God of War Ragnarök is not only a thunderous ending to Kratos’ Norse epic—it’s a landmark moment for accessibility in blockbuster gaming. As the industry finally starts to realize that not all gamers perceive the world the same way, Santa Monica Studio’s new epic is a standout. It’s grand and flawed at times, but irreversibly game-changing in how it flings open the gates of its mythic realm to play from more people than ever before.
As soon as you boot up Ragnarök, it’s clear the developers encourage you to feel comfortable at home, no matter your skill level. Immediately, you’re presented with the choice to play a Quick Start or follow a Guided Setup. It allows players to tweak visuals, sound, and accessibility before they even hit the main menu. If necessary, a button press of the Square button turns on the screen reader, which starts reading everything aloud—menus, settings, and options—in an intelligible, useful sequence: the option title, its existing value, what it does, and how to set it differently. This, says a reviewer at Game Accessibility Nexus, makes it feel considerably less daunting to navigate for audio cue-dependent players.
When you make your way into the accessibility menu, it’s easy to see how much consideration has been put into it. It’s full of features—sort of like a maze, but in a good way. There are vision, hearing, motor skill, and motion sensitivity presets, each of which opens up a customized set of options. There’s everything from UI text size (up to XX-Large) and icon size to high-contrast screens and color filters. Whether you’re tweaking HUD elements or the look and feel of the game as a whole, it’s all laid out with one goal in mind: making things easier to read and comprehend. And if you want to drill down even further, you definitely can—tweaking aim assist, puzzle timing, traversal assist, auto pick-up, and more. It’s a huge range of tools, and it’s clear the developers were inspired by accessibility pioneers like The Last of Us Part II.
But great menus don’t always translate to great gameplay, so how does it all hold up in action? For blind and low-vision players, the mix of sound cues, screen narration, and navigation help is a total game-changer. Ross Minor mentions that the game utilizes audio feedback for almost everything—throwing your axe, dodging, and blocking—and even a glossary so you know what any sound is associated with. Using R3 triggers navigation assist, and Kratos will be directed to his next goal, whether part of the main campaign or a side objective. This allows blind players to finally navigate the game’s vibrant world on their terms, instead of simply following a single route.
High-contrast mode is another highlight. It lets you color characters, enemies, objects you can interact with, and danger bright, highly visible colors. You can give Atreus a glow green, set the enemies red, and have objects you need to use stand out against a darkened background. It’s not just a cosmetic switch—it’s an essential aid for players who have difficulty reading in the game’s dark, atmospheric environments.
But, of course, the system isn’t flawless. Reviewers with disabilities have noted that the screen reader is lovely in many aspects—such as the pause menu and tutorials—but doesn’t work elsewhere, such as in the skill tree, stores, journals, or map. Which means gearing up or doing side quests can be a hassle, turning these moments into infuriating guessing games. The auto-equip option is available in-game, but it does not exactly compensate for the absence of that control. Although all but the most challenging puzzles are accessible, some of the optional ones are still inaccessible because the navigation aid doesn’t always guide toward their solutions, and not all actions are supported by a distinct sound cue.
Despite these problems, overall, the experience is a huge leap forward. A reviewer described the pairing of high-contrast mode and navigation support as revealing the game’s world in ways that weren’t even possible in 2018’s iteration. Being able to explore, battle, and puzzle solve largely independently brings a strong sense of autonomy. The audio design of the game assists as well—3D spatial audio and clear audio cues for various actions make up some of the difference between sighted and non-sighted players.
God of War Ragnarök isn’t only ticking an accessibility box—it’s redefining what accessibility might mean in AAA games. Yes, there’s still plenty to be done, particularly in ensuring every aspect of the game and every menu is fully accessible to everyone. But the range of features here shows that excellent storytelling and inclusive design don’t have to be mutually exclusive objectives. For every gamer who’s ever been left out in the cold by the largest games in business, Ragnarök is an empowering, emotional call to join the fray.