Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End [PEGI 16] is an action-adventure game on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. It focuses on Nathan Drake and his friends who are on a treasure hunt that leads him all over the world. The game features various gameplay elements including exploration, combat, and driving. In this video and its accompanying post, we will go through the controls and the settings that could make the game more accessible for some players, including camera and aim settings and assists, how to remove repeated button presses and where to turn on a swap sticks option which enable players to play much of the game using one stick instead of two on their controller.
Challenge Level
Controls
Before starting a game, you must select a Challenge Level. You can choose between Explorer, Light, Moderate, Hard, and Crushing. Explorer is designed for players who would rather focus on the story rather than the combat, whilst choosing Crushing means certain settings are not available in this mode. The lower the Challenge level chosen, the less resistance enemies will have and the more damage you will be able to take.
Default Exploration Controls:
Left Stick = move Character
Right Stick = move Camera
Cross = Jump/Climb (while pushing the left stick in the direction you want to climb)/swim to the surface while underwater[hold]
Circle = Drop Down/Dive when in water [hold]
Square = Attach to craggy surfaces (after acquiring the pin)
Triangle = Interact with objects
L1 = Use Rope [press]/Rappel up and down rope [hold whilst holding up or down on left stick]
D-pad Up = use a Hint when prompted
D-pad Down = Locate Allies/Vehicles
Touchpad = Open Journal
Options = Pause the game
Default Combat and Driving Controls:
Cross = Change Shoulder View (while aiming)
Square = Melee Attack/Handbrake (when driving a vehicle) [hold]
Circle = Roll/Take Cover
Triangle = Reload [press]/Pick Up Weapon/Ammo [hold]
R1 = Aim Explosive [hold, then release to throw]
L2 = Aim [hold]/Brake/Reverse (when driving a vehicle) [hold]
R2 = Fire [hold or press depending on which weapon you use]/Accelerate (when driving a vehicle) [hold]
L3 = Mark Enemy (while aiming)
R3 = Zoom while using weapons with a scope such as a sniper rifle
D-pad Left/Right = Swap Weapon
Settings
There are various settings in the game that can be turned on to make the game easier for some players. We will go through the settings found in each sub-menu.
Gameplay Sub-Menu
NPC Marking: allows you to see where your allies are.
Threat Indicators: signals whether enemies have seen you during stealth sections. If an enemy sees you, the grey marker above an enemy’s head will gradually fill up until you are hidden again. The lower the difficulty, the slower it fills up. When it is full, it will turn yellow and enemies will start looking around for you. If they find you, the marker will turn orange and enemies will start attacking.
Both NPC Marking and Threat Indicators are not available in Crushing difficulty.
Camera Controls Sub-Menu
Aiming and Camera Sensitivity: you can choose between 0-10 for how sensitive the aiming and camera controls are with 0 being the least sensitive and 10 being the most sensitive.
Horizonal and Vertical Movements: inverts the movements for both aiming and camera controls.
Camera Assist: the camera will automatically reposition itself around the character when moving left and right. This reduces the need for right stick.
Vehicle Camera Assist: a similar setting to Camera Assist. However the camera repositions itself when moving left and right in a vehicle such as a car or boat. Like Camera Assist, this option also reduces the need for right stick.
Controls Sub-Menu
L3 / R3 / X: swaps between various control schemes for actions done while aiming including Mark Enemy, Zoom (with scope) and Shoulder Swap actions.
Remember Shoulder Swap: remembers your last shoulder swap position when entering aim mode.
Sticks: swap the left stick and right stick functions over, so that right stick becomes character movement and left stick becomes camera movement.
Sticks While Aiming: when aiming, the left stick and right stick functions are swapped over, so that right stick becomes character movement and left stick becomes aiming.
By having the stick functions as default and sticks while aiming as flipped, the need for right stick is reduced greatly, so you can play through most of the game by using a single stick. However, if you are wanting to play with a single stick, then your character would not be able to walk around whilst in aim mode.
Repeated Button Presses: choose between repeated button taps or holding down a button for certain actions such as melee attacks, getting out of an enemy’s grasp, and interacting with objects.
Aim Assist: choose how much aim assist you want. By default, the aim assist is set to 10. By having it on 10, your aim reticle will stick to enemies better. By turning it down to zero, you will have to be more accurate with your aiming as the aim reticle will not stick to enemies.
Aim Mode: choose between a hold or a toggle to aim.
Lock-on Aim: provides assistance with aiming that reduces the need for manual precision. When white markers appear around an enemy, entering aim mode will lock on to that enemy. This option can help reduce the need of right stick.
Shoulder Buttons Scheme: swaps between various control schemes for the actions assigned to shoulder buttons including rope, grenade, aim/brake and fire/accelerate.
Left and Right Shoulder Buttons: whichever shoulder button scheme you choose, you can swap the L1/L2 and R1/R2 actions over.
Accessibility Sub-menu
The accessibility sub-menu provides a more condensed list of settings already discussed and found in the other sub-menus. Each setting has a description of what it does in-game giving the player an informed decision about whether or not to use them.
We hope that this video and post has been useful. If you have any questions, please visit the ‘Contact Us’ page.
Video by Cara Jessop
Music:
Inner Self by Theevs (artlist.io)
Developer Resource:
For more video examples of how developers have improved the motor accessibility of their games, please visit https://specialeffectdevkit.info/
