Audiogames.net Monthly Digest - September 2023
Welcome to the September edition of the audiogames.net monthly digest! September kicks off what promises to be a very busy season of releases, with the first of a few very exciting mainstream releases with accessibility features. Even outside of this we've had a ton of new games come out, including both audio games, mainstream games, a new accessibility mod, a number of browser-based releases and much more! And because October promises to be just as exciting, be sure to subscribe and tell your friends about these digests!
New Releases
Mortal Kombat 1 (PS5, Xbox, PC, Switch)
Discover a reborn Mortal Kombat Universe created by the Fire God Liu Kang. Mortal Kombat 1 ushers in a new era of the iconic franchise with a new fighting system, game modes, and fatalities!
KAMEO FIGHTERS Kameos are a unique roster of partner fighters who assist the main fighter during matches, creating expanded gameplay possibilities for players.
Kameos dramatically enhance every fight, assisting teammates with their own Special Moves, Throws and defensive Breakers.
IMMERSIVE STORY CAMPAIGN Mortal Kombat’s genre-defining story mode kontinues. Reflecting Fire God Liu Kang’s vision of perfection, Mortal Kombat 1’s brand new universe is familiar, yet radically altered. And potentially, more dangerous than ever. Discover the forces set to undermine Liu Kang’s New Era.
INVASIONS Fight against the invading forces that threaten your timeline.
Invasions is a dynamic single player campaign with a variety of distinct challenges. With built in progression and RPG mechanics, mixed with MK1’s incredible fighting action, Invasions provides deep, and engaging challenges, and a ton of rewards along the way.
For the first time in the series, the game includes a suite of accessibility features, including a screen reader, audio descriptions for all cinematic (including story mode and fatalities), navigation assistance for the Invasions mode, as well as additional audio queues for distance, ducking, blocking and hit type. You can find a detailed breakdown of all accessibility features here in the Mortal Kombat knowledge base. While the screen reader covers most of the interface and tutorials, a couple of places don't have speech at launch (notably most text and menus in invasions, the shops and customize menu.) These will be addressed in a future patch.
Nine-Tailed Okitsune Tale Accessibility patch has been released！ (Windows, Mac)
In this Japanese-style action RPG, the main character, Kohaku, a nine-tailed fox, transforms into various forms to catch evil spirits which have been mischievously unsealed, and grows as he solves a series of anomalies!
Kohaku was originally notorious as a mischievous fox and is rejected by the capital's residents. Can he or she (Kohaku's gender is unknown!) save the Capital of Nasubigahara and bring peace safely to it...? Features of this Game - More than just Kawaii! Scenarios that make you think. - More than 20 characters with unique voices - Soundtrack by Mr. aaaa to enliven the fantasy worldview - Beautiful hand-drawn graphics by game creator BAYACHAO - Action RPG for beginners (Suitable for those who enjoy the production and character dialogue more than the high difficulty action and gameplay!)
The link above will take you to the forum thread with a download link and instructions how to apply the accessibility mod, which adds screen reader support and additional audio queues to both the demo and full version of the game. The mod's author has also provided a gameplay recording showcasing the accessibility.
Contacts on all sides, A typical online sidescrolling shooter (Windows, Linux)
Hello So this is a very typical sidescrolling shooter, IF you don't like this kind of stuff, Probably not for you, Might have more stuff later but for now it's typical. Standard shooter keys, number row for weapons, Space is firing, Up arrow is jumping or climing stairscases, Down arrow climing down if that is there, Alt + arrows to aim, R reload, A check ammo, C coordinate.
Pro Wrestling Manager 2024 (iOS
Take control of your very own pro wrestling promotion with the highly anticipated sequel to PWM 22 and 23- Pro Wrestling Manager 2024! Get ready to experience the most intuitive and in-depth mobile pro wrestling management game.
“Better than MyGM in the WWE 2K games” “A refreshing yet simplistic take on GM Mode” “If you’ve ever wanted to fantasy book wrestling this is LITERALLY the best game” “Exactly what wrestling needed”
BOOK FANTASY DREAM MATCHES IN SECONDS
With the revamped auto booker, you can now prioritize progressing active rivalries, ensuring that the storylines between wrestlers are constantly evolving and becoming more engaging for the audience. You can also take advantage of the added support for auto angle and tag team match booking, providing more options for match types and storylines to be explored. With Spots v2 you can now stretch your imagination even further when booking matches. Not only have tons of new spot types been added, but also the ability to book tag team spots and unlimited interferences. You can now even choose a match finish to end matches exactly the way you’d imagined. Ratings have also been revamped, allowing you to be rewarded for your style of booking, whether that’s a technical masterclass for the purists, star power for the casuals, or a storytelling masterpiece for everyone.
COMMUNITY SCENARIOS
Introducing Scenarios, the revamped replacement for Roster Packs which comes with tons of new capabilities. Create multiple customizable championships (including trios championships), sync your scenarios with iCloud, upload or download them from the community, and star, duplicate, or combine your favorite scenarios.
