Star Wars Outlaws | Motor Accessibility Video

Star Wars Outlaws is an action-adventure game developed by Massive Entertainment. It is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC. You play as Kay Vess, a new character for the Star Wars franchise, and the game features a variety of different gameplay elements, including stealth and shooting when on foot, driving a speeder bike, and also piloting a starship. The game utilises the whole of the controller, but there are a range of different accessibility settings that may improve the motor accessibility of the game for players. In this video, we will be having a look at some of these options and options that affect the gameplay, too.

This will include options such as the ‘Motor Preset’ setting that affects a wide range of controller and gameplay elements. We will also be looking at the individual settings within the menus, that may also improve the motor accessibility for players.

We will be focussing on playing the game using a controller, however, on PC, the game can also be played using mouse and keyboard. All footage captured in this video are on either Xbox Series X or S consoles.  

The settings can be accessed from the main menu, or by pausing the game at any time.

Accessibility Presets

On first loading the game, you are prompted to choose whether to use any of the accessibility presets or not. This turns on a range of settings that aim to make the game more accessible. The group of settings changed using the presets can each be altered in the options and gameplay menus, but the Presets aim to make this easier, by turning on a group of settings together. Here we will have a look at some of the presets that might be helpful for some of the people we work with.

Gameplay Experience – It is possible to pick a Gameplay Experience preset, ranging from Explorer, Adventurer, Outlaw, or Scoundrel –  or you can create a custom preset and adjust the individual settings amended by using the preset. Picking a preset from this selection will adjust a variety of combat and minigame difficulty settings, including player health, enemy difficulty and the difficulty of individual minigames.  

Motor Preset – There is also the Motor Preset. You can choose to have the Motor preset on or off, or you can create a custom preset. Selecting to have the Motor preset ‘On’ will switch on a variety of settings which will reduce the number of actions, and how much precision, timing and effort that they need.

Examples of the settings changed by using the Motor Preset include changing many of the hold actions to a press of the input instead. It also means certain actions will be carried out automatically, such as mantling or vaulting small objects, as well as hopping to the next climbable object.  Like the gameplay experience preset, it will also change the difficulty of individual minigames.

We will look at each of the settings featured within their menus later on in the video.

You can also customise each setting within the preset within the preset menu itself, by using the ‘customize’ shortcut button, displayed at the bottom of the screen. 

If you change any presets, you will get an onscreen ‘Warning’ message, updating you on any settings that will change. If by turning the Motor Preset ‘On’, you change any settings that are also within the Gameplay Experience presets, then the Gameplay Experience preset will automatically become a ‘custom’ preset. The Motor Accessibility preset options will override any individual settings that conflict within the Gameplay Experience preset.

Cognitive Preset – You can also choose to have the cognitive preset on, off, or create a custom preset. This will each switch on or off a range of settings that can help make text clearer, and reduce how much you need to think about and how quickly you need to react. Although these are geared more towards helping to make the game more accessible from a cognitive perspective, some of them may also help players who need more time to physically press buttons, or need to reduce controls due to fatigue. Again some of the settings changed in this preset overlap with the gameplay and motor accessibility presets, so changing the cognitive preset will affect the settings previously set under those .

The accessibility presets can be accessed from the in-game pause menu. The motor accessibility preset is found within in the Gameplay preset menu.  You can also access the individual settings that are changed by using the presets, within individual menus. We will take a look at these menus and the individual settings in more detail.

Settings

Within the settings menu, there are a wide range of settings that can be adjusted individually,The first menu we will look at is the Gameplay menu.

Gameplay Menu

Gameplay Menu > Combat

In the gameplay menu, the first group are settings hereare a range of combat settings, and we will now go through each of these.

Enemy Difficulty – You can change the enemy difficulty from ‘Story’ to ‘Hard’. This will affect how much damage enemies take when you attack them and how they react to your actions.

Player Health – Player health can be adjusted from ‘Story’ to ‘’Hard. This affects overall player health, which adjust how much damage you can take and how frequently you can be damaged.

