God of War Ragnarok PS5 Preview, including Accessibility impressions
Hello, dear friends and kind readers. As dawn slowly creeps over Oslo, I pick up my trusty MacBook and sit down to write a short preview for what is probably the most anticipated game of the year for millions of PlayStation fans around the world. What better place to write about Norse Gods and epic battles than the stunningly beautiful Nordic country of Norway, itself home to countless legends, fairytales and myths.
God of War Ragnarok is the epic continuation of the already cult classic God of War reboot brought to us in 2018 by the talented people at Santa Monica Studio.
Before writing this article I argued with myself if I should do it, or if I’d better wait and post a full review. But late last night I finished the part of the game that I’m allowed to talk about here, so I decided to let everyone know how that turned out for me.
In God of War Ragnarok we find Kratos and Atreus at their cosy hut in the woods. Winter has come, the lands are covered by snow, some time has passed since the events of the first game and Ragnarok is almost upon them. In my few hours with the game, I have explored the forest doing some things I’m not allowed to talk about, navigated the lake, got a little frustrated trekking on the islands, and after that I moved over to an old mine in search of a character who is very important to the story. Along the way I fought all sort of creatures, tried to solve puzzles, met with old friends and enemies, witnessed a couple of really emotional scenes, laughed out loud a few times at Kratos’s grumpiness, upgraded my weapons, armor and abilities.
God of War Ragnarok is much more darker, more serious and more mature than its predecessor. Things are getting real now, the whole world is at stake, and Kratos has to decide if he will keep Atreus safe or if they will pick up the weapons together and bestow war upon the Gods once more.
As you should know by now, I am blind, so playing video games on my own is not something that I’m usually able to do, but in rare circumstances a fantastic title comes along and makes me forget that my disability matters so much. Because, you know, disability happens when accessibility doesn’t.
God of War Ragnarok is at times one such game. Although it is not quite as accessible for the blind as The last of Us, Part I and Part II, the dev teams at Sony Santa Monica Studio did a fantastic job with accessibility that should allow almost everyone to play and enjoy this blockbuster. Read more about the accessibility options included in this article:
God of War Ragnarök accessibility features revealed – PlayStation.Blog
For me as a blind gamer, the most important features are menu narration, text to speech, navigation assist, easy traversal mechanics, help to resolve puzzles, target lock during combat and, of course, a lot of different sound cues that tell me what action should I perform. Luckily and fortunately, everything I mentioned is available in Ragnarok and even more for other impaired gamers, especially for those struggling with low vision, a motor disability or are deaf.
From larger text, to UI elements, to color customization of main characters and enemies, every modern accessibility feature has been taken into consideration and implemented to some level. Well, audio descriptions would be very much appreciated, but who knows, maybe they will add that in the future with an update. A man can dream, right?
As I received God of War Ragnarok a few good weeks before the actual release, I was expecting to run into some problems, especially with accessibility, but things turned out to be much better actually. Yes, it seems that we are missing some sound cues, target locks, text to speech is missing on the map and on the upgrade menus, but at first as blind gamers we can take advantage of the tutorial that holds our hand and helps us do the first upgrades. Also, nav assist could get much better, especially on the lake and for puzzles, but I needed help just two times in my journey so far, and that was in case of two puzzles. I am hopeful and confident at the same time that these wonderful people who took accessibility this seriously throughout the development of the game will do their best to fix these issues as soon as possible, so that all can play this masterpiece.
As it is, God of War Ragnarok is the game everyone was hoping for. Epic in scope, with stunning graphics, that’s of course according to Alina, because she is the only one of us who can actually see the gorgeous landscapes. I can tell you from my own experience with the game that it also brings a fantastic combat system – very satisfying, visceral and brutal. A gripping story driven by characters that you can’t help but care about. Add to that extra levels of immersion thanks to the haptics in the DualSense and superb special audio with 3D Sound. The PS5 really takes God of War to the next level with Ragnarok and shows how next-gen gaming should look, sound, feel and play. The future of gaming is beginning to be more and more accessible, and with time hopefully everyone will be able to Play!
I will return with a full review at the beginning of November, but I think that if you love the series and played the 2018 game, you should place your pre-order and wait patiently for Ragnarok, or for the courier to knock at your door.
God of war Ragnarok releases on November 9 exclusively for PlayStation 4 and PS5.
As a blind gamer, I want to say a sincere thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who worked on this title and gave us, the blind community of gamers, a title that we can play. Yes, there are some more things to do, such as finding a way to upgrade skills weapons and navigate on the map in order to do optional objectives, but so far I’m really impressed and grateful for everything that God of War has to offer.
Review copy provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment via PlayStation Romania
Preorder God of War Ragnarok now!
Victor Dima
