By Microsoft’s standards, Starfield is a giant leap backwards for accessibility
Bethesda’s Starfield taps into our innate human instinct to advance, to manifest the future and ultimately discover the meaning of our insignificant existence in the infinite wonders of the universe. If you ask me, Bethesda has the track record of creating incredible fantasy or post-apocalyptic worlds, so the final frontier of space is the perfect next step for them. Starfield transports us to a truly different view of the space genre. The game’s “NASA-punk” aesthetic builds on the real history of human space exploration, and delivers a seemingly feasible future of humanity living in the stars.
In other words, Starfield wants to allow players to live their wildest space-faring dreams – those perfect escapist dreams of spreading wings and plunging into zero-g freedom. My character, Quinlan Vos, is the greatest bounty hunter in the universe with equally brilliant combat skills when fighting down on planet surfaces or piloting his ship Vermithor through the cosmos. Quinlan never boards an enemy vessel without equipping his trusty boost pack, Grendel ballistic rifle and Equinox laser rifle. Preparation and the right tools for the job are his key to success.
I’m enjoying Starfield so far, but when we’re talking about having the right tools, the biggest problem a lot of players will face comes down to the limited accessibility settings the game comes with. This was a worry for the accessibility community during the buildup to Starfield’s arrival, as gameplay trailers, interviews with Bethesda’s Todd Howard and the general trickle of pre-release information failed to explore accessibility. Unfortunately, our accessibility worries were rooted in reality.
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