'God of War' Director Weighs In On Accessibility Options

Easy mode has been the talk of the gaming town as of late. While it's always been an issue with some gamers, the most recent flare up in the conversation stems from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The latest FromSoftware title follows a somewhat similar path that previous games from the developer have, as they all can be rather difficult to beat, even for the most skilled players. However, as AbleGamers COO Steve Spohn has pointed out, it's not about making a game easier - it's about making it more accessible, and now God of War director Cory Barlog has weighed in on the topic.

After Spohn took to Twitter to express his feelings on the issue, one person replied, saying that one would never ask an artist to compromise their art for the sake of accessibility. Barlog simply replied, "Accessibility has never and will never be a compromise to my vision."

Accessibility has never and will never be a compromise to my vision.

— Cory Barlog 🎮 #BAFTAGames (@corybarlog) April 7, 2019

Barlog went on to say, "To me, accessibility does not exist in contradistinction to anyone's creative vision but rather it is an essential aspect of any experience you wish to be enjoyed by the greatest number of humans as possible."

One person replied in the thread, offering up the argument that the difficultly is part of beating the game, and implied that taking it away would diminish the reward somehow. After being asked by Barlog why it would get taken away if accessibility options were introduced, the same person disclosed that completing the game is the reward and that "it may be silly, even petty, but yet it's something deeply appreciate by a great number of fans."

"Again, accessibility does not mean easy mode," Barlog said. "It is about offering options. Im also not saying everyone has to do it." Of course, that's why they are called options to begin with. Should someone need to change things around like button/key mapping, or even have the option to change up the difficulty of the enemies themselves, it all comes back to options.

Then again, it comes down to what FromSoftware, or any developer, wants to put into their titles. Having a game be more accessible widens the potential audience by making it more inclusive, which is good for business and the gamers who play the titles. Whether the Sekiro devs intend on adding more accessibility features down the road is unknown, but I'm sure there are plenty of players that would love to see them added.

What do you think about all of this? Do you believe having accessibility options in a game compromises a developer's vision? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!

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