Wanted Difficulty – During gameplay, Kay can become wanted by the Empire. By setting the Wanted difficulty between Story to Hard, the player can decide how difficult it is to escape the Empire.

Adrenaline Rush Difficulty – When in combat, Kays’s adrenaline rush bar will build up until she is able to use the adrenaline rush ability, which allows her to slow down time and shoot selected opponents.   This setting determines how much adrenaline you need to gain before being able to use adrenaline rush, and the difficulty can range from Story to Hard.

Adrenaline Rush Timer – You can select how long the timer takes to pick targets during adrenaline rush, from default, to double, to triple.

Auto-Perfect Cooling – Kay needs to let her blaster cool down after firing at enemies, before she can fire again. The player can cool the blaster down more quickly by pressing a button at the correct time when prompted. It is possible to have auto perfect cooling switched on, which will automatically cool the blaster instead of the player having to complete the timed minigame. This setting will be set to ‘On’ if using the Motor Preset.

Gameplay Menu > Movement

There are a range of different settings to help with movement, which we will look at now.

Always Sprint – By default, Kay will sprint when the sprint button is pressed. However, it is possible to put the Always Sprint setting on, which means Kay will sprint whenever the movement stick is fully pressed forwards. This setting will be turned ‘On’ if using the Motor Preset

Auto Mantle/Vault – By default, to vault over or climb up onto objects, the player has to press a button. However, with the Auto Mantle/Vault setting on, Kay will automatically jump over certain objects. This setting will be turned ‘On’ if using the Motor Preset. 

Fall Protection – By default, Kay will fall if the player makes her run or walk off of dangerous edges. Having Fall Protection on means that Kay will automatically stop moving and will not fall; it is worth noting that this may not work on all edges. On edges that it does work on, if you keep pushing forwards on the left stick, Kay will eventually fall. Also, if Kay is sprinting or jumping, she will still go over the edge.

Climbing Auto Transfer – The Climbing Auto Transfer setting means that Kay will automatically hop to the next climbable object just by moving towards it, which reduces the need for the player to press a button. You will need to have started the initial climb by jumping to the first climbable object for this setting to start working. The setting can be switched on or off. This setting will be turned ‘On’ if using the Motor Preset.

Gameplay Menu > Minigames

There are several minigames within Star Wars Outlaws. There are some settings in the gameplay menu that may help make these minigames more accessible for players, and in some instances will also allow them to auto complete the minigames.

Kessel Sabacc Cheat Minigame – Kessel Sabacc is a card game that Kay can play in certain areas. She is able to use her companion Nix to help her cheat. Cheating by default will start a minigame which requires button inputs; however, it is possible to set the cheat minigame to autocomplete by changing the setting to ‘Off’.  It is worth noting that in certain high rollers matches, Kay and Nix may not be able to cheat at all.

Lockpicking Minigame – To open certain doors or chests, Kay may need to pick locks. By default, lockpicking starts a rhythm-based challenge; however, this can be simplified. For players who wants to keep the rhythm-based game on, there are separate settings to adjust the difficulty from default to either easy to hard, and visual clues If using the Motor Preset, this will be set to ‘Easy’.

Slicing – Slicing, or hacking, electronics will by default start a minigame. This can be switched on or off .

If players choose to have the slicing mini game on, there are a couple of settings to help with this:

Slicing Attempts – The slicing attempts setting Determines how many tries you get at attempting to slice before failing. The settings to choose from are default, fewer, or more attempts. This setting will be set for ‘More’ attempts if using the Motor Preset.

Slicing numbered buttons – By default, the game uses images in the slicing minigame. These can instead be set to numbers by using the Slicing Numbered buttons setting.

Galactic Street Food Challenge – There are areas in the game where Kay and Nix with eat together, which can prompt a timing based mini game called a ‘Galactic Street Food Challenge’. It is possible to set the minigame to autocomplete. 

