Recent reviews by Short

One of the most accessible games I have ever played! You can even play with Tobii eye tracker. Super fun and the type of game where "I'll just play 1 more level" accidentally turns into going to bed 10 levels later!

This developer cares more about video game accessibility than so many AAA devs. I will be a life long fan!

Best football game ever

Everything is better with friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4u3J_thsl0

So far Hoard can somewhat be played with only a mouse. Why somewhat you ask? While there is an option to play that is labeled as “Mouse Only” sadly it requires spacebar usage. Yeah I can’t figure that one out either. I did discover keeping your Onscreen Keyboard over the edge of the Hoard window gives you spacebar access.

Windowed mode does keep you locked in to the game window, but overall gameplay can mainly be completed with minimal mouse movement and mostly left clicking. We’ll keep testing vigilantly this weekend and give more information as we get in touch with our Dragon Side!

Awhile back I had a very special request from a friend whose disability had progressed to a point where writing is no longer an option: Find a mouse only Sudoku game playable offline. So when I saw Zen of Sudoku, I picked it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCaRVsTZHqg

When I first booted up, I ran into a problem. The game booted in Fullscreen Mode and immediately asked for my name. Without Onscreen Keyboard accessible due to fullscreen mode, I was unable to enter my name. I needed someone to type in my name before I could move on.

Once my name was entered everything was ok. Options let me change to Windowed Mode which is borderless allowing me to access my desktop easily. There’s no other accessibility options. No colorblind options or input configuration are found.

Gameplay so far has been point and click. To choose what number you would like to enter into the puzzle you can click numbers in a grid & click the one you’d like. The boxes are kind of small in windowed mode so some precision is needed. You can correct any mistakes however. When trying to use the keyboard to choose squares or enter numbers, I had no luck. So far it seems you need a point & click input but we’ll keep our eye out for any changes.

The game is a peaceful and relaxing. There’s no timer even on harder difficulties and you can stop at anytime and resume later if you’re feeling fatigued for just need a break. Audio consists of relaxing sounds but isn’t needed for gameplay.

Zen of Sudoku has been fun so far and will definitely satisfy any sudoku cravings. We’ll keep checking it out to see if gameplay changes or additional issues pop up, but the first look has easy to play as long as you can point & click.

This accessibility first look we checked out The Binding of Isaac. The Binding of Isaac is an action game where your trying to fight your way through a basement to escape certain death. from your mother. It’s definitely a dark story! This is from a mouse only gamer perspective:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n20XFRBytNw

I knew upfront that movement was keyboard based, but I was very curious about if it was still playable with a mouse. The game starts in windowed mode & is borderless so onscreen keyboard is usable! There’s no options for Colorblind mode or Subtitles. As a matter of fact there’s no subtitles on the opening cinematic which explains the whole story.

As far as gameplay goes, as expected it is keyboard heavy! The movement of your character needs a keyboard or joypad. It IS playable with onscreen keyboard but was quite frustrating since I had to choose between moving or shooting. I was able to take down a boss by staying back and shooting but during advancing through rooms success depended a lot on the type of bad guys in each room. If the baddies were ranged or patted, I could carefully maneuver well enough to win but for mobs that were melee, escaping was many times impossible for me. You can shoot with your mouse which does help if nothing is chasing you. Completing a level of the basement was a huge victory but short lived since you begin back at level 1 upon death.

It IS playable with onscreen keyboard, keyboard only, or joypad. However, to me the frustration of not being able to move and shoot simultaneously via onscreen keyboard wasn’t worth devoting hours to. The lack of subtitles also was disappointing since the developer makes the opening cinematic the story of why you’re even running through your basement.

A review for disabled gamers:

http://youtu.be/4Ex4VwbBu7g

Options are in game are pretty scarce. The game starts in windowed mode and has borderless edges. There is an option for Fullscreen. There’s no Subtitles or Colorblind Mode in the options. There’s also no voice acting so subtitles are unneeded. Colorblind mode would help as some quests are color coded according to tutorial.

Game play is very.point and click and I really couldn’t make it playable with onscreen keyboard. With a standard keyboard it IS playable using the hotkeys above! No keyboard is necessary however for mouse only gamers. You can speed up gameplay during the long slow periods and have the game automatically slow back down when events occur. The game can be paused or saved at anytime so fatigue shouldn’t be a concern.

If you can play point & click games and have always wanted to be Satan running an apartment, this game is for you. The tenants themselves are so adorable it’s worth checking out.

http://youtu.be/tnP3RAy3mlQ

Disabled Gamer considering buying this? Wonder about accessibility options? This review is for you:

I have been wanting to check out this game forever. What’s more exciting than working the border & telling people who aren’t allowed in to bugger off? That’s pretty much the basis of Papers, Please. You check passports and paperwork to allow people into Arstotzka. You need to earn enough money to support your family. But all that info does no good if we can’t play it. So, how’s accessibility?

I can’t explain how excited I was to see this. You can get windowed mode before you even open the game. Thank you developers! Windowed mode is borderless so you can access your desktop with ease. Onscreen Keyboard was a click away but honestly wasn’t needed in the first look. So far the game is pretty point and click. I haven’t found a way to control gameplay with the keyboard alone, but will keep trying and will definitely report back if a solution is found. Colorblind mode is also nowhere to be found.

So far Papers, Please has been a joy for mouse only players. The first level took nothing more than point and click or drag and drop mechanics. The speed at which you complete each level does determine income, but during early levels I haven’t felt the need to rush thus causing fatigue. Things may change at later levels.

Super Hexagon is an arcade type game where you try to keep your triangle from hitting the walls of spinning hexagons while they come at you very quickly. This is a review by a disabled gamer (I only play with a mouse).

http://youtu.be/fAtaCmT_YnI

As soon as I opened the game I hit an immediate roadblock. You begin full screen with your left and right mouse buttons only scrolling the menu. To actually select anything on the menu, the game says to press space bar. I later accidentally discovered you can press both mouse buttons simultaneously to act as a space bar. but the game itself never tells you this. So the first 5 minutes of my experience was spent trying to find someone to come to my PC to press space so I could access options. Once I had help and could access the options, I could change to windowed mode. Windowed mode is borderless and worked well with onscreen keyboard. You can play with your mouse or keyboard only. There's also an option for joypad.
Gameplay itself can be completely mouse controlled. Left click to spin board left, right click spin board right. Clicking needs to be quick to help with precision. While Fun and adictive, it can also be frustrating. I could only last a few seconds. The game is difficult for everyone with game modes starting with hard and moving on to harder, hardest & several locked levels. With that in mind, I also had someone without a disability play and noticed it was still difficult to get far but moves seemed to be more precise.

The game is playable with only a mouse or keyboard. That is Assuming you can press both mouse buttons at once or have someone who can press space to get it out of full screen, it is mouse only playable. That being said, if you can't make quick agile clicks, get easily frustrated, or have issues with flashing spinning graphics... I would avoid this game.

Besides issues you might have with accessibility, the game IS addictive fun, even when you're losing.