SOLAS 128, the critically-acclaimed synthwave reflect-em-up puzzle game from Amicable Animbal, has received a significant accessibility update for both the PC and Nintendo Switch, to coincide with Global Accessibility Awareness Day (#GAAD).
The update improves the game for players with visual impairment, colour-blindness, and physical disabilities.
To help visually-impaired players, SOLAS 128 now enables players to lower or switch off the game’s ‘bloom’ and ‘glow’ effects, as well as the colour distortion/chromatic aberration settings, surrounding border pattern and visual distortion effects.
Tom, conceptual hypothesist and chaotician behind Amicable Animal, has also pulled out all the stops in order to make the game more accessible for players with motor issues, or different physical abilities. He’s included several new control methods in order to open the game up for a wider range of players.
The first alternative control system removes the requirement to click and hold a button whilst dragging. The game now allows players to click once to pick and object up, and click again to drop it. Another new option allows the directional keys (the d-pad on the Switch), to snap the cursor to the grid rather than using smooth scrolling. With this system, the player can also press the button to move between tiles, or hold it down to keep moving. Finally, players can navigate to and select important pieces with a ‘Next/Previous’ piece option.
If you’re interested in trying the new accessibility options, you can download the SOLAS 128 Prologue demo version The demo is currently PC only, but is heading to the Switch in May 2021. You can also find out more about the genesis of the game and its evolution in our interview with Tom from February 2021.
