The Outer Worlds doesnt need a colorblind mode, according to Obsidians design director

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The Outer Worlds (opens in new tab) doesn’t have a colorblind mode because it doesn’t need one, according to Obsidian’s studio design director Josh Sawyer. Colorblind accessibility in video games has been steadily increasing over the last few years – games like Destiny, Overwatch, and Grand Theft Auto 5 all offer different color palette alternatives for those with colorblindness, to various degrees of success. The Outer Worlds notably does not have a colorblind mode, and that’s for good reason. 

PSA: The Outer Worlds does not have a colorblind mode because it was designed to be playable without color information. I.e., color information is redundant with other indicators. Tim Cain (one of the directors) has a form of colorblindness that approaches monochromacy.October 30, 2019

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According to Sawyer, The Outer Worlds was designed to be completely playable and legible to those who have difficulty seeing certain hues. Sawyer suggests that map indicators for quests and locations are designed to be clear for all different types of visual abilities, so adding a mode that would change certain colors for the sake of legibility would be “redundant.” After this tweet, Sawyer replied with “one weird trick to making your games more accessible: have two directors who are colorblind.” While Sawyer openly states that director Tim Cain has a type of colorblindness that’s similar to monochromacy (where you can distinguish only one frequency of the electromagnetic light spectrum) it’s unclear if the other game director, Leonard Boyarsky, has a form of colorblindness as well.

The Outer Worlds is a visually stunning game, so it’s good to see that it was designed to be that way for gamers of all abilities. Fans of the game responded to Sawyer’s tweet celebrating his statement, but couldn’t resist mentioning the small font size.

If you’re looking to snag The Outer Worlds but haven’t yet done so, we’ve got some great Black Friday gaming specials (opens in new tab) for you to be aware of before the big buying day.