Best Intentionally Awkward Controls Games on Steam
Games where clumsy input is part of the challenge, joke, or design.
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1Octodad: Dadliest Catch - Octodad: Dadliest Catch is a game about destruction, deception, and fatherhood. The player controls Octodad, a dapper octopus masquerading as a human, as he goes about his life. Octodad's existence is a constant struggle, as he must master mundane tasks with his unwieldy boneless tentacles while simultaneously keeping his cephalopodan...
Jan 30, 2014
In this game, you can…
- play co-op where 2–4 people each control different limbs and have to coordinate just to walk and pick things up.
- swim completely naked as an octopus, with movement that works totally differently than on land.
- create and download custom levels through a level editor and Steam Workshop, then flop through other people's obstacle setups.
- mow the lawn and make coffee while controlling a dad with boneless tentacles.
- run errands in public while a suspicion meter fills if witnesses see you slip, smash things, or move too weird.
- grab a doorknob with one tentacle, drag your leg up a stair, knock over half the room, and keep going like nothing happened.
- stretch an arm out to absurd length to latch onto fixed objects, then use that grip to swing, steady yourself, or fling items.
- let one co-op player deliberately sabotage the others by flinging objects away and wrecking the room mid-task.
2while True: learn() - You’re a machine learning specialist who makes neural networks but your cat seems to be better at it. Now you must solve puzzles to build a cat-to-human translation system (who knows what else this cat is capable of!). Earn a fortune, buy kickass cat outfits, learn how machine learning really works!
Jan 17, 2019
In this game, you can…
- build a cat-to-human translation system so you can understand your cat.
- build a self-driving car and make your cat the pilot.
- launch startups that can make you millions in shares or wipe you out with bankruptcy and a full restart.
- drag machine-learning blocks together, hit Release, and watch the data stream through your setup.
- rearrange your whole setup to win a gold medal by hitting speed targets, even if it means sacrificing accuracy.
- solve jobs where the winning move is tailoring your logic to exact test inputs, like swapping two links to match specific outputs.
- reroute all your data into a fresh node, manually train it for a while, then undo the wiring and keep the trained piece.
- spend your freelance money on ridiculous cat gear like hats, helmets, and a Viking costume.
3Stilt Fella - Become the fella. Walk on the stilts.
Feb 26, 2020
In this game, you can…
- walk inside a tumbling wheel in zero gravity while the level keeps shifting under you.
- get launched from a catapult mid-level, stick the landing, then keep walking like nothing happened.
- strap on rocket stilts and use boosts to keep your balance and clear obstacles.
- survive a run of 34 levels in a row without falling once.
- switch into odd extra modes like a rocket mode, an FPS-like mode, and stilt dancing.
- build bridges to engineer your own route across gaps and hazards.
- use three level skips when you're stuck, then earn them back later by beating the skipped levels.
- race for faster times and leaderboard placements once you've learned to stay upright.
4Just, Bearly - An honest comedy about anxiety and feeling awkward, played through painfully relatable mini games.
May 31, 2018
In this game, you can…
- stare at people on a train and trigger a surreal moment where a billion eyes appear behind you.
- walk up to a double door that won't open in any direction, no matter how you try it.
- play through interactive panic attacks with pulsing heartbeats, loud noises, and sound cues that crank up the pressure.
- get tossed through rapid-fire everyday minigames that keep changing how you interact, from dragging and mashing to dialogue choices.
- try to talk to someone you like, juggling controls and dialogue choices while you second-guess every move and live with the awkward outcome.
- draw on a notebook whenever you get the chance.
5Fingerdance - The game that simply confuses your fingers.
Jun 20, 2025
In this game, you can…
- track and save separate records for your left hand and your right hand, like two different personal best ladders.
- finish a stage in about 10 seconds when you nail every transition, then immediately jump into the next one.
- keep certain keys held while other fingers tap and swap, without ever bumping the ones that should stay still.
- place five fingers on your keyboard and follow on-screen press-and-release patterns exactly.
- retrain your hands to do weird, independent finger combinations that fight normal typing habits.
