Whenever a new game is released, there is concern surrounding accessibility. Some players have restrictions that prevent them from making certain movements with their hands, for example, or partially sighted players may need specific settings to enable them to play.
Nightingale’s development team at Inflexion have stated that one of their goals for Nightingale is to bring together players from all backgrounds and as such, they’ve implemented many accessibility features with more unspecified ones promised for the future.
Some of these features, such as Arachnophobia Mode and third-person POV, have been included as a direct result of player feedback, something which Inflexion have said is very important to it. They’ve also stated that this feedback look will continue, with further tweaks or additions likely to occur as a result of player feedback post-release and suggestions on Discord and other official avenues.
Interestingly, there are no color options included in the accessibility features for those who may have color-blindness or other sight issues. Inflexion have stated themselves that ‘those with low or no vision may find the game challenging without assistance’, but there are some visual options that will be available at launch to make things slightly easier.
Accessibility features in Nightingale
General
Right from the off, Nightingale will enable players to choose their difficulty setting, but they will also be able to tailor each Realm’s difficulty when they open a new Portal. As far as saving the game is involved, Inflexion stresses that while the game is constantly syncing with servers to enable an auto-save feature, it’s strongly recommended that players quit via the menu to ensure a proper save state is produced when you exit the game.
Input and Navigation
- Key remapping
- On keyboard and mouse as well as controller, enabling players to choose their own comfortable set up.
- Partial controller support
- Most menus and in-game actions will be possible using a controller, but players will need a keyboard in order to use party chat.
- Hold to gather materials
- Rather than having to look at items individually in order to collect them, players will be able to hold down their chosen button to automatically gather items that are close to them.
- Hold to interact with environment
- When chopping, mining or attacking enemies, players will be able to hold down their chosen button, rather than having to perform a repetitive action.
- Run & crouch toggle
- Auto-run will be enabled by pressing the chosen button (Caps Lock by default), while Crouching will be toggled on and off using a chosen button, rather than having to hold the button down.
- Mouse and controller sensitivity
- Players will be able to adjust both mouse and controller joystick sensitivity to suit their needs.
- Gamepad dead zone
- Controller deadzones will be adjustable via the settings menu in an effort to avoid controller drift.
- Custom waypoints & map zoom
- Players will be able to place down custom waypoints which will show where and how far something is from the character. As well as this, players will be able to zoom in and out of the map to suit their needs.
- Speech input
- This will be available as an alternative method of navigating the Realms of Nightingale, though it will not be necessary to play or complete the game in any way.
Visual
- Arachnophobia Mode
- Like Hogwarts Legacy and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor before it, Nightingale will allow those who have a fear of spiders to remove them from the game. In-game enemy Spiders and Scorpions will have their legs replaced with wings while non-interactable creatures will be swapped with ants.
- Third-person mode
- Players can choose to play the game in a third-person POV, showing the character on screen.
- Motion blur & camera shake disabling
- These settings can be turned off in the settings menu. This is useful for players who are particularly prone to motion sickness.
- Head bobbing
- There are no head-bobbing effects in the game by default, in either first or third-person view. This is also useful for those who suffer with motion sickness when playing games.
- Field of vision and brightness sliders
- While field of vision can be widened or narrowed to suit the needs of the player, brightness can be attuned to whatever the player is most comfortable with.
- Audio subtitles
- All voiced characters will have subtitles upon release, which is vital for those who have difficulty hearing or focusing on spoken word.
Audio
- Individual volume sliders
- Players will be able to change not only the overall volume of the game, but they’ll also have the ability to change individual audio such as music, dialogue, voice chat and sound effects.
- Player breath sounds
- While these can be useful to help players understand when their character is suffering from status effects (tired or low stamina, for example), they can be distracting to some. Players will be able to reduce the volume of these via the settings menu.
Communication
- Text and voice chat
- Players will be able to type custom messages to their party, but also use party voice chat. Players will be able to choose whether voice chat is push-to-talk or voice detecting, and all voice chat will be heard by other party members regardless of proximity, even across different Realms.
- Mute options
- Players will be able to mute others in the party, which is useful if you’re trying to avoid spoilers.
- Emotes
- There will be a limited number of player emotes available for use at launch. According to Inflexion, these will include pointing, waving and giving a thumbs up.
If you have any requests for accessibility features, Inflexion invites you to join the Nightingale Discord server, or otherwise use their feedback board, which will be available at launch, in order to let them know what you need.
