A Blind Gamer Has Shared His Emotional Reaction to Playing "The Last of Us Part 2"

It's the most accessible game ever.

Earlier this week, we reported that reviews were already calling The Last of Us Part II a masterpiece. At the moment, it holds a 96 per cent score on Metacritic, and IGN called it "one of the best games of this generation". 

The game is even being hailed for its unprecedented accessibility. Developer Naughty Dog had previously said in a blog post that the game will have more than 60 accessibility features, so that low-vision and blind players could play the game as well.

In fact, a blind gamer has already shared their emotional reaction to seeing The Last of Us Part II's accessibility options for the first time, and it's incredibly moving.

The gamer is Steve Saylor, who is a video game accessibility consultant and the media editor for Can I Play That. 

Be warned: you might start crying yourself.

"I don't even know what to say. There's so much here. This is what myself and people in the accessibility community have been advocating for, for so long," he says in the video.

For those who aren't familiar with the game, The Last of Us Part II allows players to stand in the shoes of Part I's survivor Ellie, while her guardian, Joel, reckons with the humanity-dooming decision he made to save her life.

Naughty Dog developers have explained on Twitter that the audio design of the game enables people to play through the entire game even though they're completely blind.

The game also provides options for simplified traversal input, a ledge guard, and the ability to skip puzzles altogether. 

On top of that, there are text-to-speech options and audio cues that help convey information through sound and controller vibration instead.

You can find out more about all the game's accessibility features here. 

The Last of Us Part II arrives on PS4 this Friday 19 June.

Header Image: Naughty Dog