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Xbox X|SWe've documented 32 accessibility features for Ctrl Alt Ego, including Low Pressure, No Quick Reactions, Select Difficulty, No Repeated Pressing and Play Without Hearing. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Getting Started but it also has features in Reading, Navigation, Visual, Audio and Difficulty 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.
External examiner, Francis Clark, first checked Ctrl Alt Ego accessibility 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Francis Clark and updated 2 years ago.
Accessibility Notes
If you get stuck the game notices and provides additional hints and tips. You can opt to Show Insights to display these all the time. You can opt to show/hide the task notifications, activity logs and tips which is useful if you are proceeding in your own order through the game.
You can enable bright yellow Point of Interest markers to help navigate the world and find interactive elements. This includes direction and distance to aid task completion where you are finding particular items. As you approach interactive items additional information is displayed to aid progression. You can also switch into an Ego Mode that provides information about the robots.
The robots make different noises to attract you over. These offer 3D directional sound that aids their discovery. If you are shot there is directional audio to indicate where it is coming from, there is also a visual indicator of this direction.
Game Details
Release Date: 22/07/2022
Out Now: PC
Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds
Players: 1
Genres: Adventure, Brain Game (Narrative, Puzzle, Simulation and Stealth)
Accessibility: 32 features
Components: 3D Third-Person
Developer: Mind Thunk (@MindThunk)
Costs: Purchase cost
Controls
We've documented 7 accessibility features for Controls in Ctrl Alt Ego 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.
Mouse and Controller: Can play with mouse and controller simultaneously.
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.
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
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.
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 Ctrl Alt Ego, but it doesn't offer the Controls accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Controls accessibility:
- The Talos Principle 2 (12 Controls Features)
- Sensorium (12 Controls Features)
- Outer Wilds (12 Controls Features)
- Portal (11 Controls Features)
Difficulty
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Difficulty in Ctrl Alt Ego 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.
Adjust After Setting
Adjustable Anytime: You can adjust the difficulty while playing, without having to restart the level you are on. This enables you to quickly adjust the game to suit your needs and see the difference immediately.
Getting Started
We've documented 7 accessibility features for Getting Started in Ctrl Alt Ego 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.
View Control Mapping: You can view a map of controls during play. This clearly displays the mappings of actions to buttons/keys/mouse/keyboard without having to leave the game. This includes games that always display buttons to press during play.
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.
No Jump Scares: No sudden loud noises or popping-up scary visuals that unexpectedly appear without warning, or the option to disable them.
Assistance For Progressing
These features aid your progress through the game offering different ways of maintaining your progression.
Assisted Progress With Hints: The game notices if you get stuck (or you can press a button) and provides information to help you progress. This can offer hints or tutorials popping up during play. This includes hints after you have died, where it can suggest strategies or difficulty settings to adjust or offer to skip past problematic levels.
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 Ctrl Alt Ego, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Getting Started accessibility:
- The Talos Principle 2 (11 Getting Started Features)
Reading
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Reading in Ctrl Alt Ego 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
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.
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.
Voice Acted
Some Dialogue is Voice Acted: Some of the game dialogue and narrative is voice acted. This reduces the pressure on reading all the dialogue text, although not everything is provided audibly.
Navigation
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Navigation in Ctrl Alt Ego 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.
Clarity
Clear Mission Objectives: The game provides clear, structured missions with directional guidance and advice on which can be attempted next. This also indicates (ideally on maps where they are provided) which missions can't be attempted because you do not have the appropriate items yet.
Visual Directional Cues: Additional in-game visual cues that signpost where to go next and how close you are to arriving. This can be with camera movement to focus on your destination or important items. It can use light, breadcrumb trails, in-world pointers to identify your mission's target location.
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.
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 Ctrl Alt Ego, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Navigation accessibility:
- Outer Wilds (6 Navigation Features)
Visual
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Visual in Ctrl Alt Ego 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.
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.
Audio Depiction of Event Location: Indication with positional/stereo audio of where directional events are on the screen for things like damage, footsteps, environmental elements. This is useful for blind players.
Menu Audio Cues: Navigating menus provide an audio cue for each selection.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual
If you want to play Ctrl Alt Ego, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Visual accessibility:
- Lab Rat (6 Visual Features)
- The Talos Principle (6 Visual Features)
Audio
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Audio in Ctrl Alt Ego 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.
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.
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.
Read more about system accessibility settings.
Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors @MindThunk and Andy Robertson
