Squad Motion Sickness: Why It Happens & What Helps
Squad's motion sickness threads date from a specific moment: the Infantry Combat Overhaul, which built weapon sway, focus blur and suppression effects into the game's design. Those effects are the intended experience, not bugs, and they do not come with off switches. The one big lever, the field of view slider, governs both your normal view and your scoped view together, so widening it for comfort shrinks your optics, a tradeoff players debate at length. Checked September 2026.
PC · first-person · Partial settings · Player-reported motion-sickness risk: one of the most commonly reported triggers in gaming.
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Risk levels summarise what passengers and riders commonly report, not measured testing.
Key facts
- Squad runs on PC.
- The camera is first-person.
- Player reports place it in the high band for motion sickness.
- The game ships some comfort settings, but not a full set.
- 3 specific settings are listed on this page, starting with Field of view.
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Why Squad can trigger motion sickness
The ICO's whole point is making your soldier feel human: aim wanders under fatigue, vision blurs under suppression, and the picture-in-picture scopes render with edge blur that players name specifically in the motion sickness threads. All of that is motion and distortion you did not input. Because one FOV value rules hip and scope alike, the standard comfort move of widening your view costs you target identification at range, which in a teamwork shooter is a real cost. That bind, comfort against capability, is the actual shape of Squad's problem, and pretending a settings list dissolves it would be dishonest.
- Suppression effects blurring and shaking your view under fire
- Weapon sway and fatigue motion from the Infantry Combat Overhaul
- Picture-in-picture scopes with edge blur, named in the threads
- The single FOV value forcing a comfort-versus-optics tradeoff
Comfort settings in Squad
Squad ships some comfort settings, but not a full set.
The sway, blur and suppression effects the Infantry Combat Overhaul added are the design, and they ship without off switches. The FOV slider is real but shared between hip view and optics, so comfort and usable scopes pull against each other. If the ICO effects are what get you, settings will not remove them, and the motion sickness threads that began with that update say so plainly.
| Setting | Where | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Field of view | Settings | One slider governs both hip and aim-down-sights view. Raise it for comfort, knowing your scoped image shrinks; players ask for independent sliders for exactly this reason |
| Screen effects | Graphics settings | Turn off what your build exposes. The ICO's suppression and focus effects themselves are design decisions without off switches |
| Role choice | Not a setting | Vehicle crews and command roles spend less time in sway and suppression than point infantry. Picking your seat is a legitimate comfort lever in this game |
Set up before your next session with Squad
Dizzout runs on your phone, not on the machine you are playing on. Install it now, and when you next feel it starting, move the headphones you are wearing over to your phone and press play. Drug-free, and it works once symptoms have already begun.
Before you need it: find out how prone you are
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Put it on your phone
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Scan to open on your phoneOn a computer? Dizzout installs on your phone. Scan the code, or open dizzout.com/get on your phone and it'll take you straight to the right store.
Know someone who gets motion sick?
Send them the app that helps stop it, drug-free, in about 90 seconds, works with any headphones. Free to try.
What helps beyond the settings
- Find your FOV compromise in the firing range, not mid-firefight
- Play a vehicle or support role on days symptoms come easily
- Break between matches; Squad rounds run long enough to be exposure events on their own
- A drug-free sound-therapy app like Dizzout is designed to help once symptoms have started, through the headset your squad already talks on
The fixes people reach for once they step away from the screen are covered separately, with the trials attached: the remedy verdicts.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Squad start making me motion sick when it did not before?
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If the change lines up with the Infantry Combat Overhaul, that is the answer: the ICO added weapon sway, focus blur and suppression effects as core design, and the motion sickness threads on the Steam forums date from exactly that update. Players who were fine for years report symptoms afterward. The effects are intended, so the fix set is FOV, exposed screen effect toggles, and pacing.
Can you set separate FOV for scopes in Squad?
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No. One slider governs both normal view and aim-down-sights, and players in the threads ask for independent sliders precisely because the shared value forces a tradeoff: widen for comfort and optics shrink, narrow for optics and the tunnel comes back. Until that changes, the practical answer is testing values on the firing range for the least-bad compromise.
Do the suppression effects have a toggle?
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No. Suppression blur and the ICO's stamina-driven motion are competitive design, applied to everyone, and there is no menu option that removes them. Graphics settings can trim other screen effects, but if suppression is your trigger, role selection and session pacing carry the load, which is why this page files Squad closer to the no-real-fix column than its settings count suggests.
Other game motion-sickness guides
Sources & further reading
Your next question, probably
Based on publicly reported player experiences and each game's documented settings, as of September 2026. Settings menus change with updates, so check your version. Game names are trademarks of their respective owners; Dizzout is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Motion-sickness sensitivity varies by person, so this is informational, not a game review or a substitute for a doctor's advice.