Steve Saylor & Grant Stoner have something important to say about Accessibility in Elden Ring

To start things off, I, as the writer of this article, and a gamer, have epilepsy and ADHD. A part of my gaming struggle is to identify which games can or might induce photosensitive seizures in me, which is already proven to have been a cause for many cases. In addition to that, a lot of new games contain an abundance of information that sometimes go underexplained or outright hard to manage, and that’s why it became even more important these days to talk about Accessibility in gaming.

In recent years, the discourse over whether games need to be toned down using the umbrella term of “Easy Mode”, has cast a shadow over the real issues that need to be tackled in modern games, and no, disabled people actually do not want an Easy Mode in their games, in fact, they want to have the same gaming experience as everyone, and challenges themselves as much as everybody else and overcome the limits and the trials the developer has crafted using intentional barriers.

It’s really hard to grasp the real perspective of what it means for a game to be accessible, but recently, the two wonderful journalists: Steve Saylor & Grant Stoner have had an in-depth discussion about every aspect that they believe is critical to have for every modern game, and it resonated with me a lot because I face many of the same issues they have mentioned on a daily basis. The video can be found on Steve Saylor’s channel.

Related Article from our Friends at JoyFreak Elden Ring Tips

An Honest Conversation about Elden Ring and Accessibility

The most important section in the video is the accessibility section, but other sections are also equally important. They talk about everything, starting from the visual identity of the game itself, and the navigational choices that may impact the player’s experience, causing them to completely miss out on very important stuff. They both agree that Elden Ring is the most accessible out of any previous From Software game, so both the merits and the setbacks are discussed in depth.

There is also an issue that I have personally struggled with, which is how the classes are defined and explained in the game. In short words, they don’t get explained that much, and the game assumes you already know your class of choice even before playing the game. There are many many things that I have asked my friends about, or watched/read starter guides to be able to make an informed choice on how should I tackle Elden ring as an experience. The video does not include only criticisms, but actual practical solutions and suggestions on the matter.

Some classes are definitely more inclusive than others in terms of design, but that shouldn’t be the case in general. There is an enormous number of disabled people all over the world, struggling with all sorts of disabilities, and some consoles/controllers/games support player freedom such as button remapping, color, contrast, and other stuff that gets shoved aside as console wars, that never really address the important stuff and the critical differences in how consoles enhance the gaming experience.

At the same time, not every disabled people is born that way. I discovered my own epilepsy at age 20, so even if some people enjoy Elden Ring now, they might not be able to do so in the future. and that’s why Accessibility is a very important topic that needs to be addressed now more than ever, especially for a worldwide success such as Elden Ring. Disability is not a class of people, it can happen to each and every one of us at some point in our lives, Getting more informed on the subject, and having healthy discussions about it, will enable games to become better, and will spread happiness to more people, while making publishers and developers aware of what’s really important in gaming.