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Move | W A S D or the arrow keys |
| Interact — pick up, drop, use | E or Space |
| Throw a held rock | E or Space while holding a rock |
| Menus and level select | Arrow keys or W A S D, confirm with E or Space |
| Fullscreen | The fullscreen button on the game frame |
There is no sprint key, no crouch, and no separate use button. Your movement speed is fixed — which is the point of the FASTER rule, and why you cannot solve a bad situation by running harder.
Both movement schemes are always live, so WASD and the arrow keys work interchangeably. Left-handed players and anyone on a laptop with a cramped right-hand cluster can pick whichever is comfortable without visiting a settings menu.
What the interact button actually does
E and Space are the same button, and it is context-sensitive. It never asks which action you meant — it reads what you are standing next to and what you are already holding.
| Situation | What pressing E / Space does |
|---|---|
| Standing on coal, hands empty | Picks the coal up |
| Holding coal, standing at a furnace | Feeds the coal into the furnace |
| Holding coal, standing at a conveyor | Puts the coal on the belt to be carried |
| Standing at a breaker | Flips the breaker |
| Standing on a carrot | Eats it, pushing back starvation |
| Standing on a rock, hands empty | Picks the rock up |
| Holding a rock | Throws it in the direction you are facing |
| Holding something you no longer want | Drops it where you stand |
You can only carry one thing
Picking up a rock while holding coal is not possible — you drop the coal first. Plan which one you need before you walk into a room, because sorting it out next to Cobb costs you the seconds you do not have.
The throw direction follows your facing, not your cursor — there is no aiming. To hit Cobb with a stun you line yourself up first, which is why the stun is a planned defensive move rather than a panic button.
Since v1.6 a direct rock hit stuns Cobb for a short period, and the same patch made throws audibly loud. Both matter here: the throw is your strongest single action, and under the HEAR rule it is also your loudest.
Gamepad controls
Gamepad support is built into the shipped game rather than emulated by the browser — the project data for the build hosted here includes a dedicated gamepad input handler alongside keyboard and mouse. Both the browser version and the Windows download list keyboard and gamepad as supported input.
Controllers work through the browser's Gamepad API, so the practical requirements are the same as any other web game: connect the controller before loading the page, then press a button once with the game frame focused so the browser registers it. Xbox and PlayStation pads are recognised without extra software on current versions of Chrome, Edge and Firefox.
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Move | Left stick or D-pad |
| Interact — pick up, drop, use, throw | Face button (A on Xbox, Cross on PlayStation) |
| Menu navigation | Left stick or D-pad, confirm with the face button |
Controller not detected?
Click inside the game frame, then press any face button. Browsers deliberately hide connected gamepads from a page until the user presses something, so a pad that works elsewhere can look dead until that first press.
Fullscreen and window size
Use the fullscreen button on the game frame rather than your browser's own fullscreen. The game's button hands the canvas to the browser directly, so the picture scales correctly instead of leaving the game rendered at window size inside a black border.
Fullscreen genuinely helps in this game and not only for immersion. Cobb Can Move is dark by design, and a larger canvas makes the difference between spotting a breaker at the edge of the lit area and walking past it. The breaker sprite was made more noticeable in v1.3 precisely because players were missing switches they had already passed.
Press Escape to leave fullscreen. That is the browser's own shortcut, not a game binding — the game has no pause-to-menu key, so leaving fullscreen does not stop Cobb.
When the controls stop responding
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing responds after the game loads | The browser is sending your keystrokes to the page, not the game | Click once inside the game frame |
| The page scrolls when you press the arrow keys | Same problem — the page has keyboard focus | Click the game frame; use WASD as a workaround |
| Movement works, interact does nothing | You are not actually standing on the object | Step fully onto the tile; proximity is not enough |
| You cannot pick something up | Your hands are full | Press interact once to drop what you are holding, then again to pick up |
| Controller ignored | The browser has not seen a button press yet | Focus the frame and press a face button once |
| Input feels delayed | Background tabs or recording software competing for the frame | Close other heavy tabs; go fullscreen |
Mobile and touch
There are no on-screen touch controls. Cobb Can Move was built for keyboard and gamepad, and the developer lists exactly those two as supported — so a phone or tablet without a physical controller is not a good fit, no matter how well the page itself loads.
A tablet paired with a Bluetooth controller is a workable exception, since that reaches the game through the same Gamepad API a desktop uses. Everything else — touch, on-screen sticks, tilt — simply is not implemented.
Accessibility notes
- No key remapping. The game ships without a rebinding menu. WASD and the arrow keys both work, and E and Space are interchangeable, which covers most one-handed and reduced-reach setups.
- No timing-critical inputs. Nothing requires fast repeated presses or held combinations. The difficulty is in routing decisions, not execution speed.
- Audio carries real information. Cobb's sniffs, footsteps and the breaker alarm are genuine gameplay cues, particularly under HEAR and SMELL. Playing with sound off is significantly harder, and there are no visual substitutes for those cues.
- The game is dark on purpose. Turning up your display brightness is legitimate and does not break anything — the light mechanic is about which rooms are lit, not about your monitor.
Once the keys feel automatic, learn what they fight: every rule and modifier explained.
Frequently asked questions
Move with WASD or the arrow keys, and interact with E or Space. Interact is context-sensitive: it picks up coal and rocks, feeds furnaces, flips breakers, eats carrots, and throws a rock if you are holding one. Gamepads use the left stick or D-pad to move and the face button to interact.
Click inside the embedded game frame first. Until you do, the browser sends your keystrokes to the page instead of the game, which is also why the arrow keys scroll the page rather than moving you.
No, there is no rebinding menu. The scheme is small enough that it rarely matters: both WASD and the arrow keys move, and both E and Space interact, so you can pick whichever hand position suits you.
Yes. Keyboard and gamepad are the two officially supported input methods, and the build includes a dedicated gamepad handler. Connect the pad before loading the page, then press a face button once with the game frame focused so the browser registers it.
Pick a rock up with E or Space, then press the same button again to throw it in the direction you are facing. There is no aiming — line yourself up first. Since v1.6 a direct hit stuns Cobb briefly, but the throw is loud, so think twice under the HEAR rule.
Not really. It is built for keyboard and gamepad, with no on-screen touch controls. A tablet with a Bluetooth controller works, but a phone on its own does not — play on a desktop or laptop for the intended experience.
There is no pause-to-menu key during a run. Leaving fullscreen with Escape returns you to the page but does not stop the game, so treat every level as continuous once it starts.
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