Underkeep Controls Guide: Movement, Combat, Map, Rest, and Loot Keys Explained

Underkeep Controls Guide: The Short Version

Underkeep doesn't use mouse-look. You steer a party of four through a first-person, grid-based dungeon one tile at a time, and most early mistakes come down to a control you didn't know existed rather than a bad character build. That's why a solid Underkeep controls guide is worth reading before your first fight — one missed right-click can leave a hero swinging a starter club for the rest of the floor.

This Underkeep controls guide covers movement, skill assignment, the hourglass, resting, and the throw command in the order you'll actually need them. Every input below comes from hands-on play footage and published beginner documentation for the game listed on the official Underkeep Steam page.

Movement and the Map Come Before Anything Else

The party moves as a single unit. Each arrow press advances one tile or rotates the group ninety degrees, and the world only advances when you do — enemies, traps, and loot all wait for your step. Turning isn't cosmetic: facing decides what your front rank can reach and what can reach them.

Because the view is first-person and corridors are cramped, it's genuinely hard to tell whether a threat is directly ahead, one tile to the side, or behind a wall. Press M to open the map. Explored tiles fill in as you travel, and the map often reads more clearly than the viewport does.

Party order matters too. The two front slots absorb melee contact, while the rear slots are for ranged attacks, spells, and Reach weapons. You can drag portraits to swap heroes, and player experience from early footage shows it's done portrait-to-portrait — but during combat a swap consumes that character's action.

Why You Can't Walk After Attacking

This trips up almost every new player. Once a hero takes an action in a round, the party can't move until the round is finished or skipped. If an enemy is closing in, reposition before you commit an attack, because the game won't let you back away afterward.

Combat Controls: One Action, One Hourglass, and Free Potions

Combat is turn-based even though exploration is first-person. Each character gets exactly one action per round — a basic attack or one assigned special skill. When everyone has acted, the round ends automatically.

You can also click the hourglass to close the round early, which is handy when the remaining heroes have nothing useful to do. Be careful: the hourglass skips anyone who hasn't acted, so it is not a "pass" button for a single character.

Potions are the big exception, and it's the most useful rule in this Underkeep controls guide. Using a potion from the inventory does not consume a hero's action. You can drink a healing potion and still swing in the same round, which turns a near-death frontline into a recoverable situation instead of a lost one.

Skill Slots, Equipment, and Loot Controls

Right-click the slot beside a character's basic attack to select an active ability. Passive skills never need to be slotted — they run automatically — so if a skill seems to have vanished, check whether it's passive before you assume something broke. Some attacks also require a specific weapon type, which matters if you swap gear mid-run.

The party shares inventory, gold, and Food, but every hero has their own equipment slots. Picking up a better sword does nothing until you actually equip it, and a hero may be walking around in starter armor with an upgrade sitting in the bag.

For loot, right-click an item or drag it into the inventory. Y collects nearby pickups at once, which is the fastest way to clear a room you've already fought through.

Resting, Food, and Revival Controls

The sleep icon is your recovery control. Resting consumes shared Food and restores Health, Stamina, and Mana across the party — you don't feed heroes individually. Since Food is a party-wide resource, treat it like ammunition rather than flavor text.

Rest when several heroes are hurt or when your casters are out of Mana or Stamina. Resting after every scratch wastes supplies you'll want two floors deeper, especially once resource pools grow and recovering from big losses costs more.

Death isn't permanent. Revival Statues resurrect fallen heroes for a gold fee, and Potions of Resurrection can bring an ally back mid-fight, which is the difference between salvaging a boss attempt and walking back from a checkpoint.

Map Notes, Throwing, and Settings Worth Knowing

Open the map, select a location, and type a reminder. Useful labels include "Lockpick chest," "Return with key," "Unexplored passage," and anything that needs a tool you don't have yet. Lockpicks are single-use and don't require a Thief in the party, so marking a chest instead of burning your only pick is often the smarter call.

The throw command is easy to forget and occasionally mandatory. Pick up an item, aim at the center of the first-person view, and throw — this is how you trigger the underground gate puzzle in Hollow Grave Tunnels. Player experience from early playthroughs also notes that dropping down a pit can open a lower route, so not every hole is a punishment.

Two settings notes from published beginner coverage: Underkeep has three difficulty settings that can be changed during a run and mainly affect combat, and after the February 2026 Next Fest the studio acknowledged that many players got stuck destroying a wooden crate, promising clearer teaching of that action in the release build. If the opening room feels obtuse, the crate is the documented stumbling block — not a hidden secret.

FAQ

Does using a potion end my turn in Underkeep? No. Potion use from the inventory is free and doesn't consume a character's action, so you can heal and attack in the same round. Your only real limit is how many potions you're carrying.

Why can't my party move after I attack? Movement locks once any hero has acted during the round. Finish or skip the rest of the round with the hourglass, then move.

How do I assign an active skill? Right-click the skill slot next to that character's basic attack and choose from their available abilities. Passive skills don't need to be assigned.

What's the single most important control in this Underkeep controls guide? The hourglass. It governs round pacing, unlocks movement after an attack, and skipping it accidentally wastes entire party turns — master it before you worry about builds.

Once movement, the round timer, and free-action potions feel automatic, the rest of the dungeon opens up. Learn the map key early, label what you can't finish, and let Food decide when you rest.