Review Box 0
There are absolutely no issues with Deaf accessibility in Slay the Spire, not just because there is no voiced dialogue or necessary sounds, but because it's simply that thoughtfully designed.
Score
10 out of 10Pros
- All dialogue is presented only in easy-to-read text,
- Clear and helpful visual cues and icons
Cons
- None!
Slay the Spire is a deck building game where you play as one of three available characters and work your way from room to room fighting off various random enemies through your ever-growing deck of cards. Your goal? To get to the boss in the spire and beat it too.
As far as sound options go, you’ve got your usual sliders to adjust master volume, music, and sound effects. You can also select your language. There are no subtitle options which is not a problem as there is no spoken dialogue and all text, both dialogue and not, is clear and very easy to read.
All dialogue is presented either in the speech bubbles shown above or…
In text boxes such as the one above.
Visual cues, while not related to sound, are clear, indicating which enemy the card played will impact, health levels, and the type of damage each enemy will inflict during their next turn.
When you’re low on health, there’s a very clear indicator that you’re about to die.
Perhaps the most inviting thing about this game has nothing to do with accessibility (Deaf accessibility anyway). Slay the Spire is designed to be played in short bursts, which seems like such a rare thing lately. In the four rounds we’ve played, each has lasted not more than twenty minutes. You can start and finish a round in one sitting and you can save the game at any time if you don’t have twenty minutes to give it. This is both a welcome thing when games routinely run 60 hour campaigns now and it’s a huge boost in cognitive accessibility.
There are absolutely no issues with Deaf accessibility in Slay the Spire, not just because there is no voiced dialogue or necessary sounds, but because it’s simply that thoughtfully designed.
