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Xbox X|SWe've documented 32 accessibility features for Star Wars: The Old Republic, including Fully Voiced (Or No Speech), Large Subtitles, Large Text, Control Assists and Select Difficulty. Its accessibility is strongest in Navigation and Reading but it also has features in Controls, Getting Started, Visual, Audio, Difficulty and Communication to reduce unintended barriers.
This report is created with input from accessibility experts and the player community to help people find games that have the accessibility features they require. Once you have found potential games on the database, there are excellent specialist accessibility sites that offer in-depth reviews to guide your purchasing decisions.
Our accessibility examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Star Wars: The Old Republic accessibility 3 years ago.
Accessibility Notes
There is extensive customisation of every part of the gameplay experience, and this video goes over them all in detail.
There are several controls that can be simplified to reduce the number of button inputs or reduce the time to complete and action:
- You can enable all loot to be collected from a body in one go, instead of manually collecting each item, by selecting Auto Loot on Right Click and Enable area loot.
- You can deselect a target without targeting a new enemy when you click on the ground, and also auto-aim at the nearest target.
- Make your companions gather loot for you instead of doing it yourself.
- Change the camera movement speed and the maximum distance of your character from the camera.
- Increase the amount of time you can prep a move to be used next before it is used (can help reduce need for quick reactions).
- When playing in a group, you can select to follow another player which allows a period of respite from controls.
As all the speech has subtitles, there is no need to play with sound (there is even an option to disable all sound). However, some of the text is quite small by default (but can be adjusted) and not all of it is high contrast. You can adjust the opacity of the in-game chat background if you want to make the text more visible and you can also disable individual types of chat (PvP chat, Trade Chat, General Chat). when you are in a conversation, you can make it so that you can easily see whether a specific response is Light-side or Dark-side oriented.
Extensive adjustments to the in-game map are also available, including a red flash when under attack, opacity, co-ordinates and point-of-interest adjustments. You can also select to have extra information displayed about each item. There are some areas of the game where being able to discern between colours is important, which is important to note for colourblind players.
Game Details
Release Date: 20/12/2011
Out Now: PC
Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds
Players: 1 (1000 online)
Genres: Adventure, Role-Play (Action, Fighting and Narrative)
Accessibility: 32 features
Components: 3D Third-Person and Open World
Costs: Free. In-Game Loot Boxes
Controls
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Controls in Star Wars: The Old Republic which deal with how you control the game, different options for alternative inputs and whether you can remap these settings to suit your needs.
Mouse And Keyboard
Can play with the following:
Mouse and Keys: Can play with mouse and multiple keys.
Remap Controls
Can customise the controls for the game as follows:
Remap Mouse and Keyboard: Can remap mouse and keyboard key bindings, on systems that support these controls.
Remap Game Menu Access: Can remap buttons to pause, access and navigate the game menu. This enables you to specify which buttons pop-up the game menu.Whether you can remap menu navigation buttons isn't considered here.
Invert X/Y Axis: Can invert the direction required to control looking and aiming. This enables you to match your instinctive orientation when looking.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls
If you want to play Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it doesn't offer the Controls accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Controls accessibility:
- Immortals Fenyx Rising (14 Controls Features)
- Gears 5 (14 Controls Features)
- Starfield (12 Controls Features)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator (12 Controls Features)
Difficulty
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Difficulty in Star Wars: The Old Republic which deal with how you can adjust the challenge of play, and whether this is locked once chosen or can be adjusted as you play.
Difficulty Options
Select Difficulty: Select the level of difficulty from a range of presets. This not only offers a way to adjust the challenge of a game but enables you to do so without dealing with individual criteria.
