A Review of Dawncaster, an Accessible Role-Playing Video Game

Aaron Preece

In our coverage of video game accessibility, we often discuss games where important visual information must be conveyed through sound, such as audio cues that represent movement, location, or action on the screen. These types of games require accessibility solutions that go beyond menus and text alone.

There is another category of games, however, where making the user interface accessible effectively makes the entire game accessible. In this context, “user interface” refers to menus, buttons, text, and other structured on-screen information that players use to make decisions and take actions.

Dawncaster, available on iOS, Android, and most recently PC, is one such game and is an excellent example, as not only is Dawncaster fully accessible by nature of having an accessible user interface, but the game's controls are simple to use while still allowing for efficient and smooth gameplay.

Dawncaster also serves as a strong example of the Unity Accessibility plugin in action and implemented well within a finished game. While I am not a developer and cannot speak to exactly which accessibility features are provided by the plugin itself versus those added by the development team, it is clear that the plugin plays a meaningful role in the overall experience. Many of the consistent interface sounds, such as navigation clicks, activation cues, and audio feedback when moving through or reaching the edges of menus, are characteristic of the plugin and help make interaction intuitive and predictable, much like system-level interface sounds on iOS. We will focus primarily on Dawncaster as a game, but it is worth keeping in mind that a significant portion of its accessibility is supported by this plugin, making it a solid real-world example of how the Unity Accessibility plugin can be used effectively when implemented thoughtfully.

For this piece, we will be looking at Dawncaster primarily on a Windows PC using the NVDA screen reader for speech output. That being said, the game controls and speech output are nearly identical on mobile, and where differences occur, they will be mentioned.

What Is Dawncaster

In Dawncaster, demons from the dark land of Umbris are waging a war of destruction against the realm of Aethos, and the Dawnbringer, the legendary prophesied hero, has gone missing. Take on the role of a hero who has received the summons to fight in the crusade against the demons and embark on an adventure to locate the Dawnbringer and potentially save Aethos from destruction.

Dawncaster is a fantasy-themed deck-building roguelike RPG. You may be familiar with RPGs, or role-playing games, in which the player takes on the role of a specific character who often has various statistics and abilities that determine what they can do. Deck-building games are somewhat newer in the video game space and might be unfamiliar. A deck builder is a game in which the player slowly assembles a deck of cards over the course of the game to complete more and more difficult challenges.

Deck builders are an offshoot of competitive collectible card games, or CCGs. Many of these are incredibly popular. You may be familiar with games such as Magic: The Gathering or Hearthstone, a digital collectible card game we reviewed back in October of 2021. Instead of facing another player in a deck-building game, you usually play against the environment or the computer. Because deck-building games are single-player, the game can allow for crazy, absurdly powerful combinations that would be untenable in a player-versus-player game where balance is desired.

Dawncaster combines the aesthetics and progression of a traditional role-playing game with card-based gameplay. Your character, your opponents, and even the environments you navigate through are based on drawing cards from decks.

Another term that may be unfamiliar is “roguelike.” Roguelike games are a genre that began in the 1980s with the game Rogue, hence the name. In roguelikes, character death is permanent and requires you to start over. In addition, each run of the game is at least somewhat randomly generated so that no attempt is the same.

Roguelikes reward knowledge gathering and repeated plays, allowing players to learn more and more about the game every time they die and try again, letting them progress further with each attempt. In more modern roguelikes, including Dawncaster, players are also able to unlock various features and capabilities for their character, giving them more options to use for each subsequent attempt.

Controls and Accessibility

When you launch Dawncaster, it will detect whether you have a screen reader running and automatically activate Accessibility Mode if so. Accessibility Mode is deceptively simple, but quite effective.

On PC, you navigate the entire game using the arrow keys and the Enter key. The Up and Down arrow keys move item by item through the interface, while the Left and Right arrow keys navigate by section. Sections are somewhat nebulous and depend on the screen, but they provide quicker navigation throughout the interface.

