Moving Out Accessibility
A fun solo or co-op game that was clearly designed with disabled players in mind.
Score
9.5 out of 10I haven’t been this excited to do a review since Gears 5 made me cry with its incredible accessibility, folks. Moving out is good. SO GOOD. Go buy it. That’s all. That’s the review. Go buy the game and play it and bask in its inclusiveness.
No? You want to know more? Fine.
First and foremost, let’s talk about the inclusion in the character creation. What you see above is a hijabi wearing a hard hat, using a wheelchair. You can wear a hijab and just be in a wheelchair without the whole point of the game being to try and cure you from being in a wheelchair!
Then there’s this wonderful message about Assist Mode and how every player is different and the developers want everyone to enjoy the game in the way that suits them best. I want to print this screenshot and hang it on my wall. Being welcomed like this in a game is such a wonderful feeling but so rare.
And those Assist Mode features! They’re just wonderful! You really can play the game however you need to and not be shamed or penalized. You can just play it and have fun. What a time to be alive!
Outside of the Assist Mode options, the game offers plenty more customization around accessibility:
The subtitles, which are on by default, can be turned off, but wait, there’s more!
Players can scale the entire UI, including the text.
And there’s a dyslexic friendly font option.
While there is no remapping (on console, there is full remapping on the PC version) the game provides several controller layouts, including two one handed options – one for the left side of the controller and one for the right. There’s also a toggle for grabbing the objects you need to carry to the moving truck and another for throwing the objects you…throw…into the moving truck.
The subtitles are incredibly well done, with a good size and are easily legible thanks to the bold font choice and black dropshadow.
There’s only one suggestion I have that may make Moving Out inclusive of players without sight: Adding a ping system like the one featured in Gears 5’s Fabricator to the moving truck and some sort of audio cue when players are near objects needing to be moved. There’s controller vibration that’s helpful but only when you run into objects. Adding audio feedback could make this amazingly accessible game that much more so.
