Controls
Trash Day controls and settings for PC: keyboard and controller schemes for grab, throw, wagon push and full graphics options.
Introduction
Trash Day is a PC game first, and its control scheme is built around keyboard and mouse with partial controller support layered on top. The inputs themselves are simple, but the game asks you to use them in a group, so the real skill is not memorizing a bind list, it is coordinating the same few actions with other players at the same moment. You move and scurry, grab and deposit loot, swipe at props and trash cans, and push the wagon by holding in its direction, with extra players adding force to the same push. Because the wagon is a physics object, small differences in timing and direction matter far more than any advanced technique. Knowing your binds cold frees you to think about the obstacle in front of you and the raccoon beside you.
Trash Day PC Control Reference
| Action | Keyboard | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| Move | Directional keys (WASD) | Left stick Standard movement input. |
| Scurry or Sprint | Shift held | Sprint button Used to move faster. |
| Interact, Grab or Deposit | Interact key | Face button Carry loot and attach wheels. |
| Attack or Swipe | Attack key | Face button Knock over props and trash cans. |
| Push Wagon | Hold toward the wagon | Left stick toward cart Stack with teammates. |
| Camera and Inspect | Mouse look | Right stick Check your surroundings. |
Controls and Inputs
Move
The basic directional input that gets your raccoon around the world and into position beside the wagon.
Scurry or Sprint
A held speed boost for your raccoon on foot, invaluable for errands and rescues away from the wagon.
Interact, Grab or Deposit
One context-sensitive input covering the game's most important verbs, from carrying loot to fitting a wheel.
Attack or Swipe
The swiping input used to knock over props and trash cans, and for the game's lighter slapstick moments.
Push Wagon
A contextual action rather than a button, performed by holding movement toward the cart alongside your crew.
Camera and Inspect
The look control that keeps hazards, loot and teammates in view during a chaotic group push.
Core Mechanics
The control model in Trash Day is deliberately small so that onboarding is fast and the complexity sits in coordination rather than execution. Movement is directional, a sprint input lets your raccoon scurry faster across rooftops and fences, and a single interact key covers grabbing, carrying, depositing loot and attaching wagon wheels or panels. A separate attack input swipes at props to knock over trash cans and, at the lighter end of the game's humour, to slap a friend. Pushing the wagon is not a dedicated button but a context action: you hold movement input toward the cart, and every additional player pressing the same direction adds force, which is why mismatched directions stall or tip it. Camera control keeps hazards in view, and because controller support is partial, players may need to check in-game settings if a button feels unbound.
Advantages
The control scheme's strength is accessibility. A brand-new player can be moving, grabbing loot and shoving the wagon within a minute, because there is no movelist, no combo system and no stamina meter to master. Mapping interact, grab and deposit to a single input means one button teaches several core verbs, so the cognitive load stays low while the game throws physics chaos at you. Keyboard and mouse give precise camera control for spotting hazards, and the partial controller option lets players lean back on a couch while still handling the wagon. Because pushing is contextual rather than a special command, the game never asks you to remember a modifier mid-panic. The result is a scheme that gets out of the way and lets the group's communication, rather than mechanical dexterity, determine success.
Challenges
The trade-off for that simplicity is a lack of granularity. A single context-sensitive interact input can misfire in crowded scenes, grabbing a wheel when you meant to pick up loot or depositing an item when you wanted to attach a panel, and the game offers little in the way of expanded rebinding or advanced sensitivity options. Controller support is only partial at launch, so some players will find a function awkwardly mapped or missing entirely and must fall back to keyboard and mouse. Pushing the wagon through a movement direction rather than a dedicated input makes fine control tricky, especially on slopes or when the crew is pulling in different directions. Camera work in a six-raccoon pile-up can also turn into visual noise, and the game does not offer many toggles to tame it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I play Trash Day with a controller, or is keyboard and mouse required?+
How do you push the wagon, and why does it sometimes refuse to move?+
What is the scurry input for, and are there settings that make the physics easier?+
Quick Tips
Bind-check your device before a serious run, especially if you are on a controller. Because Trash Day's PC controller support is only partial, a button you assume is mapped may turn out to be unbound, and discovering that mid-repair with a wagon about to tip is a bad time. Spend a minute in a quiet area testing movement, sprint, interact, attack and camera, and note anything that feels awkward. If a function is missing or badly placed, switch that action to keyboard rather than struggling through the whole session. A quick pre-run check costs almost nothing and prevents the small input failures that turn a clean run into a string of avoidable mistakes.
Learn to push the wagon with the crew instead of individually. Since pushing is just holding movement toward the cart, the wagon responds to the sum of everyone's input, which means a group that all press the same direction moves it smoothly while a group that improvises stalls it. Practice in a wide-open area by having the driver call a direction and everyone else deliberately match, then try a mismatched push on purpose so you can feel how quickly the cart complains. Building this muscle memory early pays off enormously at the river, the rockslide and any tight corner where a stalled wagon is far more dangerous than a moving one.
Use the scurry input as a dedicated errand tool, not as a general movement upgrade. Sprinting does not speed up the wagon, so there is little value in holding it while pushing, but it is exactly what you want when chasing a wheel that has rolled away, running a fresh load of loot back to the cart or crossing open ground to revive a downed friend before the timer runs out. Think of it as your rescue gear: when something has gone wrong somewhere else on the map, scurry is the input that closes the distance. Players who internalize this end up salvaging runs that would otherwise collapse into a wipes.
Keep the camera moving so hazards do not appear from off-screen. Bear traps, traffic and rockslides all punish a crew that is staring only at the wagon, and with several raccoons clustered around one cart it is easy to lose track of what is approaching from the side or behind. Get in the habit of sweeping the view ahead between pushes, especially in areas with cross-traffic, and consider having one player whose main job is watching rather than shoving. On keyboard and mouse the mouse look makes this easy; on a controller it means using the right stick deliberately. A few seconds of scanning frequently saves the whole group from a hazard none of them saw coming.
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