Escape Key Not Working / Mouse Confinement Issues (Post v0.8 Update)

Issue description

Platform: Steam on Linux (Bazzite/KDE)
Version: v0.8 / v0.8.1 (March 10-11, 2026 updates)
Issue Type: Input/Window Management Regression
Description

Since the March 10-11 updates (v0.8 and v0.8.1), the game exhibits severe input and window management problems on Linux (Wayland). The Escape key no longer opens the game menu, and mouse confinement is broken.
Symptoms

Escape key behavior:

    In Fullscreen mode: Pressing Escape minimizes/dumps the game to the taskbar instead of opening the game menu

    In Borderless/Windowed mode: Escape does nothing at all

Mouse confinement:

    Mouse cursor becomes trapped in a restricted window

    Cannot move cursor to access taskbar or other monitors

    Game launches in what appears to be a confined state regardless of video settings

Video mode confusion:

    Game defaulted to "Windowed" mode after update (I did not change this setting)

    Toggling between Fullscreen/Borderless/Windowed does not resolve input issues

Reproduction steps

What I've Tried (That Didn't Work)

✅ Rolling back system from Bazzite 43.20260309.1 → 43.20260303 (confirmed issue persists, ruling out system regression)

✅ Changing in-game video modes (Fullscreen/Borderless/Windowed)

✅ Verifying game files through Steam

✅ Testing different Proton versions

What I Haven't Tried (Need Developer Input)

The new "Confine cursor to window" option mentioned in v0.8 patch notes cannot be accessed because Escape key doesn't work to open menu

Game version and build number

v0.8.1a b550

Operating system

Linux

After extensive troubleshooting, I've identified that this issue was not a bug in Captain of Industry, but rather a system-level global shortcut in KDE Plasma that was intercepting the Escape key.

Root Cause:
A custom shortcut in Plasma Workspace → "Activate Panel Widget" was bound to Esc alone. This caused the window manager to capture the Escape key before it could reach any application, resulting in:

Escape minimizing the game in fullscreen mode

Escape doing nothing in borderless/windowed mode

Applications losing focus when Escape was pressed

Solution:

Open System Settings → Shortcuts

Navigate to Plasma Workspace section

Find "Activate Panel Widget"

Either:

    Delete the custom Esc binding (click the red X), or

    Change it to a different shortcut like Shift+Esc

Log out and log back in

After making this change, Escape works correctly in:

Captain of Industry (opens game menu)

Firefox keyboard testers

Native Wayland applications like Kate

Confirmation:

✅ Two different keyboards tested

✅ evtest confirmed hardware was sending Esc events

✅ Issue persisted across game updates and system rollbacks

✅ Fix confirmed by multiple application tests

Closing:
Since this is a system configuration issue and not a game bug, I'm closing this report. Thank you for the excellent game, and I hope this helps any other Linux users who might encounter similar behavior!

system configuration issue and not a game bug.... Thank you for the excellent game, and I hope this helps any other Linux users who might encounter similar behavior!