Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Is there any way to have a screen reader read text from PC games on steam? (self.Blind)
submitted by [deleted]
Hey everyone, I am trying to play some older turn based games on steam to curb my boredom, but I simply can't read any of the text. Is there a screen reader I can use that will be able to read text form the game?
Dantesmansion 2 points 1y ago
I think that there are some Microsoft strategy games that are accessible. Age of Empires and Gears Tactics come to mind. Theres a curated steam list under "visually impaired games" which have a decent list. There's also a YouTube channel called illegally sighted which covers accessible games.
Badassmotherfuckerer 1 points 1y ago
I'm gonna do more research on this when I have some time later, thanks!
But define accessible games that Microsoft has, like works with screen readers pretty well or just easy to work with? Any multiplayer games?
But define accessible games that Microsoft has, like works with screen readers pretty well or just easy to work with? Any multiplayer games?
Dantesmansion 1 points 1y ago
They have text to speech integration for GUI elements. Its been a while since I've looked into it but from what I saw Microsoft games have some of the best, at least in terms of mainstream games. Heres a video from illegally sighted reviewing Age of Empires. $1
The Last of US Part 2 has really good accessibility but you do have to have some sight to play. it has a color filter that you can toggle on and off that makes enemies appear red, it has a button which you can press to turn your character in the direction of the objective, auto-aim, and text to speech for text and user interface.
If you want multiplayer games I've heard good things from World of War craft, there are people that are totally blind who play it. Fighting games like Mortal Combat, skull girls, and tekkie are games blind people can play at high level since the opponent is always in front of you and moves have unique sounds.
The Last of US Part 2 has really good accessibility but you do have to have some sight to play. it has a color filter that you can toggle on and off that makes enemies appear red, it has a button which you can press to turn your character in the direction of the objective, auto-aim, and text to speech for text and user interface.
If you want multiplayer games I've heard good things from World of War craft, there are people that are totally blind who play it. Fighting games like Mortal Combat, skull girls, and tekkie are games blind people can play at high level since the opponent is always in front of you and moves have unique sounds.
Badassmotherfuckerer 1 points 1y ago
Thanks, I'll check out that channel and video you linked now!
And I've even heard of the totally blind playing The Last of Us Part 2, that game apparantley has some of the most robust accessibity options. Only problem is, I'd have to procure a PS4/PS5 to play one game, which would make it the most expensive game I've ever bought lol.
And I've even heard of the totally blind playing The Last of Us Part 2, that game apparantley has some of the most robust accessibity options. Only problem is, I'd have to procure a PS4/PS5 to play one game, which would make it the most expensive game I've ever bought lol.
Dantesmansion 1 points 1y ago
Yeah The Last of Us Part 2 has really really good accessibility. Honestly if you're looking for a multiplayer gaming experience the absolute best is playing D&D with friends. I used to play a lot of video games when I had better sight and I still get really sad whenever I think about it but playing D&D with my friends has been as fun as playing a multiplayer game. I would highly recommend playing if you don't already.
[deleted] [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Oh awesome! Thank you so much!
Remy_C 1 points 1y ago
I did not know about the games curated for visually impaired section on steam. I will have to look into that with cautious optimism.
That said, if you’re only worried about reading text, one of the things you may be able to do is use NVDA and it’s recognized text feature to OCR text on the screen. That’s what I do a lot of the time when reading games with a fair amount of text. It’s not the most ideal way of doing it, but if it works, it works well. You could also get an app like seeing AI or envision which have a live text feature which will essentially read blocks of text to you as long as you know where to point the phone. That works pretty well in many situations as well. It depends on the kind of text you’re looking to read of course. It also depends on how that text displays on current generation monitors.
That said, if you’re only worried about reading text, one of the things you may be able to do is use NVDA and it’s recognized text feature to OCR text on the screen. That’s what I do a lot of the time when reading games with a fair amount of text. It’s not the most ideal way of doing it, but if it works, it works well. You could also get an app like seeing AI or envision which have a live text feature which will essentially read blocks of text to you as long as you know where to point the phone. That works pretty well in many situations as well. It depends on the kind of text you’re looking to read of course. It also depends on how that text displays on current generation monitors.
[deleted] [OP] 1 points 1y ago
I have nvda I'll have to try that feature, I never knew what it meant
draakdorei 1 points 1y ago
The hotkey is NVDA key + R. It pops up a screen with the recognized text that you can arrow key up/down.
It works well on scanned documents too, as long as you figure out what direction the text is.
It works well on scanned documents too, as long as you figure out what direction the text is.
Remy_C 1 points 1y ago
The only thing is, you need to make sure that your screen is at the right resolution or else the results are going to be unusable. It really depends on what game and what sort of document you’re trying to scam. It’s really hit or miss as to whether it will work or not, but when it does work properly it’s really, really useful. You can even copy text which is kind of nice.
Fridux 1 points 1y ago
It depends on how the games are implemented: graphical games tend to implement their own visual elements and do not use the host operating system's widgets, which is what screen-readers usually read, so to a screen-reader most games look like windows with pictures. Sometimes you can get by with your screen-reader's or operating system's Optical Character Recognition facilities, while other times either the game implements its own screen-reader or you can download mods or add-ons that add the functionality, however in most cases there's nothing you can do.
[deleted] [OP] 1 points 1y ago
That sucks, I'll check out mods though, thats a great idea!
[deleted] [OP] 1 points 1y ago
[deleted]
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