Review of Blind Games / Low Vision – Animal Crossing New Horizons

Introduction

Animal crossing that is highly anticipated: New Horizons made his long-awaited debut finally, boast of updated graphics and the same charm that made fans like me back for almost 2 decades.

First, a little about myself and how I use my Nintendo Switch.

My name is Dominic Donegan and I was born legally blind, with a vision of about 20/300 in my left eye, and 20/400 on my right. I can see colors, and in everyday life I can usually survive with a combination of several types of magnifying (or only allowed to see very close to various things). I have been a gamer throughout my life, with one of my first consoles to become Nintendo.

As already known by the switch owner, Nintendo Switch allows players to switch smoothly between portable games and doubling games that use TV. I use my switch in anchored fashion most time, using portable mode only for games that I have the opportunity to get acquainted with anchored mode first. Fortunately, the screen on the Nintendo switch is bigger than the portable console released earlier, making it a little easier to see. However, the font size is a mixture bag and often depends on the developer, which is one of the reasons I study the rope in the mode of closer before switching to portable.

Now, to my review.

Arrangement

Full disclosure: After playing the previous entry in this series, I am very happy with the release of New Horizons. I was first introduced to the series through my Nintendo DS, a handheld portable game system that you might remember. At that time, because accessibility in the game almost never happened, low vision players like I will hold DS close to our faces and play until our eyes are sick.

Now in 2020, and I really want to see what progress has been made as far as accessibility for this series.

The short answer? Not many. The long answer? Well, you just need to keep reading for it.

The first thing I noticed about Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a large font size. As far as accessibility runs, this is a big increase not only for this series, but for Nintendo Switch Games in general, because there has been a continuing protest from the public for greater text in the game. I cannot reveal how much this increase has helped reduce my eye tension when playing well in the mode of closer and portable mode. Actually, so it almost redeem the lack of other adjusted arrangements in the game.

Which brought me to the next thing that I noticed when playing games: Lack of UI Customization options (or general arrangements).

While I praise Nintendo for listening to fans and applying a bigger font size, for those who experience other problems when trying to play the game, practically no change can be done. Arrangements such as increased contrast, increase in UI size, magnification, etc. Unfortunately there isn’t. In fact, apart from several options related to how the game is stored and one option related to linking games to online services, literally there are no other options to be determined.

Gameplay

As is well known by fans of this series, there are several ways to spend time playing games. The sequence where the activity is carried out and the amount of time spent on each depends completely depends on the player. Because there is no customization feature offered for any activity in the game, I have included several screenshots to give players ideas about what is expected, with the hope that the information will help them decide for themselves if the game will be played for them.

First, we have an inventory screen. This is where you will manage all the fruits (sometimes literal) from your work, and where you might spend most of your time in the game.

As you can see from the image, while the lucky menu without text, some players may find icons and numbers are rather small or difficult to read. Another thing that can present problems for those who rely on high contrast settings, is the appearance of the currency in the game, which consists of white numbers with a light brown background. There is also a potential contrast problem with the explanation text button in the lower right corner, but once you memorize the control, you don’t need to spend a lot of time to see it.

Next, we have a wardrobe screen.

I was really impressed with this menu. Even though the filter text is small and the icon -icon at the top is very contrasting, the clothes themselves are actually quite large and easy to see – and like inventory, after you study control, you don’t need to read the filter text or explanation of the button again, which makes the whole process easier.

My personal favorite thing to do in the game is to interact with my fellow villagers.

When talking to someone, the game enlarges to give us a good gaze. This is also a game area where the size of a large font is completely shining, so I personally do not experience problems here – but like various other parts of the game, low contrast can be a problem.

This game also has an introduced search system, where players are encouraged to carry out certain activities for certain prizes. UI for this system consists of a large icon that is paired with a simple explanation of what needs to be done to get prizes. Personally, I praise Nintendo for not giving us a long text description here and handling this through the use of large icons.

Others like in the previous game. Possible activities that may be done by players including fishing, cutting down trees, forging insects, gardening, crafts, decorating your room, and more.

Certain activities can be carried out at their own speed and do not require fast reactions or strict coordination. Others, such as bug-patching, rely on the ability of players to pursue bugs and press A at the right time.

As an interesting additional note, there are some parts of the game such as fishing or gathering stars that are fully sound -based. Although you should be able to see the screen to reach the lake or river where fishing is possible, the mechanics for the activity itself can be done without being able to see the screen. For example, once you approach the river where the fish shadow is visible, you throw your line. At that time, you will hear a big spark or a little spark. If you hear a little spark, don’t do anything. If you hear a big spark, press the A button immediately to roll the fish.

Although I don’t claim that this game is quite accessible to play without being able to see the screen, Nintendo has a legitimate pleasant mechanic here that does not require vision to be enjoyed, and I want to see them expand in the future.

Conclusion

I really enjoy animal crossing, and the latest entries in this series offer all the things I need to continue to scratch itching. While some increased accessibility has been carried out, a meaningful customization option is still lacking and some players who prefer to use high contrast display settings may experience difficulties. Which says, if you can play the previous entry in a series as a low vision player, you might be able to play this one and have an easier time as a whole.