In their latest update to Amnesia: The Bunker, developer Frictional Games adds many new accessibility features. The patch notes for this accessibility update tells us what is new in last year’s entry in the Amnesia series. Aside from the accessibility improvements detailed below, the patch also includes bug fixes and other improvements players can expect from an update.
More subtitle options
The existing subtitle options such as text size and background opacity now include closed captions and directional indicators. The directional indicators work separately for the subtitles and captions. This allows players to see that dialogue comes from one side, while another sound comes from another direction. An interesting feature already available is the fading of distant sounds. As this visual indicator of distance may become difficult to read, players can turn this fading off. To help players find the right settings for them, a preview of the subtitles and captions is available in the subtitle menu.
Holds, toggles, and aim assist
Several new options are available to improve the controls for people less able to hold buttons for a long time. These allow players to change holds to toggles for the following actions:
- Sprinting, which players can set to a semi-toggle as well (stopping moving also toggles sprinting off).
- Interacting with objects.
- Aiming or using items.
- Reloading weapons.
- Charging the flashlight.
- Checking the player character’s health.
Additionally, Aim Assist is available as well. Aim assist in Amnesia: The Bunker is adjustable in strength.
Motion sickness and gameplay
To help players who are prone to motion sickness there is a reduced camera motion option. Players can also reduce weapon sway while moving. Video distortion effects can also be disabled, which I believe was already an option before this patch. Players can choose to hide the default crosshair as well.
To make the gameplay a bit more friendly, players can enable an option to make enemies less likely to detect the player. Similarly players can disable aggression from rats that may otherwise track and attack the player.
Players can also choose to use a simple dot for interactions instead of the more detailed default icons. Lock Code Quick Access shows all collected and unused codes on screen while interacting with a code lock, so players don’t have to remember each code.
A nice feature in the menu of Amnesia: The Bunker is that certain options are available in both the accessibility menu and other menus. This makes it easier for players to find the options they need. I also want to note that the helpful tooltips in the menu helped me find out what the different options do. This is becoming more common and is a very welcome feature to make menus with short labels for options more understandable.
