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Xbox X|SWe've documented 18 accessibility features for Rivals, including Fully Voiced (Or No Speech), Low Pressure, No Quick Reactions, No Repeated Pressing and No Holds. Its accessibility is strongest in Visual and Getting Started but it also has features in Controls, Reading and Navigation 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.
Game Details
Release Date: 21/09/2020
Out Now: PC
Players: 1
Genres: Brain Game, Narrative and Puzzle
Accessibility: 18 features
Components: 2D Side-On
Developer: Tim Sheinman (@TimSheinman)
Costs: Purchase cost
Controls
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Controls in Rivals which deal with how you control the game, different options for alternative inputs and whether you can remap these settings to suit your needs.
Mouse And Keyboard
Can play with the following:
Mouse Alone: Can play with just the mouse/mouse-button/mouse wheel.
Button Combinations
Specific button operation required to play
Holding Down Buttons Optional: Holding down buttons for prolonged periods (a second or more) is not required or can be switched to toggling the action on and off. This is in addition to the movement stick/button which is not considered a hold for this purpose.
Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional: Quick, repeated button pressing (more than 2 times a second) is not required, can be skipped or switched to holding a button to trigger a repeated action.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls
If you want to play Rivals, but it doesn't offer the Controls accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Controls accessibility:
- 39 Days to Mars (12 Controls Features)
- Outer Wilds (12 Controls Features)
- Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (11 Controls Features)
- Gone Home (11 Controls Features)
Difficulty
We haven’t documented any accessibility features for Difficulty in Rivals 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 Rivals, and offer accessibility features for Difficulty:
- Please, Touch The Artwork (2 Difficulty Features)
- Dear Reader (1 Difficulty Feature)
- Murder by Numbers (1 Difficulty Feature)
Getting Started
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Getting Started in Rivals 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.
Reaction-Time Not Critical: Individual game actions don’t need quick reactions, or there are settings to lower the requirement for quick reactions. This means you don't need to quickly press a button in response to an on-screen prompt, target a fast-moving target or skillfully complete a scenario against the clock.
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 Rivals, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:
- Tangle Tower (10 Getting Started Features)
- Desta: The Memories Between (9 Getting Started Features)
- Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (8 Getting Started Features)
- Gone Home (8 Getting Started Features)
Reading
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Reading in Rivals 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.
Extensive Complex Reading: Extensive reading required. The quantity and complexity of reading is suitable for someone who loves long books and enjoys extended dialogue or narrative descriptions.
Text Visibility
High Contrast Text: Text colour contrasts to the background or can be adjusted to be. The text in menus, instructions and other information is presented in high contrast with a solid background.
Voice Acted
All Dialogue is Voice Acted (Or No Speech In Game): All of the game dialogue and narrative can be voiced, or there is no speech in the game. This means there is no requirement to read the dialogue and narrative text to play the game.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading
If you want to play Rivals, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:
- Desta: The Memories Between (7 Reading Features)
- Before Your Eyes (6 Reading Features)
- Lifeline (6 Reading Features)
- Tangle Tower (6 Reading Features)
Navigation
We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Navigation in Rivals which deals 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.
Clarity
Large Clear Navigation: The in-game navigation and maps are clear to read. They offer large text and offer markers that are large and of high contrast. Where text or information is small, there are settings to zoom-in and increase visibility.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation
If you want to play Rivals, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Navigation accessibility:
- Thousand Threads (8 Navigation Features)
- Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (6 Navigation Features)
- Outer Wilds (6 Navigation Features)
- 39 Days to Mars (4 Navigation Features)
Visual
We've documented 7 accessibility features for Visual in Rivals which deal with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.
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.
Visual Distractions
No Flashes: No flashing strobe effects or you can disable them. This includes the absence of flashing from dramatic visual effects, explosions or weather effects like lightning.
No Screen Shake: No screen shake effect or it is included but it can be disabled. This includes the absence of screen shake for dramatic effect as well as to indicate hits on a target.
No Busy Backgrounds: No distracting backgrounds or you can make them static or blank. This includes the absence of other movement elements in the background that might distract or confuse the action. Where foreground contrast is high, this includes games with some movement in the background that doesn't make it overly difficult to distinguish what is happening.
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.
Motion Sickness Friendly
Motion Sickness Friendly: Doesn't have 3D movement elements that may trigger motion sickness, like motion blur, depth of field and field-of-vision. Or includes the ability to disable motion blur, depth of field and field-of-vision effects.
Colour Options
Colour Blind Friendly: Game doesn’t rely on colour or can switch to colour blind friendly mode with double coding or similar way to avoid colour dependance.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual
If you want to play Rivals, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Visual accessibility:
- Before Your Eyes (8 Visual Features)
Audio
We haven’t documented any accessibility features for Audio in Rivals 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. The following games are similar to Rivals, and offer accessibility features for Audio:
- Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (3 Audio Features)
- Thousand Threads (3 Audio Features)
- Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo (2 Audio Features)
- Desta: The Memories Between (2 Audio Features)
System Accessibility Settings
In addition to the accessibility features provided in the game, you can also use system-wide accessibility settings:
PC
Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators.
Read more about system accessibility settings.
Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors Andy Robertson