Adjust After Setting
Adjustable Between Levels: You can adjust the difficulty between levels/rounds. Although you have to restart your checkpoint or level, this enables you to adjust the difficulty after selecting it at the beginning of the game.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Difficulty
If you want to play Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it doesn't offer the Difficulty accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Difficulty accessibility:
- Star Wars Outlaws (3 Difficulty Features)
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (3 Difficulty Features)
- Immortals Fenyx Rising (3 Difficulty Features)
- Gears 5 (3 Difficulty Features)
Getting Started
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Getting Started in Star Wars: The Old Republic which deal with what support is offered to get started with the game. This includes customising the experience when you first open the game via any onboarding processes it provides as well as tutorials and other assistance when you first start playing.
Assistance Getting Starting
These features aid your play of the game in terms of cognitive load on learning controls, dealing with pressure and coping with the environment and challenges.
Tutorials: There are helpful tutorials and instructions on how to play. Information is provided in a timely manner, with appropriate level of detail.
Practice Area: You can practice freely without opponents or time pressures. This can be a specific practice option, or the ability to play levels with the easiest opponents to improve understanding and skill.
Assistance With Controls: The game can automatically assist with aiming, steering, reloading, jumping, running etc. This reduces the challenge of certain aspects of play to remove barriers and make control of characters more accessible.
Assistance For Progressing
These features aid your progress through the game offering different ways of maintaining your progression.
Save Progress Anytime: The game automatically saves progress or you can save any time. This doesn’t mean you never lose progress, but it does mean you can stop whenever you want (without having to get to a save point) without losing progress.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Getting Started
If you want to play Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:
- Immortals Fenyx Rising (8 Getting Started Features)
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (7 Getting Started Features)
- The Vale: Shadow of the Crown (6 Getting Started Features)
- Doom Eternal (6 Getting Started Features)
Reading
We've documented 6 accessibility features for Reading in Star Wars: The Old Republic which deal with how much reading or listening comprehension is required, how well the game provides visual and audible access to the text and whether subtitles and captions are a good fit for purpose.
Reading Level
How much reading is required to play the game's main path or story and how complex the language is. The presence of voiced characters doesn't reduce this requirement, as it's recorded as a separate datapoint.
Moderate Reading: Moderate reading required. The quantity and complexity of reading are at a level that a high school student (14-year-old) would appreciate.
Text Visibility
Large Clear Text: All essential text is large and clear or can be adjusted to be. The general text used throughout the game in menus, instructions and other key information (excluding subtitles that are assessed separately) is at least 1/20 (46 pixels on 1080 screen) the height on landscape screens and at least 1/40 height on portrait screens. We base this on the full line-height, including the space above and below the letters.
Subtitles
Large Clear Subtitles: Subtitles are large, clear and of good contrast. They are at least 1/20 (46 pixels on 1080 screen) the height of a landscape screen and at least 1/40 height on portrait screens, or can be adjusted to be. We base this on the full line-height, including the space above and below the letters. Considered separately from the general text of the game, the subtitles are large, clear and of good contrast.
All Speech Subtitled (Or No Speech In Game): All spoken content has subtitles, or there is no speech in the game. This means there is no requirement to hear spoken dialogue or narrative to play the game.
Captions
Speaker Indicator: Textual captions indicate who is speaking (or there is only ever one person speaking). This can also be indicated visually in the game with character icons or placing text in speech bubbles next to the person speaking.
Voice Acted
All Dialogue is Voice Acted (Or No Speech In Game): All of the game dialogue and narrative can be voiced, or there is no speech in the game. This means there is no requirement to read the dialogue and narrative text to play the game.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading
If you want to play Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:
Navigation
We've documented 8 accessibility features for Navigation in Star Wars: The Old Republic which deal with how the game provides guidance and assistance to navigate its worlds. These are only for games that have traversal and exploration in 2D and 3D spaces.
Clarity
Large Clear Navigation: The in-game navigation and maps are clear to read. They offer large text and offer markers that are large and of high contrast. Where text or information is small, there are settings to zoom-in and increase visibility.
