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Stranded
Deep
19 Accessibility Features

We've documented 19 accessibility features for Stranded Deep, including Select Difficulty, Remap Buttons, Visual Cues, Audio Cues and Moderate Reading. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Visual but it also has features in Getting Started, Navigation, Audio, Difficulty and Reading 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.

Stranded Deep is a survival game set in the Pacific Ocean. Taking a cue from films like Cast Away, you survive a plane crash and face life-threatening scenarios in a large open world. As the weather and time of day changes with the hours, you explore the Pacific islands, reefs and oceans for the resources to survive.

Our accessibility examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Stranded Deep accessibility 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 2 years ago.

NotesAccessibility Notes

You can choose to play on one of three difficulty modes; normal, hard and creative. In hard mode, skills take longer to learn and you'll take more damage. In creative mode, you are invincible, letting you enjoy the game without worrying about your health. Once you have started playing, you cannot change the difficulty without deleting all your saved progress, so you should choose carefully.

In addition to these basic difficulty settings, you can also change the hostility of the wildlife (which you can also remove entirely), from passive, where they will not attack you, to hostile, where they will actively seek you out. You can also choose to enable permanent death, where once you die, all your progress is lost, for a really challenging experience.

When you want to save your game, you need to use the Shelter item, which you'll need to craft from items you find on the islands. You can then select the crafted shelter and press the Save button.

When you first start playing, you are given several text-based tutorials, telling you what to do and how to do it. Like much of the text in-game, it is white and is overlaid directly over the gameplay. This can make it quite difficult to read at times, for example when it's displayed over white clouds or bright sand. You can enable a head-up display that tells you the name of the item you are looking at.

You can adjust the colour profile to Vibrant, which increases the contrast of the game, and you can also choose to have the game outline elements you can interact with, such as rocks and branches. Otherwise, some of these can be hard to notice, such as a small rock on an identically coloured boulder, or a leafy branch on the grass. This does not affect creatures, so it can still be difficult to spot them, such as a snake hiding in some foliage. You can also choose to tone down the ocean motion sickness effect, although not completely remove it.

Some parts of the game are enhanced by sound, or can give you an advance warning of attack if you aren't looking in the right direction, like a shark bumping the bottom of your boat or the hiss of a snake, so if you can't hear the cues, you need to ensure you're on the lookout for attacks.

DetailsGame Details

Release Date: 21/04/2015, updated in 2020

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4 and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Players: 1

Genres: Adventure, Strategy (Action, Collecting, Creative and Simulation)

Accessibility: 19 features

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

Developer: Beam Team Games (@BeamTeamGames)

Costs: Purchase cost

 

ControlsControls

We've documented 8 accessibility features for Controls in Stranded Deep 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.

Mouse And Keyboard

Can play with the following:

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 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.

Sensitivity

You can adjust

Adjust Mouse/Stick/Touch Sensitivity: Adjust how sensitive touch/mouse/stick controls are.

 

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

DifficultyDifficulty

We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Difficulty in Stranded Deep which deals with how you can adjust the challenge of play, and whether this is locked once chosen or can be adjusted as you play.

Difficulty Options

Select Difficulty: Select the level of difficulty from a range of presets. This not only offers a way to adjust the challenge of a game but enables you to do so without dealing with individual criteria.

 

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If you want to play Stranded Deep, but it doesn't offer the Difficulty accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Difficulty accessibility:

Getting StartedGetting Started

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Getting Started in Stranded Deep 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.

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.

 

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

ReadingReading

We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Reading in Stranded Deep which deals 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.

 

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

NavigationNavigation

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Navigation in Stranded Deep 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.

Head-Up Display

Adjust Head-Up Display: Resize and adjust the content of the head-up display. This enables it to be made more visible. It can also enable the removal of too much information that can be distracting or confusing.

Menu Navigation

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.

 

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation

If you want to play Stranded Deep, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Navigation accessibility:

VisualVisual

We've documented 4 accessibility features for Visual in Stranded Deep 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

Outline Interactive Elements: Characters, platforms and enemies can be outlined or highlighted for visibility. This can be with a large border around the character or a special visual mode that adjust the colour to make characters more visible.

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.

AudioAudio

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in Stranded Deep 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.

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.

 

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Audio

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

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

VSC LogoAccessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors Ben Kendall, Andy Robertson and Jo Robertson


Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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