Purchasing a game takes a lot of decisions for me, if I’m sensible and don’t fill my backlog with games that I am planning to get to later, which is in 5 years time….
In essence, the checklist of things I require from a game is:
- Aim Assist, preferably a snap-to-target system
- Accessible World Design
- Malleable Driving Physics
- Platforming that is possible for me and the game working with me
- An achievement/trophy list that I can physically complete, even if it means staying up until 7am!
Seriously, I have a checklist of things I require from a game, and I have to make sure that everything I need is included, and this has never been easier, thanks to developers being willingto go the extra mile to make their games accessible. A game that I am eyeing up is Resident Evil 7, not that I have played any of the previous games in the series, but It has a snap-to-target system even when enemies are moving, which is a feature I actively look out for in games, and then subsequently buy ANYTHING that has it.
Aim assist
Saints Row (2022) includes the same sort of features that are applicable to me. I have never played a Saints Row game before, and I have always seen them as a knockoff of the GTA series, but I am going to do my damnedest to get my hands on a copy because it has a snap-to-target system. These are examples of games I am so over the moon about that I can just physically play them, regardless of genre or quality.
I have got this wrong in the past, most recently with Arkham Knight, which I was so excited to play, and it was accessible initially to me because it was centred around melee combat, and I know that from years of playing games, melee combat is great for me as it uses the face buttons on my controller, from playing titles like The Witcher 3 and Fable II, but this game was too manic for me. Even on the easier difficulty, I still struggled to win fights because there were so many enemies, and I had to mash X so much my hand turned red! This is an example why the Xbox Accessories app needs to have an auto mashing feature, so that I can just hold the button down and successfully complete a section of a game that I otherwise wouldn’t.
The Arkham Knight example is a reason why remastering games is so important for disabled gamers. There is so much more that I want to play, especially older games, but I just can’t because the games were not built with the needs of disabled gamers in mind. Remasters like the new Black Flag game are necessary not only on a technical level, but also on an accessibility level. I remember playing Black Flag on the 360, and it was okay, but parkour is always a challenge in AC games, and the detectability from enemies was too high that I struggled with the late game, as always.
Before system-wide mapping, I had to check whether the game had a feature that let me re-map the controls entirely, and not enough games did. Re-mapping controls lets disabled gamers play how they want, without being tied to a controller layout that may not work for them. This feature is being included more regularly in games, but it still isn't enough and is still a long way from becoming universal; typically games now have the option to select different controller layouts, but they are only pre-built by the developer, and not customizable. This means that the user is unable to map their own controller layout that they want to play from within the game, and if the system does not have a way to override the default layout, this could be an issue and potentially make the game inaccessible for a large player base.
Not every game has the level of aim assist that I am looking for in a game. Over the years, I have found different types of aim assist, from snap to target to lock-on to pure auto-aiming, all of which help, but I have to adapt how I play depending on what I have available, and it can get confusing to know what all these mean. By far the most helpful for me are auto-aiming and snap-to-target, which do similar things: they let me aim in the right direction, and the game does the fine-tuning by placing the crosshair on the target. Some games slowly lock the crosshair to the target, which can be messy and hard because it means the player has to do most of the aiming. Often, I miss the target anyway because my hands can’t let go of the joystick that fast, and the game still requires me to do most of the work.
Car handling
When it comes to racing games, I have a specific type of handling model that I want to use. For all you car guys out there, I am a big fan of understeer in a car, and I want a toughness when it comes to handling. In a game like my recently reviewed Driver: San Francisco, the cars felt too soft, and the handling was too mushy, which meant I kept sliding off the road and drifting when I wasn’t trying to. I can figure out how to control the car in any racing game, so this doesn't bother me as much, but I do appreciate cars that feel stiff yet responsive.
When a game has car combat like in Cyberpunk 2077, I want a lock-on feature that sticks to an enemy, so I can press the shoot button and let the game handle the aiming. In Cyberpunk 2077, this was so important to completing the game and having fun; if it wasn’t for this feature, the game would have been harder, and I would have to just hope and pray that I survive that particular encounter. I want to be sure that every player is on an equal playing field when it comes to gaming and when devs put in the little things that are very important to people with motor disabilities, everyone wins.
Platforming and accessible world design
World-building in RPGs and adventure games is crucial to audience engagement, and it can actually affect a game's accessibility. It can make or break a game, and it’s actually an area of game design that I am growing more in love with. I was playing Far Cry 6 recently, and I was tasked with getting to the top of a waterfall to get to the next mission. I fell off the rocks and accidentally into a river so many times, but I was able to get up using unorthodox methods and keep going. My point is that there should always be two ways to reach your objectives: for example, a gap in the rocks halfway up, or a slope that still requires a jump, but in a different way, like grabbing ledges and climbing up or a longer route up but one that requires less precision. Motor access is built into the world design as much as it is in the settings menu and game mechanics. Platforming is notoriously difficult for me because it requires timing and precision, sometimes even quick reactions. I love the feeling of getting these sequences right, but I require the game to work with me to reach it. Having the character grab onto ledges and hoist themselves up automatically is a great example of a platforming mechanic adapted to my needs because it gives me a safety net if I fail. Third-person games are oddly better at platforming than first-person games, even though I’m not entirely sure why, but I think it’s because you naturally have a wider POV in third-person games, so you don’t have to move the camera as much.
Another example of accessibility built into world design is when a game has clear paths that stand out from the background, making it easy to find your way around or grab a collectable. Speaking of collectables, I am a big fan of collecting achievements, or Trophies as they are known on PlayStation. I think they are one of the major mental health benefits of gaming, and constantly earning them is an effective way to feel like you’re accomplishing something in a game. Having a game with achievements that are accessible to me feels revitalising and rewarding, so back to my point: every collectable should be a challenge for me to find, but not so impossible that I can’t get it.
Further to this, there should always be an accessible set of achievements that are available to you. I know that from a logistical point of view, this would be a challenge for developers to make, but it would make so much difference to the experience of disabled people and people with motor difficulties, because from a mental standpoint, it is such an important part of the experience of gaming, and of course, it is a great way to brag to your friends about your achievements!
My research method
When I go to the game store, I am constantly on my phone, and it looks so rude, but actually, there’s crucial research that I am doing before I make my 22nd game purchase of the month. Usually, I use AI to check whether a game is accessible and whether systems are in place to make it friendly for me, but I also check sites like Reddit and Can I Play That? to see whether the right accommodations are in place.
If there are not, I still may gamble and buy the game, hoping that system-wide mapping will be able to help me with the physical aspects of the game. I know so intrinsically what systems and features work for me, and I feel confident that I can guess at the accessibility of a game based on things like genre and the game’s themes; as a gamer with a physical disability, you need to have such a vast knowledge of genres and tropes of gaming culture to be able to make an educated guess. I hate having to do all this research, and thankfully I have to do less and less, but I want to make a difference in the future of gaming and share my knowledge with others in the industry!
Thank you for your time and for reading my ramblings. The accessibility of games is so important, and I am pleased that any mainstream shooter game is now accessible to me, especially after years of heartache.