Galactic street food difficulty – If you choose to have the minigames set to a timed challenge rather than autocomplete, then you can adjust the difficulty of the ‘Galactic Street Food Challenge’, from ‘default’ to ‘simplified’. This setting will be set to ‘Simplified’ if using the Motor Preset.

Fast Talk – Fast talk is an unlockable ability, that gives Kay some time to react when she has been spotted during stealth gameplay. There is the option to switch this ability off if preferred. This setting will be set to ‘Off’ if using the Motor Preset. 

Fast Talk Timed Challenge – if you choose to have fast talk enabled, you can also decide if you want fast talk to be a timed challenge or for it to auto complete, by setting Fast Talk Timed challenge to off .

Nix Prompts – During the game, you can send Nix to complete certain tasks, such as distract enemies or steal items from them. By default, these Nix prompts require a button to be pressed at the right time – it is also possible to have these actions set up auto complete by changing the setting to ‘Off.  This setting will be set to ‘Off’ if using the Motor Preset

Gameplay Menu > Space Difficulty

Kay is able to pilot a starship during gameplay, either on specific missions or during free roam. There are several settings grouped under ‘Space Difficulty’ that can help, especially when in combat.

Collision Damage Prevention – By default, if Kay crashes into objects, it can cause damage to her ship. It is possible to switch on ‘collision damage prevention’ to help with this.

Ion stun protection – By default, ion damage will cause your starship to be stunned. It is possible to switch this off by using Ion Stun Protection.

Auto Throttle in Pursuit Mode – Also by default, the starship will automatically control the throttle when in pursuit mode. Holding down the aim button will put the starship into pursuit mode, controlling the throttle and the steering whilst also trying to keep at the optimal engagement distance from the target, allowing you to concentrate on shooting. It is possible to switch ‘Auto Throttle In Pursuit Mode’ off if you would prefer manual control.

Controls Menu

In the Controls settings menu, you can remap your controls and also adjust a variety of options. 

Controls Menu > Show Controller Layout

In the ‘Show Controller Layout’ sub-menu, by pressing RB or R1, you can cycle through 5 different control presets. You can also create a custom layout. Within any of the presets, pressing left or right on the d-pad allows you to view the controls for on foot, speeder and starship controls when using each of the layouts.

If you would like to remap any controls, you can do this in the ‘custom’ layout option. Go to the control you would like to remap, and press Y or Triangle to swap. Then, press the button you would like to remap this action to.

You may get a warning saying that this button is already in use. Press A or Cross to confirm, or B or Circle to cancel. By default, the function that you are remapping will swap to the other button.

You can remap button and trigger inputs with an action, but not joystick directions.

Controls Menu > Advanced Controls Sub-Menu

Advanced Controls > Advanced
Within the ‘Advanced controls’ sub-menu, within the ‘Advanced’ group of options, you can change a range of sensitivity settings, such as aiming, looking, and speeder sensitivity.

Here, you can also select to align with the horizon, which is on by default. This means that the camera will automatically face the horizon if you haven’t moved the camera for yourself for a few seconds. You may need to be moving by pushing the movement stick for this to happen, as it will not align with the horizon if you are stationary. You can switch this setting off.

You can also choose to have align with moving direction switched on, which is off by default. This means that the camera will aim to automatically move to look in the direction that Kay is facing if you haven’t moved the camera for a few seconds. This does not work if you run directly towards the camera, by pulling down on the movement stick. Both this setting and align with the horizon may be useful for people who find it difficult to always use both analogue sticks at the same time.

The ‘Change hold actions to press’ option can be turned on, to change actions that ‘require a button to be held down into a single button press, instead’. This applies to most actions, in gameplay, such as when aiming Kay’s blaster,  and also applies to the menus.

The ‘Toggle Nix mode’ option can be turned on or off independently of this. If set to ‘on’, this will disable Nix quick actions. The setting to ‘Change hold actions to a press’ will be changed to ‘On’, if using the Motor Preset.

