The Video Games industry has come leaps and bounds in making the hobby more accessible than ever. There’s never been a better time to dive into gaming, and it’s an activity anyone can enjoy.
Accessibility is a big deal in the industry, and here’s a selection of games that demonstrate those commendable features.
10Sea of Thieves
Converse Without Ever Saying A Word
Sea of Thieves
Sea of Thievesis a unique PvPvE game where a silver tongue can save your crew from a trip to Davy Jones’s locker. That said, there are plenty of reasons why you may not want to communicate with a microphone.
If you’d rather stay silent, you canuse text-to-speech, which works perfectly. The feature even translates other crew’s text into speech and blocks out profanities.
Sea of Thieves also has other impressive accessibility features, likesingle-stick navigationand togglable audio cues, which help with aiming.
Text on maps andclues can be narrated, and there are a plethora of other options to make the rough seas as welcoming as possible.
Welcome To The King Of Iron Fist Tournament
Tekken 8is an exceptional 3D fighting game with a skill ceiling up among the clouds. Learning the intricacies ofTekkenis pretty overwhelming no matter who you are, but some impressive accessibility features can help.
Tekken 8is the first game in the series to introduceSpecial Style controls. Most characters inTekken 8have over 100 moves, and Special Style dramatically reduces these. You have key moves at the touch of a button and even basic air combos.
Beyond the control scheme,Tekken 8also has a ton ofcolor blindness presets, and you’re able to get pretty granular with the visual settings. You can even change the size and position of HUD elements if you find them distracting.
Getting slapped around online is a rite of passage in fighting games, but the playing field is more level than ever before.
Fully Customizable Difficulty
Celesteis well-known for its wonderfully tight controls, creative-level designs, and fiendish difficulty.
The title is also known for its impressive accessibility features, many of which are tied to itsAssist Mode. With Assist Mode enabled you can tailorCeleste’s features to your liking. You can do everything from reducing the game’s overall speed to changing the fundamentals.
Dash Assist, for example, pauses the game when you initiate a Dash so you have time to plan where you want to land. There’s even aninvincibilityoptionif you get stuck.
In many ways,Celesteis the gold standardfor accessibility in the genre. The game is challenging and rewarding with the default settings and can be toned down to suit preferences and circumstances.
7The Last of Us Part 2
A New Industry Standard
The Last of Us Part 2
Everyone KnowsThe Last of Usgames for their cutting-edge graphics and cinematic storytelling.The Last of Us 2(TLOU2) boasts some of themost in-depth accessibility features on the market, so everyone can enjoy the title.
TLOU2offersthree distinct accessibility presetsfor players who struggle with vision, hearing, and motor functions. Each preset has a plethora of settings you’re able to tweak to suit your requirements.
For example, you canhighlight enemiesto be more visible and auto-target them in combat so you don’t lose them against dark backgrounds. Vibrations can be added to audio cues, and you can even addawareness indicatorsto nearby threats.
There’s an exhaustive list of every accessibility feature inTLOU2onthe official PlayStation page, and it’s clear how much attention has been paid to this aspect of the experience.
6Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
Eloquent Solutions To Platforming Problems
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Platformers are in an odd place regarding accessibility features, as the lion’s share of their gameplay comes from challenging players' reflexes and jumping skills. That said,Ratchet and Clank: Rift Aparthas impressive features thatmake the genre more approachablethan ever.
Rift Aparthas an impressive selection of accessibility options to tune the gameplay to your requirements. Alongside blanket difficulty presets, you canincrease aim assistand add a hold function for many weapons, so you don’t need to mash the attack button.
Colors can be added to enemies and interactable objects to make them stand out. There’s even an"Edgeguard" mechanic, so you can’t accidentally wander off ledges.
Insomniac Games has a completelist of features on its support page, with options for everything, including adaptive trigger settings and audio tuning.
TheRatchet and Clankgames were Sony exclusives for the longest time, butRift Apartis one of severalPlayStation titles that have made their way to Steam.
