Wayward Strand Accessibility Report - PC, PS4, PS5, Switch and Xbox One

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Wayward
Strand

Accessibility Report

27 Accessibility Features

We've documented 27 accessibility features for Wayward Strand, including Fully Voiced (Or No Speech), Environmental Captions, Large Subtitles, Large Text and Low Pressure. Its accessibility is strongest in Reading and Controls but it also has features in Visual, Getting Started, 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.

Wayward Strand is a narrative game about Casey Beaumaris, an intrepid teenage journalist. You visit an airborne hospital, uncover the airship's mysteries, and explore the lives of its inhabitants. It's a Tintin-style point-and-click adventure with a complex branching story to investigate.

Our accessibility examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Wayward Strand accessibility 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Ben Kendall and updated 13 months ago.

Accessibility Notes

To help you keep track of the different movements and conversations the game offers a logbook that is filled in with the different people's activities.

You can make text quite large and clear, although there are some elements like the Date and AM/PM on the clock that are small. Sometimes the off-screen dialogue is not depicted visually until you get closer.

There are sometimes multiple people talking at once. If you miss dialogue there isn't a chance to revisit what has passed. You have limited time to respond to questions. But the game keeps track of important information in your Notebook.

Game Details

Release Date: 15/09/2022

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Players: 1

Genres: Communication, Narrative (Point-and-Click, Puzzle and Simulation)

Accessibility: 27 features

Components: 2D Side-On, Cartoon and Hand-Made

Developer: Ghost Pattern (@GhostPattern)

Costs: Purchase cost

Controls

We've documented 6 accessibility features for Controls in Wayward Strand 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 Alone: Can play with just the mouse/mouse-button/mouse wheel.

Touchscreen

Can play with the following. Additional gestures may be required for games played with a screenreader like VoiceOver.

One Tap Targeted: Can play with touchscreen, tap in specific locations.

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.

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).

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls

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

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (16 Controls Features)
Stories of Blossom (14 Controls Features)
Wildermyth (11 Controls Features)
Roguebook (10 Controls Features)

Difficulty

We haven’t documented any accessibility features for Difficulty in Wayward Strand 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 Wayward Strand, and offer accessibility features for Difficulty:

Wildermyth (3 Difficulty Features)
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog (2 Difficulty Features)
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (2 Difficulty Features)
Triangle Strategy (2 Difficulty Features)

Getting Started

We've documented 4 accessibility features for Getting Started in Wayward Strand 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.

Reaction-Time Not Critical: Individual game actions don’t need quick reactions, or there are settings to lower the requirement for quick reactions. This means you don't need to quickly press a button in response to an on-screen prompt, target a fast-moving target or skillfully complete a scenario against the clock.

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.

Assistance For Progressing

These features aid your progress through the game offering different ways of maintaining your progression.

Assisted Recall for Characters: The game provides reminders about character identity during play. This includes pop-up images and bios for character who is speaking.

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 Wayward Strand, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:

Stories of Blossom (13 Getting Started Features)
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (9 Getting Started Features)
Videoverse (7 Getting Started Features)
Triangle Strategy (6 Getting Started Features)

Reading

We've documented 7 accessibility features for Reading in Wayward Strand 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.

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.

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.

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

Large Clear Subtitles: Subtitles are large, clear and of good contrast. They are at least 1/20 (46 pixels on 1080 screen) the height of a landscape screen and at least 1/40 height on portrait screens, or can be adjusted to be. We base this on the full line-height, including the space above and below the letters. Considered separately from the general text of the game, the subtitles are large, clear and of good contrast.

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, their Tone and Environment Sounds: Captions indicate who is speaking (or there is only ever one person speaking) and their tone, game sound and music. 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. Environmental sounds are provided as extra text within the subtitles.

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.

Navigation

We've documented 4 accessibility features for Navigation in Wayward Strand 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

Menu Audio Cues: Navigating menus provide an audio cue for each selection.

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.

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 Wayward Strand, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Navigation accessibility:

Stories of Blossom (7 Navigation Features)
Roguebook (7 Navigation Features)
Wildermyth (5 Navigation Features)

Visual

We've documented 5 accessibility features for Visual in Wayward Strand 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 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

Menu Audio Cues: Navigating menus provide an audio cue for each selection.

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.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual

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

Stories of Blossom (10 Visual Features)
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (7 Visual Features)
Roguebook (7 Visual Features)
Last Minute Love (7 Visual Features)

Audio

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in Wayward Strand 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.

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.

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 Wayward Strand, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility:

Videoverse (3 Audio Features)
Wildermyth (3 Audio Features)
Goodbye Volcano High (3 Audio Features)
Pendragon (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).

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.

Read more about system accessibility settings.