I appreciate the depth of research that went into this game. A lot of the experiences were relatable, and though a few aspects of the story missed the mark, I see the point that is trying to be made here. As a blind man, I felt uncomfortable playing this game pretty much the entire way through, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It means the narrative is hitting close to home.
there’s a lot of antagonism towards sighted people in the blind community which stems from lifelong mistreatment. I share their frustrations, and while I can’t relate to being mistreated constantly and consistently, I have had my fair share of negative experiences. I think it’s worthwhile to try to build a bridge between blind people and the wider world, as we tend to share the same aspirations.
Finding a job that can transform into a career in which we derive fulfillment, finding a partner and starting a family, buying our first house, etc. are goals I feel most people can relate to, regardless of disabled status. We do share many things in common, but a sighted person isn’t likely to be thinking that when they encounter someone who is blind. The nerves show, anxiety can make itself evident, someone who is generally charismatic can come off as socially awkward.
I didn’t detect any mockery here. I feel like this is the type of approach that Disney might take on a film that has subtle adult humor that kids won’t pick up on so the entire family can watch. Blind people may feel uncomfortable, and maybe the humor doesn’t come across, but hopefully sighted people who play this pick up on how silly it is to act differently towards someone because they’re blind.
Moving on from that, I did enjoy the sound design. My screen reader happened to read the dialog text at the same time the system tts did, so it would be good to have an option to turn off the system TTS. In my case, I muted screen reader speech, but I would have honestly preferred to use it, since I have the voice set up the way I want, and it goes much faster than the system tts would allow in the settings menu.
I can’t say I enjoyed the game, but then again, I don’t think that was the point. It was gritty and uncomfortable, because it was so stereotypical, and a lot of people are likely to relate to at least one of the negative interactions depicted here.