diff --git a/sys/riscv/conf/GENERIC b/sys/riscv/conf/GENERIC
--- a/sys/riscv/conf/GENERIC
+++ b/sys/riscv/conf/GENERIC
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@
 options 	WITNESS			# Enable checks to detect deadlocks and cycles
 options 	WITNESS_SKIPSPIN	# Don't run witness on spinlocks for speed
 options 	MALLOC_DEBUG_MAXZONES=8	# Separate malloc(9) zones
+options 	ALT_BREAK_TO_DEBUGGER	# Enter debugger on keyboard escape sequence
 # options 	EARLY_PRINTF
 options 	VERBOSE_SYSINIT=0	# Support debug.verbose_sysinit, off by default