With franchise fans now eagerly counting down the days until the release of Blizzard’s long-awaited Diablo 4, the developer has released new information about the wide range of accessibility options that will be included in the game. Blizzard has taken strides to make the game accessible to as wide of an audience as possible, and when Diablo 4 releases on June 6 players will be able to choose from dozens of different accessibility features designed to ensure that gamers with disabilities should be able to enjoy the action-RPG with ease.
First announced at BlizzCon 2019, Diablo 4 is the latest entry in Blizzard’s long-running action-RPG franchise. Diablo 4 features a decidedly darker tone and a visual style far more in line with 2000’s Diablo 2 than the more cartoonish World of Warcraft-influenced look of Diablo 3, leading many long-time Blizzard fans to view the upcoming release as a return to form for the franchise. Set three decades following the events of Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls, the upcoming Diablo 4 tasks players with saving the world from looming darkness following the resurrection of the demon Lilith.
In a lengthy news post from Blizzard posted on the company’s website, the Diablo 4 developers have released new details about the wide range of accessibility features players will have access to in the game. There’s been an increased focus by many developers in recent years on including such features in their games in order to ensure that players can enjoy them regardless of physical handicaps, with the accessibility features in 2022’s God of War: Ragnarok being praised by many as setting a new bar for the industry. Blizzard’s post reveals that Diablo 4 will have over 50 different accessibility features designed to help players struggling with everything from their dexterity to vision.
Working from the idea that “the only limitation to adventuring in Sanctuary should be interest, not capability,” lead accessibility designer Drew McCrory and his team set out to ensure that Diablo 4’s accessibility features gave players with disabilities a level playing field. This can be seen in the game’s robust dexterity assistance, which lets players remap every single input in the game on both PC and consoles and switch abilities requiring a long button press to a toggle instead. Diablo 4 also includes numerous features designed to help players with vision problems, including audio cues that will play when gamers hover their cursor over dropped gear and color-customizable highlighting of players and objects.
Positive feedback from the beta events and this month’s Diablo 4 server slam have positioned the latest entry in Blizzard’s long-running franchise as a worthy heir to the series’ legacy, and the accessibility options on offer look set to ensure that it will be playable by a wider audience than ever. And with recent statements making it clear that Blizzard is confident that Diablo 4’s launch will go according to plan, gamers of all abilities should be in for a treat when it releases this June.
Diablo 4 will be available June 6 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Blizzard