Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Laura M Dale
2025 Video Game Accessibility Recap
2025 is drawing to a close, and with it my 6th year of covering accessibility in the video game industry. The year’s not quite over, but I’m going to try and take a few weeks off at the end of the year to rest and spend some time with friends, so we’re getting started on end of the year content now to make sure I can actually have a winter break. 2025 has ultimately been a really interesting year for video game accessibility.
Pokémon Legends Z-A Accessibility Wishes and Fears
Skip to content In around one week’s time, on October 16th 2025, Pokémon Legends Z-A will be releasing on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. A mechanically unique spinoff set in the Kalos region (Generation 6, themed around Paris), Legends Z-A is set to trade in the series’ traditional style of turn based battles for a real time combat system, and focus on battle positioning.
Ghost of Yotei Accessibility Review
Skip to content Releasing globally in approximately one week, on October 1st 2025, Ghost of Yotei is a standalone sequel to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima. The game follows the story of Atsu, a young woman seeking revenge on a group called the Yotei Six who murdered her family and left her pinned by her father’s sword to a burning tree 16 years prior.
Hollow Knight Silksong Accessibility Settings Preview
Skip to content As hard as it is to believe, in around 1 week on Thursday 4th September, Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally being released into the world. The game’s lengthy development cycle, the result of a DLC ballooning in scale and a development team whose financial success gave them space to create, will finally be a playable video game. No longer will Silksong exist mostly as a bingo space on prediction streams of Nintendo Direct presentations.
Bridge Command (London) - Accessibility Review
Skip to content Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m kind of obsessed with pretending to captain a fictional space ship, under a railway bridge in London. A couple of weeks back, myself and a group of friends visited Vaxhaul in London to attend a session of Bridge Command, an experience that’s part video game, part interactive theatre, and part escape room.
Switch 2 Civilization 7 Impressions - Is the New Console the Best Way to Play?
Before we begin, this article isn't meant to convince diehard Civilization players whether or not Civ 7 is a good game. Opinions on the latest entry in the series are at best conflicted, and at worst hostile in their divisiveness. I get it, after six years with Civ 6 growing through expansions and patches, any changes to the formula were always going to divide the player base.
Testing Out Nintendo Swtich 2's New GameChat Feature - How Does It Stack Up?
When the Switch 2 finally got its formal reveal back in an early April Nintendo Direct, one of the features Nintendo spent the most time hyping up was GameChat, the handheld console hybrid’s new video and voice party chat system. This was perhaps a strange choice, given that the footage used to sell viewers on the system’s strengths included a focus on low-framerate gameplay footage sharing with friends that didn’t make a stunning first impression.
Split Fiction Nintendo Switch 2 Impressions - A Solid Handheld Co-Op Experience
When looking over the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch library for a technical powerhouse title to put the system through its paces, Split Fiction possibly isn’t the first game many people are going to jump to download. Cyberpunk 2077 pushes city details and crowd density that made the PS4 strain, Street Fighter 6 pushes impressive graphics at a competitively necessary 60 FPS, and Mario Kart World mixes high framerates with eye-catching squash and stretch animations.
Why You Shouldn’t Buy These Switch 2 Mouse Grips
Skip to content At the time that this video is being published, we’re about three weeks away from the official worldwide release of the Nintendo Switch 2, and while the console is still a little way away from release, I’ve seen a lot of people starting to pick up accessories in advance of the system’s launch date.
AbleToPlay - An Accessible Game Search Engine
Skip to content The first episode of Access-Ability was launched a little over five years ago on this channel, and in the time since then I’ve spent a lot of my time keeping track of updates to the ways the video game industry informs players of accessibility features in games they might be looking to play.
Abletop - Episode 4 - Cognitive Accessibility in Board Gaming
Skip to content 🔍 Provide transparency for consequences, by default or optionally. In legacy games you could make a digital guide for how a big choice impacts on the game. 🗺️ Consider ways to reduce overall choices in the game, thus reducing overwhelm. For example, versions of play with limited or reduced actions. 🧠 Consult the Laws of UX for tips on best practices on usability and user experience.
Autistic Player Accessibility in Video Games
Skip to content Over the past couple of years, we’ve slowly but surely seen a pretty decent rise in acknowledgement of cognitive accessibility as a primary pillar of accessibility support alongside hearing, vision, and motor accessibility categories.