DEVELOPMENTAL TERRITORY
Sign youth talent and build the future of your promotion from the ground up! With all new developmental territory, you can recruit fresh talent and have them automatically trained in the background towards the style you want until they’re ready to be called up to the main roster. You can also move existing talent to a developmental territory allowing them to grow and improve if there’s no room for them on the card. Now you can focus on building your promotion's future while still putting on great shows in the present.
NEW IN 2024
I've only scratched the surface with what’s new in 2024, so here’s the rest:
• A brand new system for receiving in-game messages, including the all new random incidents such as popularity boosts from viral videos or unexpected injury recoveries • A brand new in-game wiki system for more detail information on game mechanics • A brand new planner system for booking and setting up future segments in advance • Championships can now gain or lose prestige • New rivalries can be given an initial boost of heat based on the history between the wrestlers • Old rivalries can be revived in order to capitalize on the storied history • Added over 30 new injury types • An all new redesigned user interface for quicker, simpler and a more aesthetically pleasing booking experience
And so much more!
Advance Wars: Days of ruin - Audio version 0.8.7 (for windows)
Hello all! I'm proud to present a new audio game: "Advance Wars: Days of ruin - Audio version". As mentionned in the name, it is an accessible, audio adaptation of the Nintendo DS opus "Days of ruin" from the licence "Advance Wars", developped by Intelligent Systems and edited by Nintendo. All musics, some sound designs and global concept belong to Intelligent Systems and Nintendo. It is a tactical battle style game inwhich you have to recruit, move, manage and fight units to defeat your foes. As a solo game, your opponents and allies are played by AI. For now, the following modes are available: - Campaign mode (incomplete): A set of maps made to learn game rules step by step, while following some characters story. - Classic mode: Several maps ready to be played. - Custom mode: Create your own maps with an ingame editor. You can easily share your creations by sharing files. The game is only playable on Windows, and currently playable with those languages: French, english. The game folder contains a readme file where all rules and caracteristics are explained, as well as hotkeys used through the differents interfaces. Please bear in mind this is only a beta version. There are still bugs to fix, improvements to add and balance to think. If you have any question or constructive feedback, do not hesitate to contact me at e_audioversegames@hotmail.com. Thank you, and i hope you'll enjoy the game!
steam: Sisypush - puzzle game inspired by sokoban (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Sisypush is a 1-bit puzzle game inspired by Sokoban games. Push rocks and other objects to clear the path to the final goal in each level!
Play as Sisyphus from Ancient Greek mythology, who got punished to push a rock for eternity in the underworld after having cheated Death twice. While this game does not go on for eternity, you can play over 70 different levels with varying difficulties, each level having the goal of pushing the white rock into the goal tile.
Contrary to many other Sokoban games, the objective in every Sisypush level is to bring just one special rock to the target tile. Additional mechanics such as larger rocks, rivers, or ice will present a challenge in many levels.
Features Over 70 levels, split up into 5 worlds A new game mechanic is introduced in each world A map-like level selection with branching paths Complete enough levels to unlock the gate to the next world Unlimited Undos Easy to learn Full controller support Minimalistic 1-bit art style 20 achievements. Optionally, you can try to optimize your route in each level and try to achieve the best rating. This game is for you if: You like puzzle games. You don't mind short games. If you don't have much Sokoban experience, I estimate it will take 4-5 hours to complete every level. Experienced players will probably be able to complete the game in 2-3 hours. You like minimalist art.
Empire of corruption, adult shadow run inspired text RPG (18+, Web)
Description by Dark:
I was poking around the fenoxo forums when I came across this one. to my surprise, not only is it completely accessible, but it's also extremely well written, and down right awesome! First, the disclaimer: This is an adult rpg with erotic elements. Though very much story based, and with combats involving things that want to kill you, rather than hump you, the setting is a seedy, cyberpunk slum with dystopia elements. So, lots of gangs, lots of drugs, and lots of sex! More specifically, lots of prostitutes! You can work as a hoar in the game if you wish, and apparently work as a pimp later, and if you're not careful bad things will happen to you, just like the bad things you see happening to other people! while I'd say this is a shade below the likes of corruption of champions on the freakysexometer, with a heavier emphasis on story, missions and combat, still there's definitely an erotic edge to this so under-aged people and those not comfortable witH SEXUAL THEMES SHOULD PROBABLY AVOID. Okay, that out of the way what is the game about: It's set in a world where an event called the great fable shift occurred in 2058, where magic suddenly returned to the world. Some people mutated into mythical creatures, and magicians could now cast spells. Imagine William Gibson's sprawl trilogy meets dungeons and dragons! In the game, you play a hacker involved in a dangerous mission which goes horribly wrong, leaving you stranded in the slums of Harrowgate, with no money, no contacts and not much memory. Your first job is to survive, find food and shelter and make a living, while you try to make contacts, get back on your feet, and eventually discover who tried to kill you! You can earn money in various ways, not only the previously mentioned hoaring, but also doing enforcement jobs for local gangs, working for the police, even busking! Indeed it's not necessary to sell your body to survive if you don't want to, and if you're prepared to get wounded in gang land hits. What I really like about this one is the text. Not only is the game surprisingly well written, with a lot of colourful locations and interesting characters to meet, from a kitsune gossip columnist and scandal monger, to