Torment Hexus Early Access Preview: a roguelike that's also accessible to Blind and Visually Impaired players

Making a strategy game accessible to blind and visually impaired players is no small feat. These games throw a wealth of information at you, from enemy positions and status effects to environmental hazards and tactical opportunities. When you can't rely on a quick glance at the screen to take everything in, finding a clear and efficient way to communicate all that information becomes essential. The same challenge applies to games like Candy Crush, where success depends on spotting patterns and matching colors and shapes across a grid. Now imagine combining both experiences into a single game. That's exactly what Torment Hexus sets out to do, and, even in Early Access, it's already making impressive progress on both fronts.

Torment Hexus, developed by TMA Games LLC, is a roguelike set in a cyberpunk future dominated by megacorporations. Here, magic coexists with technology, blending classic elements such as water and fire with schools of magic inspired by music, computing, graffiti, and even bureaucracy. In this hypercapitalist world, we play as Iggy, a young mage who decides to rebel against the corporation they work for and climb its tower, defeating human and robotic superiors along the way until they finally take down their boss.

Gameplay

What makes this roguelike special is that every battle requires you to play two games at once. On screen, you'll find a turn-based tactical battle on a grid-based map alongside a match-3 grid where you combine gems to generate mana. The two boards influence each other: on the match-3 grid, you can only combine gems within the central area. Moving around the battlefield makes the grid scroll in the four cardinal directions, causing some gems to leave the available area while others enter it, changing the combinations you can make.

This means that a move intended to dodge an enemy might push the gems you need out of reach, while a move designed to generate the mana you want could leave you in a dangerously exposed position.

It's a wonderfully tricky mechanic, especially when you consider that spells interact with one another in ways you'll discover as you play. Casting a water spell on top of a fire spell doesn't produce the same result as casting fire on top of water. On top of that, the different schools of magic constantly reshape the battlefield. During our runs, we created blizzards that damaged anyone passing through them, as well as areas affected by propaganda.

Battles are also procedurally generated, meaning that once you die, you can't simply retry the exact same encounter.

There is a lot of information to keep track of. You need to plan which spell combinations you want to trigger, where you want to lure your enemies, and how much mana you'll need to pull off your strategy. For visually impaired players, the cognitive load is even greater, since all of this must be managed without the benefit of a visual overview or a physical, tactile representation of the battlefield.

Visual Accessibility in a Roguelike

Thankfully, the development team is doing an excellent job of addressing these challenges.

All active status effects on both the player and enemies are read aloud by the screen reader, along with their descriptions and the effects they will have. We can explore the battlefield one tile at a time, press a button to hear a full description of a tile, or jump directly between enemy positions. The game consistently announces enemies' characteristics and potential attacks, including the tiles their attacks will hit.

When casting a spell, a feature called Targeting Preview lets us know in advance which areas and targets it would affect. This helps us determine where to aim our spells while also reducing cognitive load. The match-3 grid is equally accessible through tile-by-tile exploration. When we move a gem, the screen reader tells us which gem it will swap places with and whether the move will create a match of three.

Accessibility goes well beyond screen reader support. Spells, effects, and enemies have distinct sounds, helping us understand what's happening during combat. Controls can be remapped, and the game supports keyboard, mouse, and controller input.

We can adjust the brightness, independently control the volume of music, ambient sounds, and sound effects, and replace some of the more intense visual effects with less intrusive alternatives. On top of that, a combat log lets us review everything that happened during a battle, step by step, reducing the cognitive burden and allowing us to retrace the consequences of each move.

Of course, accessibility is still a work in progress, just like the game itself, which remains in Early Access. Some schools of magic still need further development, and certain pieces of information can be cumbersome to access. For example, there is currently no quick way to check the positions of environmental objects that could provide cover or identify the spells currently affecting the battlefield.

For now, the only way to find out which new gems a movement will bring into the available area is to listen to a lengthy list that includes both the gems already within reach and those that might enter it.

Despite these shortcomings, we recommend giving Torment Hexus a try and, better yet, sending feedback and suggestions to the development team. The game is being shaped in part by player feedback, making this the perfect time to get involved and help improve it.

Besides, the game is already a lot of fun. Spell combinations make every encounter feel varied and dynamic.

Battlefields are small and dangerous, and you always feel as though you're fighting in a living, reactive environment. The events encountered between battles can significantly change the course of a run, as can the relics you earn as rewards.

Add the ability to upgrade your spells and unlock new items and schools of magic between runs, along with a solid list of achievements, and you've got a game with plenty of replay value.

It's been a long time since we've played a roguelike quite like this one. It's a great choice for genre veterans, while its demanding gameplay will put the patience of newcomers to the test. We can't wait to see the finished version.