I also change the setting for the quick-time events that ask you to quickly, and repeatedly, press a single button now I can instead simply hold that button down. I had a good idea of what I needed already, so it only took me a few seconds to adjust the HUD sizes, subtitle configurations, and lock-on options to my liking, including a helpful indicator to differentiate enemies from other items in the game’s world. Thankfully, there are presets for vision, hearing, and motor accessibility issues for players who may also be a bit impatient and just want to get going, so no one is going to be left waiting for long. The customization menus are deep, but Naughty Dog does a great job explaining what each setting does Image: Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment via Polygon These are options that change some very important aspects of the game’s design itself, not just how the same information is presented to different people.

The software options run deep, allowing players to adjust so much that the term “accessibility” barely seems to fit. I thought Gears 5 had set a new long-term bar for excellence in accessibility, but Naughty Dog rose to the challenge, and may have done even more to make sure everyone can play comfortably. The list of accessibility options in The Last of Us 2 is massive, with too many individual features to cover. Where evolution has made them better slayers, perfectly adapted to their environment, I’ve found my edge in the game’s accessibility menus, which offer so much more than the standard colorblind and difficulty options that I’m not sure what we should call them anymore. It turns out that the Clickers and I aren’t all that different when it comes to hunting. While the Clickers use sonar to stalk their prey, I use the square button to send out a ping that brings information back to me. My vision has become something like that of the eponymous Predator, in fact, and my targets stand out like fireworks against the night sky.

I slide my finger left across the touchpad. There’s no reason I can’t get this right. My body is tense, hands nearly twitching in readiness to act. The monsters do seem quicker in The Last of Us Part 2, and I have no desire to see my throat get ripped out. Victims of overconfidence, I tell myself, squatting behind a glass display case to train my ear toward the sounds of the nearby infected - specifically, the guttural hiss of a Clicker as it attempts to find me with echolocation. Three bloody bodies lie strewn about the old grocery store.

The last of us clicker sound