GEARS 5 [PEGI 18] has launched on Xbox One and Windows with a range of accessibility settings. Some of which aim to reduce the inputs required on a controller to play.
One of these options is a Single Stick Movement setting which, when selected, enables the Left Stick to control both movement and rotation. This means that you can move the joystick upwards to move forwards, downwards to move backwards (both as normal with default controls on the Left Stick), but moving it right or left will turn your character rather than strafe allowing for greater control of movement within the game when using a single stick.
The developers suggest this “works best when combined with Swap Sticks While Aimed,” another accessibility option which, when enabled, moves Aiming (usually on the Right Stick by default) onto the Left Stick when you are aiming down sights (holding LT by default). This allows for navigation and aiming all to be done using one joystick rather than the standard two required by many games of this genre. A ‘Swap Stick While Aimed’ feature has previously been offered in Uncharted 4 and Shadow of The Tomb Raider.
Below is a clip of some campaign gameplay (these two options are available in all game modes, including multiplayer) alongside a controller showing which inputs are being used to demonstrate these controls:
Other input related accessibility options include a Face Trigger Control Scheme which “brings aiming and shooting to the face buttons on the controller, so that most gameplay can be achieved without having to use the triggers”. There is also Control Remapping in which all buttons and triggers for gameplay can be remapped, but not directions on the joysticks. Players are able to change Button Tap Challenges to a hold for the duration of the action, rather than quickly tapping buttons. Another option is Assisted Target Lock which snaps and locks to enemies when the Aim action is used, when playing in Beginner difficulty.
For further information of accessibility in GEARS 5 you can visit their post here: https://www.gears5.com/en-gb/accessibility
Information on playing two stick games with a single stick can be found on this blog e.g. https://gameaccess.info/how-to-play-first-person-games-using-a-walk-forwards-button and https://gameaccess.info/how-to-play-two-joystick-games-using-one-joystick-with-an-xac-and-titan-two/
*Update 20th Feb 2020* – We now have a controls walkthrough video here: https://gameaccess.info/gears-5-controls-walkthrough/ and below:
Here at SpecialEffect we’ll always look at the games with accessibility settings, so in this video we’re going to be looking at the control and input settings for Gears 5. So Gears 5 is a third-person shooter and the latest instalment of the Gears of War series it’s available on Xbox One and PC. We’ll be looking at the Xbox One version but all settings mentioned in this video can also be found on PC. So let’s take a look through default control scheme. Left stick controls your characters movements, whilst right stick controls the camera. The left trigger aims your weapon and right trigger fires it. Pressing right bumper will reload your weapon, whilst holding it down activates your alternative weapon. Left bumper acts as your tack-com. So this allows you to see where your teammates are and also shows you the location or objective. A allows you to take cover and to dodge, whilst holding down A makes you sprint. The B button acts as your melee weapon. Y is your support ability. The X button interacts with objects. For some interactions we’ll have to hold down the X button such as picking up items. The view button brings up your JACK menu, so you can customise your robot friend with different abilities. The D-Pad swaps out your weapons. There are other control schemes you can choose such as a face trigger so you press Start, go into Options, Controller and then move Control Scheme over to Face Trigger, then Y becomes aim and X becomes shoot. An option for left-handed people is that you can choose to swap the sticks and the triggers over. So if you’re go into Start, Options, Controller and press Y on Control Scheme you can then choose to make the sticks and triggers left-handed or just mix and match based on your preference. You can also choose to use a mouse and keyboard for the Xbox One. For PC you can use game pads and mouse and keyboard simultaneously. There’s an option that allows you to remap the controls in game so that you can create your own custom control scheme. We go into Start, Options, Control Remapping, here we can create our own control scheme. So, we can make left bumper become right bumper and right bumper become left bumper. So left bumper has now become reload and your alternative weapon and right bumper has become your tack-com. You can also choose to assign more than one input for a single button for instance you could assign right trigger to be left trigger as well. So, you can aim and fire using just a single button. However, the changes you make will only apply to gameplay and not to menus. Remapping does not let you remap buttons and triggers to the directions on the joysticks. You should be aware that when remapping you are remapping the buttons and not the individual actions assigned to those buttons. So, by default A is sprint and dodge so if you remap this to B then the B button becomes dodge and sprint. Single stick play for movement allows you to play the game using just one stick. We turn that on and you only use one stick to control your character. You can also choose to aim with a single stick as well. To recommend that you turn on single stick movement and single stick aiming this will allow you to play the entire game using just one stick, this could be either left stick or right stick. With aiming you can choose to either hold down left trigger or toggle it. So, a single press will put you in a mode and pressing again will take you out. You can select an option that chooses to reload your weapon automatically after you run out of an ammo clip. There’s an aim assist mode that comes with a beginner difficulty, so pressing the aim button will lock you onto an enemy. You can change how you swap between your main weapons. So by default left and right on D-pad changes your weapons, however you can choose to just use one D-pad button to swap between your weapons. If we go down to toggle primary weapon, turn that on, so now you can cycle through your weapons using either the left button on D-pad or the right button on D-pad. For the button tap challenges you can choose between either pressing the button repeatedly or press and hold it. You can select what directions your character can evade in. So you can choose between cardinal directions such as up down left and right or you can choose between rolling in any direction including diagonal. You can choose between three size options for subtitles including small, medium and large. The font size in menus can also be changed, this could be between either medium or large. Thank you for watching and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with SpecialEffect.