On mobile, swiping left or right navigates through the interface item by item, while swiping up or down navigates by section. As one might imagine, double-tapping is the equivalent of pressing the Enter key to activate items.

When selecting items in Dawncaster, sometimes the screen changes completely, while other times, such as in the settings menu, only a portion of the screen further down changes depending on what you have selected. When the screen changes entirely, such as when opening the settings menu from the main menu, you will hear an interface activation sound. When only a portion of the screen changes, you might instead hear a subtle, card-like paper flick to inform you of the difference.

The main game mode in Dawncaster is the traditional adventure. You begin by picking a character class from familiar fantasy archetypes such as Arcanist, Hunter, Knight, Seeker, Rogue, and Warrior, as well as selecting your character portrait. When selecting character portraits after choosing your class, each image is described in detail, a nice accessibility feature that enriches the experience for people who cannot see the images.

Next, you select your weapon, weapon talent, and starting card. You will notice that for each class, there are weapons, weapon abilities, talents, and starting cards that synergize well together. For example, the Rogue’s Dagger weapon does extra damage if it is the first card played in a turn, which gives it the Ambush ability. One of the Rogue’s starting cards is called Sneak Attack, which resets the Ambush ability, allowing the player to use another dagger and trigger Ambush once again.

After this, you can choose additional settings such as your difficulty level, which card sets and expansions you would like to use, helpful if you are trying to play a specific archetype, and map selection settings.

Maps are essentially locations you visit during the game. On PC, all existing map expansions are included with the purchase of the main game. On mobile, the purchase of the main game includes the core set of maps, while additional maps can be purchased individually through expansions.

Once the game begins, you will be dealt three location cards and select which one you would like to take, starting a given encounter. Encounters primarily consist of enemies to battle, but they can also include special events unique to specific maps, opportunity cards that result in traps, treasure, or other outcomes, shrines for upgrading cards in various ways, campsites for removing cards or regaining health, and various non-player characters such as the Blacksmith, the Alchemist, and the Enchanter.

The most involved aspect of gameplay is battling enemies, and this is where you will spend most of your time. When you engage an opponent in battle, you have multiple sections available to navigate, which contain information about both yourself and your opponent.

I will describe these sections using directions as they relate to accessible navigation on PC. Player information is on the far left, with enemy information on the right. On the far left, you will find a section detailing your player information, including your energy, the points you use to play cards, your health, and your deck with its remaining cards. Next, you will encounter the cards currently in your hand.

Dawncaster is incredibly complex and includes many different keywords and effects that trigger when cards are played, such as the Rogue’s Ambush combo described above. For every card, your screen reader will announce its effects, cost, damage, and other details. In addition, if the card has specific keywords, those are read after the main description.

For example, the Rogue’s Dagger appears as follows to a screen reader user:

• Dagger
• Bonus
• Neutral 1
• Deal 2 damage. Ambush: Deal 3 extra damage and Critical Hit. Melee Basic Attack
• Common
• Brown
• Tooltips: Ambush, Ambush triggers whenever it is the first card played of the round.
• Critical Hit, Critical Hits deal double damage.
• Bonus

Some things to note here: each character class uses different kinds of energy based on their attributes. Some cards require that the attribute type, or color, match the card, while others are neutral and can be played using any energy type. In this example, the Rogue uses Dexterity, so this distinction does not come into play as much, but the Hunter class uses both Dexterity and Strength, making attribute color more important.

The “Bonus” text indicates that if you play the card under the correct conditions, you will receive its bonus effect, such as additional damage. In the above example, the “Bonus” text at the beginning of the card description informs me that the extra effects will trigger. If I had played another card so that the dagger did not trigger the Ambush ability, it would not appear as part of the description. This keyword is a relatively new feature introduced after the release of the Windows version in early February 2026 and is very helpful, as it removes the need to memorize whether you meet the conditions for a given card.

