Rust now supports gamepads on PC. Facepunch added controller play across the core game through Steam Input in its November update, Printed and Polished, which it posted on Steam at 1:24 PM EST (10:24 AM PST) on November 5, 2026, as the month’s wipe began.
Gamepad Support
Controller play covers the core of the game. Inventory and crafting menus use a stick-driven cursor by default, and a new gamepad options screen adds a D-pad toggle for those menus plus other settings to tune how the pad feels. Facepunch calls this a first release: not every feature has dedicated gamepad support yet, and the developer says more will be added over time.
The Blueprint Rework
The other big change is to progression. Workbenches no longer cost blueprint fragments to craft, and scrap is no longer spent on the tech trees. Instead, three tiers of blueprints act as the currency for each tech tree level:
- Blueprint fragments for the first level, now found in common loot such as barrels and boxes.
- Blueprint pages for the second.
- Blueprint books for the third.
Lower tiers can be upgraded into the next one, while puzzle rooms and harder content stay the fastest route up. Scrap still pays for the research table. Facepunch says the old system could lock players with less time out of a Level 2 workbench entirely. The salvage workbench upgrade now gives a 20% chance not to consume a blueprint, and the prototype upgrade is a flat 25% success rate.
Livestock and Everything Else
October’s cows and sheep got friendlier. You own a cow once you buy it or it eats at your trough, with no need to stay near it; cows no longer die of old age, and a starving cow lies down at 1 HP instead of dying. Overgrazing is gone, cows store up to three milk, a new Potential stat rewards raising happy young animals, and you can now pet cows and sheep. New Shears also harvest more wool without hurting the sheep.
The update also adds the Uzi 9mm (automatic with the stock folded, semi-automatic and more accurate unfolded), a Crocodile Pie that keeps most animals away, a Wool armor insert for cold, roaming scientist boats around the main island, and crow and seagull flocks. Facepunch also says it is rolling out bans to more than 3,000 accounts tied to script providers this wipe.
What This Means for Players
If you farm livestock, much of the upkeep you planned around is gone: our guide to taming and raising cows explains the taming loop, and the care rules above replace its warnings about neglect and overgrazing. Progression will feel different this wipe too, since early fragments now drop from ordinary loot. For last month’s event, see our story on Rust’s Halloween event, and to play with a pad on Valve’s new hardware, see our guide to connecting an Xbox controller to the Steam Machine.
Source: Facepunch Studios, “PRINTED AND POLISHED”, Steam, November 5, 2026.