Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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What are some accessible video games for blind and visually impaired people? (self.Blind)
submitted by cynicaesura
I have a weird form of refractive amblyopia where my "good" eye is the one with the refractive error. It was caught very late and I hated patch therapy so I've just been stuck with one eye functional with a strong prescription for my whole life. I've been thinking about getting myself another patch and seeing if I can restore any of the vision in my bad eye at all as an adult but I don't have many accessible activities at my disposal. I love video games but I don't think I'd be able to play any of my favorite ones with a patch as I cannot see details or letters. I'm sure there's some blind and visually impaired people here who enjoy gaming so what have you found to be the most accessible to low vision?
ABlindManPlays 4 points 3y ago
Heya! Hardcore gamer here who just so happens to be blind!
One of my favorites to play solo is Fallout 4. I have a mod that adds a multi-spectrum imager eyepiece to the game. West-Tek something or other. When I get to an area that's tough to see, I can cycle through night vision, infrared vision, targeting vision, and normal vision. VATS is a huge boon in the game, and building for a VATS stealth sniper is a lot of fun and allows me to keep playing despite my disability. Almost the entire game is fully voiced so that helps me a lot.
Warframe is another good one, and good news, it's free to download and play. You can mod yourself for high survivability and strong melee damage and it's good for a lot in the game. I personally prefer the frame Inaros, and I like staves as my weapon, but there's a lot of viable options in the game. One area I struggled with was the rank-up system, but between YouTube videos and practice areas in the relay, you should be good.
Civilization 5 is decent if you can see a bit. Once you get the basics, you don't need to read too much. You can assign your workers to auto-build improvements and they will handle most of the development for you.
When I am feeling the itch for space exploration and survival, No Man's Sky is a fun one overall. I struggle a bit in space battles but as you develop and get better ships, that becomes less of an issue. The aliens have their own languages so reading is semi-moot.
Other than that, I dink around on the Atari Vault series sometimes when I want some retro gaming, and I have a group of friends willing to be my eyes for me in MMOs like Final Fantasy XIV.
Hope the suggestions help, good luck!
One of my favorites to play solo is Fallout 4. I have a mod that adds a multi-spectrum imager eyepiece to the game. West-Tek something or other. When I get to an area that's tough to see, I can cycle through night vision, infrared vision, targeting vision, and normal vision. VATS is a huge boon in the game, and building for a VATS stealth sniper is a lot of fun and allows me to keep playing despite my disability. Almost the entire game is fully voiced so that helps me a lot.
Warframe is another good one, and good news, it's free to download and play. You can mod yourself for high survivability and strong melee damage and it's good for a lot in the game. I personally prefer the frame Inaros, and I like staves as my weapon, but there's a lot of viable options in the game. One area I struggled with was the rank-up system, but between YouTube videos and practice areas in the relay, you should be good.
Civilization 5 is decent if you can see a bit. Once you get the basics, you don't need to read too much. You can assign your workers to auto-build improvements and they will handle most of the development for you.
When I am feeling the itch for space exploration and survival, No Man's Sky is a fun one overall. I struggle a bit in space battles but as you develop and get better ships, that becomes less of an issue. The aliens have their own languages so reading is semi-moot.
Other than that, I dink around on the Atari Vault series sometimes when I want some retro gaming, and I have a group of friends willing to be my eyes for me in MMOs like Final Fantasy XIV.
Hope the suggestions help, good luck!
Remy_C 2 points 3y ago
That's awesome about the mods for Fallout 4. I haven't played it, but did enjoy 3 and New Vegas. How do you deal with reading the vast amounts of informN in games like that? Emails, notes and other text? That's always been my drawback, but Ever since NVDA has come out with its Recognize Text using Windows 10 OCR, I've found that, when it works, it reY helps.
MostlyBlindGamer 1 points 3y ago
I used Windows' magnifier to read all the terminals in Fallout 4. It was kind of a hassle at times.
There really is quite a bit of text in that game.
There really is quite a bit of text in that game.
