Game Design Blog #5
Control is one of the best third person shooters to come out of last year— so much so that it nearly won game of the year twice. However, the most impressive aspect of Control isn’t its flow, narrative, consistent and fun to use controls (bah dum tiss), but rather the options it has for accessibility. I’m assuming you know what I mean— subtitles, colorblind modes, etc. However, Control takes this all a step further. Rather than having the standard three colorblind options, it has a whole list of colorblind options that cover a wide-variety of colorblindness. It takes the standard subtitles present in most games (that are more often than not way too small to read anyway) and gives you the option for a background to make the text more legible and sizing options to satisfy those who are hard of seeing or who prefer the stupidly small text sizes of certain RPGs that we won’t mention for the sake of posterity. The aim assist is snappy and helpful, even for those who don’t necessarily need it as an accessibility bit. All around, Control does accessibility extremely well and caters to a wide audience in doing so.
What accessibility features could be improved upon in most games?
Well, I’m glad you asked that hypothetical question I just forced out of your mouth. First of all, subtitle sizes in all games should have multiple size options. Control is the first game I’ve seen that does that, and it’s damn impressive to see it do so. Secondly, colorblind modes beyond the three traditional ones seen in most video games— I personally am not colorblind but find it easier to play with the Tritanopia colorblind option in most games as (though I am not colorblind) it is typically easier to look at that the same three shades of blue and yellow and red across each yearly release of Call of Duty.
To sum up:
Accessibility is something that is severely lacking in the AAA game market at current, and seeing a game like Control come out that includes all these options is positively wonderful and hopeful for the future of accessibility in game design.
C. B. Irby 