Accessible Game Spotlight: Lost and Hound

Building a database that lets you search video games by accessibility features and inclusive design means we get to talk to developers of some amazing games! Many of these games are already available but some are still in development.

Rating: PEGI 7+, ESRB TEEN

Release Date: Coming soon

Platforms: Nintendo Switch and PC

Genres: Adventure, Narrative and Puzzle

Developer: @DaisyAleSounds

Lost and Hound is a game in development. We had a chance to talk to the developer and get the low down for the database. It’s an adventure puzzle game where you play as scent tracking rescue dogs, Corgi and Biscuit. You use your sense of smell to find missing items and solve mysteries. Your heightened hearing and other senses enable you to progress in your goals, eventually becoming a professional tracker.

In the game, your attuned hearing allows you to access information that’s inaccessible to humans. This means you can solve puzzles and find items. But it extends to detecting if someone is lying by being able to hear their heart rate increase. You can even hear through walls to track people and match up items such as those left at a crime scene with their owners.

The game depicts these senses in different ways. At any time, you can call up your sense of smell to find the direction to go. In this way, you travel the world taking on the role of real-world working dogs. You might work in a hospital assisting with seizure or cancer detection. Or you could find yourself being an emotional support for zoo animals and more. Your work as a K9 tracker will take you to the Australian outback, Swiss Alps, the American wilderness, and many other locales. In between each mission, you’ll have the option to complete mini levels to earn extra money and travel to more exotic locations.

The game is designed to be fully playable to players without sight or without hearing. It does this by matching audio cues with visual representation. This is also a mode where the display changes to increase the contrast and the depiction of the world to make it much more visible. Stamina is depicted on screen but also with the panting sound of your dog. Although there isn’t a difficulty setting, selecting particular companion dogs can make the game easier to play as they have helpful abilities. The sniff function is always present and tells you where to go next.

Beyond its novel play style, this game also offers a unique and light-touch way to engage with themes of criminal activity and the importance of other people to make us feel safe. Your owner is present throughout the game and depicts strongly the power of being cared for while being offered protection and reassurance.

It’s an exciting game that can teach us a lot about how a game about our senses could be designed to be inclusive even to players with impairments in the same senses the game highlights. We can’t wait to play it. You can use this search in the database to find more Upcoming Games with Accessibility Features.