How Accessible is The Darkest Files?

Accessibility has been improving as of late, so you might be wondering how it is in the latest titles. In this article, I’ll go over the accessibility options available in the historical courtroom puzzler The Darkest Files, developed by Paintbucket Games.

Before choosing to start a new playthrough or load a save, you’re immediately brought to the Accessibility menu. It’s quite nice to see these options front and centre, and it’s great that they’re all contained on one page.

Under the UI section, you can toggle subtitles on or off, adjust your font size, and opt for animated or static text. Then there’s the Permanent Focus Dot setting, which is good to keep on if you want to avoid motion sickness. My experiences with motion sickness are more sparse when playing videogames compared to my day-to-day, but I still kept the dot on throughout my playthrough and found it helpful.

Additionally, the Gameplay section came in handy with the Highlight Interactable Objects option, which allows you to hold down the Spacebar to highlight objects in the environment. It’s quite easy to miss items when you’re playing through the memories of your witnesses, and oftentimes, I had to walk right up to something for the interact button to appear. If you’ve read our review of The Darkest Files here at GameGrin, you’ll know that your thoroughness can directly impact your success when it comes to proving your conclusions in court. As such, this Highlight setting can be a great help, ensuring you don’t miss something important.

You’ll also find “Time-sensitive Interruptions” under Gameplay, which will allow you to disable quick-time-events (QTEs) that allow you to interrupt a witness mid-conversation. With this setting turned off, you’ll replace the timer with a prompt that asks whether to interrupt or let the dialogue continue.

The last two Accessibility settings are under Controls, giving you access to One-Handed Mode and Replace Hold Interactions. With One-Handed Mode turned on, you’ll be able to switch between your primary actions in-game, which include walking, obtaining a hint, pulling up your radial menu, and interacting. Once you switch to the one you want, you can use the action by pressing left-click. This allows you to play the game solely with your mouse.

Lastly, Replace Hold Interactions will allow you to simply click in place of holding down a button. As many know, holding a button down constantly can be tough, and having the option to click instead can improve the experience tenfold. In The Darkest Files, you’ll usually have to hold a button down when you’re investigating components of a memory, prompting Esther to ask the witness a question. There are many items across these environments, so I highly recommend using the Replace Hold option if you need to.

The Darkest Files has some great workarounds to improve your experience playing through it. Paintbucket Games has stated that it’s committed to creating games that are inclusive and welcoming to all, and this is definitely a title that can be tailored to suit players’ needs and abilities.