After your hand, you will encounter the area information, which often provides the enemy with some sort of benefit. Next is the enemy’s information. First, you will hear any afflictions, blessings, enchantments, and so on currently affecting the enemy, followed by their statistics, including health, energy, hand, and description.

At the end of the screen, to the right of the enemy information using our navigation method, you will find the Settings button, followed by a log of recently played cards.

As you play cards and the enemy responds, the game sends information directly to your screen reader for both you and your opponent. Notably, at the start of your turn, you are told the categories of cards in the enemy’s hand to help you plan your next move, as well as the enemy’s current health. This feature can be toggled in the settings menu under Accessibility.

Once the enemy is defeated, you are presented with a victory screen. Pressing the Next button takes you to the reward screen, where you can add a card to your deck or skip it. Note that keeping a small deck focused on a specific archetype or playstyle is generally preferred, so skipping cards is often the best option.

Accessibility Thoughts

Overall, the accessibility of the game is stellar, and I am personally very impressed. The experience is smooth and efficient, especially considering the small number of keys used for controls. I personally find playing on desktop using the arrow keys and Enter to be significantly more efficient than playing on mobile, though this is largely a matter of preference.

Visually, the interface is clean and easy to navigate, though you may occasionally encounter focus oddities as UI elements load. For example, at the end of each turn, your current cards are discarded and new ones are drawn. While these cards are being drawn and displayed, navigation can feel slightly inconsistent if you move too quickly.

In some cases, UI elements may appear before they are actually actionable. This is most noticeable when continuing a saved game or starting a new one, where the map title card loads and you see prompts such as “Press any button to continue” before those options are available.

In addition to the main gameplay loop, there are other modes such as Weekly Challenges and the Sunforge. Sunforge allows you to construct a deck card by card from a random assortment and then battle a randomly selected sequence of bosses. During my testing, at the end of the Sunforge setup, the option to start combat did not appear to my screen reader even though it was visually present. Returning to the main menu and continuing resolved the issue, and the option appeared as expected. Otherwise, I have encountered very few accessibility bugs.

There are also many quality-of-life features that improve efficiency and enjoyment for people who are blind or have low vision. Having the enemy’s hand categories and current health announced at the start of each turn is extremely helpful, as it avoids the need to navigate away from your own hand. I was also pleasantly surprised by the detailed descriptions for character portraits and enemies, which add a great deal of flavor and immersion.

A Word on Steam

On Android and iOS, Dawncaster can be purchased through the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. On desktop, the game is purchased through the Steam store. At this point, the Steam website and client are reasonably accessible. It is possible to purchase games, log in, install titles, navigate your library, and view game details.

Things are not perfect, and some controls appear as plain text even though they are actionable. However, compared to previous years, Steam is very usable and, in my opinion, mostly accessible at this point, and should present few barriers for most users.

The Bottom Line

I was very impressed by how polished the Dawncaster experience was at launch on PC. Even in the few weeks since release, the game has already received updates that include accessibility improvements. A significant portion of the desktop version 1.0 changelog is dedicated to screen reader enhancements.

The developer deserves major kudos for implementing such an effective accessible interface and for their continued commitment to improving accessibility for blind and low-vision players. If you are considering using the Unity Accessibility plugin for your own game, Dawncaster is an excellent example of how well it can be implemented and clearly demonstrates the plugin’s effectiveness.

Dawncaster strikes an excellent balance between ease of navigation and mechanical depth, allowing you to focus on gameplay rather than accessibility workarounds. While this article has focused primarily on how the game is played accessibly, it is also, simply put, a very fun game. The mechanics are deep but approachable, especially thanks to the detailed tooltips. I have been having a great time with it, particularly now that it is available on PC, and would highly recommend it to fans of role-playing games or strategic, complex games in general.

If you are interested in seeing Dawncaster in action, I recorded a video demonstrating the game using NVDA on a Windows PC. Dawncaster also has a reference website containing information on cards, enemies, maps, and user-submitted deck builds. The site is accessible and well worth exploring.