While Starfield has captured many people’s interest and attention, fans living with disabilities are concerned about Bethesda’s silence on accessibility settings.
Since our in-depth look at the game during the Xbox Showcase last month, Bethesda fans around the world are counting down the days till the release of Starfield in September.
Check out the Starfield story trailer below!
The showcase event unveiled a variety of game features, like exploring its 1,000 planets, building your own base and spacecraft, the story and the many characters you’ll meet along the way, like the return of the irritating “adoring fan” from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
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It’s safe to say fans are hyped for its release, many of which are buying Xbox consoles just so they can play it, and others are already planning their sick day excuses when the game drops later this year. However, while the majority are excited, some are deeply concerned, not only at the possibility the game will be riddled with bugs and performance issues like Cyberpunk 2077, but also what accessibility options it’ll have for disabled players.
IGN recently spoke to Kolo Jones, a disabled content creator and gamer, who’s impressed with what Starfield has to offer, but sceptical in what assistive tools it’ll offer for fans living with disabilities.
Jones said: “My main hope is that accessibility options are communicated as soon as possible – like yesterday … It’s the not knowing if I can play and desperately wanting to be excited about this game, which thematically and visually is everything I look for.
“I’m so excited for this game, but am I allowed to be excited because what if I can’t play it?”
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It’s a good point, and one that other developers have addressed prior to their big releases. Many modern games are designed with as many, to all, potential gamers in mind, often including several visual and gameplay features designed to improve the experience. Examples are controller sensitivity settings, subtitles/font size, and audio descriptions.
While it’s more than likely Bethesda will include accessibility settings, the developer’s radio-silence weeks away from launch day are pretty worrying. That being said there’s still plenty of time for details to be shared on what settings are included to aid gamers with a disability or impairment.
Starfield will be released in September this year, exclusively for Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Featured Image Credit: Bethesda