A fan named Mitchell B. wrote to us with "Since it's being released for the XBOX One, couldn't you turn with the right stick, and strafe with the left stick?"
Part of the design philosophy for The Vale: Shadow of the Crown is to create an experience that's equally accessible for various communities. Whether you a person who is blind, low-vision, sighted, a gamer, a newbie, whomever - we want players to have an equitable experience playing The Vale.
One of the first steps we took in this was to encourage players to use a controller, even if they have never held one before. In our testing, we found that the style of "tank" controls that we use was the easiest for newer players to learn how to move and navigate. As well, keeping this to one stick means it can be remapped for other control schemes more simply than dual-sticks.
Additionally, we have some ranged weapon controls tied to the right-stick that can be utilized during several sections of gameplay.
However, as we've added difficulty options and continued to test to ensure we make a game that is enjoyable for all kinds of players, this question raises a good point. Why can't we use dual-stick controls so The Vale: Shadow of the Crown feels like other action-adventure console games?
I can't make any promises this late in development, but after discussing it internally, we're going to assess the possibility of making an alternative control scheme. Keep the feedback coming, we are always listening!
UPDATE: we ended up adopting the classic FPS control scheme because in testing it proved to be quite intuitive for blind gamers who were not familiar with controllers... this is why you focus test!