Outer Wilds Accessibility Report - PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox X|S

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Outer
Wilds

Accessibility Report

28 Accessibility Features

We've documented 28 accessibility features for Outer Wilds, including Remap Buttons, Play Without Hearing, Visual Directional Cues, Speaker Indicator and Fully Subtitled (Or No Speech). Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Navigation but it also has features in Getting Started, Reading, Audio and Visual 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.

Outer Wilds is an exploration space mystery about a solar system trapped in an endless time loop. After twenty minutes of game time, you must start again – but each time brings a new opportunity to learn how you ended up on the planet and solve the secrets of who built the strange galaxy. As you do, the world evolves and opens up new secrets.

Our accessibility examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Outer Wilds accessibility 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Andrew Robertson and updated 11 months ago.

Accessibility Notes

There's an update to the game that lets you turn off spooky jump scares.

Although there isn't direct assistance with the spaceship controls, you can make use of an auto-pilot to ease navigation (provided you don't encounter an obstacle en route).

Although there are no direct hints for getting stuck, your ship's log records the planets you have visited and tells you what you have done in the past.

The game provides visual directional cues to aid navigation when you play waypoint markers or if you send out your drone.

You can use the Signal Scope to hear audio cues from instruments played by astronauts on other planets. These sounds are useful to locate these "lost" astronauts.

Game Details

Release Date: 11/12/2018, updated in 2023

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox X|S

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Players: 1

Genres: Adventure, Brain Game (Communication, Narrative, Puzzle, Sequencing, Simulation and Traversal)

Accessibility: 28 features

Components: 3D First-Person, Day and Night and Open World

Developer: Mobius Games (@Mobius_Games)

Costs: Purchase cost, In-Game Purchases and In-Game Pass

Controls

We've documented 13 accessibility features for Controls in Outer Wilds 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 & Single Stick: Can play with multiple buttons and a stick.

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

Mouse And Keyboard

Can play with the following:

Keyboard Alone: Can play with just the keyboard.

Mouse and Keys: Can play with mouse and multiple keys.

Remap Controls

Can customise the controls for the game as follows:

Remap Buttons: Can re-map all buttons so that you can use alternatives that better suit your play.

Remap Sticks: Can remap the stick controls to controller buttons for easier access of direction controls.

Remap Mouse and Keyboard: Can remap mouse and keyboard key bindings, on systems that support these controls.

Remap Extra Mouse Buttons: Can remap additional buttons on mice that provide more than the two standard buttons, on systems that support these controls.

Remap Game Menu Access: Can remap buttons to pause, access and navigate the game menu. This enables you to specify which buttons pop-up the game menu.Whether you can remap menu navigation buttons isn't considered here.

Invert X/Y Axis: Can invert the direction required to control looking and aiming. This enables you to match your instinctive orientation when looking.

Controller Vibration

Vibration Optional: Controller vibration not used in the game or you can disable it.

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.

Sensitivity

You can adjust

Adjust Mouse/Stick/Touch Sensitivity, Deadzones and Thresholds: Adjust how sensitive touch/mouse/stick controls are and the related deadzones and thresholds.

Difficulty

We haven’t documented any accessibility features for Difficulty in Outer Wilds 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 Outer Wilds, and offer accessibility features for Difficulty:

Ctrl Alt Ego (2 Difficulty Features)
Paradise Killer (1 Difficulty Feature)
Curious Expedition (1 Difficulty Feature)
No Man's Sky (1 Difficulty Feature)

Getting Started

We've documented 4 accessibility features for Getting Started in Outer Wilds 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.

Practice Area: You can practice freely without opponents or time pressures. This can be a specific practice option, or the ability to play levels with the easiest opponents to improve understanding and skill.

View Control Mapping: You can view a map of controls during play. This clearly displays the mappings of actions to buttons/keys/mouse/keyboard without having to leave the game. This includes games that always display buttons to press during play.

No Jump Scares: No sudden loud noises or popping-up scary visuals that unexpectedly appear without warning, or the option to disable them.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Getting Started

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

Song of Bloom (9 Getting Started Features)
Chants of Sennaar (7 Getting Started Features)
Ctrl Alt Ego (7 Getting Started Features)
Paradise Killer (7 Getting Started Features)

Reading

We've documented 4 accessibility features for Reading in Outer Wilds 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.

Moderate Reading: Moderate reading required. The quantity and complexity of reading are at a level that a high school student (14-year-old) would appreciate.

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.

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.

Captions

Speaker Indicator: Textual captions indicate who is speaking (or there is only ever one person speaking). This can also be indicated visually in the game with character icons or placing text in speech bubbles next to the person speaking.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading

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

Heaven's Vault (7 Reading Features)
Lake (6 Reading Features)
Returnal (6 Reading Features)
Return of the Obra Dinn (6 Reading Features)

Navigation

We've documented 6 accessibility features for Navigation in Outer Wilds 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.

Clarity

Visual Directional Cues: Additional in-game visual cues that signpost where to go next and how close you are to arriving. This can be with camera movement to focus on your destination or important items. It can use light, breadcrumb trails, in-world pointers to identify your mission's target location.

Head-Up Display

Head-Up Display Navigation: Indication of where to go next with overlaid arrows, minimaps and waypoint markers. This supplements in-game visual and audible cues with additional guidance about where you are and where you need to go.

Game Map: View a map of the game world during play, with the landscape, points of interest and missions highlighted throughout the entire game. This enables the orientation of the player and the world, confirming a direction of movement and the location of destinations or points of exploration.

Menu Navigation

Menu Audio Cues: Navigating menus provide an audio cue for each selection.

Digital Menu Navigation: Menu choices with Gamepad can be made without using an analogue stick to guide a cursor to a selection. For example, using D-Pad, buttons or the Stick to change menu selection in a single action.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation

If you want to play Outer Wilds, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Navigation accessibility:

Paradise Killer (7 Navigation Features)

Visual

We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Visual in Outer Wilds which deals with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.

Audio Cues for Visual Events

Menu Audio Cues: Navigating menus provide an audio cue for each selection.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual

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

Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island (7 Visual Features)
Paradise Killer (7 Visual Features)
Rivals (7 Visual Features)
A Dark Room (7 Visual Features)

Audio

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in Outer Wilds 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.

Adjustable Audio

Balance Audio Levels: Set music and game sound effects separately. This enables you to select your preference as well as ensure critical game sounds aren't obscured by other audio.

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 Outer Wilds, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility:

Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island (3 Audio Features)
Ctrl Alt Ego (3 Audio Features)
The Sexy Brutale (3 Audio Features)

System Accessibility Settings

In addition to the accessibility features provided in the game, you can also use system-wide accessibility settings:

Nintendo Switch
Nintendo Switch has some built-in features, including a lockable zoom, that can be used on all games.

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.

PlayStation 4
PlayStation 4 has a range of accessibility settings. Some are system only, some work in games (invert colours and button mapping).

PlayStation 5
PlayStation 5 has a range of system-wide accessibility settings.

Xbox One
Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games.

Xbox Series X|S
Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games.

Read more about system accessibility settings.