Accessibility

What is in the game

No timer, no fail state

In single-player and co-op there is no clock, no score, no penalty and no way to lose. A misplaced bottle costs the walk back and nothing else. You can stop for a week mid-pile and the shop will be exactly as you left it.

An easier mode that shows the answer

The gentlest of the three difficulty modes prints slot numbers on the shelves, which turns reading the label into matching a number. It is the mode to choose if fine reading, memory or unfamiliar English is the thing standing between you and the game.

Full input remapping

Every binding can be changed in game. Keyboard and mouse, Xbox-layout pads through XInput, and PlayStation, Switch and Steam Deck controllers through Steam Input — and Steam Input itself can be used for further remapping, including one-handed and assistive layouts.

Frame rate and brightness controls

A frame cap at 30, 40, 60, 120 or uncapped, a resolution scale and a brightness setting. Capping the frame rate is the usual fix if fast motion is a problem for you.

Separate audio sliders

Music and effects have their own volumes, and the music can be turned off entirely.

Nothing loud, nothing sudden

No jump scares, no combat, no failure sting. The shop never goes pitch dark — the lantern is a finding tool, not a survival mechanic.

No dialogue to miss

There is no voice acting or spoken dialogue, so nothing is conveyed by audio alone and there is nothing that needs captioning.

What is not in the game

The game had a dedicated Accessibility settings section during development. It was removed in July 2026 because the options inside it did not actually do anything, and a switch that lies is worse than a missing switch. So, plainly:

• No colour-blind mode. Shelves are distinguished by colour as well as by their Greek letter and theme, and there is no filter or palette option to change that.
• No text-size or UI-scale option. The printed labels are rendered art, and their size follows your resolution.
• No subtitles or captions. There is no speech to caption, but there is also no captioning of sound effects.
• No camera, motion-reduction or field-of-view options beyond the frame cap and resolution scale. This is a first-person game with head movement, and if first-person movement makes you unwell, that is a real reason not to buy it.
• No second keyboard seat. In couch co-op, players 2 to 4 each need a gamepad.

Two of those — colour and text size — matter more in this game than they would in most, because reading a label is the whole verb. We would rather you knew that before you paid for it than after.

If colour is the barrier

Colour is a shortcut in Alchemess rather than the only signal: every shelf also carries its Greek letter and its written theme, every bottle carries a printed name, a vessel word and a number from 1 to 2080, and the vessel types run in alphabetical order down each shelf. The shelf reference lists all 26 letters and themes, and the numbered difficulty mode removes the last of the guesswork. It is a workaround rather than a feature, and we are not going to call it one.

Tell us what would help

This is a two-person studio and the list above is honest rather than final. If a specific option would make the difference for you, say which one and why — write to us or mail info@alchemessgame.com. Specific requests from people who would use them are the ones that get built.