Timberborn Accessibility Report - Mac and PC

Timberborn Accessibility Report

We've documented 20 accessibility features for Timberborn, including Adjust Speed, Low Pressure, No Quick Reactions, Custom Difficulty and Select Difficulty. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Getting Started but it also has features in Navigation, Difficulty, Reading, 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.

Timberborn is a construction strategy game where you control a population of beavers, building a civilization and preparing for drought. You build waterways, storage houses, dams and more in a densely packed city as you manage resources, allocate buildings and ensure you have enough precious water. The impending drought, limited city footprint and focus on water preservation makes this an unusual city-building game, and allows for creative problem solving and strategic thinking to take the forefront.

Our accessibility examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Timberborn accessibility 22 months ago.

Accessibility Notes

In addition to the three preset difficulties, you can also extensively customise different aspects of the difficulty to best suit you. You can stop the flow of time if you want to ensure you know what you are doing, and can run the game at many different speeds as well, allowing you to skip over periods of inactivity.

The HUD can become very complex and full of information that can easily become overwhelming, and although it's high contrast, some sections are very small, making it difficult to make out some details. The game can often seem quite greyscale and low in saturation, making it difficult to distinguish between different elements.

Because all information is communicated visually or textually, you don't need sound to play well.

Timberborn

ACCESSIBILITY REPORT

Game Details

Release Date: 15/09/2021

Out Now: Mac and PC

Expected Content Rating: PEGI 3

Players: 1

Genres: Brain Game, Strategy (Creative and Simulation)

Accessibility: 20 features

Components: 2D Overhead, Day and Night, Grid and Weather

Developer: Mechanistry (@Mechanistry)

Costs: Purchase cost

Controls

We've documented 5 accessibility features for Controls in Timberborn which deal with how you control the game, different options for alternative inputs and whether you can remap these settings to suit your needs.

Mouse And Keyboard

Can play with the following:

Mouse and Keys: Can play with mouse and multiple keys.

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 Mouse and Keyboard: Can remap mouse and keyboard key bindings, on systems that support these controls.

Remap Extra Mouse Buttons: Can remap additional buttons on mice that provide more than the two standard buttons, on systems that support these controls.

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.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls

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

Difficulty

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Difficulty in Timberborn 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.

Customise Difficulty: Customise different aspects of the game to create a challenge of an appropriate level. Adjusting elements individually enables you to tailor gameplay to suit your needs and style of play.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Difficulty

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

Minecraft

Getting Started

We've documented 5 accessibility features for Getting Started in Timberborn 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.

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.

Adjust Speed: Adjust the speed of the game at critical moments or throughout, or rewind play for a second attempt, to ease reaction times. By slowing the game, you have more time to interpret what is happening and then execute your actions. It also reduces the pressure on getting things right quickly or the first time you attempt them.

Assistance For Progressing

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

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 Timberborn, 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 Timberborn 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 Timberborn, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:

Navigation

We've documented 3 accessibility features for Navigation in Timberborn 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

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.

Menu Navigation

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

Minecraft

Parkasaurus

Lueur and the Dim Settlers

Visual

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Visual in Timberborn 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.

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

Minecraft

Parkasaurus

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 Ben Kendall