Adorable And Accessible
Tunicis a cutesy 3D platformer with an adorable protagonist and light puzzle-solving elements.
Tunicmakes the list thanks to a robust selection of accessibility features that can dramatically alter gameplay on the fly.Combat difficulty can be reduced, and you’re able to even turn on invincibility to remove the threat of battle entirely.
On that note, players typically have a stamina bar to manage, which dictates how often they can dodge. Stamina consumption can be switched off if it becomes an issue.
Evenpuzzle difficulty can be lowered to help players who struggle with motor function. There are multiple scenarios where you must punch in a directional code, but you only have a few seconds to enter each input. WithTunic’s sequence assistance, you can remove that time limit.
Tunicis a superb puzzle platformer, and the wealth of options and features means it’s an adventure anyone can enjoy.
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Headsets Are Optional
Sound is a massive part of any multiplayer shooter, as hearing your opponent before you see them is an enormous advantage.
This reliance on sound cues can make the shooter genre unenjoyable if you’re hard of hearing, but Epic Games has an excellent solution. You can turn onVisual Audio CuesinFortnite, which displays all sounds on a directional ring in the center of the screen.
With this setting enabled, players cansee everything from footsteps to vehicle sounds, and it can even be used in custom games and LEGO Fortnite.
You can also use many uncommon peripherals, including Foot Pedals and Motion Controls.
3Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Take A Leap Of Faith
Assassin’s Creed Mirage
Taking the series back to its roots, Assassin’s Creed Mirage casts you as Basim, a street thief in Baghdad who eventually answers to a higher calling.
TheAssassin’s Creedgameshave come a long way, and the latest is surprisingly packed with accessibility features to make your time in Baghdad more comfortable.
Assassin’s Creed Mirageboasts afully customizable HUD. You can remove and reposition elements you don’t like and even change the aiming reticule’s color for clarity. The HUD can be hard to keep track of by default, but you can fix this by putting a solid background behind it.
Sound options are also expansive. You can turn on a narrator with multiple voice optionswho will read objectives and provide hints. The subtitle sizes can also be adjusted.
Parkour is still a little fiddly, and there’s no getting around that in Assassin’s Creed games. If you can stomach a few missed jumps, there’s plenty to enjoy.
2Sea of Stars
Accessibility Woven Into Gameplay
Sea of Stars
Sea of Starsis a turn-based RPG with gorgeous pixel-art graphics and plenty of old-school elements.
Just becauseSea of Starstakes inspiration from the classics doesn’t mean it’s without modern features. You will find many Relics on your journey that bestowgame-altering modifiersif you switch them on.
These effects includeautomatic healing after combat, damage reduction, and increased XP gain to remove the sting from grinding.
Other more impactful Relics make fishing easier, and there’s even one that removes timing-based elements from some attacks. Beyond that, players get theAmulet of Storytellingitem at the start of the game to make the entire experience more accessible, and there’s even equipment to do the reverse.
Sea of Starsdoes a great job of making its accessibility features feel organic rather than a checklist in a menu somewhere.
1Street Fighter 6
Anyone Can Join The Pantheon Of World Warriors
Street Fighter 6
Fighting games are fiercely competitive and offer a multiplayer platform where the only person you can blame for a loss is yourself.
The genre may be one of the last you’d associate with accessibility features, but Capcom has done everything it can to makeStreet Fighter 6as welcoming as possible.
First, we have theModern control setting, whichsimplifies directional inputsfor special moves. The feature limits your available moves but dulls the learning curve for those tricky inputs.
There are evenaccessibility features for visually impaired playersthat describe match events in audio form.
Honestly, the technology is a little lost on me as I don’t know what the cues sound like, but they can narrate everything from Drive Gauge levels to the distance between you and your opponent.
These features are so robust that there’s even a blind player calledBlindWarriorSvenwho competes at the highest level andhis gameplay is an absolute joy to watch.
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