Ubisoft is usually well on point with paying attention to making video games more accessible, and this continues into the upcoming Ghost Recon Breakpoint. In a fantastic blog post published yesterday, Chris Watters shares what accessibility features will be present when the title launches.

From the off, it's revealed that Ghost Recon Breakpoint will launch with an extensive suite of accessibility features that will be present across PC, Xbox One, and PS4. One of these features will be the ability to fully remap keyboard, mouse, and controller inputs, making Ghost Recon Breakpoint the first Ubisoft title to support full remapping. Full remapping will also include analog-stick clicking and directions, button presses, and triggers.

Additionally, the blog post states that dozens of actions will have customizable behavior, allowing players to assign actions to a press, hold, or double-tap. PC players will be able to play with combinations of keyboard, mouse, and game controllers simultaneously, with the game receiving inputs from all sources at once, translating them according to how the player has set them up in the settings.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint

In addition, Tobii eye-tracking is available to use so players can navigate menus and perform in-game actions. The cursor will be able to be set to either follow the player's eyes in real-time, or a hotkey can be pressed to make the cursor jump to where the player is looking. Tobii users can also navigate the item wheel, head-heading, and more.

There are other new additions that are now available for the first time in a Ubisoft title, this includes expanded colorblind options, text chat for PS4 and Xbox One users, and an auto-run feature.

UX Director Matthew Tomkinson says that they want Ghost Recon Breakpoint to be a game that everyone can enjoy and that they're proud of the work they've put into making the game more accessible. He also says,

"we have started to see some really positive comments about it during our Closed Beta. We will keep gathering feedback even after launch to make sure we provide the best possible experience to all players."

More accessibility features will be added post-launch, but players can expect to see the following available on launch day.

  • A text-to-speech feature that reads out on-screen notifications and any chat messages received.
  • Speech-to-text can dictate messages they wish to send to the text chat. This feature is only available in English at current.
  • Colorblind contrast will allow players to adjust the contrast levels for deuteranopia, protanopia, and tritanopia colorblindness options.
  • Subtitles will allow players to choose the display, size, background opacity, and speaker names.
  • Simultaneous input will allow players to link up multiple devices at once. This currently includes keyboard, mouse, controller, and Xbox Adaptive Controller, However, more devices are to be supported after launch.
  • HUD adjustments will let players choose what elements they wish to display with the options to resize each element and adding a background to them to increase visibility.
  • Auto-run lets players toggle their character into a state of auto-run, although turning the character will need to be done manually. Auto-throttle is also available, allowing players to have the vehicle automatically accelerate. Same as auto-running, players will need to steer the car left and right manually.
  • Tobii eye-tracking allows players to navigate menus, item wheels, emote wheels, and more. A video detailing these can be found here.
  • Volume UI will allow users to customize the audio output, changing the master audio, music, sound effects, and voice options.
  • Cursor settings open the game to those who require to play at different speeds, frictions, vibrations, and more including scroll speeds, invert X/Y axis, etc.
  • Inverted look and aim cameras for those that prefer inversion for looking, aiming, and ground vehicles. The sensitivity for these can also be adjusted.
  • Aim-assist magnetism and snap parameters can be adjusted.
  • Full remapping for the controller, keyboard, and mouse are available.
  • Various difficulty settings will be available, with options to turn off hints. Gameplay mode can be set to Guided which offers clear waypoints, or Exploration which uses map-based text clues to locate objectives.
  • Vibrations for controllers can be adjusted.
  • Text chat is supported for PC, Xbox One, and PS4 users and emotes are also available for all platforms.

Not only are the above options incredible to include, opening the game up to more players, but the fact this information has been released so early on is a blessing for those who might want the game but are unsure if they'd be able to play it. Being open about what options are available in video games before launch needs to be more common.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint

Ubisoft's The Division 2 did include various accessibility options, and it seems like even more are being introduced to Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Other games, such as Apex Legends launched with some great accessibility features, and while most accessibility features were introduced post-launch to God of War, the director Cory Barlog stated that accessibility features never hinder his artistic vision when talking about the Sekiro difficulty discourse earlier this year.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint will launch on October 4 for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and will be available on Uplay+. It will also launch on Google Stadia once the platform becomes available.