Abletop - Episode 3 - Visual Board Game Accessibility
Skip to content ๐ค Use a clear sans serif font and avoid all caps, underlines and italics. ๐ Use good text formatting, like left-aligned paragraphs, good spacing, and line breaks. ๐
ฐ๏ธ Highlight keywords using bold and/or a different high contrast colour. โฌ๏ธ Indicate orientation for numbers and text, considering table layout and where people will be trying to read from. ๐ Check symbols for readability and similarity at all angles, especially on dice.
Elden Ring: Nightreign Cognitive Accessibility Impressions
Skip to content Over the past couple of weeks since the game’s recent Beta I’ve been unable to stop thinking about Elden Ring: Nightreign. A faster paced co-op focused spin on the gruelling boss battle filled open world RPG, perhaps the most surprising aspect of the game is that I walked away from my time playing with a laundry list of thoughts about the ways the spinoff is more cognitively accessible for me than its predecessor.
Abletop - Episode 2 - Mobility Accessibility in Tabletop Gaming
Skip to content 📦 Consider accessible packaging options such as adding loops, tags or stickers. 🫳 Make space in the box insert for grabbing components, such as indents or foam. 🌍 Consider Eco-friendly packaging for better environmental impact and potentially easier to open packaging. ♟️ Provide information on components for physically heavier games to help with alternative storage solutions and consider common sizes e.g. A4. 🏗️ Use trays and personal player packs to reduce setup and teardown.
Abletop - Episode 1 - Rulebooks & Learning a Boardgame
Skip to content 🖥️ Provide digital versions of rules that also work with a screen reader. 📼 Provide a how to play video, freely available, to allow different ways of learning. 🤔 Provide online FAQs for your game and have a link to them on your box or rulebook. 📃Provide an index in larger rulebooks, and bolden key pages for the entry. 🧝 Avoiding writing rules ‘in universe’, try to use common terms and clear language. 🗝️ Highlight keywords to help them stand out in rules and on components.
Access-Ability Summer Showcase Returning for 2025
Skip to content On June 9th 2023 the first annual Access-Ability Summer Showcase was broadcast, showcasing recently released and upcoming video games made by disabled game developers, and featuring accessibility settings designed to help ensure more disabled gamers are able to play. The showcase returned in June 2024, continuing to highlight upcoming accessibility focused video game releases. The event’s second year was recently awarded Best PR / Comms at the GAconf Accessibility Awards.
Can Speedrunning Games Be Accessible?
Skip to content As a gamer with disabilities impacting my focus, coordination, and fine motor skills, for many years video game speedrunning was something I enjoyed as a fascinated onlooker, rather than getting personally involved in. For the uninitiated, video game speedrunning involved completing a video game in as fast a time as possible, often by any means necessary.
Switch 2’s Top USB-C Port Has Portable Accessibility Potential
Skip to content One of the most important accessibility advancements seen across the video game industry over the past decade is, without a doubt, the mass production of accessibility controllers officially licensed to work across PC and all three major home console brands.
Could Mouse Joycons be a Switch 2 Accessibility Feature?
Skip to content A little over 24 hours ago, Nintendo finally revealed the Switch 2 to the world. After months of hardware leaks ranging from photos of the motherboard to images of dev kit controllers, the new handheld hybrid system was showcased to the world in a brief hardware focused two minute trailer, with promises of a more in depth reveal coming in April.
Byowave Proteus Controller Review
Skip to content Over the past five months, I’ve had a lot of time to mull over my thoughts and opinions on the Byowave Proteus Controller, simultaneously the most customisable and most expensive accessibility controller currently being mass produced for home console gaming. From initially rough first impressions, to delays, to final retail hardware, I’ve had a fairly chaotic journey with the device.
Touring Accessibility in Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Skip to content Hi everyone. My name is Laura Kate Dale, otherwise known as LauraKBuzz, and last week I got to announce that I worked as an accessibility consultant on Life is Strange: Double Exposure.
Silent Hill 2 Remake Accessibility Review
Skip to content I’ll acknowledge up front, I was really, really sceptical ahead of the release of Silent Hill 2’s PS5 and PC remake. The studio behind the remake, Bloober Team, has an eye for interesting third person survival horror puzzle design, but has in the past majorly mishandled mental health themes in horror games such as The Medium.
I Consulted on Accessibility for Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Skip to content So, this is something I have been bursting at the seams to talk about for a while. I worked as an accessibility consultant on Life is Strange: Double Exposure. This is my first credit as an accessibility consultant for a major video game. Or it will be, my name’s not in the credits today, but it will be soon. The joy of getting credit sorted as an outside contributor haha. So, a little background.
Until Dawn PS5 Accessibility Review
Skip to content Back in 2015, PlayStation published Until Dawn for the PS4, a choice based horror narrative game where players control a group of young adults staying at a cabin on a snowy mountain, trying to survive until morning as they’re chased by terrifying creatures, and a masked killer.