a dark elf noble down on her luck, but also everyone has a slightly different angle and personality, but the game's world is extremely interesting. Often you'll get new entries in your codex about particular races or events, even the profile, showing your stats, quest progress and relations to npcs is written in a narrative style. The game (so far as I've played), doesn't have conventional combat, but a lot of stat tests, with you able to increase your stats such as guile, nerve, incite and force with experience; though be ware that in this game, rolling over the stated difficulty is a loss. There is also a heavy life sim element to the game. You need to eat and sleep, food is available at various locations, and you can sleep in the homeless camp, however have to pay for the privilege. Luckily, if you take on gang jobs the payments are possible to meat, though you will get roughed up a lot and need to find ways to heal. My only miner criticism, is that there isn't really an explanation of the stats system, or any clear indicator of say, how status effects like wounds, being shaken, or being troubled affect you, or how much you can take before a game over or other bad event. The only other thing to bare in mind, is that though you can customise your character's sex, appearance and genitalia, apparently most partners in the game are female. Access wise, everything is text, however there is a slight oddity with the interface, since the game doesn't have the usual style of buttons or links, and I found it necessary to hit tab to go to various hot spots on the page, or to click directly. I'd recommend using tab, since sometimes there are areas of text you can hit in the main body of the text (you'll see some of these in the introduction). That was how it worked with NVDA and Chrome anyway. Some items (such as when looking at an item, or reading an email), open in an extra panel which you might need to go down to the bottom to read, but these are clearly labelled. the game has recently returned to active development, with a free version which comes out before the patreon version.
explosion, a simple, but fun card game (Mac terminal)
so, you need to gather 1000 unbanked points. the cards can help or stop you from doing so. cards are asfollows: 1 to 9, gives you points. bomb, removes your unbanked points, if you don't have any, you lose 30 banked points, if you don't have any, you lose the game. double plus, doubles your unbanked points. you can bank only if you have 30 points. game is macOS intel+m1 exclusive. there will be more cards in future.
The Daedalus Project (18+, Web)
THE DAEDALUS PROJECT. TDP is an Interactive Erotica with film noir overtones; an acid novel reminiscent of the psychological dramas of Philip K. Dick, as well as other writers of the so-called "beat generation". The portrait of a pornographic mind set in a dystopian near future, where the constant memory of a war that never seems to end is always at the surface. Even by hopping from parallel universe to parallel universe, one will never be able to escape their shadow. Step into a world where parallel realities are not only a theoretical conjecture, but are the battlefield of a secret, generation-spanning war. Fight, talk, and fuck your way out of intricately crafted missions full of intrigue and subterfuge. Explore mind-bending worlds where your every wild desire can be indulged, but keep an eye out for nefarious terrorists, rival agencies, and even your own colleagues, for not everything is as it seems in THE DAEDALUS PROJECT.
Not much to say here. Good story so far, though the briefings in the files that explain missions are inside images that can easily be gotten with OCR etc. We need a text-only option. My workaround for now is simply following the subtext during the mission of what I'm supposed to do... or not.
Game updates
- Alter Aeon September 2023 Update improved the Angel's Cry area, added the ability to refine necromancer minions, as well as introduced other improvements to various spells, help pages and more
- The Classic Six Dragons mud in September added a number of new quests in Paleon city as well as an option to remove quests from your journal if you're not planning to complete one and want it gone from the list.
- Warsim 1.0.7 introduces a new massive feature letting you "Explore the Lands Beyond". Doing this can give you one of over a hundred different random encounters, many of which include multiple variations for even more replayability.
- Hearthstone has had a busy month with the release of the Fall of Ulduar miniset. Patch 27.4 which introduced it also brought anomalies outside of battlegrounds into the traditional game of Hearthstone. The Hearthstone Access mod has naturally kept up with the changes, with the latest update bringing the O key to read the active anomaly into standard games as well as introducing the previously tested battlegrounds collection manager support into the main release of the mod.
- Rettou, AProne's island management game continues receiving many regular updates. They have introduced new sounds, AI difficulty levels, cannons, new ships, additional building descriptions and many bug fixes. You can read the changelogs from the last few versions here.
- The full version of Escape from Norwood, previously featured as a demo back in August was officially released. The game has also received a few updates further refining the accessibility support of the game.
- Sanctuary in Time 0.4.0 makes many improvements to sex scenes in the game, but also includes other changes with gameplay balancing and accessibility.
Other News
- The full list of accessibility features which will be offered in Forza Motorsport has been published. You can find it here. As a reminder, it was earlier confirmed that the new Forza will be the first mainstream racing game fully playable by totally blind gamers thanks to a system of additional audio queues as well as a screen reader and audio description. The game will be officially released on October 10th for PC and Xbox, with early access for buyers of the premium edition on October 5th. We'll have more on Forza next month!
- We also now have official information about the accessibility features that will be included in Marvel's Spider Man 2 thanks to this post on the PlayStation blog. The features of interest to blind players, such as a screen reader and audio description, are scheduled to be added in a December patch and won't be included at launch. Whether the game will be playable by those with absolutely no vision also remains to be seen.