Last of Us 2 has 'changed the game' for accessibility

Six years in the making, the highly anticipated PlayStation4 video game The Last of Us 2 is taking the industry to a new level of accessibility both for gamers with disabilitiesand the LGBT community.

"They've changed the game, as it were, for accessibility," said Toronto-based gamer Steve Saylor. "This game is the first time that we can actually have the same challenge and have the same experience as our friends."

Saylor, 36, is legally blind due to a condition called nystagmus: repetitive, uncontrolled movements thatcause blurred vision. While he was among several accessibility consultants for the game's developer,Naughty Dog, he didn't know which suggestions the final product mightincorporate.

In the end, The Last of Us 2 has more than 60 features thathe saidintroduce"layers upon layers of accessibility options."

Thoseincludehigh-contrast mode for visually impaired players to help distinguish characters from their environments, subtitles, text-to-speech,combat vibration cues and screen magnification.

"Accessibility is becoming more important for those people who, regardless of quarantine [due to the coronavirus], maybe don't leave their house very much," said Steve Spohn, chief operations officer of the AbleGamersCharity, which helps people with disabilities learn to game.

"Maybe they can't go out and socialize or go to a concert, go out to a bar or to a club. Maybe video games arehow they stay connected."

LGBT themes

The stylized storytelling takes users into a dystopic future set five years after the original, in which afungus has turned most humans into zombies. The protagonistis 19-year-old Ellie, one of the few people immune to the brain infection. Her character isunique in another way as well: Ellie is one of the few video-game leads who is openly gay.

Kat Bailey, editor-in-chief of the website USgamer, saidthat's "extremely rare."

WATCH | Blind gamer Steve Saylor, Steve Spohnof AbleGamers and USgamer's Kat Bailey discuss accessibility and representation in The Last of Us 2:

Gamers discuss accessibility and representation in Last of Us 2

4 years ago

Duration 2:50

USgamer's Kat Bailey, blind gamer Steve Saylor and Ablegamers' Steve Spohn talk to CBC's Zulekha Nathoo

"It's only been within the past five or six years or so that we've seen a real push to have people of colour, for example, or a queer woman as a protagonist," Bailey said.

"People really want to interact with richly formed characters who aren't paper-thin,who aren't just stereotypes, who haven't been lifted directly from other games. They really want to identify with them.... You spend so much time with these characters that you really want them to be interesting."

About30 hours, to be exact.

That's approximately how long the game runs. Socharacter development and storyline become as integral as they would be for a movie or television script.

The Witcher 3, for example, a 2015 action role-playing video game, is based on a fantasy novel series of the same name by Polish writer AndrzejSapkowski. The books were also adapted for a Netflix series last year.

"You're seeing more and more Hollywood and video games becomingintertwined, where video games are mainstream media," Bailey said. "As game graphics have become more realistic, the writing has been expected to keep pace."

Worth the hype?

Keeping pace has also been one ofThe Last of Us 2'sbiggest challenges leading up to its release.

There were delays because of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusations that workers were facing unhealthy "crunch" hours to meet their deadlines and criticism of the lengthy, violent trailers.

In fact, while reactions to the game have so far been polarizing, most reviewers concede it is dark and gruesome.

While the website Digital Trends calls the video gamea "masterpiece" and a "continuation worth waiting for," gaming authorityPolygon said the sequel "fails to escape its own past" and that the characters "seem unable to learn or grow." NPR columnist Kaity Kline said she was a"weeping mess" after finishing the game and"did nothing but sob hard for about an hour."

Saylor saidThe Last of Us 2is"cinematic" enough in its storytelling that it can immerse a player much like atelevision show would for a viewer.

"It really is a game that, after you finish it, it's a story that kind of sticks with you."

He also saidgetting to play it like everyone else is "life-changing."