Action-adventure game ReCore, which is set to be released on Sept. 13 for the Xbox One and PC, aims to break the barriers of video game accessibility.
ReCore will have players follow the story of Joule, a young woman who is the last person on a desert planet. Joule is accompanied by a group of robot while she looks for a way to revive humanity.
One of the major themes of the game is color, and it is a significant factor in the gameplay, especially in identifying enemies, and many other aspects of the title. On the surface, ReCore is all about color matching, but colors also play significant roles in the personalities of characters and the properties of enemies.
For example, the color blue represents electrical properties with stun abilities, and also characters with happy-go-lucky personalities. The color red, meanwhile, represents fire attacks that are able to inflict damage over a period of time, with creatures of this color able to deal higher amounts of damage. The color yellow represents the ability to slow down enemies, along with scaredy cat behavior.
According to Armature game director Mark Pacini, the huge importance that color holds in the game has led to the early realization that color blind gamers might have difficulty with it, as one of the studio's producers has the disability.
The solution that will be applied to ReCore is to provide accessibility options for color blind gamers. Once the option is turned on, more colors will be shown in the game, along with a dynamic symbol system.
The symbols will be affixed next to the health bars of creatures, along with the player's abilities which coincide with the supposed colors.
The ReCore built that has been revealed did not have the accessibility options in place, but those will surely be included once the game is released.
The title has some big names behind it. Comcept, the studio of Mega Man producer Kenji Inafune, is its producer, while Armature is the Austin-based developer that worked on Metroid Prime.
Also involved in the development of ReCore is John Staten, who was previously the lead writer for Halo and Destiny.
ReCore, however, is not the first game that will be providing accessibility options for color blind players. One of the more recent, high-profile games that also did the same is Naughty Dog's Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, which also provided options for gamers with other forms of disabilities.
