Would really appreciate if you could do something about that, PB...
CDProjektRed subsequently unlocked previously locked/reserved keys in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with one of the later patches too.

If that's true, it really sucks. I've been using the ESDF scheme for 20 years now (ever since Half Life), and can never get used to the clunky, unintuitive WASD that is inexplicably the standard. I'm away from my gaming PC for the week, so I hope PB will fix this (if it's true, of course) before I get to play the game on Sunday night.

That should go to other devs as well: people who know how much more intuitive and comfortable the ESDF scheme is should not have to go through hoops to play your game the way they want. We have 102 keys on a keyboard, let us use them as we see fit, godammit!

I was worried about this issue many different devs introduced. Another good game I can't play because of this.
In my case I use arrow keys and everything around them. Hard coded keys usually don't let you remap to some or all of this keys.
If they fix this in the future I consider buying it. At some point game developers have to end this type of bad habits. Around 20% of players don't use WASD.

weird i have np with the keys how they are used.. maybe adap or die :P.

Maybe tell that to developers who don't give us basic choices like altering the keybindings? They are the ones who depend on us consumers, not the other way around...

OT, I see a week has gone by and no word from the devs on this simple issue... I was finally able to play the game today and, as I feared, the WASD scheme in place is a pain and using the controller just doesn't feel the same. Come on, PB, is it that hard to unlock the key bindings?

Patience, guys.
PB likely is already working on the next patch and tries to cram in as much fixes for all sorts of issues. Which obviously takes a bit of time. Also keep in mind that PB consists of only 25 or so people, of which only a few (programmers mostly) are actually able to implement the fixes and make sure that they work.

Ah, please explain how ESDF is more elegant when you've simply moved the same pattern one key right...
What am I missing?

When typing, if your hands are in the resting position (the "starting" position, if you will), your index finger falls on the F key, the pinky on the A key etc. Keyboards, being primarily used for typing and only secondarily for gaming, are designed with that "resting position" in mind. That's why the F key has that little dent on it (as well as the J key, for the right hand). Many keyboards (mine included) are ergonomically designed around that idea, so your hand rests naturally on that position and feels uncomfortable when playing for long periods on WASD.

Besides, when moving one position to the right, you free up a whole column of keys to be pressed by your pinky. For example, many people use left control to crouch, but with ESDF, you can use the A key for the same purpose, which is much more comfortable. Incidentally, that's what made me start using ESDF all those years ago, when I first played Half Life: crouching with control felt so clunky that I moved one column to the right just to free up the A key for crouching. I've never looked back since.

Of course, all I've said is not an attack on people who prefer WASD, and if you're one of them, more power to you. I say that because the thread on Steam about this same subject has devolved into personal attacks and trolling ("people who don't use WASD are stuck in the nineties", "people who use ESDF have brain problems", etc), and I hope this is not gonna be the case here. I'm all for choice, and that's all I'm asking for here: more options. :)

I agree, choice is good. I wasn't arguing that you shouldn't have that. I was genuinely curious what you thought the advantage was because your language was so strong (clunky, unintuitive). I actually find WASD ergonomically better for myself, but to each, his own. The devs should always allow remapping if possible.

Well, seeing as PB released a patch today and didn't find it important to fix this simple problem, we have to do their work for them and find our own solutions. I've been thinking about using AutoHotKey, but writing scripts for it is more complicated than I would like to handle, so I looked for an alternative and found this easy-to-use little program:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/keytweak/

The catch is, this program directly alters the Windows registry, so you'll have to restart your computer when applying the keyboard changes and then again when you stop playing, to restore the keyboard to its original state. If you ask me, it's worth it to be spared the hassle of writing an AHK script, but that's just me.

Let's just hope the devs come to their senses and give us a simpler way of playing what is quickly replacing Gothic 2 as my favoite game of all time - and THAT is saying something - without having to write AHK scripts or restart our computers multiple times every time we want to immerse ourselves in Magalan.

Setting this up in and getting Autohotkey to override the locked keys is quite simple actually. It's also rather quick and dirty but it does what it's supposed to do, at least for me:

1) Install autohotkey and run it
2) Open AutoHotkey.ahk (there should be a green icon with a capital "H" in the system tray bottom right -> right click -> "Edit this script") and delete all of its content so that you have a blank slate
3) Add:

#IfWinActive, ELEX

e::w
s::a
d::s
f::d

with the keys in front of the double colons (e,s,d,f in this example) "acting" as if they were the keys after the double colons (w,a,s,d)

4) Save + close it and right click on the green icon in the system tray again -> "Reload this script"
5) Run ELEX and voila

Well, I'm embarrassed now... I seem to remember AutoHotKey scripts being way more complicated than that, so I didn't even give it a try this time. And yes, it's that simple.

And you can even add a "run" command at the beginning (run, :pathtothegame:\system\ELEX.exe) and ru the script and the game with only one click...

Thanks for the tip, bro/sis! Even if you made me feeel stupid in the process. :)

Hi All,
How to enter A-LShift-Z-X keys inti AutoHotKey script instead of WASD?
TIA

I also have problems with rebinding.
I buy games on the PC to play them with the keyboard or my razer nostromo and i cant rebind the buttons, cause moving right/left would be shift and space.
I had problems with dark souls, witcher and so on but they got fixes.
Please PB fix this, i have the game for half a year and can't play!