Movement & prone
You can shoot and use most gadgets while prone, and climb or vault most obstacles in Intravenous 3 — the old stealth-only prone is gone.
Prone used to be a prayer. In Intravenous 1 and 2, lying down meant the lowest possible profile and broken lines of sight — at the cost of total helplessness if anyone found you. Intravenous 3 rewrites that deal: prone is now a full combat stance, and the level design opens up around it.
What changed, straight from the devlog
Devlog #2 ("Player Mobility", August 7, 2026) spells out both changes:
Prone is no longer defenseless. You can use every weapon and most gadgets while lying down. The example the developer gives is the HSR-EMP — an electrical-disruption gadget — which you can now deploy from the floor instead of having to stand up first. The trade-off is commitment: once you start a reload, you finish it, no cancelling halfway through.
Vault and climb almost everything. In the first two games, only certain designated low walls could be vaulted and certain high walls climbed. In Intravenous 3 the rules flip: most objects work.
| Move | Intravenous 1 / 2 | Intravenous 3 / Borderline |
|---|---|---|
| Prone | Low profile, no fighting | Full kit: all weapons, most gadgets |
| Reloading | Cancel freely | Once started, you finish |
| Vault (low obstacles) | Certain walls only | Most objects |
| Climb (tall obstacles) | Certain walls only | Most objects |
| Route impact | Windows or chokepoints | Second floors, ledges, furniture, fire escapes |
Why this matters for your routes
The level-design consequence is the real story. When the developer flipped the climb rules, they said it directly: "no longer should you look at an open window as your only path forward, or rely on prone and sticking to the shadows to make the next move."
So the old infiltration grammar — find the one intended entry point, hug the dark, crawl when unsure — is no longer the plan. Instead:
- Survey vertically first. Before committing to a corridor, check what can be climbed: crates, fences, roofs, interior furniture stacks.
- Prone is a firing position, not just a hiding one. Ambush from the floor, take the shot, and be ready to commit to the reload if it gets loud.
- Practice the prone-move. There is no published control list yet, so on day one spend five minutes in a safe corner getting the prone enter/exit and reload commitment into muscle memory.
Controller and keyboard
Full controller support (including DualShock and DualSense pads) is confirmed on the store page. There is no official bindings sheet yet — the public record has no key list, and we will log the real defaults against the launch build rather than guess from trailer footage. If the movement verbs feel unfamiliar, that is expected: the system genuinely differs from the first two games.
