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Xbox X|SWe've documented 17 accessibility features for Stray, including No Button Combos, Remap Buttons, Play Without Hearing, Colour Blind Friendly and Audio Cues. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Reading but it also has features in Getting Started, Visual, Audio 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.
Our accessibility examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Stray accessibility 21 months ago.
Accessibility Notes
The autosave feature saves your progress every couple of minutes, so you never lose much progress.
The text in the game is often fairly small and can be of low contrast with the background in specific scenarios. The voices throughout the game are gibberish, but any important dialogue is presented in textual form with the name of the speaker.
Navigating through the game can be tricky, as there is no map and only occasional (text-based) reminders of where to go, so exploration is often required, and it can be easy to get lost for long periods.
Often, the game can be fairly low-contrast, with every object a similar colour, especially indoors, where all objects are seen under orange light. There is optional motion blur (enabled by default), but depth-of-field effects are not able to be turned off.
When around specific objects, you are shown the button to interact with them, but this does not occur for every action. When it does occur, the button prompt is fairly small and doesn't always appear in the same place on the screen.
Game Details
Release Date: 19/07/2022, updated in 2023
Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox X|S
Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds
Players: 1
Genres: Adventure, Traversal (Narrative and Puzzle)
Accessibility: 17 features
Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon
Developer: HK Dev Blog (@HKDevBlog)
Costs: Purchase cost
Controls
We've documented 7 accessibility features for Controls in Stray 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 Mouse and Keyboard: Can remap mouse and keyboard key bindings, on systems that support these controls.
Invert X/Y Axis: Can invert the direction required to control looking and aiming. This enables you to match your instinctive orientation when looking.
Button Combinations
Specific button operation required to play
No Simultaneous Buttons: Only one button or key required at a time, in addition to direction stick(s).
Sensitivity
You can adjust
Adjust Mouse/Stick/Touch Sensitivity: Adjust how sensitive touch/mouse/stick controls are.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls
If you want to play Stray, but it doesn't offer the Controls accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Controls accessibility:
- The Spirit and the Mouse (15 Controls Features)
- Farewell North (11 Controls Features)
- Ghostwire Tokyo (10 Controls Features)
- Shelter (9 Controls Features)
Difficulty
We haven’t documented any accessibility features for Difficulty in Stray 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 Stray, and offer accessibility features for Difficulty:
- Knack 2 (2 Difficulty Features)
- Tunic (2 Difficulty Features)
- Ghostwire Tokyo (1 Difficulty Feature)
- Signalis (1 Difficulty Feature)
Getting Started
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Getting Started in Stray 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.
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 Stray, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:
- Lost and Hound (8 Getting Started Features)
- Farewell North (7 Getting Started Features)
- Ghostwire Tokyo (6 Getting Started Features)
- Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova (6 Getting Started Features)
Reading
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Reading in Stray 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.
Subtitles
Some Speech Subtitled: Some spoken content has subtitles. This reduces the pressure on interpreting all the spoken content, although not everything is captured textually.
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 Stray, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:
- Ghostwire Tokyo (7 Reading Features)
- Knack (7 Reading Features)
- Knack 2 (6 Reading Features)
- The Gunk (6 Reading Features)
Navigation
We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Navigation in Stray 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
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 Stray, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Navigation accessibility:
- Ghostwire Tokyo (7 Navigation Features)
- Lost and Hound (6 Navigation Features)
- Selini (4 Navigation Features)
- Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova (4 Navigation Features)
Visual
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Visual in Stray which deal 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
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.
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 Stray, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Visual accessibility:
- Lost and Hound (10 Visual Features)
- Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island (7 Visual Features)
- Ghostwire Tokyo (5 Visual Features)
- Hoa (5 Visual Features)
Audio
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in Stray 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 Stray, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility:
- Ghostwire Tokyo (4 Audio Features)
- Lost and Hound (4 Audio Features)
- Farewell North (3 Audio Features)
- Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island (3 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.
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 Ben Kendall