Advanced Controls > Controller
Grouped under the ‘Controller’ header in Advanced Controls, are inner and outer deadzone settings for each stick. Changing the inner deadzone will ‘adjust the size of an area in the centre of the stick where the value is ignored’.

Changing the outer deadzone will adjust the ‘size of the outer margin of the left stick input’.

There is an option to ‘Swap Ping Objective and Nix Sense’. By default, to ping an objective, there is a press of the Up on the D-Pad and to use Nix sense you hold Up on the D-Pad. If this setting is on it will swap this over so that a hold will ping an objective and a press will use Nix Sense, instead.

Advanced Controls > Vibration – Under ‘Vibration’ are settings for the overall vibration intensity of the controller as well as individual vibration intensity for different contexts, such as when using a weapon or during traversal.

Controls Menu > Starship Controls
Grouped under the Starship Controls header, are a range of options including making certain actions toggleable:

Starship Aim Assist – The ‘Starship Aim Assist’ setting lets you choose between Follow Target or Manual Aim.

Ship Controller Sensitivity – The ‘Ship Controller Sensitivity’ setting can be adjusted between five increments, which will alter the sensitivity of looking and aiming when controlling your ship.

Pursuit Mode – When in a Starship, ‘Pursuit mode’  allows your starship to follow a targeted enemy automatically. It can be turned on or off with either a hold or a single press. This input is Left Trigger by default. Changing from the default ‘hold’ to a toggled ‘press’, is not done under the earlier mentioned ‘Change hold actions to press’ option, so will need to be done individually with this setting here instead.

Speed Boost – The ‘Speed Boost’ setting is set to ‘toggle’ by default, so you press the boost button once to turn speed boost on or off. You can change it to a hold, instead, so it will need to be held down for the duration of using speed boost.

Starship Shooting – The ‘Starship shooting’ setting can be changed from a hold to a toggle. Again, this is not changed automatically when using the ‘Change hold actions to press’ option, so needs to be done here to remove the need for a hold of the input. The Starship Shooting setting will be set to ‘Toggle’ if using the Motor Preset.

Starship Horizon Auto-Align – The ‘Starship Horizon Auto-Align’ setting, is On by default and will align your starship with the horizon automatically. You can choose to turn this off.

Controls Menu

Aim Assist – Back out of the Advanced controls menu into the main Controls menu, is the Aim Assist option. ‘On’ by default, the aim assist option may be helpful in combat situations. You can also choose to have aim assist set to strong, or off. Both of these may be helpful when at close range, but are less effective when further away from enemies.   Aim assist may not help when using long range wepaons such as sniper rifles. Aim Assist will be set to ‘Strong’ if using the Motor Preset.

Toggle Sprint – To sprint in-game, by default, you tap the sprint button when pushing forward on the movement stick. Letting go of the movement stick will stop Kay from sprinting. It is possible to map Sprint to a button hold if you prefer.

There are multiple options for inverting the camera, such as when on foot, or when flying the starship.            

Adaptive Trigger Intensity – On PS5, the strength of the DualSense Triggers can also be adjusted.

Outro

Thank you for watching this video. We hope that it has been useful in introducing you to some of the settings in Star Wars Outlaws. For more information in settings such as the ones featured in this video in other games, or for information on alternative controllers, please visit SpecialEffect’s GameAccess site. 

For developers looking for more video examples of how developers have improved the motor accessibility of their games, these can be found on the SpecialEffect DevKit.

For instance, to see more examples of how a player’s strength can be used to customise the level of challenge for a player, please see the ‘Assistance’ topic, which also includes a module on ‘Game Difficulty’. A module on ‘Timing Elements’, includes examples of how other games have implemented optional settings, like those in Outlaw’s minigames options.

Finally, the ‘Assistance’ topic also includes a module on ‘Analog Action Assists’, which includes other features, like the ‘Auto Throttle’ option in Outlaws provides.

To explore the DevKit yourself, please visit specialeffectdevkit.info