Remy_C 2 points 3y ago
Yes, There really is. Never play the Witcher series. Soooo much text. But then again play it because all of them are just sooooo good. And I bet withthe NVDA recognize text feature it would be a breaze.
MostlyBlindGamer 1 points 3y ago
Oh yeah, I bet. I played Skyrim through a massive uveitis a few years ago. I don't know what I was thinking - the fonts are terrible and there are so many notes...
Then again, when you can barely make it to work, the aloure of being a demigod is hard to resist.
Then again, when you can barely make it to work, the aloure of being a demigod is hard to resist.
ABlindManPlays 1 points 3y ago
I miss out on some of the lore, but in 4, a lot of the pertinent information is handled via speech or holotape. I enjoyed the hell out of New Vegas, but I like a lot of the options in 4 more. But a YouTuber named Oxhorn ( https://www.youtube.com/user/ClassyManIAm ) makes a lot of lore videos, and if I can't suss it out for myself, I usually look for a YouTube video that has someone narrating the walkthrough. Usually, in Fallout 4, when you find a password, it is entered automatically for you when you attempt a lotin. Hacking is tough, but finding the extra brackets to reset chances or remove duds can be handled by going line-by-line.
I don't have any software yet, and I'm not sure how to get anything set up for text-to-speech. I'd be interested in learning more.
I don't have any software yet, and I'm not sure how to get anything set up for text-to-speech. I'd be interested in learning more.
cynicaesura [OP] 2 points 3y ago
I loooove Civ IV but never got into Civ V. I'm guessing 4 would be harder because there's so much more micromanagement on the interface but maybe I'll give 5 another shot. I'll check out some of the others!
ABlindManPlays 1 points 3y ago
V was my first. I believe you can engage in more micromanagement if you like. Every now and then, I have to change a worker's assignment or activate a node with a natural wonder on it, but otherwise, it's pretty good at running itself.
C1an0t 2 points 3y ago
I've always liked minecraft as a chill game to relax to that I can play without straining my eyes
LuisSalas 2 points 3y ago
PC only. Adding to this, I play modded Minecraft, with a full brightness mod, and I modified an 8x8 texture pack so all blocks have high contrast edges and all user interfaces dark.
You can use the one probe or here is what your looking at mods to know what block you are facing
In Minecraft 1.12.2 there is a mod that makes the border of the current block in the crosshair blink.
If you need something to make Minecraft more accessible please let me know
You can use the one probe or here is what your looking at mods to know what block you are facing
In Minecraft 1.12.2 there is a mod that makes the border of the current block in the crosshair blink.
If you need something to make Minecraft more accessible please let me know
C1an0t 1 points 3y ago
Thank you that is very helpful
SightlessSenshi 1 points 3y ago
Hey there. I am a totally blind gamer, and I have recently been signed to a pro gaming team. So it is absolutely possible. I play a ton of fighting games, and have a lot of success with those. Very blind friendly. I'm more than happy to help you out however I can.
dancingpianofairy 1 points 3y ago
You might check out u/SightlessSenshi at YouTube.com/SightlessSenshi.
BlindlyPlayingGames 1 points 3y ago
I play World of Warcraft and Overwatch completely blind. They're definitely not fully accessible, but I still have fun playing them.
If you're interested, here is a link to my guide on how to play World of Warcraft completely blind:
https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/9w7mr1/guide_on_how_to_play_world_of_warcraft_blind/
If you're interested, here is a link to my guide on how to play World of Warcraft completely blind:
https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/9w7mr1/guide_on_how_to_play_world_of_warcraft_blind/
razzretina 1 points 3y ago
I go for high contrast platformers myself. Old school stuff like Super Mario Bros becomes almost pattern recognition and I find it pretty soothing.
Remy_C 1 points 3y ago
Not sure what you're in to, but Code 7 is a mainstream Sci-fi hacking and story-driven adventure game which is not only fully voiced, but also has been made accessible. It's well worth your time if you like that kind of game.
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