A Plague Tale: Innocence Accessibility Report
We've documented 25 accessibility features for A Plague Tale: Innocence in the Controls, Difficulty, Getting Started, Reading, Navigation, Visual and Audio areas to aid enjoyment of the game for different players. 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.
A Plague Tale: Innocence follows Amicia and her little brother Hugo as they use stealth to escape soldiers and swarms of rats. Against the stark threat and darkness of the world, the sibling relationship develops as the two learn to trust one another. This plight of the innocent is extended as the pair call on other children to help them on their way.
Accessibility Notes
There isn’t specific difficulty settings but you can opt for Auto Aim.
Vibration feedback is detailed and used both for effect (things like horse hoofs of the ground) but also useful environmental interactions like gentle vibration when you walk through shrubs and grasses in which you can hide. Visual markers (quite small) show you where off-screen enemies are coming from, mirroring the directional audio. These change from white to red to indicated whether they have seen you. Also the screen edge glows with a colour to indicate the direction of threat or injury.
There are some helpful visual indicators:
- Items: Interactables are shown with a Button image (Triangle) as you approach. Special items are also highlighted by a larger blue box that indicates what they are.
- Climb: Things you can climb are signposted with a white icon (although this isn’t very large there is also a line either side of it).
- Enemies: Indicated with a Grey chevron over their heads. This turns to Red when they have spotted you and has addition lines when they are pursuing you.
- Throwing: When you are aiming a throw the aiming line turns yellow to indicates that you will hit your target.
The weapon selection wheel provides assistance text about what each item is useful for.
Navigation is with environmental clues, which work well as the game is relatively linear. At times you can also press R3 (click the right stick down) so the camera indicates an important feature up ahead, or a destination.
Game Details
Release Date: 14/05/2019, updated in 2021
Price: 80% off
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S
Content Rating: PEGI 18
Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds
Players: 1
Genres: Adventure, Stealth (Action, Narrative, Puzzle and Sequencing)
Accessibility: 25 features
Components: 3D Third-Person
Developer: Asobo Studio (@AsoboStudio)
Costs: Purchase cost, In-Game Purchases and In-Game Pass
Controls
To complete the main campaign of the game you need to use a minimum of:
- PC: 11 keys, 2 buttons, 1 mouse and 1 gesture.
- Xbox: 12 buttons, 2 triggers and 2 sticks.
Action | Xbox | PC | Notes | Required |
Craft | View Button | I Key | ✔ | |
Pause / Menu | Menu Button | Escape | ✔ | |
Crouch | X Button | C Key | ✔ | |
Interact | Y Button | E Key | ✔ | |
Climb / Vault | A Button | Spacebar | ✔ | |
Drop | B Button | Right Mouse Button | When holding. | ✔ |
Dodge | B Button | Spacebar | With Movement direction. | ✔ |
Order/Direct Ally | D-Pad | ✔ | ||
Aim Throw | Left Bumper | Ctrl (Left) Key | Hold. | ✔ |
Select Spells | Right Bumper | Mouse Wheel | ✔ | |
Select Weapon / Ammo | Right Bumper | Tab + Mouse Wheel | ✔ | |
Movement | Left Stick | WASD Keys | ✔ | |
Aim / Look / Camera | Right Stick | Mouse Movement | ✔ | |
Aim Shot | Left Trigger | Right Mouse Button | Hold. | ✔ |
Fire | Right Trigger | Left Mouse Button | While holding Aim Shot. | ✔ |
Throw Item / Grenade | Right Trigger | Left Mouse Button | While holding Aim Throw. | ✔ |
Cast Spell | Right Trigger | Right Mouse Button | ✔ | |
Aim Towards Centre | Right Stick Press | F Key | ✕ | |
Select Weapon / Ammo Shortcuts | Right Bumper | 1 Key | Hold RB to use Wheel selector. | ✕ |
Select Spells Shortcuts | Right Bumper | 9 Key + 8 Key + 7 Key + 6 Key + 5 Key + 4 Key + 3 Key + 2 Key | Hold RB to use Wheel selector. | ✕ |
Sprint | Right Trigger | Shift (Left) Key | ✕ |
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We've documented 6 accessibility features for Controls in A Plague Tale: Innocence 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
Multiple Buttons & Two Sticks: Can play with multiple buttons and two sticks.
Mouse And Keyboard
Mouse and Keys: Can play with mouse and multiple keys.
Remap Controls
Can customise the controls for the game as follows:
Select Preset Controller Mappings: You can select preset button layouts from options provided by the developer.
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
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: Adjust how sensitive touch/mouse/stick controls are.
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Difficulty
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Difficulty in A Plague Tale: Innocence 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.
Difficulty Options
Customise Difficulty: Customise different aspects of the game to create a challenge of an appropriate level. Adjusting elements individually enables you to tailor gameplay to suit your needs and style of play.
Adjust After Setting
Adjustable Anytime: You can adjust the difficulty while playing, without having to restart the level you are on. This enables you to quickly adjust the game to suit your needs and see the difference immediately.
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Getting Started
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Getting Started in A Plague Tale: Innocence 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.
Assistance With Controls: The game can automatically assist with aiming, steering, reloading, jumping, running etc. This reduces the challenge of certain aspects of play to remove barriers and make control of characters more accessible.
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Reading
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Reading in A Plague Tale: Innocence 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. This doesn't include subtitles as required reading if they are fully voiced.
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.
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 and their Tone: Textual captions indicate who is speaking and their tone (or there is only ever one person speaking). This can also be indicated visually in the game with character icons or character expressions with text in speech bubbles next to the person speaking.
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.
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Navigation
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Navigation in A Plague Tale: Innocence 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
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.
Clear Mission Objectives: The game provides clear, structured missions with directional guidance and advice on which can be attempted next. This also indicates (ideally on maps where they are provided) which missions can't be attempted because you do not have the appropriate items yet.
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
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
Menu Audio Cues: Navigating menus provide an audio cue for each selection.
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Visual
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Visual in A Plague Tale: Innocence 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.
Audio Depiction of Event Location: Indication with positional/stereo audio of where directional events are on the screen for things like damage, footsteps, environmental elements or way-finding. This is useful for blind players.
Menu Audio Cues: Navigating menus provide an audio cue for each selection.
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Audio
We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Audio in A Plague Tale: Innocence which deals 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.
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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).
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.
Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors @GeekDadGamer