A new look at God of War Ragnarok's suite of accessibility features shows major gameplay-level settings that can affect everything from puzzles to platforming sections.
Game Informer spoke to lead UX designer Mila Pavlin about how Ragnarok improves on the accessibility options of the original game and its PC port. Sony Santa Monica previously showed off features like personalized subtitles and captions, a high-contrast mode, UI resizing, auto-sprint, and more, but this is our most in-depth look yet.
In addition to automating platforming and climbing sections by letting a simple directional input handle everything, Ragnarok allows players to adjust the timing of environmental puzzles by applying slowdown as needed. Let's say you need to activate one mechanism and trigger another within a few seconds; this setting can stretch those seconds out quite a bit, providing a more generous input window and removing would-be progression walls for some players.
You can also enable auto-pickup to collect item drops like health globules automatically, preventing them from reducing focus in combat. For added clarity, you can also enable on-screen controller visualization and have the camera track key objectives on its own.
"Accessibility features are not just accessibility features," as Pavlin puts it. "They also help to improve the experience for everyone. Ragnarok is about moving into the next phase. For us, that meant including more people, making sure that people can customize more, and making sure that it’s a comfortable play experience for everybody."
New God of War Ragnarok gameplay shows off the dwarven realm of Svartalfheim, which was locked off in the first game.