Clear Mission Objectives: The game provides clear, structured missions with directional guidance and advice on which can be attempted next. This also indicates (ideally on maps where they are provided) which missions can't be attempted because you do not have the appropriate items yet.
Visual Directional Cues: Additional in-game visual cues that signpost where to go next and how close you are to arriving. This can be with camera movement to focus on your destination or important items. It can use light, breadcrumb trails, in-world pointers to identify your mission's target location.
Head-Up Display
Head-Up Display Navigation: Indication of where to go next with overlaid arrows, minimaps and waypoint markers. This supplements in-game visual and audible cues with additional guidance about where you are and where you need to go.
Adjust Head-Up Display: Resize and adjust the content of the head-up display. This enables it to be made more visible. It can also enable the removal of too much information that can be distracting or confusing.
Game Map: View a map of the game world during play, with the landscape, points of interest and missions highlighted throughout the entire game. This enables the orientation of the player and the world, confirming a direction of movement and the location of destinations or points of exploration.
Menu Navigation
Menus Don't Wrap: Menus don't wrap and stop the cursor at the bottom of the list if you press down. Or menus do wrap but make it clear that you are back at the top of the list with sound or narration.
Remap Game Menu Access: Can remap buttons to pause, access and navigate the game menu. This enables you to specify which buttons pop-up the game menu.Whether you can remap menu navigation buttons isn't considered here.
Visual
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Visual in Star Wars: The Old Republic which deal with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.
Contrast
Medium Contrast: Game uses generally well contrasting and bright visuals, or has a slider to make this the case.
Interactive Elements
Outline Interactive Elements: Characters, platforms and enemies can be outlined or highlighted for visibility. This can be with a large border around the character or a special visual mode that adjust the colour to make characters more visible.
Audio Cues for Visual Events
Audio Cues for Visual Events: Audio is provided to indicate visual events. Game events or progress highlighted by visual icons, effects or animations are also accompanied by audio to signify that progress. This is useful for blind players.
Motion Sickness Friendly
Motion Sickness Friendly: Doesn't have 3D movement elements that may trigger motion sickness, like motion blur, depth of field and field-of-vision. Or includes the ability to disable motion blur, depth of field and field-of-vision effects.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual
If you want to play Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Visual accessibility:
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (7 Visual Features)
- Gotham Knights (6 Visual Features)
- Dead Containment (6 Visual Features)
- Dragon Age II (5 Visual Features)
Audio
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Audio in Star Wars: The Old Republic which deal with how you can adjust the audio of the game and whether audio cues compensate for aspects of the game that are hard to see.
Adjustable Audio
Balance Audio Levels: Set music and game sound effects separately. This enables you to select your preference as well as ensure critical game sounds aren't obscured by other audio.
Audio Events
Visual Cues for Audio Events: Text or other visual indicators of audio events. This mirrors audio indicators of progress in the game with a corresponding visual indication.
Play Without Hearing
Play Without Hearing: No audio cues are necessary to play the game well.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Audio
If you want to play Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility:
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (4 Audio Features)
- Immortals Fenyx Rising (4 Audio Features)
- Star Wars: Squadrons (4 Audio Features)
Communication
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Communication in Star Wars: The Old Republic which deal with how you can communicate with other players in the game and what options are available to customise and control this interaction.
Player-to-Player Online Communication
This is how players communicate with each other in online games. This can be to plan strategy, chat as they play or co-ordinate resources.
Text Chat: Chat to other players by typing text.
Filtered Chat: Option to filter out profanity and/or sharing of personal information from online chat.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Communication
If you want to play Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it doesn't offer the Communication accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Communication accessibility:
- Star Wars: Squadrons (5 Communication Features)
- Stellaris (4 Communication Features)
- New World (4 Communication Features)
- Call of Duty: Warzone (4 Communication Features)
System Accessibility Settings
In addition to the accessibility features provided in the game, you can also use system-wide accessibility settings:
PC
Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators.
Read more about system accessibility settings.
Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors Ben Kendall
