The game just selects keyboard & mouse for me when I try to use the steam controller. It tells me to press t he A button on the controller and that works but then it just goes back to being keyboard & mouse. My x-box controller works but I don't want to play with that one :/

Tried multiple times with the controller. Rebooted, unplug etc. Just keeps getting me back to keyboard & mouse :(

Using windows 10.

I have no idea because I don't own a Steam controller, but don't you think you'd get a faster & more relevant response by posting your question concerning the Steam controller at the Steam forum?

Ok, a quick, but not complete, fix.

1. Open Steam, and go to your library. Scroll to the bottom and select 'Add A Game,' then 'Add a Non-Steam Game.'

2. Navigate to Tides and Add it as a game.

3. Activate the game through Steam.

Steam will automatically make some assumptions about how the game plays, and most of it's ok - The stick controls the camera, the top bumpers zoom in and out, the touchpad controls the mouse pointer, and the bottom bumpers control left and right mouse click. From that point, you can customize the Steam controller layout in Steam, rather than in Torment. You may need to go to Steam Big Screen though (It's kind of weird sometimes).

Thanks for the answers.

Valamir: I am using the GOG version of the game and I kind of regret getting that key instead of a steam one because of this :(

fadingtheory: That works but... the defaults are kind of bad. I guess I have to take some time to config it better. Would be nice to be able to be lazy and download some styles to try them out as if I had the game on steam ;)

The problem that the game says I play with keyboard and mouse doesn't dissapear however but the controller does work... just thought it was weird.

Am I correct in assuming that for the Steam controller to work properly, you need the Steam client running?

Ehhhh... Yes. Steam needs to be running. But you don't necessarily need Steam to interface with the game you're running.

It's weird. The Steam controller has a non-standard layout and firmware. Some games, either because they offer advanced user controls or are so simple they only us a few buttons, can use a Steam controller without interfacing with Steam. Some games, because they're more complicated or don't allow for easy End User configuration, do.

I'm kind of militant anti-Steam because of the monopolies on some games that they have. The idea that they are making hardware that only works using Steam, is liable to make me rant.

Well, the part that's needed from Steam is just the driver/firmware part. Incompatibility issues aren't because the software is designed to funnel you into Steam, but because the buttons and hardware are so bizarre most games aren't set up to deal with them. Two touch pads and two dual stage triggers make for a bizarre device most games don't know what to do with.

I dunno. Maybe I'm not as upset about it because I remember the hoopla we had to go through to get PS3 controllers to work on PC way back when, so running Steam is by far a lesser evil to me (Not that I think Steam is evil, personally).