Disco Elysium’s newest update makes the game more accessible
Disco Elysium is one of my favorite games of all time. I love recommending it to anyone who will listen, but something I forget is just how text-heavy that game is. I’m an avid reader, but for others, the game’s script, which clocks in at over a million words, can be pretty intimidating. The good news is, though, that the developers at ZA/UM are well aware of this fact, and have made a bunch of great changes since the game has come out to help make the game accessible to as wide of an audience as possible. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut introduced a fully-voiced experience, but the newest addition is yesterday’s free update that added dyslexia-friendly fonts.
The font used for most languages is called OpenDyslexic, which was designed to mitigate common reading mistakes that those with dyslexia can make. The great thing is that the font’s creators made it open source, so that anyone can use it if needed.
In Disco Elysium specifically, OpenDyslexic is used for the English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese-Brazilian, and Polish versions of the game. Other languages have also been accounted for — the Korean version uses a font called Nanum Square Round, while the Russian version uses Adys.
ZA/UM also stated that they’re still investigating options for both traditional and simplified Chinese.
The devs shared their thoughts in Steam blog post that announced the update: “It’s important, especially for a game with over a million words, that we continue to make improvements to ensure everyone can have the best user experience during their time in Revachol.”
It’s great to see yet another studio taking down as many barriers to entry as they can — it feels like the games space is only becoming a more thoughtful and considerate space (for the most part).
The dyslexia-friendly font update is available to download now, wherever you can play Disco Elysium.
