Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s focus on accessibility has been revealed today, joining Watch Dogs: Legion and Immortals Fenyx Rising as part of Ubisoft’s most accessible lineup of games to date. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has many core gameplay features, as well as a bevy of customization options designed to improve both usability and accessibility for players.
We spoke with Maimouna Brownrigg, user interface team lead at Ubisoft Montreal, and Franck Murcia, user experience director at Ubisoft Montreal, about these features and options and how the team set out to improve accessibility in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
FIRST-TIME USER EXPERIENCE FLOWA core set of options is available to all when booting up the game for the first time to enable a smooth experience from the outset.
CONTROLS"We’re pretty proud of the ‘multiple methods to navigate menus’ option,” says Brownrigg. “Even as the developers, we realize how the free cursor was frustrating in some menus. We’ve been thinking about this since Assassin’s Creed Origins, so we’re pleased that we’ve been able to achieve this. But just having several ways for users to navigate ultimately benefits everyone."
"For controller remapping, we had a good foundation with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey as well,” says Murcia. “The team has tried to improve some aspects of it, and we’ve also added things like being able to swap [the left and right] sticks, which was a community-requested feature."
Multiple Methods to Navigate Menus
In addition to the free-cursor and mouse navigation in menus, there will be an optional “Focus” mode that snaps the cursor to menu items and enables navigation with the left stick or WASD on keyboard. (Motor, Vision, Cognitive)
Control Remapping & Customization
There will be remapping for keyboard, mouse, and controllers. There are many complementary settings to customize controls (see list below). (Motor, Cognitive)
Invert controls for camera, movement, and ravenSwap sticks for both gameplay and menus on controllerSensitivity for camera/movement on controller and mouseMouse accelerationLeft-handed mouseVibration (Off, Light, Full)Auto (On Foot) movement (PC & keyboard/mouse only)On PC, you can fully disable either controllers or keyboard and mouse.
Several Alternatives for Hold Inputs
There will be alternatives for many hold actions (Motor, Cognitive), including:
Aim toggleTwo-step confirmations in UI instead of holdWeapon wheel toggle
Hold Length Adjustment for Interaction
You will be able to adjust the length of interaction holds from 100-1,000 milliseconds (0.1-1 second). (Motor, Cognitive)
Quick Time Events
You will be able to choose between one-time press, hold, or repeated presses for quick time events. (Motor, Cognitive)
Aim Assistance
There will be three levels of aim assistance for the bow. (Motor, Cognitive, Vision)
Very confuse about the release time in PST