God Of War: Ragnarok Will Include More Than 60 New Accessibility Features

God of War: Ragnarok developer Santa Monica Studio has detailed how accessibility features have been expanded for the sequel. Using the previous God of War’s accessibility features, the studio has added more than 60 ways to adjust gameplay and make the title more approachable.

Some of the new systems include more customization options for subtitles, expanded sound effects captions, and a fully re-engineered and responsive user interface. These elements have been designed to make the on-screen text easier to read as well as assist with puzzles that have sound cues, and an optional direction indicator will show where important sounds have come from.

The controller-remapping system has been rebuilt and will allow you to either make use of a wide range of preset layouts or customize your inputs to your own specifications. As an example, individual buttons can be swapped for select complex actions and you can choose alternate configurations from a preset list.

One of the other interesting accessibility features is a new high contrast color mode that can be used to apply a color to objects in-game like targets, enemies, and other characters. When active this will apply a color layer to characters that will make them more visible against the background, or alternatively, you can desaturate the background to further increase the contrast.

Traversal paint, loot items, and special effects can also be made more visible in this mode. Navigation assist, traversal assistance, and audio cues will also be present, and each feature can be fine-tuned.

“We are committed to improving accessibility and customization for everyone,” lead UX designer Mila Pavlin wrote in a PS Blog update. “We can’t wait to tell you details about our other categories of accessibility features like combat/aim assists, puzzle/minigame assists, HUD adjustments, camera tuning, auto pick up, and much more. “

Accessibility has been a major part of several recent first-party PlayStation games. Horizon Forbidden West is another notable example of Sony’s push to make games more approachable, ensuring that gamers from all walks of life can enjoy them.

Sony Santa Monica gave a brief update on God of War Ragnarok in April, but the studio did not flat-out say if the game was still on track to release in 2022. Developer Cory Barlog added that everyone on the team is “heads-down, hard at work” on the project.