The Game of 2022: A look back at the two great protagonists of God of War and accessibility options in Horizon Forbidden West.

This work contains spoilers for God of War Ragnarok.

I’ve noticed a common theme in recent PlayStation exclusives. It’s an addition of the perspective of the two main characters. For example, you play as both Ratchet & Rivet in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Ellie and Abby in The Last Of Us Part 2. But I think Santa Monica Studios has completely nailed the story of his two main characters with God Of War Ragnarok. .

Traveling with Kratos and Atreus filled me with joy. Their father-son relationship was my favorite aspect of the reboot of the franchise, and it reminded me of the addictive Leviathan’s ax hitting Kratos’s raised right hand.

Here, the two protagonists expand the narrative scope, allowing players to follow the perspectives of both Kratos and Atreus, exploring the wider Norse realm and their relationships with companion characters like Freya.

It makes a big difference. Players already understand Kratos’ mindset and his thoughts on Atreus. However, as the game unfolds, players slowly begin to unlock clues to Atreus’ growth and emotional strength.

The Atreus segment gives Kratos plenty of time to spend with characters he sees as enemies. Atreus’ relationship with Odin, Thor, and Thrud presents the player with a valid emotional connection to a hostile entity by flipping the tables of our perception. It was great to team up with Thor and command him to throw Mjolnir and attack the enemy instead of me. It was amazing to see Thor, Sif and Srude’s families more intimately. It also reflected the crumbling relationship between Kratos and Atreus. It’s perfectly built into the battle’s strong ending. Kratos uses kindness and compassion to prevent unnecessary bloodshed. Kratos ultimately trusts Atreus by giving him the final choice on how to deal with Odin. “This is your choice, I trust you,” he says, and Atreus makes the empathetic but right choice – following the path of justice against anger and violence. “Today we survived because of your choices. Who to trust and who to call friends. Son. You are ready,” says Kratos. Atreus replies, “Remember our promise.” Kratos replies, “Loki will go.” With a shudder of emotion, Kratos touched his heart, saying, “Atreus… remains.” The epilogue is emotionally effective as it finally gets you to face a giant boss – an emotional breakthrough. Kratos learns that without Atreus’ companions, Kratos can easily revert to the murderous monster witnessed by Heimdall’s death. increase. Throughout, the dual protagonist perspectives allow us to follow the separate journeys of Kratos and Atreus, ultimately bringing them closer together and cherishing their unique father-son relationship.

---

still here? In 2022, he couldn’t help but talk a little bit about one of his PlayStation exclusives. We would like to focus on the accessibility aspect of this second PlayStation game, Horizon Forbidden West. (Played on PS4 because PS5 didn’t work with my accessibility settings.)

The numerous accessibility settings present in Forbidden West allow players to control gameplay and tailor it to their abilities so that their enjoyment isn’t affected by unnecessary barriers. This is a great start for Guerrilla, who can design Forbidden West from the ground up with accessibility in mind. The studio’s attempt is very well executed and means more gamers will be able to enjoy his Forbidden West’s amazing characters and magical worlds.

Guerrilla understands that gamers with disabilities not only want an easy mode, but they also want control over key aspects of gameplay, such as the damage Aloy takes and the damage enemies take. A major aspect of combat is the precise detachment of enemy parts for crafting purposes. However, enemies are very mobile, so it can be difficult to achieve the accuracy required to do this.

For this reason, Forbidden West added the option to loot certain parts after getting kills. This option was great for me as it gave me a safety net when I forgot to tear up parts mid-fight due to fatigue. . This was especially helpful when Tremototus and he made the ridiculous decision to fight two Scrappers with low-tier weapons. Assuming I survived the carnage, you’d be totally right…if what’s right is actually wrong. I oblige. There are toggles for Aim, Open Weapon Wheel, Craft, Shieldwing Activation, and Pullcaster. The crafting toggle is neat: instead of holding the weapon wheel he taps X to easily craft arrows and ammo. Reducing fatigue and unnecessary constant muscle use during combat made a big difference. It doesn’t stop time completely, but it slows it down enough for you to choose the right weapon, ammo type, or alternate fire.

Guerrilla added a sprint when pushing the left stick all the way forward. This option allowed me to slide (while crouching) for the first time. But the trick is that even if you crouch and push the stick all the way forward, you won’t accidentally sprint and ruin your stealth. This option should appear in all games. Slides are useful, but more importantly, they are very good.

I wouldn’t say Horizon Forbidden West has the best control remapping system we’ve seen in a PlayStation exclusive, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man Miles Morales is still the star.But it’s not far off.Button layout You have the flexibility to change the , aim, and change the layout for different situations, such as separate joint actions or layer actions with a single button. For example, the new ability to glide using Shieldwing only activates after jumping, so it can be assigned to most face buttons. Surprisingly, remapping allows Interact actions to be layered on top of other buttons. I layered it on the dodge action to free up the triangle button for use as a “use trap” button. The cool thing about the Use Trap button is that holding it down allows you to access your backpack to create or swap traps without using the directional pad.

The choice of assigning actions when aiming is great. You’ll have to consider controlling the pullcaster, activating the all-important concentration mode that slows down time for increased accuracy, and that the weapon has multiple unlockable alternate fires for the first time. An additional option to automatically enable focus mode when aiming makes gameplay intuitive, fluid, and highly immersive.

Horizon Forbidden West’s only accessibility issue is that the process of switching between the three alternate fires in the weapon wheel requires the use of the directional pad.There should be an option to swap using the left stick or trigger is. Alt Fire is an essential tool in Aloy’s arsenal, and replacing them is usually a life or death choice. Beyond this, Forbidden West continues the progress we are beginning to see in accessibility. See you in 2023!

Please enable targeting cookies to view this content.
Manage cookie settings