Insomniac Games has detailed quite a few of the different accessibility features that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will include.
What are some of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s accessibility features?
In a post to the PlayStation Blog, Insomniac Games Advanced Senior UX Researcher Michele Zorrilla and Accessibility Design Researcher Sam Schaffel explained the details of some of the accessibility features available in the upcoming superhero sequel.
“High-action and exciting combat is a signature of our Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise, whether you’re going up against Kraven and his Hunters or pursuing the Lizard through Marvel’s New York,” reads the post. “We included a variety of challenge levels in our earlier games in the franchise (Friendly, Amazing, etc.), and today, we are excited to introduce Challenge Level Modifiers, which let you customize three aspects of gameplay: Enemy Health, Enemy Damage, and Stealth Awareness. With these settings, you can mix and match for your preferences or needs.”
Other similar options will help to reduce necessary button inputs and give players extra time to react to in-game scenarios.
“Chase Assist is a feature we introduced in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered in response to players having difficulty completing the story in the original 2018 release,” the post states. “The feature will work similarly in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, reducing the target’s top speed, increasing time windows before escaping, automatically attaching when a target is in range, and readjusting the camera to the target when you press R3. We’re happy to report these features will return and work with both our swinging and all-new Web Wings traversal systems! Quick Time Event (QTE) Autocomplete, changing Repeated Button Presses from Taps to Holds, and Web-Shooter Burst are all returning to reduce motor fatigue and keep you in the action.”
Different button shortcuts will allow players to assign specific features to one button, as well as moves that might require multiple simultaneous button presses. The game’s overall speed can also be adjusted, with 70%, 50%, and 30% speeds all being available. Additionally, audio frequency controls — like High Frequency Cutoff and Low Frequency Cutoff — will allow players to disable specific sounds that may be uncomfortable.
Some post-launch accessibility features were also revealed, including audio descriptions, a screen reader, customizable captions, and more, which will all be added in an update in December 2023. Finally, a number of ways that the PS5’s upcoming Access controller can be used with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 were also detailed in the post, including the ability to create a custom profile for just that game.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is set to launch on October 20, 2023, and will be available for the PlayStation 5.
