Disabled Gamers Are Calling Out Bethesda for ‘Starfield’s Lack of Accessibility
Bethesda Softworks fans have been awaiting the release of its newest title, Starfield, for quite a while—but the publisher’s first new universe in more than 25 years is off to a very rocky start. In addition to alleged transphobia from its parent company, ZeniMax, casting a disturbing shadow over the company in recent months, Bethesda has once again failed disabled gamers in the most basic ways. Just a week before launch, Starfield players with early access thanks to their pre-order perks are reporting a severe lack of accessibility tools, making the game impossible to play for a large part of its fan base.
On Thursday, content creator and accessibility consultant Steve Saylor posted a Starfield accessibility review on YouTube and called it “extremely disappointing.” In a tweet about his video, Saylor said, “I didn’t know when Todd Howard said on @KindaFunnyVids that they would have big font mode that was all they would have.”
Saylor, who is legally blind, notes in his video, “I wish I could say that this was going to be the first accessible hit from Bethesda. It is not. Sadly, not even close.” To accompany his commentary, Saylor reveals the accessibility tab in the game’s settings menu, which is noticeably sparse. Only four options are listed: general subtitles, dialogue subtitles, toggle iron sights, and large menu fonts.
Starfield is rife with accessibility issues
Saylor describes a couple of accessibility features, including some high-contrast visuals when using the in-game scanner and a center dot to help with motion sickness, as “OK.” Neither require customization. However, beyond toggling other settings on and off in the menu, it’s impossible to customize them further, which is a major issue.
For example: Starfield‘s big font mode is necessary as it features a lot of text-heavy menus to navigate. Saylor says “the text is not perfect, but manageable,” at least for some. The font can’t be altered for style or color, nor can background opacity be adjusted. Not only does the font style present potential problems for people with dyslexia, but the fact that it’s white everywhere but the spaceship (where it’s blue) makes the text blend into more than one screen during gameplay.
In an article for GamesRadar+ that expands on his initial accessibility review, Saylor also notes that the game doesn’t offer an auto-aim or auto-targeting mode for FPS combat, and the only way to see an enemy is by hovering your reticle over their body to see their health and shield bar. This might work for those with limited vision, but Starfield basically leaves gamers without sight in the dust when it comes to combat.
It also ignores the deaf community. Saylor says there is no option to turn on full captions, and there are no visual markers for attacks that come from behind, which puts players who can’t hear at a severe disadvantage.
The same goes for players with motor disabilities. The Xbox Series X and S offer button remapping, which helps to some extent, but it’s unclear whether that will work for PC gamers. Furthermore, Saylor says Starfield only offers the ability to switch from holding a button to toggling it when aiming down the barrel of a weapon, forgoing to include the same adjustment for other parts of the game that require what he calls a “short” hold. For some players, any amount of time holding down a button is an issue, so this is another point against Bethesda.
Last but not least, Saylor says Starfield relies heavily on cursor-based navigation, so gamers who have trouble using a mouse or thumbsticks could have trouble since there is no way to navigate parts of the game via the D-pad instead.
Fans are disappointed in Starfield‘s lack of accessibility tools
Saylor isn’t the only person speaking up about the lack of accessibility tools in Starfield. Social media users have called the available options “dogshit,” with one user stating that they are “NOT eager … to constantly bash my head against the accessibility barriers. It’s 2023, the game’s neglect of accessibility honestly feels like a personal attack.”
A Twitter user who goes by Your Pancakefullness started a live-reaction thread of their playthrough Friday morning, stating, “If you’re excited for Starfield, then this will be a rough start to my thread for you. I’m not apologizing. As a disabled player, I’m judging this game first on accessibility.” As you might imagine, their verdict is similar to Saylor’s. Starfield has lots of promise, but Bethesda Softworks’ refusal to make it widely playable for all gamers, especially since it’s a Microsoft-exclusive, is negligible at best.
This isn’t the first time Bethesda Softworks has been called out for its lack of accessibility
Disabled gamers have been concerned about Starfield for some time because Bethesda wouldn’t reveal any of its accessibility tools in advance of its release. It’s become more common for developers and publishers to talk about these tools ahead of launch both to increase sales and gain the trust of their player base. However, Bethesda has frequently been called out for the lack of accessibility tools in its other flagship series, like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, so many people also expected the worst.
Unfortunately, it seems they were right. The game isn’t officially on sale until September 6, but accessibility tools aren’t a quick add like some patch updates. It seems that Bethesda has decided against creating something truly inclusive for its disabled fans.
(featured image: Bethesda Softworks)
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