How to Play Underkeep: Controls, Party, Save Loop
How to play Underkeep on PC: party creation, grid movement, combat turns, map notes, resting, saving, and controller support explained.
To play Underkeep, create a four-hero party, move on a grid in first person, and spend one action per hero each combat round. Potions are free actions, the M key opens the automap, and resting consumes food. Everything else is built on those four rules.
How does movement work?
Movement is grid-based and first-person, in the style of Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder. You turn in 90-degree steps and move one tile at a time. Walls, pits, pressure plates, and statues all occupy tiles, so the dungeon is a puzzle as much as a corridor.
The automap fills in as you explore. Press M to open it, and use the note tool to mark locked doors, shrines, and anything you want to return to. The map legend distinguishes doors, treasure, statues, pressure plates, pits, rocks, shrines, teleports, and portals.
How do you create a party?
At the party creator you choose a race and a class for each of four heroes. Race sets your trait and stat lean; class sets your resource, weapon access, and skill list. You can delete and recreate a hero before starting, which is the practical way to reroll a Raven mutation.
| Choice | What it changes | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| Race | Trait, resistances, sometimes armor rules | Races |
| Class | Skills, resource, weapon requirements | Classes |
| Row | Who is exposed to melee | Front and back row |
You cannot change the party size: it is always four. Plan for two frontliners and two backliners unless you have a specific reason to do otherwise.
How does combat work?
Each hero acts once per round. You can basic attack, use an active skill, swap rows, or use an item. Using an item does not consume the action, so a healing potion can follow an attack. Pressing the hourglass ends the round for the whole party.
Melee attacks need the front row unless the weapon has Reach. If a message says Out of Reach, move forward, switch to a Reach weapon, or attack at range. Most enemies can only hit your front row, which is why the two heroes in front take most of the damage.
Enemies can be immune to crits, stun, bleed, burn, freeze, poison, blind, paralysis, or disease. The combat log reports when an effect fails, so check it before you build a strategy around a status.
How do you rest and recover?
Rest restores HP and mana and consumes food. You cannot rest while enemies are nearby, and disease blocks recovery until cured. Food is one shared number for the whole party, shown in the HUD, and it also pays for digging graves.
Mana regenerates per level based on WIS, but the practical recovery loop is rest plus potions. The stamina and mana page→ explains the resource math and when a potion is cheaper than a rest.
A rest that runs into a patrol is recoverable if you saved first. Keep a manual save at the stairs of each new floor.
Does Underkeep support controllers?
The Steam store lists partial controller support, while the official launch news describes full controller support. That contradiction is not resolved yet. Keyboard and mouse work for every action, and the M key opens the map.
If you play on a controller, test the map and inventory first. Those are the screens where partial support usually shows up as a missing button hint rather than a broken action.
Where do you go first?
After the tutorial dungeon, return to Underkeep Village and follow the quest leads. Hollowgrave Tunnels is the first major branch; the map page→ shows the confirmed connections. Do not grind levels in the starting dungeon: equipment and cures matter more than one extra level.
The beginner guide→ covers the first two dungeons in order. Read it after this page if you want a route rather than a rules explanation.
FAQ
Can you save anywhere in Underkeep?
The game uses manual saves and revival statues rather than an advertised autosave. Save at floor entrances and before boss doors so a wipe does not erase an hour.
Is there a minimap?
Yes. The automap fills in as you walk and supports custom notes. You can mark doors, treasure, and blocked passages.
How do you open the map?
Press M. The map legend shows doors, statues, plates, pits, shrines, portals, and teleports.
Official source: Underkeep store page ↗
Official source: Underkeep launch news ↗
Community source: Steam community player guide ↗
More Underkeep Guides
All seven Underkeep classes explained: main stat, resource, front or back row, weapon requirements, and the race that fits each one.
How Underkeep combat works: one action per hero, free actions, damage and armor math, crit and evasion formulas, status effects, and turn order.
What is confirmed about Underkeep endings: multiple outcomes, the quests that matter, why special dialogue is not always best, and how to save for branches.
Underkeep equipment explained: weapon types per class, armor slots, how armor and sharpness change damage, which tools share the budget, and when to upgrade.
How Underkeep exploration works: which tools open which obstacles, how to search walls and graves, food and resting, and Waystone fast travel.
The Underkeep first party for a blind run: four heroes, race picks, early skills, gear priorities, and the first purchases that keep the run alive.
How Underkeep front row and back row positioning works: who can melee, when Reach bypasses the rule, what swapping costs, and the safest four-hero layout.
What to do when the four gargoyles get stuck in Underkeep Gravewood Crypt, why there is no reset lever yet, and how to recover without losing the run.