Accessibility review: impulse response – Steam
Nobody will hear you scream in the dark.
Hi, my name is Victor, and I am an accessibility journalist. Before going blind, I played thousands of games, and since then I have continued enjoying many accessible AAA experiences, including The Last of Us Part I and II, God of War Ragnarök, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Forza Motorsport, Mortal Kombat 1, Street Fighter 6 and many, many other. All of those games prove that accessibility can open the door to incredible experiences for all of us, and today the audio-Syfy horror title Impulse Response joins that list.
Impulse Response is a thrilling, entertaining, and immersive blend of horror and science fiction that creates tension from the beginning and slowly pulls us deeper into its mystery with good writing, excellent acting, spatial sound design, and clever puzzles.
This project originally started as a submission for the Games for Blind Gamers Game Jam which The developer, RubyRPG, were incredibly honoured to win. Since that jam, they have been hard at work expanding the original concept into a complete, polished release.
In Impulse Response we step into the role of Engineer Cadence Quinn, who wakes from cryo sleep to blaring alarms aboard a ship where something has clearly gone wrong. What happened to the crew? What is wrong with the ship? Those are the questions for us to answer as we move through the completely dark environment, following sound cues and using echolocation to navigate the ship, solve puzzles, and uncover the truth.
The sound effects are very well done and help bring the ship and its surroundings to life. The voice acting is also excellent, and many blind gamers around the world will immediately recognize the beloved voice of Jennissary as the main protagonist. Her work on audio-described gaming events, including The Game Awards, Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Summer Showcase, and many others, has already made her a familiar voice for many within the community.
I am someone who prefers to play games on consoles, so the option to play this on PC with my Xbox Series X Gamepad was extremely welcome. The controls feel natural, and the vibration feedback during important moments adds another layer to the overall immersion.
I encourage everyone to give Impulse Response a try, and if you like it, please help the developer by rating it on Steam. This is a free audio experience, which should be fun for blind players like me, but also can be seen as a challenge for everyone else to actually understand how we, The blind community, play games. Last but not least, congratulations to Max and Jennissary for their amazing work. I am looking forward to seeing what they create next because the blind community is lucky to have dedicated people like them bringing more stories and experiences to all of us.
Victor Dima
