Judging by the sheer number of options, this is one of Sony’s most accessible first party games yet. Let’s take a look through them. Watch on YouTube Here’s Zoe’s take on God of War: Ragnarök for our video team’s review. Booting up the game, players are immediately offered four different accessibility presets. Vision Accessibility: focused on features like large text, high contrast display boosts, navigation guidance, combat camera and more. Hearing Accessibility: focused on offering predominantly subtitle options. Motion Reduction: to help reduce motion sickness. Motor Accessibility: aimed at automating certain tasks to reduce fatigue and button complexity. Of course, in the game proper, the Accessibility menu offers a granular list of options to switch on and off. Unfortunately, it does not include some revolutionary features from other first party Sony games. The Last of Us Part 1, for instance, enabled players to play dialogue through the console’s DualSense controller as haptic feedback, while Horizon Forbidden West had a co-pilot system to allow a second player to offer extra control. There remain an impressive number of options, though. Sony Santa Monica has not been afraid to include options that could affect gameplay, but will allow more players to enjoy the game. For instance, the timing required to complete puzzles can be altered, traversal assist can be turned on so that Kratos vaults over barriers more easily, Kratos can automatically pick up items, and extra checkpoints can be added to miniboss fights. All of this is in addition to (initially) four difficulty options. The game also includes motion sensor aiming if desired, which may even prove more accurate for many players - especially those used to playing on Switch. Reduced flashing can be turned on to help those with epilepsy, while the high contrast display options are detailed enough to allow different colours for hero, companion, bosses, hazards, backgrounds and more. That can also be applied to cinematics. Lastly, the controller can be completely remapped, if required, and even has touchpad shortcuts. Sony Santa Monica has gone a long way to ensure its latest game is accessible for a wide range of players, but even those without a disability may find some useful tweaks. And if you’re planning on streaming the game over on Twitch or YouTube, consider going through the options and turning some on to help - some of your audience might appreciate it. Below are screenshots of the full suite of accessibility options in God of War: Ragnarök.
