Sunless Sea Accessibility Report - Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Android

iOS

Mac

Switch

Wii

Wii U

PS4

PS5

Xbox One

Xbox X|S

Sunless
Sea

Accessibility Report

20 Accessibility Features

We've documented 20 accessibility features for Sunless Sea, including No Button Combos, No Repeated Pressing, Play Without Hearing, Colour Blind Friendly and Audio Cues. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Visual but it also has features in Reading, Getting Started, 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.

Sunless Sea is a sea-faring adventure where you pilot a small steamship to explore a Victorian-era London that has been moved beneath the earth's surface. You take on the role of captain but select different ambitions that determine how you will play.

External examiner, Angela Hickman Newnham, first checked Sunless Sea accessibility 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Ben Kendall and updated 10 months ago.

Accessibility Notes

Sunless Sea does not have a difficulty setting but using the manual save feature frequently while at sea can help mitigate the high challenge level of the game.

The game map is revealed as you travel and discover the world, and very little information is recorded. The area that you can see while travelling is limited and dark, and even when lit the world is generally low contrast as part of the atmosphere. Enemies appear and attack quickly and from darkness and often require a quick response.

The text and menus are clear and legible, although some are small. Much of the gameplay takes place through reading and interacting with text boxes, without a lot of clear direction in many of the quests and storylines, which results in the game having a fairly high cognitive load.

Game Details

Release Date: 06/02/2015, updated in 2020

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Players: 1

Genres: Action, Traversal (Adventure, Fighting, Narrative, Role-Play and Shooting)

Accessibility: 20 features

Components: 2D Overhead and Open World

Developer: Failbetter Games (@FailbetterGames)

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

Controls

We've documented 6 accessibility features for Controls in Sunless Sea 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 Mouse and Keyboard: Can remap mouse and keyboard key bindings, on systems that support these controls.

Button Combinations

Specific button operation required to play

Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional: Quick, repeated button pressing (more than 2 times a second) is not required, can be skipped or switched to holding a button to trigger a repeated action.

No Simultaneous Buttons: Only one button or key required at a time, in addition to direction stick(s).

Controller Vibration

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

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls

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

Shadows Over Loathing (12 Controls Features)
Horizon Forbidden West (10 Controls Features)
West of Loathing (9 Controls Features)
Burly Men at Sea (8 Controls Features)

Difficulty

We haven’t documented any accessibility features for Difficulty in Sunless Sea 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 Sunless Sea, and offer accessibility features for Difficulty:

Horizon Forbidden West (3 Difficulty Features)
Shadows Over Loathing (2 Difficulty Features)
Horizon Zero Dawn The Frozen Wilds (1 Difficulty Feature)
The Long Dark (1 Difficulty Feature)

Getting Started

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Getting Started in Sunless Sea 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 Sunless Sea, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:

West of Loathing (9 Getting Started Features)
Shadows Over Loathing (8 Getting Started Features)
The Amazing American Circus (6 Getting Started Features)
Thousand Threads (6 Getting Started Features)

Reading

We've documented 3 accessibility features for Reading in Sunless Sea 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.

Extensive Complex Reading: Extensive reading required. The quantity and complexity of reading is suitable for someone who loves long books and enjoys extended dialogue or narrative descriptions.

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.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading

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

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine (5 Reading Features)
Rescue: Under Pressure (5 Reading Features)
Horizon Zero Dawn The Frozen Wilds (5 Reading Features)
The Amazing American Circus (4 Reading Features)

Navigation

We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Navigation in Sunless Sea 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

Menus Don't Wrap: Menus don't wrap and stop the cursor at the bottom of the list if you press down. Or menus do wrap but make it clear that you are back at the top of the list with sound or narration.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation

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

Thousand Threads (8 Navigation Features)
The Amazing American Circus (7 Navigation Features)
Citizen Sleeper (7 Navigation Features)
Horizon Forbidden West (7 Navigation Features)

Visual

We've documented 6 accessibility features for Visual in Sunless Sea which deal with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.

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.

No Busy Backgrounds: No distracting backgrounds or you can make them static or blank. This includes the absence of other movement elements in the background that might distract or confuse the action. Where foreground contrast is high, this includes games with some movement in the background that doesn't make it overly difficult to distinguish what is happening.

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.

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 Sunless Sea, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Visual accessibility:

Rescue: Under Pressure (10 Visual Features)
The Amazing American Circus (7 Visual Features)
Thousand Threads (7 Visual Features)
Spiritfarer (7 Visual Features)

Audio

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in Sunless Sea 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 Sunless Sea, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Audio accessibility:

Thousand Threads (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).

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

iOS
iOS has a very extensive suite of accessibility settings including ways to navigate with voice and comprehensive screen reading, though most of the features don't work with games.

Read more about system accessibility settings.