Some of us absolutely love to push ourselves when it comes to games, and believe the harder the better. Overcoming such challenges can offer an immense thrill and sense of achievement, after all. There are even some among us who won’t reduce the difficulty level in a game if we are struggling, and would actually rather stop playing altogether.
On the flip side (and let it be known, I really don’t think there is a right or wrong way to enjoy a game as long as the player is happy and not being unkind to others), there are also those of us who want an experience that is less about an onslaught of rock-hard enemies that relentlessly grind us into the ground, or puzzles that require a Mensa membership to decipher. Many of us take pleasure in games that offer up an easy-going, stress-free escape for a couple of hours at the end of a long day. This flexible approach is something that is also important for Psychonauts and Brütal Legend developer Double Fine.
The studio’s most recent title – Psychonauts 2 – featured a range of accessibility options, including an invincibility mode, on release. This meant that those that wanted to could dial up the difficulty to max, while others could make their way through the game without any fear of ‘failing’. This accessible approach will remain for Double Fine’s next release, which is known as Keeper and follows the story of a sentient lighthouse and its bird companion.
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Speaking to Eurogamer at Gamescom, studio head Tim Schafer said accessibility is a “big thing” for Double Fine, and something Microsoft – which acquired the developer in 2019 – has supported. “[Microsoft] has a lot of testing that you can do for all sorts of levels of accessibility, and Keeper is a very accessible game that is very easy to control – there’s not a lot of buttons to get used to,” Schafer said, before adding: