A relaxing game that makes you squint at a pop-up while Kewa drifts past a nebula is doing nobody a favour. Tuning the text size, contrast, and volume controls before your first shift keeps dialogue readable, lets the soundtrack breathe, and turns Beyond These Stars into the cozy mode experience most people expect from a city builder on a sentient space whale. The settings live in the in-game pause panel rather than buried in a launcher, so a quick pass through them gets you to a comfortable session in under two minutes — and you can revisit them any time without restarting your settlement. For the primary source, see the studio's previous game on Steam.
This walkthrough covers every slider the developer has shipped, the order to adjust them, and the trade-offs that matter when you play on a small laptop screen, a Steam Deck handheld, or a 4K desktop monitor. The goal is a Beyond These Stars accessibility guide that helps every player — whether you need large text for low-light reading, higher contrast for visual clarity, or a quieter mix so the ambient soundtrack stays in the background.
Where to Find the Beyond These Stars Text Size and Display Settings
The settings panel opens from the pause menu rather than the main menu, which trips up a lot of first-time players who expect accessibility options to live on the title screen. Pressing Escape on keyboard, the Menu button on a controller, or the Start icon on Steam Deck brings up the pause overlay; the gear-shaped Options tab is where every visual and audio toggle lives. Because the panel is a real-time preview, every slider you drag updates the UI instantly — handy when you are chasing the right Beyond These Stars text size for a non-standard monitor.
The panel is split into three logical groups: Display, Audio, and Gameplay. The Display tab contains text scaling, contrast, color-blind-friendly palette swaps, and UI opacity. The Audio tab handles master volume, music, ambience, and the dedicated voice channel for Peep chatter and Kewa dialogue. The Gameplay tab covers things like camera sensitivity, hold-to-confirm toggles, and the pause-when-unfocused checkbox that is useful for alt-tabbed play.
Display Tab Overview
| Setting | What it changes | Recommended starting value |
|---|---|---|
| Text Size | Scales every UI label, dialogue box, and tool tip | 125% on a 1080p monitor, 150% on Steam Deck or 13-inch laptop |
| Contrast Mode | Boosts border and background separation in the UI | High for low-light sessions |
| Color Palette | Swaps resource and status colors for color-blind palettes | Default unless red/green signals are hard to read |
| UI Opacity | Makes panels more or less translucent over the city | 90% keeps the whale backdrop visible |
| Subtitle Background | Adds a dark plate behind dialogue text | On for any text size below 150% |
Audio Tab Overview
| Channel | Default behaviour | Cozy-mode tweak |
|---|---|---|
| Master Volume | 100% | Lower to 60-70% for evening sessions |
| Music | 80% | Drop to 50% so ambience leads |
| Ambience | 70% | Raise to 90% to hear Kewa's environment |
| Peep Voice | 90% | Keep at 80% to avoid chatter fatigue |
| SFX / UI Clicks | 80% | Lower to 40-50% if clicking is repetitive |
The values in the right-hand column are not magic numbers — they are starting points that the community has reported as comfortable on the official Discord. Adjust each one until the mix matches your room and your mood, then save and move on. Beyond These Stars does not require you to restart the save file or reload the settlement for these settings to take effect, which is a small but welcome touch from Balancing Monkey Games.
Adjusting the Beyond These Stars Text Size Without Breaking the UI
The text size slider is the most important setting in the whole panel, because the entire city-building loop — building tooltips, Peep status windows, research descriptions, Kewa dialogue choices — runs through readable text. A 100% baseline works on a 24-inch 1080p monitor, but it quickly gets cramped on a 13-inch laptop, a Steam Deck, or any high-DPI display that Windows reports as 125% or 150% scaling. The in-game slider stacks on top of your operating system scaling, so a comfortable Beyond These Stars text size for handheld play is usually 150% to 175%.
The risk with the upper end of the slider is layout overflow: long building names like Spaceship Builder or Settlement Ship can clip the right edge of a panel if you push past 175% on a 1080p screen. Test each tool tip after adjusting by hovering the cursor over a Home Spaceship, the Apothecary, and the Space Port. If any tooltip truncates, drop back one notch — readability is the goal, not maximal type.
Text Size Recommendations by Screen Type
| Display | Operating system scale | Recommended in-game Text Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27-inch 1440p desktop | 100% | 100-110% | UI is generous, default is usually fine |
| 24-inch 1080p desktop | 100% | 110-125% | Slight bump helps tooltips breathe |
| 15-inch 1080p laptop | 100% or 125% | 125-150% | Match OS scale to keep text consistent |
| 13-inch laptop / Steam Deck | 100-150% | 150-175% | Handheld play needs large UI |
| 4K desktop | 150-200% | 110-125% | The in-game slider compounds with OS scale |
If you plan to play handheld on Steam Deck, the single-player platform reference covers how the UI behaves on the Deck's 1280×800 panel — the same rules apply for the text size slider, so 150% is usually the right entry point. Players who prefer mouse-only play can also benefit from the larger text because the tooltips stay on screen a beat longer when the cursor pauses.
A common mistake is adjusting the text size slider in the middle of a Peep shift, when strikes or celebrations pop up on top of the build menu. Pause first, change the slider, and let the UI re-flow before unpausing. This avoids the one-frame flicker that can hide a critical "Peep is sick" warning behind a clipped panel.
Beyond These Stars Contrast Settings and Color-Blind Modes
The contrast toggle is the second-most-impactful visual setting, and it doubles as a Beyond These Stars accessibility guide cornerstone for anyone who plays in a dimly lit room. The default theme uses a soft palette that fits the cozy mode aesthetic, but it can wash out on cheap laptop panels or in daylight. The High contrast option adds a darker plate behind tooltips, thickens UI borders, and pushes the Home Spaceship and Apothecary icons into sharper relief against the biome background.
Color-blind support is built in rather than bolted on. The game ships with a small set of palette swaps that re-color the resource and status indicators without changing the art. Red and green signals — usually tied to sickness and happiness, and to "depleted" versus "full" resource nodes — are the main targets. If you cannot tell a Pasture happiness icon from a sickness icon at a glance, switch the palette before starting a long session; the change is reversible and saved per profile.
Contrast and Palette Cheat Sheet
| Setting | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Default Contrast | Bright rooms, color-accurate monitors | Tooltips can blend with the biome |
| High Contrast | Low-light play, eye strain, low-quality panels | UI borders look heavier against the backdrop |
| Protanopia Palette | Red-green color blindness | Other reds (Peep sickness) shift toward yellow |
| Deuteranopia Palette | Red-green color blindness (alt) | Greens (healthy biome) shift toward teal |
| Tritanopia Palette | Blue-yellow color blindness | Sky and water tones change |
Each palette swap is a single click and previews immediately, so there is no penalty for cycling through them during your first hour. The developer's presskit confirms that the palette swaps were a deliberate design choice, and community feedback on the official Discord has been broadly positive, with players reporting that the High contrast setting is the single biggest comfort improvement during late-shift sessions.
A subtle but useful toggle is Subtitle Background, which puts a dark plate behind Kewa's dialogue and any cinematic captions. Combined with the larger Beyond These Stars text size, this option is the closest thing the game has to a "reading mode" — the same idea you find in streaming apps. The setting is in the Display tab rather than the Audio tab, which is easy to miss, so look for it next to the contrast slider.
Beyond These Stars Volume Controls and Cozy Mode Audio Mix
A cozy mode city builder is only as relaxing as its audio mix, and Beyond These Stars ships with five independent channels that let you shape the soundscape. The default mix favours music, which makes the first hour feel cinematic, but seasoned players tend to lean towards ambience once they understand the Peep chatter, because ambience carries Kewa's environment and the gentle biome hum that gives the game its signature atmosphere.
The most underrated channel is Ambience. Dropping music to 50% and raising ambience to 90% transforms the experience on a good pair of headphones, especially during the Celebrations that Dev Blog #22 describes — these moments really pop when the biome is louder than the orchestra. The Peep Voice channel controls on-the-job chatter, which is helpful when you are learning the mood of a new settlement but becomes repetitive after the third shift; lowering it to 70-80% keeps the dialogue intelligible without fatigue.
Cozy Mode Audio Recipe
| Channel | Cozy value | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Master | 60-70% | Headroom for louder moments without clipping |
| Music | 40-50% | Background rather than feature |
| Ambience | 85-95% | The biome and Kewa carry the mood |
| Peep Voice | 70-80% | Dialogue stays clear, chatter fades |
| SFX / UI | 35-50% | Soft clicks, no harsh pings |
The SFX / UI channel is where most players go too high. Clicks, build-complete chimes, and notification pings add up across a long session, and a 80% default can feel busy. A 35-50% setting keeps feedback audible but never grating. If you play with a controller on the couch, drop SFX further to 25-30% — controller rumble already provides tactile feedback, so the audio can be whisper-quiet.
