Astro's Playroom Accessibility Report - PS5

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Astro's
Playroom

Accessibility Report

14 Accessibility Features

We've documented 14 accessibility features for Astro's Playroom, including Low Pressure, Motion Aiming, Play Without Hearing, Visual Cues and Audio Cues. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Getting Started but it also has features in Visual, Reading and Audio to reduce unintended barriers.

This report is created with input from accessibility experts and the player community to help people find games that have the accessibility features they require. Once you have found potential games on the database, there are excellent specialist accessibility sites that offer in-depth reviews to guide your purchasing decisions.

Astro's Playroom is a running and jumping game that launched with the PlayStation 5. It not only showcases the PS5's new DualSense controller but offers a loveable adventure with novel interactions and considerable substance.

Our accessibility examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Astro's Playroom accessibility 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 2 years ago.

Accessibility Notes

You are not able to turn off the resistant triggers of the PS5 DualSense controller without exiting the game and using the system menu. There are also mandatory motion and tapping interactions in all levels.

Game Details

Release Date: 19/11/2020

Price: Free

Out Now: PS5

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Players: 1

Genres: Action, Platform (Adventure, Collecting, Fighting, Puzzle and Traversal)

Accessibility: 14 features

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Developer: Sony Japan Studio (@SonyJapanStudio)

Costs: Free

Controls

We've documented 4 accessibility features for Controls in Astro's Playroom which deal with how you control the game, different options for alternative inputs and whether you can remap these settings to suit your needs.

Gamepad

Can play with the following:

Multiple Buttons & Two Sticks: Can play with multiple buttons and two sticks.

Motion

Games that can be played with different sorts of motion controllers.

Motion Aiming: Can use small movements of the gamepad to fine-tune aiming or as the main aiming mechanism. This is sometimes known as Gyro-Aiming. This usually provides the ability to calibrate these controls to taste.

Motion Tilting: Can use movements of the controller to replace steering or simple movement otherwise controlled by left/right movement of a stick.

Controller Vibration

Informative Vibration: Controller vibration indicates events or interactions in the game, echoing visual and audio cues. This can provide additional information about progress, approaching enemies or hitting a target.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls

If you want to play Astro's Playroom, but it doesn't offer the Controls accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Controls accessibility:

Submerged Hidden Depths (17 Controls Features)
Wavetale (9 Controls Features)
The Gunk (9 Controls Features)
Sackboy: A Big Adventure (9 Controls Features)

Difficulty

We haven’t documented any accessibility features for Difficulty in Astro's Playroom which deal with how you can adjust the challenge of play, and whether this is locked once chosen or can be adjusted as you play. The following games are similar to Astro's Playroom, and offer accessibility features for Difficulty:

Knack 2 (2 Difficulty Features)
The Smurfs Mission Vileaf (2 Difficulty Features)
Marsupilami: Hoobadventure (2 Difficulty Features)
The Snowgardens (2 Difficulty Features)

Getting Started

We've documented 3 accessibility features for Getting Started in Astro's Playroom which deal with what support is offered to get started with the game. This includes customising the experience when you first open the game via any onboarding processes it provides as well as tutorials and other assistance when you first start playing.

Assistance Getting Starting

These features aid your play of the game in terms of cognitive load on learning controls, dealing with pressure and coping with the environment and challenges.

Tutorials: There are helpful tutorials and instructions on how to play. Information is provided in a timely manner, with appropriate level of detail.

Low Pressure: Game tasks aren't time-limited or there's a low-pressure mode. This avoids the pressure of being put on the clock for overarching missions, or failing tasks because you didn't reach a destination in time.

Assistance For Progressing

These features aid your progress through the game offering different ways of maintaining your progression.

Save Progress Anytime: The game automatically saves progress or you can save any time. This doesn’t mean you never lose progress, but it does mean you can stop whenever you want (without having to get to a save point) without losing progress.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Getting Started

If you want to play Astro's Playroom, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:

Submerged Hidden Depths (9 Getting Started Features)
Kirby and the Forgotten Land (7 Getting Started Features)
Big Hops (6 Getting Started Features)
Wavetale (6 Getting Started Features)

Reading

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Reading in Astro's Playroom which deal with how much reading or listening comprehension is required, how well the game provides visual and audible access to the text and whether subtitles and captions are a good fit for purpose.

Reading Level

How much reading is required to play the game's main path or story and how complex the language is. The presence of voiced characters doesn't reduce this requirement, as it's recorded as a separate datapoint.

Simple Minimal Reading: Minimal reading is required. The quantity and complexity of reading are at a level that a primary/elementary student (9-year-old) could understand.

Subtitles

All Speech Subtitled (Or No Speech In Game): All spoken content has subtitles, or there is no speech in the game. This means there is no requirement to hear spoken dialogue or narrative to play the game.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading

If you want to play Astro's Playroom, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (7 Reading Features)
Sackboy: A Big Adventure (7 Reading Features)
Knack (7 Reading Features)
Super Mario Galaxy (7 Reading Features)

Navigation

We haven’t documented any accessibility features for Navigation in Astro's Playroom which deal with how the game provides guidance and assistance to navigate its worlds. These are only for games that have traversal and exploration in 2D and 3D spaces. The following games are similar to Astro's Playroom, and offer accessibility features for Navigation:

Submerged Hidden Depths (7 Navigation Features)
Splatty's Adventure (7 Navigation Features)
Lego City: Undercover (5 Navigation Features)
Wavetale (4 Navigation Features)

Visual

We've documented 3 accessibility features for Visual in Astro's Playroom which deal with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.

Contrast

Medium Contrast: Game uses generally well contrasting and bright visuals, or has a slider to make this the case.

Interactive Elements

Large Game Elements: Game characters and other elements are large and distinguishable. Enemies and player characters are at least 1/6 of the height of the screen. Or there is a zoom feature to make them larger.

Audio Cues for Visual Events

Audio Cues for Visual Events: Audio is provided to indicate visual events. Game events or progress highlighted by visual icons, effects or animations are also accompanied by audio to signify that progress. This is useful for blind players.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual

If you want to play Astro's Playroom, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Visual accessibility:

A Hat in Time (7 Visual Features)
Splatty's Adventure (6 Visual Features)
The Snowgardens (5 Visual Features)
Sackboy: A Big Adventure (5 Visual Features)

Audio

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in Astro's Playroom which deal with how you can adjust the audio of the game and whether audio cues compensate for aspects of the game that are hard to see.

Audio Events

Visual Cues for Audio Events: Text or other visual indicators of audio events. This mirrors audio indicators of progress in the game with a corresponding visual indication.

Play Without Hearing

Play Without Hearing: No audio cues are necessary to play the game well.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Audio

If you want to play Astro's Playroom, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility: