Fez Accessibility Report - Mac, PC, PS4 and iOS

Fez Accessibility Report

We've documented 16 accessibility features for Fez, including Low Pressure, No Quick Reactions, No Repeated Pressing, No Holds and Remap Buttons. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Getting Started but it also has features in Reading, Navigation, Audio and Visual 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.

Fez is a dimension based puzzle game where you, as a small character called Gomez, can rotate between four 2D views of the 3D world (as four sides around a cube-like space). This sounds confusing but actually develops into a mind-stretching and intuitive puzzle game.

External examiner, Jonah Monaghan, first checked Fez accessibility 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Jonah Monaghan and updated 2 years ago.

Fez

ACCESSIBILITY REPORT

PEGI 3 Video Game Age Rating for Fez in UK and Europe

Game Details

Release Date: 13/04/2012

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and iOS

Content Rating: PEGI 3

Players: 1

Genres: Platform (Brain Game, Narrative and Puzzle)

Accessibility: 16 features

Components: 2D Side-On, Day and Night and Pixels

Developer: Polytron (@Polytron)

Costs: Purchase cost

Controls

We've documented 8 accessibility features for Controls in Fez 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:

Keyboard Alone: Can play with just the keyboard.

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 Game Menu Access: Can remap buttons to pause, access and navigate the game menu. This enables you to specify which buttons pop-up the game menu.Whether you can remap menu navigation buttons isn't considered here.

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.

Controller Vibration

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

Sensitivity

You can adjust

Adjust Mouse/Stick/Touch Sensitivity, Deadzones and Thresholds: Adjust how sensitive touch/mouse/stick controls are and the related deadzones and thresholds.

Difficulty

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

The Snowgardens

Toodee and Topdee

Getting Started

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Getting Started in Fez 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.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Getting Started

If you want to play Fez, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:

Reading

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Reading in Fez 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.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading

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

Navigation

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Navigation in Fez 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

Large Clear Navigation: The in-game navigation and maps are clear to read. They offer large text and offer markers that are large and of high contrast. Where text or information is small, there are settings to zoom-in and increase visibility.

Menu Navigation

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation

If you want to play Fez, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Navigation accessibility:

Pikuniku

Visual

We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Visual in Fez which deals with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.

Contrast

Medium Contrast: Game uses generally well contrasting and bright visuals, or has a slider to make this the case.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual

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

Audio

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in Fez 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.

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).

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.

Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors @JonahMonaghan