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GAMES Pokémon Legends: Arceus ACCESSIBILITY REPORT
Pokémon Legends: Arceus Accessibility ReportWe've documented 19 accessibility features for Pokémon Legends: Arceus, including Large Subtitles, Low Pressure, Motion Aiming, Play Without Hearing and Audio Cues. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Reading but it also has features in Navigation, Getting Started, Visual 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.
Our accessibility examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Pokémon Legends: Arceus accessibility 20 months ago. It was re-examined by Ben Kendall and updated 12 weeks ago.
Accessibility Notes
There are no difficulty settings, and the game is significantly harder than previous games in the series, and sometimes requires you to quickly press buttons, use multiple at once, and hold down buttons for prolonged periods, such as when you want to throw a Pokéball, where you need to hold down a button to prepare to throw. In sections like this, you can either use the joysticks or motion controls to aim, or a combination of both, and you can change the sensitivity of both.
The subtitles throughout are fairly large and of high contrast, but some of the other text can be of low contrast, and very small, making it difficult to read on occasion.
When out in the wild, Pokémon can be very small and subsequently hard to see. If they spot you and move to attack you, a visual indicator makes this very clear. On the HUD, you can see a pointer indicating the location and distance to your quest location.
You can save at any time when out in the world, but during fights, you can't so you can lose quite a bit of progress if you quit late on into a long battle.
Game Details
Release Date: 28/01/2022
Out Now: Switch
Content Rating: PEGI 7
Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds
Players: 1
Genres: Adventure, Role-Play (Collecting, Fighting and Sequencing)
Accessibility: 19 features
Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon, Day and Night, Open World and Weather
Developer: Nintendo (@Nintendo)
Costs: Purchase cost and Trade Items In-Game
Controls
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Controls in Pokémon Legends: Arceus 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.
Motion
Games that can be played with different sorts of motion controllers.
Motion Aiming: Can use small movements of the gamepad to fine-tune aiming or as the main aiming mechanism. This is sometimes known as Gyro-Aiming. This usually provides the ability to calibrate these controls to taste.
Controller Vibration
Informative Vibration: Controller vibration indicates events or interactions in the game, echoing visual and audio cues. This can provide additional information about progress, approaching enemies or hitting a target.
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 Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but it doesn't offer the Controls accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Controls accessibility:
Difficulty
We haven’t documented any accessibility features for Difficulty in Pokémon Legends: Arceus 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 Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and offer accessibility features for Difficulty:
Getting Started
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Getting Started in Pokémon Legends: Arceus 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.
Practice Area: You can practice freely without opponents or time pressures. This can be a specific practice option, or the ability to play levels with the easiest opponents to improve understanding and skill.
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 Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:
Reading
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Reading in Pokémon Legends: Arceus 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.
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: 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.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading
If you want to play Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:
Navigation
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Navigation in Pokémon Legends: Arceus 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
Head-Up Display Navigation: Indication of where to go next with overlaid arrows, minimaps and waypoint markers. This supplements in-game visual and audible cues with additional guidance about where you are and where you need to go.
Menu Navigation
Menu Audio Cues: Navigating menus provide an audio cue for each selection.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation
If you want to play Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Navigation accessibility:
Visual
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Visual in Pokémon Legends: Arceus which deal with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.
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.
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 Pokémon Legends: Arceus, 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 Pokémon Legends: Arceus 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 Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility:
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.
Read more about system accessibility settings.
Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors Ben Kendall and Andy Robertson
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Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships. |
