ALL POSTS
Barrier Breaker – Game Speed Controls – Insomniac Games 2021
Barrier Breakers are typically given out to studios who perfect or add new best-practices to an existing game accessibility feature. A new Barrier Breaker award goes to Insomniac Games for the game-speed controls featured in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart which are...
2021 Diamond Award Winner – New Pokémon Snap
What makes an accessible game? Robust features? Simple design? Easy-to-understand gameplay? The answer is all of these and more. As I hope I’ve demonstrated for the past ten years, the best accessibility always grows out of a developer’s vision, rather than...
Letter from DAGERSystem President Josh Straub
Dear Readers, It’s hard to believe but this August will mark the 10-year anniversary of the creation and founding of DAGERSystem. It has been a fantastic experience both writing in the field of game-accessibility journalism and helping others find their voice and...
2021 Editor’s Choice – Deathloop
Every year, I look back on the games I’ve played and try to figure out which game I most enjoyed. You would expect most games that I choose as my favorite each year to be both highly accessible and high quality, but as I think I illustrated last year with my Editor’s...
2021 Diamond Award Nominee – Far Cry 6
Far Cry is one of Ubisoft’s flagship franchises, and like many other titles in their recent catalogue, continues to raise the bar with regards to accessibility. It is rare to see a first-person shooter that offers such extensive customization. Far Cry 6 is a game that...
2021 Diamond Award Nominee – Life is Strange: True Colors
The Life Is Strange series has always been known for its powerful stories and memorable characters. First with the developers at Dontnod and then more recently with Deck Nine, these games have helped usher in the modern narrative adventure game genre. Along the way,...
2021 Editor’s Choice – Ikenfell
I absolutely love turn-based RPGs, but they've been harder and harder to find in the last few years. Then came Ikenfell, a turn-based RPG about witches and wizards released for the PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. The creators over at Happy Ray Games...
2021 Diamond Award Nominee – New Pokémon Snap
Every year when DAGERSystem gives out its annual Diamond Award there is a tension: do we award it to games that are accessible by nature or to games that have impressive suites of accessibility features built into them? Normally, we side with the latter, because games...
Indie Spotlight – Forgive Me Father
Forgive Me Father is a hyper-stylized first-person shooter characterized by a comic book style and inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. In terms of mechanics, Forgive me Father’s most apparent inspirations are the first two entries of the Doom franchise, right...
Accessibility Game Review – Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Visual Barrier Free Fine-Motor Thoroughly Accessible Auditory Thoroughly AccessibleThoroughly AccessibleThe Kirby franchise's nearly 30-year run has been revered for not only delivering fun platformers, but also making the genre something almost anyone can enjoy....
Accessibility Game Review – Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
Visual Barrier Free Fine-Motor Barrier Free Auditory Thoroughly AccessibleThoroughly AccessibleSquare-Enix's legendary Chrono Trigger saw two follow-ups. One was in the form of a visual novel called Radical Dreamers that never got a release outside of Japan...
Accessibility Update – Quake
Click here to read moreHave you ever heard of a 26-year-old game receiving an update to offer more accessibility options? Quake just did! To be clear, Bethesda rereleased Quake last August on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch, which included...
Accessibility Game Review – Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
Fight alongside your favorite Z-Fighters to stop the dark forces and save time itself! Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is both an action RPG and fighting game. It was developed by Dimps and published by Bandai Namco for major platforms like PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and...
Accessibility Game Review – Elden Ring
VisualPartially Accessible Fine-MotorPartially Accessible AuditoryPartially AccessiblePartially AccessibleElden Ring is a masterpiece, and that’s putting it mildly. Tight, addictive game design, haunting visuals and soundtrack, and an open-world system that’s...
Indie Spotlight – Tunic
Over the past decade, we have seen many top-down Legend of Zelda-like games on the market. Some have gone for more of an homage, like Blossom Tales, while games like Ittle Dew have focused more on deconstructing the genre with humor. 3D Dot Game Heroes was probably...
Accessibility Game Review – Horizon Forbidden West
Visual Partially Accessible Fine-Motor Partially Accessible Auditory Barrier FreePartially AccessibleDisclaimer: Review code provided by PlayStation Horizon Forbidden West is the eagerly anticipated sequel to the hit open-world action RPG Horizon Zero Dawn created...
Indie Spotlight – Grapple Dog
Precision platformers have grown in popularity since the rise of the genre with Super Meat Boy in 2010. While the love of the sub-genre has expanded, so too has the demand for games to be accessible for as many people as possible. Platformers have long been viewed as...
Accessibility Game Review – Edge of Eternity
Visual Barrier Free Fine-Motor Thoroughly Accessible Auditory Barrier FreeThoroughly AccessibleJRPGs can be one a very approachable and accessible genre when done correctly. We have seen great strides made when it comes to making them easier to navigate, and things...