Wordle Accessibility Report - Web - Family Gaming Database

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Wordle

Accessibility Report

27 Accessibility Features

We've documented 27 accessibility features for Wordle, including Fully Voiced (Or No Speech), Large Text, Low Pressure, No Quick Reactions and Custom Difficulty. Its accessibility is strongest in Visual and Controls but it also has features in Getting Started, Reading, Difficulty, Navigation 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.

Wordle is a daily puzzle game where you (and anyone else playing that day) try and guess the secret word. You get six guesses that must be real words. Each letter is then coloured to provide clues: green for the right letter in the right place, yellow for the right letter but not in the right position, and grey for letters not used in the word.

Our accessibility examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Wordle accessibility 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 2 years ago.

Accessibility Notes

There is minimal difficulty setting as everyone is trying to guess the same word each day. You can set a Hard mode that requires you to use any correctly guessed letters in subsequent guesses.

The letters and grid are large and easy to read. There is a High Contrast mode to improve this further.

When you share the Wordle result it pastes in a series of Emoticons that are not screen reader friendly. You can use a third-party tool like https://wa11y.co/ to create friendlier results to share.

You can use the Voice Control setting on iOS to play the game with just your voice. To play without sight you need to use these tools before this is possible:

Make Wordle Accessible Chrome extension.
Make Wordle Accessible bookmarklet to be able to use VoiceOver to play the game.

Game Details

Release Date: 20/12/2021

Price: Free

Out Now: Web

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Players: 1

Genres: Brain Game and Puzzle

Accessibility: 27 features

Components: 2D Overhead, Grid and Text

Developer: Power Languish (@PowerLanguish)

Costs: Free

Controls

We've documented 6 accessibility features for Controls in Wordle 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:

Keyboard Alone: Can play with just the keyboard.

Mouse Alone: Can play with just the mouse/mouse-button/mouse wheel.

Touchscreen

Can play with the following. Additional gestures may be required for games played with a screenreader like VoiceOver.

One Tap Targeted: Can play with touchscreen, tap in specific locations.

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.

No Simultaneous Buttons: Only one button or key required at a time, in addition to direction stick(s).

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls

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

Gubbins (10 Controls Features)

Difficulty

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Difficulty in Wordle 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

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.

Adjust After Setting

Adjustable Between Levels: You can adjust the difficulty between levels/rounds. Although you have to restart your checkpoint or level, this enables you to adjust the difficulty after selecting it at the beginning of the game.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Difficulty

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

Scribble It (3 Difficulty Features)

Getting Started

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

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.

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 Wordle, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:

Earthlingo (9 Getting Started Features)
Otteretto (8 Getting Started Features)
Ordet (8 Getting Started Features)
Gubbins (7 Getting Started Features)

Reading

We've documented 5 accessibility features for Reading in Wordle 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.

Simple Minimal Reading: Minimal reading is required. The quantity and complexity of reading are at a level that a primary/elementary student (9-year-old) could understand.

Text Visibility

Large Clear Text: All essential text is large and clear or can be adjusted to be. The general text used throughout the game in menus, instructions and other key information (excluding subtitles that are assessed separately) is at least 1/20 (46 pixels on 1080 screen) the height on landscape screens and at least 1/40 height on portrait screens. We base this on the full line-height, including the space above and below the letters.

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.

Voice Acted

All Dialogue is Voice Acted (Or No Speech In Game): All of the game dialogue and narrative can be voiced, or there is no speech in the game. This means there is no requirement to read the dialogue and narrative text to play the game.

Navigation

We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Navigation in Wordle which deals 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.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation

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

Earthlingo (3 Navigation Features)
LOK Digital (2 Navigation Features)
Todo Math (2 Navigation Features)

Visual

We've documented 7 accessibility features for Visual in Wordle which deal with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.

Contrast

High Contrast: There is high contrast between elements that need to be distinguished from each other, such as characters, interactive objects and game environment, either by default or a high contrast mode. This is different to a slider that increases contrast or brightness between light and dark.

Interactive Elements

Large Game Elements: Game characters and other elements are large and distinguishable. Enemies and player characters are at least 1/6 of the height of the screen. Or there is a zoom feature to make them larger.

Visual Distractions

No Flashes: No flashing strobe effects or you can disable them. This includes the absence of flashing from dramatic visual effects, explosions or weather effects like lightning.

No Screen Shake: No screen shake effect or it is included but it can be disabled. This includes the absence of screen shake for dramatic effect as well as to indicate hits on a target.

No Busy Backgrounds: No distracting backgrounds or you can make them static or blank. This includes the absence of other movement elements in the background that might distract or confuse the action. Where foreground contrast is high, this includes games with some movement in the background that doesn't make it overly difficult to distinguish what is happening.

Colour Options

Colour Blind Friendly: Game doesn’t rely on colour or can switch to colour blind friendly mode with double coding or similar way to avoid colour dependance.

Play Without Sight

Play Without Sight on iOS with VoiceOver: The game can be played without sight by fully supporting the built-in VoiceOver screen reader on iOS. This includes clear text on buttons and intuitive navigation so VoiceOver can be used to read all interactive elements.

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual

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

Subwords (9 Visual Features)
LOK Digital (8 Visual Features)
Otteretto (8 Visual Features)

Audio

We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Audio in Wordle which deals 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.