Sony’s Santa Monica Studio shared new God of War Ragnarok details this week by revealing a robust suite of accessibility features planned for the new PlayStation game. Some of these are carried over from the PC version of God of War while others will be totally new to Ragnarok. Expanded controller remapping capabilities, High Contrast Modes allowing players to more clearly see enemies and other elements, and a number of options related to text, subtitles, and other on-screen prompts were all detailed.
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Starting with the features players who tried God of War on the PC may have already known about, Sony confirmed that the Auto Sprint option will return alongside the “Persistent Dot” which makes it so that there’s always a reticle in the center of your screen. Also carried over from God of War are toggle options for both aiming and blocking so that the actions don’t require a constant input press.
Sony also said it’s “invested heavily” in subtitle and caption options. Sizes and colors of both subtitles and captions can be changed with captions themselves present through more moments compared to God of War. Subtitle background options return from that game alongside a new background blur option and a directional compass that shows where sounds are coming from with a number of those options seen in the brief gameplay clip below. Similar to the subtitle and caption options, the size of text in general as well as icon sizes can be changed.
One of the more noticeable features given how different it makes the game look is the High Contrast Mode. Through this, you’re able to color characters, enemies, loot items, and more according to your preferences to have an easier time making them out on-screen. Those who played The Last of Us Part II may recall a similar feature being present in that game.
“Our new high contrast color-mode allows you to apply a color to objects in-game like targets, enemies, and other characters, in addition to a variety of item types,” Sony said. “When active, this will apply a color layer to characters that will make them more visible against the background. You can optionally desaturate the background to further increase the contrast. Traversal paint, loot items, and special effects can also be made more visible in this mode.”
A number of different controller options and prompt settings will be present in Ragnarok, too. Sony said players can remap inputs to different buttons with alternate configurations also available for more complex actions. Shortcuts for touch pad inputs will also be present with players able to assign things like Spartan Rage, Navigation Assist, and Quick Turn to the touch pad. That Navigation Assist feature is new, too, and orients players towards the next story objective with a press of a button.
You can check out the full discussion of God of War Ragnarok’s accessibility options here. The game still does not currently have a release date.