Non-Speaking Representation In Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Skip to content Link, primary protagonist of the Legend of Zelda games, has generally spent the series as a non speaking protagonist. Setting aside the Phillips CD-i games with their exaggerated cutscenes, and the late 80’s Legend of Zelda Cartoon, the official Nintendo published video game appearances of the character have generally not presented Link’s half of any conversations to the player.
The Dangers of Advising “Powering Through” Motion Sickness
Skip to content As many of you who have followed my work for years may know, I suffer from pretty bad motion sickness when gaming, particularly when playing first person games without decent motion sickness mitigation settings available. Around ⅓ of the global population are estimated to be highly susceptible to motion sickness, a condition where a mismatch of signals between different sensory systems creates sensations of nausea, dizziness, and other negative symptoms.
Astro Bot Accessibility Review
Skip to content Astro’s Playroom, a free pack in title for the PlayStation 5, is admittedly short but regardless has managed to be one of my favourite exclusive experiences on the console in the four years since it originally released.
Byowave Proteus Controller Hands-On Impressions
Skip to content Update – Byowave have reached out to me and confirmed that they are offering free replacements in October for all Proteus Controller units sold at Gamescom, as well as allowing those impacted to keep their Gamescom units. The bugs I experienced were ones the creators hoped could be fixed with a firmware update, but are actually hardware issues.
Could Gaming Conventions Support Virtual Queuing Systems?
Skip to content Over the next few weeks, Access-Ability episode uploads are going to be a little bit more sporadic due to me travelling a fair amount for work. One of the work trips that I have coming up is to cover Gamescom, Europe’s biggest video game convention, and an event that I have complicated accessibility thoughts on. I attend Gamescom as a member of the press, meaning that for me much of my time at the event is spent in dedicated media areas.
I Needed Glasses for Glasses-Free 3D on the 3DS
Skip to content When the Nintendo 3DS originally released in March 2011, I should have known something was a little wonky with my eyesight. I picked up the system on launch day as a longtime Nintendo console and handheld fan, despite the launch day software offering being a little lacklustre, mostly out of a mixture of faith that the software library would improve over time and excitement to try out the system’s newest Nintendo gimmick, glasses free 3D.
Concord (PS5) Beta: Accessibility Preview
Skip to content Over this past weekend, PlayStation ran a closed beta for Concord, the first party developed PS5 and PC 5v5 hero shooter releasing 23rd August 2024. Revealed as part of PlayStation’s May 2024 State of Play presentation, the game’s cinematic reveal trailer gave the impression it was aiming for a Guardians of the Galaxy vibe with its cast of sarcastic and not overly serious humanoid alien playable characters, whose gameplay styles would reflect their appearance and personality.
Magical Delicacy Accessibility Impressions
Skip to content Earlier this year, at the Access-Ability Summer Showcase 2024, we showcased a trailer for a game called Magical Delicacy, published by Whitethorn Games. Before I jump into my accessibility review of Magical Delicacy, I want to be clear up front about that context.
Accessibility Accomodations Sometimes Support “Non-Disabled” Gamers
Skip to content As someone who has done work as an accessibility consultant for game development studios, one conversation I regularly have with development teams is about the topic of who accessibility accommodations are being designed to support, and whether the way a design element is being considered could be limiting who it would benefit. Obviously, when video game accessibility is being discussed, the first target demographics discussed are people with disabilities.
The Nuance of Dyslexia Friendly Fonts in Games
Skip to content Almost exactly four years ago, in June 2020, I published an episode of Access-Ability titled “Video Games Need to Better Support Dyslexic Players”. At the time, video games were starting to get better about offering subtitle and UI text altering options such as size alteration, customisable opacity backgrounds, and other basic tools, but options for font legibility alteration were still very much in their infancy, and far from seeing mass adoption.
Every Trailer from the Access-Ability Summer Showcase 2024
Skip to content The Access-Ability summer Showcase 2024, which aired earlier today, showcased 20 recently released and upcoming videogames making an effort to put accessibility at the forefront of their design. If you happened to miss the showcase when it aired live, you can check out the full showcase, or any of the day’s individual game trailers, below.
Pine Hearts Accessibility Review
Skip to content Last year, at the Access-Ability Summer Showcase 2023, we showcased a trailer for a game called Pine Hearts, published by Whitethorn Games. Before I jump into my accessibility review of Pine Hearts, I want to be clear up front about that context. While I went out of my way to showcase Pine Hearts as an example of a promising accessibility focused video game releasing in the year ahead, I do not feel any obligation to cover the title in a purely positive light upon its release.
