Far Cry 6’s accessibility options are a breath of fresh air

The Far Cry games promise a reliable story — a war, a sadistic villain, and a swath of dead bodies strewn across a sprawling world. You can write them via Mad Libs. But as a legally blind player with a strong visual disability, I’m less concerned about the who, why, or where than I am about the HowAll this and more: What does it feel like to use the guns? How effective am I in fighting? In Ubisoft’s Far Cry 6, guerrilla fighters say that democracy is their true freedom, but for me, it’s an accessibility menu that allows me to improve as a soldier while I explore the vast world of Yara.

You’ll find more and more games on the market these days. Far Cry 6The voice narration feature is enabled at the start, making it easier for anyone who cannot see the menu. This series is trying to be more inclusive since its beginnings. Far Cry 5 Released with some limited options. This menu narration is strong as any.

It was then that I discovered a real surprise. While scrolling through the multitude of interface and audio options, it became clear to me that these settings could be viewed in real time via a tiny screen in-game. This might sound like an innocuous feature, but it isn’t often available, and the ability to clearly see how these changes will affect my adventure saves me a ton of time and menu hopping once gameplay begins.

Grid View

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  Image: Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft
  

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  Image: Ubisoft Toronto/Toronto
  

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  Image: Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft
  

The adventure started after a lengthy and informative wave of menus. It wasn’t long before I assumed control of the player character and escaped the island of Yara’s capital city, sought escape on a boat, and a short stealth-lite section convinced me to tinker with some other accessibility functions.

I’m always happy to see that reticle sway can be turned off, and the lines of said reticle can be made thicker. Aim assist can be enabled with lock-on intensity slider. Far Cry 6Auto-steering is also available, helping to avoid running into people when you are trying to view the mini-map. You have covered so many areas, even eye and head tracking. There are some settings that I would like to experiment with further. There’s no “one size fits all” for accessibility in games, so it’s genuinely appealing to see so many opinions unfold as I dive further in.

Far Cry games are known for their tendency to intoxicate or drug their characters and splash blood on the screen when they’re near death. All of these effects are a common trope in many genres and can be disabled for anyone who wishes to disable them. AlreadyThey have difficulty perceiving the virtual world around them. These screen-changing visuals not only get me killed but also prevent me from completing certain missions. The ability to remove these effects — along with the camera shake — increases my enjoyment tenfold. Far Cry might have a bad reputation as a series that is not accessible.

Image: Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft

And yet, for all of the series’ progress, some accessibility options are missing, or aren’t pushed far enough. A slider to adjust the fonts scaling and UI is one of the biggest omissions. While the “increased” option affects certain HUD messaging, it doesn’t apply to much of the stylized narrative text and documents. I find those texts boring enough, so making it more difficult for me to read them increases my chances of skipping them. Combine this with a few hard-to-navigate menus, mostly due to tons of crafting information cluttering the screen, as well as symbols and icons looking too similar, and the game’s pacing can slow to a crawl. Many of these features perform poorly because they’re implemented After Release as a band-aid, not as preventive. It’s added work for the developers, sure, but it’s also extremely worthwhile to consider during the pre-release stage.

While out in the jungles or streets of Yara, I’m constantly worried about how the environments will keep me from noticing potential hostiles or helpful items, resulting in more time spent exhaustively exploring. I’ll often walk into an enemy fortress knowing full well I’m going to die, but I use that time to figure out where enemies are, test defenses, and gain as much visual information as I can before my next go-around. It’s my version of Deathloop just within a game that doesn’t revolve around an actual time mechanic. It’s a time sink and it can be a bummer. Far Cry 6 does offer a Story Mode difficulty for players who simply want to see and finish the game, but I’d prefer options that help me feel like I’m still the hero whose actions matter.

Image: Ubisoft Toronto/Ubisoft

Take a look at these other options Far Cry 6’s color-coding and high-contrast item outlines. Following in the vein of “detective vision” in Hitman Or the Batman: Arkham Series. Far Cry 6 Allows players to use vivid colors for enemies or to pick up items. You can see possible threats much more easily than if you run directly into them. It also makes it easier to locate crucial equipment without walking past it. Far Cry 6 This is my first series to feature these options. They make me a much more powerful revolutionary in the fantasy conflict that grips Yara. They’re a godsend.

I enjoyed Far Cry 6This is a lot more than what I wrote in the first two entries. I can spend more time being a badass and less time analysing the situation because of accessibility improvements. It’s a joy to explore the country now. I enjoy tagging enemies soldiers and deciding whether or not I will engage in combat. The Far Cry series may appear stagnant to many observers, but to me, it’s a standout in the landscape of games pushing inclusive accessibility options. In this respect, Far Cry 6This is my favorite installment. It’s offering me a new sense of freedom — it empowers me — and I hope this trend continues.