God of War Ragnarök shows off accessibility options in action

Not to be outdone by Naughty Dog’s long list of accessibility features in its most recent games, Sony Santa Monica has come out swinging with its own list of 60-plus accessibility options in God of War Ragnarök. Now, we get to see those accessibility options in action for the first time.

Lead UX designer Mila Pavilin told Game Informer that the team focused on four main areas for developing its accessibility options: vision, hearing, motor skills, and cognitive understanding. There are expected options like high-contrast options for visibility and readability, but Ragnarök pushes it further than that. For example, players can change the speed of environmental targets in the options, making it easier to execute skill shots.

Players can also swipe on the DualSense’s touchpad to perform a variety of complex actions, as well as to focus the camera on the current objective. Ragnarök also added auto pickup as an option so that players have one less thing to juggle when fighting for their lives. Game Informer shows that off, as well as the new controller visualization feature, in the gameplay footage below.

“Accessibility features are not just accessibility features,” Pavlin told Game Informer. “They also help to improve the experience for everyone. Ragnarök 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.”

God of War Ragnarök launches November 9th for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.