[Accessibility] How to play Gears of War 4 horde mode without sight

[Windrunner]

Some of you may remember SightlessKombat from his Killer Instinct videos and his interview with Eurogamer. Here he shows us how audio cues can be used to play Gears of War 4 without any sight nor any context from being able to see at one point in life (he is sightless from birth). Of particular interest is the way the Fabricator gives off a pulsing noise that increases in intensity the closer you are to it. It's fascinating to me the role good sound design plays in giving a better experience for everyone and also by extension making games more accessible to those living with disability.

 

[NippleViking]

That is unreal

 

[Tetrinski]

Really cool! As someone who often plays multiplayer with music on, I have noticed how much better I am with sound on in those games that have good sound design vs others where it doesn't really matter.

 

[Kasey]

He even nails active reloads.

Whoa.

 

[galv]

Incredible. I hope developers try to include even more people with disabilities who could also be enjoying playing video games and I suppose this shows that even the small things such as sound cues and sound design can make a game that much more accessible.

 

[Theorry]

Reminds me of this guy also.

 

[Dan Thunder]

Great to see developers actually putting more and more effort into making their games accessible.

 

[Trup1aya]

That's awesome! I've noticed that a lot of the games I've been playing this gen have so many subtle audio and haptic queues that I rely much less on the HUD.

I never thought about it, but that's probably awesome for people with visual impairments

 

[TheKeyPit]

Awesome.

 

[Pitchfork]

Impressive stuff indeed! I wonder how much further games devs could take this with some kind of audio description?

 

[Windrunner]

Impressive stuff indeed! I wonder how much further games devs could take this with some kind of audio description?

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I think that's the next step. Seems like he needs to use an external tool to achieve this right now.

 

[Tetrinski]

I think that's the next step. Seems like he needs to use an external tool to achieve this right now.

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One point where it could help is the campaign. I think he'd struggle there much more because it wouldn't be clear what direction to go. The good news, at least on Gears, is that he can play coop with friends and they can generate those audio queue in real time.

 

[a Master Ninja]

This is very impressive.