Super Smash Bros.creator Masahiro Sakurai goes over the myriad of quality-of-life features that are included inThe Last of Us Part 1. The famous game director went over these in a detailed manner, explaining each option, which all offered a way for gamers to tailor their experience. All of these options were detailed in a new video from Sakurai’s YouTube channel, “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games,” with both Japanese and English versions for fans to follow along to.
For the uninitiated, Masahiro Sakurai has been posting plenty of videos to this new channel of his, where he goes over his principles of designing video games and how each aspect is integral to the work. This ranges from mechanics that are commonly seen in games, to anecdotes about his career and development of games he’s worked on, such asthe originalSuper Smash Bros.fighting game. His latest video, which is under the “UI” category, focuses exclusively onThe Last of Us Part 1’s accessibility options.
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Sakurai notes at the start how important it is that big titles should have settings that make things as user-friendly as possible, before shifting to footage ofThe Last of Us Part 1, where he cycles through the options menu. He states in particular that the accessibility features were “eye-opening,” and that they were also “incredibly well-crafted” as well. The 11-minute video has him go over each menu and customization option, noting how the player can tailor their experience to their personal preferences or TV setups.
He even makes a point that each menu will also have a side-view that shows how each part ofThe Last of Us Part 1’saccessibility optionswill affect the gameplay’s UI, such as the colorblind mode, the magnification of HUD elements, and the high contrast display, stating the last one as “amazing” to boot. Other elements he went over in the video include the number of options for audio cues, text reading, combat accessibility, and more, praising how each option works and that there are players will appreciate their inclusion. He also praises the developers, noting that this setup would have been complicated and required a lot of work to bring together.
Sakurai states that there was some value in having the options locked to a specific control scheme, but with technology evolving and players coming from a diverse set of experiences, it’s important to allow the player to set the game up to their tastes. He concludes the video statingThe Last of Us Part 1handles accessibilityextremely well, and notes more games will likely have these options in the future too.
The Last of Us Part 1is available now for PS5 with a PC version coming June 12, 2025.
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