In light of its upcoming release, Naughty Dog has decided to release an extensive list of The Last of Us Part 1 accessibility features. The biggest feature that they are implementing is the audio descriptions for cinematics.
Since Naughty Dog would like the game to be as inclusive as possible, they decided that adding several accessibility features for both the blind and the deaf would be key to inclusivity. Matthew Gallant, the game's director, went on to state,
"We’re expecting this to be an accessible experience for blind players, for deaf players, for players with motor accessibility needs.“The biggest new feature we have are audio descriptions for cinematics. We partnered with Descriptive Video Works, a professional service whose background is TV, movies and video game trailers, and integrated it into the cutscenes and across all our localized languages."
Gallant also mentioned a pretty nifty feature that allows deaf users to feel the way a line is being read through the PS5 DualSense controller which uses haptic feedback. This allows deaf users to feel the emphasis on certain words and read subtitles to get a good sense of how each set of dialogue is being delivered. More so, there will be features added for those who have motor accessibility needs. This includes lock-on aim assist, auto pick-up features, infinite breath, and even the option to skip in-game puzzles. For those who may be visually impaired, the game offers the ability to make the HUD larger, and scale it to fit the player's needs, as well as auto-aim assist, ledge guard, and traversal and combat audio cues.
There are several features here that help those who may need these functions, and the plethora of customization really makes the game more inclusive to gamers. This is a great sight to see, as there are quite a few AAA titles that do not offer such expansive accessibility features.
The Last of Us Part 1 will release on both Console and PC on September 2, 2022. To read the full list of accessibility features, head to the PlayStation Blog.