- run rapid alternating and mirrored sequences where both speed and accuracy have to stay perfect.
- chase strict S-ranks where a tiny hesitation or accidental double-press can ruin an otherwise perfect run.
6International Space Banana - SPIN. BOUNCE. STRUGGLE... In Space, nobody can hear you rage.
Mar 31, 2021
In this game, you can…
- burp to propel yourself, because the spacebar is literally the Burp button.
- fling yourself through an abandoned spaceship as a banana in zero gravity.
- get a running stream of existential banana narration that keeps heckling you as the story escalates to a real ending.
- push off walls with your banana's outer edge to get cleaner launches than the inner edge.
- climb upward through rooms where gravity keeps shifting, then reach a button and press it under constant pull.
- thread narrow passages in rotating rooms, bounce off obstacles, and ride momentum until you either stick the landing or drift away.
- finish the levels and unlock a musical payoff, including well-known classical pieces.
7Chinese Brush Simulator - A simulator for showing the way of writing and drawing in ancient China.
Jan 28, 2020
In this game, you can…
- trace your own computer images with the brush, then turn the result into a finished painting.
- paint a meme, then hang that meme-art on scrolls, panels, and even vases around your study.
- pick up a playable erhu-like instrument and perform songs by ear inside the studio.
- control brush pressure and water-to-ink ratio to change how ink spreads and dries.
- finish a piece, then physically hang it on the wall to build a room filled with your own calligraphy.
- take commission jobs and slowly build real calligraphy skill through demanding practice.
- play Chinese chess in the studio between painting sessions.
- interact with a bird in your art room while you work.
8Handstand Hank - Your name is Hank. You are doing a Handstand. Jump to the top.
Jun 20, 2025
In this game, you can…
- climb an entire obstacle mountain while stuck in a handstand.
- pick different routes through some sections instead of following one forced path to the top.
- read in-game text that's upside-down while you keep hopping higher in a permanent handstand.
- fall hard, land on a platform below, and immediately start clawing your way back up before the next mistake.
- jump through four distinct areas where each section's obstacle layout feels deliberately built as its own test.
- reach a section with multiple lanes of moving vehicles and time your jumps across the traffic to keep the climb going.
9ACUVAC: A Suck and Blow Adventure - Play as a Vacuum Cleaner! ACUVAC is a Cleaner Collectathon with Destruction, Limb Controls, and a mix of Arcade and Sandbox elements! Suck, Blow, and Swing your hose around in this vibrant, Physics-based Action-Adventure!
Aug 20, 2025
In this game, you can…
- remove basically everything that isn't tied down—pictures, fridge, bed, sofa—until the whole place is empty.
- chuck cats-roombas out a window or yeet a robot into oncoming traffic, then keep tossing things until the area is clean.
- throw oversized stuff that won't fit the nozzle, like hurling a bowling ball backward over your head to smash a TV.
- vacuum up sweets and fling trash and furniture out windows.
- use the vacuum's physics to fling yourself across rooms and fire objects with pinpoint accuracy.
- race through supermarket-sweep bonus stages, grabbing the highest-value items before someone else does.
- play an arcade level with multiple minigames, including making robots stand on floor keyboards to play sounds.
10Goop Loop - A physics-based platformer with unique controls and a pun-laden narrator. Jump, stick, and attempt to roll a loop over obstacles. Perhaps this game will teach you patience. Stick with it! I'll be right there with you. In your earhole. *Plorp*
Jul 20, 2021
In this game, you can…
- roll your loop around another loop as a dedicated set-piece challenge.
- unlock new colors by hunting down paint buckets scattered along the course.
- trigger narrator jokes and voice lines on both wins and wipeouts, then replay sections just to hear lines you missed.
- roll a ring-shaped blob by only jumping and sticking.
- shift from barely crawling to rocketing uphill once you figure out momentum tricks and air control.
- go from a multi-hour first clear to a sub-20-minute replay by mastering the same weird loop physics.
- climb a course by moving the goop inside the ring, where direction and jump timing both decide whether you keep rolling.
