Diablo 2: Resurrected has had more accessibility information revealed following a new blog post dedicated to accessibility.
Only a week after publishing a post about Diablo 2: Resurrected learnings from the technical alpha, Activision Blizzard has now followed up with a blog post revealing more information about its efforts with accessibility. “Blizzard’s priorities is to always look for ways to iterate and improve the entertainment experiences we create for our players.” the blog post reads in its opening paragraph before moving into a post from design and UX accessibility lead Drew McCrory.
In discussing the philosophy, the team aims to not break what isn’t broken, but details “it doesn’t matter how pretty the grass is if you can’t see the legendary staff on the ground; it ultimately sabotages the core gameplay experience.” This is followed by, “Accessibility is one major area of opportunity for this remaster to shine,”
The features that were explained last week were touched on, with auto-gold being revealed to have been inspired by allowing players using controllers to be able to click less. However, in the technical alpha, they discovered it was a feature enjoyed by those with limited mobility, with McCrory saying the feature can “alleviate physical stress without compromising the core gameplay experience.” Another feature coming to Diablo 2: Resurrected is a “Miss” text being enabled to visually illustrate when player attacks are missing an enemy. The blog post notes that in the original game, sound cues were used to signify this, but these weren’t loud enough for some players.
Diablo 2: Resurrected will also have “heavy amounts of modification” for controllers with the game’s key rebinding accessibility. For mouse and keyboard users, there’s a long list of rebindable options. “We provide twelve bindable keys and allow all actions/skills to be assigned in any way the player desires. To support this, we’ve even created new bindable neutral skills like interact, allowing for complete customization.”
The blog post also reveals that Diablo 2: Resurrected will feature the ability to enable toggle or hold actions, and for those on controllers button mashing can be overridden by holding. “We also allow many controller abilities to continuously trigger if the button is held down for players who can’t repeatedly tap buttons quickly.”
And there are also audio options, allowing players to adjust numerous sliders for different audio cues, ranging from sound effects for UI prompts, monsters, skills, ambient sounds, the option to disable reverb, and a mono mode.
The post ends with Blizzard stating that “We want everyone, from experienced veterans to new players, and regardless of platform or ability, to enjoy the timeless experience that is Diablo 2.”
