Since the release of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, I have heard of the constant and never-ending squabble between three groups. The creative intention, difficulty, and accessibility camps all having their own group; jumping on different arguments that aren’t speaking about them, yet they want in on the conversation anyway. All three topics should be spoken about in great detail, just not from three opposite sides of the internet throwing all the fecal matter at each other; with a zookeeper in the fourth corner. I don’t want to get into a shin-kicking match inside that boxing ring today, mostly because I don’t have the time and because Microsoft might be taking steps in one of those directions anyway.

You see, accessibility in video games is nothing without people who are lacking the ability in the first place to play them. We don’t know the thought process of Stephen Hawking, but I doubt he sat all day thinking about robbing a hooker and shooting her in the face in Red Dead Redemption. Other people would like to do something such as that, play other games, and in general join in on the conversation that some of us are having about feeding a half-naked woman to an alligator in Red Dead 2. It may be hard to believe as someone with all your limbs or “normal” motor functions, but there are other people out there.

I’m not trying to white-knight for anyone either, but what I do want is to say cynicism is a default for me; and should be for most people. While some would like to praise Microsoft for moving forward after last year’s adaptability controller was released, others would like to go back into corners and throw crap. I’ve seen several comments by people saying Sony and PlayStation can take long walks off of short pier because their preferred console could help others get into games more. To those people, I’d like to say, “take a long walk off of the Yacht Harbor in San Andreas.” Not because I own a PS4, but because both consoles are awful at implementing accessibility.

As many would assume a console is accessible, at least in terms of ease of buying the console, to a majority of people. That is true to an extent. However, consoles from Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony are utterly dreadful at giving players options on how to play. From a predominantly able-bodied perspective, I have found a large number of games to be fairly well made for me and I find them intuitive. However, this week I’ve also spoken with people about some games which aren’t intuitive, most notably The Escapists for PS4 and Xbox One; which is slow and ponderous because of controller issues. If you’ve ever tried to play it, It is slow and hard to get into a rhythm unlike the PC port, which is smooth with a keyboard and mouse.

This has not been the only game I’ve found to be problematic, because as a reviewer I was given a key for Dungeons 3 for both PC and PS4. I love that strange Dungeon Keeper-like game, however, I think the PS4 port is the worst pile of trash controls I’ve come across in several years. Why? The fun of something like Dungeon Keeper or Dungeons 3 is the ability to manage several different tasks at once, keeping you on edge as you are the ultimate evil. With the PS4 edition, you better hope the undoing good is on a break every few minutes because you can’t do any management beyond what you are, as yet, currently doing.

Some of these issues are purely based on clunky and cumbersome controls being the problem; but there are games out there with well-designed controls that give options to make it easier or more accessible for as many players as possible. My go-to example of this would be the WWE 2K16 and 17 releases respectively, because they give you the option to stay with a relatively decent stick twiddler mini-game where you both have a bar on a circle (outline of the analog stick) and the aggressor has to catch the player/character being dominated, akin to a Mouse Trap mini-game. The second option is the PS2 era button mashing hell that I still have blisters from. One requires some finger dexterity; the other requires pain and blood, though I’m sure one is easier for some than it is for others.

Marvel’s Spider-Man has some very nice accessibility features. Most notably, for myself, is a drop shadow and size of subtitles; which on a 120-inch screen makes a big difference on the ability to read what is on screen. However, those with slower motor skills rightfully praise the game for allowing players to swap the button mashing sequences for button prompts. We, I wholeheartedly included, can and will often make fun of David Cage games for being movies with button prompts, but there are people out there that can almost exclusively only play his games. A David Cage game is often more accessible than most console games and that is an issue.

I will go back to my former point that Microsoft and Sony aren’t doing half or even a quarter of what they could do. The first step towards giving several thousand new players a chance of playing on your console is to allow them to plug in a keyboard and mouse. It might sound strange, but a majority of hardware would be seen as a keyboard and mouse if this restriction was lifted, it would give more players more control. Currently, all third-party hardware for adaptability is based on the keyboard and mouse, such as the Stinky Board, and will almost never work with the PS4 and Xbox One because of self-imposed restrictions.

From a personal stand-point of watching someone adapt to gaming, it is hard. My own uncle who lost his arm in a motorbike accident still loves games, adores older shooters like Serious Sam, relishes driving games providing they allow for a wheel and peddles; and will sit and play golf several times over because it is accessible. The issue there becomes when he wants to play a game but can only sit and watch, and it is hard to imagine how that even feels. Right now, I could not envision a world where I would sit and watch something I want to play; never being able to because of issues not only for my own life but as a result of someone else’s decisions.

Many of these issues don’t even require a new controller, though it does greatly help, often the issues lay in the design of games that are high-action being too intense for some. Celeste gives you a more accessible “assist mode” if you were having issues with the game. Metal Gear Solid is known for the “Chicken Hat” which is much like Wolfenstein‘s BJ sucking on a pacifier, and the Epic Battle Fantasy games feature a mouse-only mode. Accessibility didn’t kick down the door yesterday; it has been around for a very long time.

The most common accessibility feature is key remapping: Something I’m sure we’d all love every now and then for specific games. This past week alone I spoke with someone on Twitter about their issues with key mapping, issues with controllers, and standard issues one might face in modern day gaming. This is not something uncommon in reality. I’ve run into my fair share of the developers leaving out a piece of code to save controller inputs; which is something that should never be the case, though sadly is.

In conclusion: None of this should have to be said. It only makes sense to offer your product to everyone with a heartbeat and two brain cells to copulate. Why I think people were angry with Sekiro not featuring any accessibility options was “FOMO,” fear of missing out. This goes back to the idea of my own uncle having to sit and watch, missing out on feeding racists to alligators, or swinging in Manhattan on a Thursday night.

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