What esports titles are the most accessible?

Bryony-Hope

9 min read | 14 Feb 2022

Have you ever wondered what all of the seemingly random settings in your favourite games are for? Well, they are various accessibility features that can allow people of varying ability to customise their gaming experience.

In this guide, we teamed up with Andy Robertson, Founder of the Family Video Game Database, to explain some of the accessibility features available in the biggest esports titles.

FIFA:

FIFA is probably the most well-known sports simulation game out there, and its prominence in esports has been going on for a number of years now.

Generally, the game is played in a 1v1 scenario where individuals control their own football team and play a match for up to 20 minutes. In recent games, 2v2 co-op has made an appearance meaning the game can be multiplayer.

As highlighted by National Star College in the AoC Cup and the British Esports Student Champs showmatch, FIFA has a variety of accessibility features to help people of varying ability be able to play the game.

Andy said: “FIFA is one of the longest standing games we are looking at, as such it has developed a really wide range of ways to play that can suit your ability and requirements. The FIFA accessibility report highlights the option to play the game with fewer buttons and sticks. Also you can set-up the controls to navigate menus with just the left stick (rather than a combination of buttons) and opt for Two Button or even One Button control modes.”

These options provide opportunities for people with limited arm or hand function to adapt the controls around their gameplay style. 

Other accessibility features include:

• Gameplay speed adjustment – this can help you ease your reaction times and give you more time to think about the best strategy going forward.
• Subtitles – All spoken content (by the commentators in the match) is subtitled and text can be adjusted to suit your needs.
• Gamepad options – Meaning that players can customise an adaptive setup to be compatible with their gameplay functions. 
• Text-to-speech – a function in the game that converts typed out text by the player into audio that can be read aloud. This also works with turning verbal speech into text. 

The latter in this list is incredibly important, as it gives the option for people to hear what other people might have written in the text chat, and then reply themselves.

Overwatch:

Overwatch is one of the biggest esports titles out there, with at least five-million active players each month.

It is an online multiplayer first-person-shooter game, where two teams of six battle against one another to either defend or attack an objective. Games can be played in ‘Quick Play’ – which is more casual, or competitive.

There are quite a few accessibility features available in the game, but the most notable is only available on the Nintendo Switch version of Overwatch.

Andy Robertson explains: “You can read our Overwatch accessibility report in full, but an interesting item to highlight is that on the Switch it offers Gyro aiming. This enables you to use small movements of the gamepad to fine-tune aiming or as the main aiming mechanism.”

Having this available allows for people with limited arm or hand function to look and aim without the need for moving a thumbstick. 

Other accessibility features include:

• Colour-blind mode– Giving you control of what colours you would like to use to signify between ally and enemy.
• Subtitles – These can be turned on for all in-game voice lines, or for critical gameplay.
• In-game cues – Both audio and visual cues are in place throughout the entire game which is beneficial to blind or deaf players.
• Gamepad options – Meaning that players can customise an adaptive setup to be compatible with their gameplay functions.

Rocket League:

Rocket League is a physics-based vehicular football game that involves players trying to score goals against an enemy. It came as part of the ‘Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars’ series, and has blown up in the world of esports.

The game is played online against other people in a singleplayer and multiplayer capacity (1v1, 2v2, 3v3), but you are able to practice against AI of varying difficulty.

In terms of accessibility features, Rocket League has a small amount of options, but the impact these might have for an individual can be significant.

Andy says: “In particular, there are two modes that help play and practice. Timewarp: When close to the ball the game slows down. Slomo: Reduces the overall speed of the game. The ability to adjust the speed of a game is useful for practice and to enable more players to compete locally.”

Having control over the speed of motion at critical points in the game is really important, and will allow people to process the game and adapt gameplay at a speed more suitable to them.

Other accessibility features include:

• Visual cue toggle – can be turned off to reduce the visual flash on the screen when players demolish each other.
• Colour-blind mode – Giving you control of what colours you would like to use to signify between ally and enemy. 
• Clear navigation – arrows following the ball’s movements can be made bigger and have a higher contrast in order for it to be seen better. 
• Gamepad options – Meaning that players can customise an adaptive setup to be compatible with their gameplay functions.

Valorant:

Valorant is another first-person-shooter game that puts two teams against one another to complete an objective – in this case to plant a spike device, or defend the area.

The game is played online against other people in a 5v5 structure – where each person can choose an agent who has a specific set of gameplay abilities.

Whilst it might not seem like it, Valorant has quite a vast range of accessibility features that can be adjusted to your individual needs.

One in particular that Andy highlights involves the detection of enemies – “you can opt for Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF) sound to make enemies easier to locate with audio when using headphones.”

This is incredibly beneficial to those who may have a visual impairment, and is a very unique feature that a lot of major esports titles lack. 

Other accessibility features include:

• Visible map during play – this allows people to keep track of where they are in-game, and relay that information to teammates. 
• Enemy highlight – to give you the option to make it visually clearer where enemies might be.
• Volume adjust – separate controls are available for gameplay, voice and music which can be changed for people who may have sensitivity to sound. 
• Gamepad options – Meaning that players can customise an adaptive setup to be compatible with their gameplay functions.

This is only a brief overview of four of the biggest esports titles, so let us know over on our Twitter if you would like to see more games covered.

Want to know more about how esports is accessible? Check out this article which covers adaptive equipment that is available.