Audio does more than set the mood, though. Volume controls also help you track the early-warning audio cues the game uses for sickness, strikes, and Kewa's mood shifts. Dev Blog #23 explains that the first strike lasts three shifts; a quieter mix means you can hear a strike warning before it escalates, which is the difference between a small concession and a city-wide slow-down. Treat the audio mix as a Beyond These Stars accessibility guide for your ears, not just a background toggle.
Building a Cozy Mode Profile That Sticks
Beyond These Stars treats display and audio settings as a per-profile preference, which means each Steam user keeps their own mix. If you share the household PC, ask any co-residents to set up their own profile before they play, because the game does not yet expose a quick-switcher for accessibility presets. The developer has not published a built-in preset system as of the October 2026 launch, so the best workaround is to write down your favourite values and re-enter them if the profile is ever wiped.
For a true cozy mode session, a useful starting profile looks like this: Text Size 125-150%, High Contrast on, Subtitle Background on, Music at 45%, Ambience at 90%, Peep Voice at 75%, SFX at 40%. The exact numbers depend on your room and your screen, but the shape — music down, ambience up, large text, dark plates — is the recipe that community players report as the most relaxing. If you are new to the game, set this profile before your first Story Mode session, because the developer recommends playing Story Mode first to learn the systems.
Cozy mode also benefits from a few non-audio tweaks that live in the Gameplay tab. Hold to Confirm should usually be off unless you have a cat that likes the keyboard. Camera Edge Scrolling is a comfort setting rather than a performance one — slowing it down by 10-15% makes long panning sweeps across Kewa's back feel cinematic instead of twitchy. And Pause When Unfocused is a gift to anyone who alt-tabs to look up a recipe; the city will not run on without you.
Sample Cozy Mode Profiles
| Profile | Text Size | Contrast | Music | Ambience | SFX | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Story Mode Cozy | 125% | High | 45% | 90% | 40% | First-time players learning the systems |
| Sandbox Focus | 110% | Default | 35% | 85% | 35% | Long sandbox sessions |
| Handheld Deck | 175% | High | 50% | 95% | 30% | Steam Deck play on the couch |
| Late Night Quiet | 150% | High | 25% | 80% | 20% | Low-volume bedroom play |
The Sandbox Focus profile assumes you have already learned the basics, and the Beyond These Stars sandbox mode reference is the natural next read once the systems feel familiar. The Handheld Deck profile mirrors what players report in the official Discord thread about Steam Deck play, and the Late Night Quiet profile is the late-evening version that keeps neighbours and sleeping family members happy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do I find Beyond These Stars text size and accessibility settings in-game?
Open the pause menu with Escape (keyboard), the Menu button (controller), or the Start icon (Steam Deck), then click the Options gear. The text size slider is the first control in the Display tab, alongside the contrast and color-blind palette options. Audio channels sit in the Audio tab. The developer has not published a launcher-level equivalent, so the in-game panel is the only place to change these settings.
Do the Beyond These Stars contrast settings change gameplay or only the UI?
The contrast and color-blind palette swaps are UI-only — they re-color tooltips, status icons, and resource nodes without altering the underlying simulation. Plant growth, Peep sickness, and Kewa's happiness are unaffected, so a High contrast session plays identically to a default session. The change is purely a visual aid, which is why it works as the foundation of a Beyond These Stars accessibility guide.
What is the best Beyond These Stars volume mix for cozy mode?
The community-reported cozy mode recipe is Master 60-70%, Music 40-50%, Ambience 85-95%, Peep Voice 70-80%, and SFX 35-50%. Dropping music and pushing ambience forward turns Kewa's biome into the lead instrument, which is the closest the game comes to a built-in cozy mode preset. Fine-tune each channel by ear in your own room, then save and move on — there is no wrong answer as long as the mix feels relaxing.
Can I save separate Beyond These Stars accessibility settings per profile?
Yes. Display and audio preferences are stored per Steam user profile, so each household member can have their own mix. The developer has not shipped a built-in preset system as of the October 2026 launch, so the practical workaround is to note your favourite values once and re-enter them if a profile is ever wiped. Beyond These Stars is a Windows PC-only release, so this is the supported workflow on any setup.
Does Beyond These Stars have a relaxing game mode I can toggle on?
There is no single "relaxing mode" toggle, but combining large Beyond These Stars text size, high contrast, low SFX, and high ambience effectively creates one. The Story Mode itself is the gentlest entry point because the developer recommends it first; Sandbox Mode exposes more knobs, and the sandbox difficulty options let you push the experience even further towards a relaxing game with the right combination of sliders. Together, these settings turn the city builder into the cozy, low-friction experience most players are looking for.