This happens a lot with the melee weapons it seems. I have had to reload a lot of saves due to the melee buttons not working as soon as a battle starts
Melee from third person often attacks backwards from the recital. I sneak up on someone with a melee hammer and make a strike and my character makes a 180 degree turn and attacks behind them.
More often now that I've reached the second planet, I am having a bug where I can't attack. I am now also having an inhaler issue where it won't activate with zero toxicity. Seems like the controller is losing mapping. I have tried several controllers, so I believe it's a game bug.
About every 20 minutes I can't attack. Sometimes it's right after I take a swing with the hammer, but mostly it right when battle starts. Going back to a previous save helps, but occasionally I have to go back several saves. It's almost like a Bethesda game
I am having the same issue on PS5. Cannot use my main weapon. I can still throw grenades and use med kit, vut not attack. It helped one time to go back to a previous save, but this is a game breaking bug