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We've documented 24 accessibility features for Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, including Fully Voiced (Or No Speech), Large Subtitles, Select Difficulty, No Holds and Remap Buttons. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Getting Started but it also has features in Reading, Visual, 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.
External examiner, Jonah Monaghan, first checked Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice accessibility 4 years ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 5 months ago.
Accessibility Notes
The game has an adaptive combat difficulty option so that combat isn't the barrier between success and failure. Spoiler: The game auto-saves, and tells you that if you fail too often you will have to start again from the beginning. This is a device to make the player feel the weight of dying in the game and it never actually forces you to reset.
Game Details
Release Date: 08/08/2017, updated in 2019
Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox X|S
Skill Rating: 15+ year-olds
Players: 1
Genres: Action, Adventure (Fighting and Narrative)
Accessibility: 24 features
Components: 3D Third-Person
Developer: Ninja Theory (@NinjaTheory)
Costs: Purchase cost
Controls
We've documented 9 accessibility features for Controls in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice which deal with how you control the game, different options for alternative inputs and whether you can remap these settings to suit your needs.
Gamepad
Can play with the following:
Multiple Buttons & Two Sticks: Can play with multiple buttons and two sticks.
Mouse And Keyboard
Can play with the following:
Keyboard Alone: Can play with just the keyboard.
Mouse and Keys: Can play with mouse and multiple keys.
Remap Controls
Can customise the controls for the game as follows:
Remap Buttons: Can re-map all buttons so that you can use alternatives that better suit your play.
Remap Mouse and Keyboard: Can remap mouse and keyboard key bindings, on systems that support these controls.
Invert X/Y Axis: Can invert the direction required to control looking and aiming. This enables you to match your instinctive orientation when looking.
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.
Controller Vibration
Vibration Optional: Controller vibration not used in the game or you can disable it.
Sensitivity
You can adjust
Adjust Mouse/Stick/Touch Sensitivity: Adjust how sensitive touch/mouse/stick controls are.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls
If you want to play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, but it doesn't offer the Controls accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Controls accessibility:
- Dark Souls (10 Controls Features)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (10 Controls Features)
- That Dragon, Cancer (10 Controls Features)
Difficulty
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Difficulty in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice 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
Select Difficulty: Select the level of difficulty from a range of presets. This not only offers a way to adjust the challenge of a game but enables you to do so without dealing with individual criteria.
Adjust After Setting
Adjustable Anytime: You can adjust the difficulty while playing, without having to restart the level you are on. This enables you to quickly adjust the game to suit your needs and see the difference immediately.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Difficulty
If you want to play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, but it doesn't offer the Difficulty accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Difficulty accessibility:
- She Dreams Elsewhere (3 Difficulty Features)
Getting Started
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Getting Started in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice 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.
View Control Mapping: You can view a map of controls during play. This clearly displays the mappings of actions to buttons/keys/mouse/keyboard without having to leave the game. This includes games that always display buttons to press during play.
Assistance For Progressing
These features aid your progress through the game offering different ways of maintaining your progression.
Assisted Progress With Boosts: If you fail frequently the game automatically gets easier to ease the likelihood of failure. Or there’s an option to start this happening, like giving more health, lives or power each time you fail. Sometimes called Rubber Banding.
Assisted Progress With Hints: The game notices if you get stuck (or you can press a button) and provides information to help you progress. This can offer hints or tutorials popping up during play. This includes hints after you have died, where it can suggest strategies or difficulty settings to adjust or offer to skip past problematic levels.
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 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:
- She Dreams Elsewhere (7 Getting Started Features)
- Beyond: Two Souls (6 Getting Started Features)
- Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon (5 Getting Started Features)
- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (5 Getting Started Features)
Reading
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Reading in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice 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.
Text Visibility
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
Large Clear Subtitles: Subtitles are large, clear and of good contrast. They are at least 1/20 (46 pixels on 1080 screen) the height of a landscape screen and at least 1/40 height on portrait screens, or can be adjusted to be. We base this on the full line-height, including the space above and below the letters. Considered separately from the general text of the game, the subtitles are large, clear and of good contrast.
Some Speech Subtitled: Some spoken content has subtitles. This reduces the pressure on interpreting all the spoken content, although not everything is captured textually.
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.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading
If you want to play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:
- Tell Me Why (7 Reading Features)
- Horizon Zero Dawn (6 Reading Features)
- Beyond: Two Souls (6 Reading Features)
- That Dragon, Cancer (6 Reading Features)
Navigation
We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Navigation in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice 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.
Head-Up Display
Head-Up Display Navigation: Indication of where to go next with overlaid arrows, minimaps and waypoint markers. This supplements in-game visual and audible cues with additional guidance about where you are and where you need to go.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation
If you want to play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Navigation accessibility:
- Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon (7 Navigation Features)
- One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 (5 Navigation Features)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (5 Navigation Features)
- A Plague Tale: Requiem (5 Navigation Features)
Visual
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Visual in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice which deal with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.
Audio Cues for Visual Events
Audio Cues for Visual Events: Audio is provided to indicate visual events. Game events or progress highlighted by visual icons, effects or animations are also accompanied by audio to signify that progress. This is useful for blind players.
Audio Depiction of Event Location: Indication with positional/stereo audio of where directional events are on the screen for things like damage, footsteps, environmental elements. This is useful for blind players.
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.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual
If you want to play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Visual accessibility:
- Neurodeck (9 Visual Features)
- That Dragon, Cancer (7 Visual Features)
- A Plague Tale: Requiem (6 Visual Features)
- She Dreams Elsewhere (5 Visual Features)
Audio
We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Audio in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice 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.
Adjustable Audio
Balance Audio Levels: Set music and game sound effects separately. This enables you to select your preference as well as ensure critical game sounds aren't obscured by other audio.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Audio
If you want to play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility:
- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (4 Audio Features)
- A Plague Tale: Requiem (3 Audio Features)
- Horizon Zero Dawn (3 Audio Features)
- The Last Of Us (3 Audio Features)
System Accessibility Settings
In addition to the accessibility features provided in the game, you can also use system-wide accessibility settings:
Nintendo Switch
Nintendo Switch has some built-in features, including a lockable zoom, that can be used on all games.
PC
Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators.
PlayStation 4
PlayStation 4 has a range of accessibility settings. Some are system only, some work in games (invert colours and button mapping).
Xbox One
Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games.
Xbox Series X|S
Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games.
Read more about system accessibility settings.
Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors @JonahMonaghan, Andy Robertson, @ronald_brady and Ben Kendall