Hades 2 has a (Spoilery) Accessibility Issue
Skip to content Hades 2 surprise released in Early Access on Steam around a week and a half ago at the time of publishing this video, and to say that I’ve been having a really good time with the game would be an understatement. I’ve put around 30 hours into playing already, and feel like I’m only just beginning to scratch the surface of the experience.
Gaming’s Audio Description Interactivity Hurdle
Skip to content One of the most exciting developments seen in the video game accessibility space over the past few years has been the increase in both big budget and indie games alike aiming to incorporate audio descriptions into their narratives.
Access-Ability Summer Showcase 2024 Date and Time Announcement
Skip to content On June 7th 2024 at 4pm UK, 11am Eastern, 8am Pacific, the Access-Ability Summer Showcase 2024 will be aired live, showcasing recently released and upcoming video games made by disabled game developers, and featuring accessibility settings and design choices aimed to help ensure more disabled gamers are able to play.
Hades 2 Accessibility Preview
Skip to content Hades is a top down action roguelike game originally released in early access in late 2018, and later officially released in 2020. The game followed the story of Zagreus, trying to escape the underworld ruled by his father Hades, to reach his mother Persephone on the surface of the earth.
Stellar Blade: Accessibility Review In Progress
Skip to content While I haven’t been able to see the game through to completion ahead of release, I have put a decent number of hours into playing Stellar Blade during the game’s review period. While the overall game feels somewhat derivative of the games it draws clear mechanical and narrative inspiration from, there is a lot to be impressed with in terms of the game’s accessibility offerings.
The Case For and Against PlayStation Access Controller Layout Presets
Skip to content Around four months ago, in early December 2023, PlayStation officially released the Access Controller, an accessibility focused input device featuring a circular design, customisable buttons around the outer edge, a large analogue stick, and input ports for external accessibility switches and buttons.
Botany Manor Accessibility Review (Switch)
Skip to content Last year, at the Access-Ability Summer Showcase 2023, we showcased a trailer for a game called Botany Manor, published by Whitethorn Games. Before I jump into my review of Botany Manor, I want to be clear up front about that context. While I went out of my way to showcase Botany Manor as an example of a promising accessibility focused video game releasing in the year ahead, I do not feel any obligation to cover the title in a purely positive light upon its release.
March 2024 News Recap (Prince of Persia, GAConf, Xbox Framework) - Access-Ability
Skip to content Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Access-Ability. March 2024 is drawing to a close, and as such I wanted to use this week to put together a rapid fire recap video covering a handful of smaller gaming accessibility stories that might not by themselves justify a full episode of this show, but are worth reporting on and discussing regardless.
The Vale: Shadow of the Crown Accessibility Review
Skip to content A heads up in advance. Today’s episode of Access-Ability focuses on a video game with basically zero visual elements. As a result, there’s very few screenshots I can include in this review. The Vale: Shadow of the Crown originally released back in August 2021 on PC and Xbox, and finally made its way to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch this past week.
How the Internet Has Made Activism More Accessible for Disabled People
Skip to content Mollie is a disabled content creator and DEI advocate. Her work focuses on pushing for inclusivity within the gaming space and industry, being incredibly vocal of how games themselves can be a better representation of the gaming community as a whole. Mollie can be found on Twitter at @littlemotac_ Protest marches have long been a critical part of political change around the world.
Logitech G Adaptive Gaming Kit for PlayStation Access Controller: Review
Skip to content While the following is a review of the Logitech G Adaptive Gaming Kit for Access Controller for PS5, I believe that it’s important to first give context on its predecessor, to properly contextualise who this new kit of accessible input devices is designed for.
Rise of the Ronin Hands On Preview (Plus Settings Info)
Skip to content It’s easy to make comparisons between Rise of the Ronin and other games similarly focused on tough combat encounters with bosses. The game shares some pretty fundamental DNA with games like Dark Souls, some style influences reminiscent of Sekiro, and an open world that at times invoked similar feelings to playing a game like Elden Ring, albeit on a more controlled scale.
How Disabled Content Creators Are Getting Pushed Out of a Dream Job
Skip to content Mollie is a disabled content creator and DEI advocate. Her work focuses on pushing for inclusivity within the gaming space and industry, being incredibly vocal of how games themselves can be a better representation of the gaming community as a whole. Mollie can be found on Twitter at @littlemotac_ Within the last 15 or so years, content creation has quickly become a growing career choice for many, particularly within the gaming sphere.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Laura M
Contact Laura M, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack