Double Kick Heroes Accessibility Report - Mac, PC, Switch and Xbox One

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Double
Kick Heroes

Accessibility Report

22 Accessibility Features

We've documented 22 accessibility features for Double Kick Heroes, including Large Text, Adjust Speed, Low Pressure, Custom Difficulty and Select Difficulty. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Reading but it also has features in Difficulty, Getting Started, Visual, Navigation 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.

Double Kick Heroes is a heavy metal rhythm game. You tap buttons in time to the music to lead your band through the zombie wasteland. It revolves around the "double kicking" drumming technique. When you get this right you can speed up the music.

External examiner, Antonio I. Martinez, first checked Double Kick Heroes accessibility 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 2 years ago.

Accessibility Notes

The higher difficulty the more instruments you have to control and the more buttons you need to press in time. You can customise the difficulty by changing the music speed and removing all enemies.

You can play with motion controls on the Switch, shaking the controllers in time with the beat. You can also add additional Joy-Cons (perhaps strapped to legs) to enable play with up to four rhythm tracks.

Game Details

Release Date: 11/12/2018, updated in 2020

Out Now: Mac, PC, Switch and Xbox One

Players: 1

Genres: Fighting, Traversal (Action, Adventure, Creative and Rhythm)

Accessibility: 22 features

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Developer: Head Bang Club (@HeadBang_Club)

Costs: Purchase cost

Controls

We've documented 8 accessibility features for Controls in Double Kick Heroes 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:

2 Buttons: Can play with 2 buttons.

Mouse And Keyboard

Can play with the following:

Keyboard Alone: Can play with just the keyboard.

Motion

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

Motion Gesture: Can motion with the controller to direct an in-game action. This can be a one-to-one motion for analogue sword or camera movement. It can also be a simple shake to trigger a one-off action. This is sometimes known as Waggle or Shake controls, as popularised by the Wii.

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

Remap One Action to Multiple Buttons: Can remap multiple buttons to perform the same action to reduce the need to memorise buttons and make the action easier to access.

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.

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.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls

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

Hi-Fi Rush (12 Controls Features)
Klang 2 (9 Controls Features)
Sequence Storm (9 Controls Features)

Difficulty

We've documented 3 accessibility features for Difficulty in Double Kick Heroes 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

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.

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 Between Levels: You can adjust the difficulty between levels/rounds. Although you have to restart your checkpoint or level, this enables you to adjust the difficulty after selecting it at the beginning of the game.

Getting Started

We've documented 3 accessibility features for Getting Started in Double Kick Heroes 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.

Adjust Speed: Adjust the speed of the game at critical moments or throughout, or rewind play for a second attempt, to ease reaction times. By slowing the game, you have more time to interpret what is happening and then execute your actions. It also reduces the pressure on getting things right quickly or the first time you attempt them.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Getting Started

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

Brok the Investigator (12 Getting Started Features)
Sequence Storm (10 Getting Started Features)
Hi-Fi Rush (6 Getting Started Features)
Skate 3 (6 Getting Started Features)

Reading

We've documented 4 accessibility features for Reading in Double Kick Heroes 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.

Text Visibility

Large Clear Text: All essential text is large and clear or can be adjusted to be. The general text used throughout the game in menus, instructions and other key information (excluding subtitles that are assessed separately) is at least 1/20 (46 pixels on 1080 screen) the height on landscape screens and at least 1/40 height on portrait screens. We base this on the full line-height, including the space above and below the letters.

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 Double Kick Heroes, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:

Brok the Investigator (7 Reading Features)
Hi-Fi Rush (7 Reading Features)
Final Vendetta (6 Reading Features)
Klang 2 (6 Reading Features)

Navigation

We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Navigation in Double Kick Heroes 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.

Menu Navigation

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation

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

Brok the Investigator (7 Navigation Features)
Klang 2 (5 Navigation Features)
Heartbeat: Regret (5 Navigation Features)
Castle Crashers (5 Navigation Features)

Visual

We've documented 3 accessibility features for Visual in Double Kick Heroes 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

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.

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.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual

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

Brok the Investigator (9 Visual Features)
Castle Crashers (7 Visual Features)
Heartbeat: Regret (6 Visual Features)
Sequence Storm (6 Visual Features)

Audio

We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Audio in Double Kick Heroes 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.

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.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Audio

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

Hi-Fi Rush (3 Audio Features)
Ekstase (3 Audio Features)
Ape Out (3 Audio Features)
Spin Rhythm XD (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.

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.

Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors @Black1976 and Andy Robertson