Age II DE Accessibility Features

We want each of our players around the world to experience Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in a way that works best for them. At World’s Edge, we embrace Xbox’s philosophy that gaming is for everyone and should be inclusive and accessible.

Click the gear icon next to your profile, go to Options, and choose the Tab associated with the type of accessibility options you wish to set.

In Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, you can find the following options:

“Interface” Tab

Color

Unique Player Colors – When this option is not checked, the color scheme is set to Friend or Foe, making it easier to see which players are enemies. Enabling the option gives each of the players their own unique color
Color Blind Mode – This dropdown enables you to set the desired colorblind mode. Select between Off, Deuteranopia, Protanopia, or Tritanopia.

Grid

Terrain Grid Display – This dropdown enables you to choose different options for showing the grid on the terrain which assists with building placement and ranged unit placement. Select between Off, For Building Placement, For Ranged Units, For Buildings and Ranged Units, or Always On.
Terrain Grid Color – This slider allows you to control the color of the terrain grid, from bright white to dark black.

In-game HUD interface

In Game HUD Scale – This slider allows you to increase the size of the in game HUD up to 125% for increased readability.
Tooltip Scale – This slider allows to you to increase the size of the tooltip text for increased readability.
Tooltip Position – This dropdown allows you to choose where you want your tooltips displayed. They can be in a fixed position, or floating next to the mouse cursor. You can also choose to turn them off.
Readability Panels – This checkbox allows you to enable or disable showing a dark panel behind the text for increased text contrast.

“Game” Tab

Gameplay

Object Highlights – This dropdown allows you to choose different options to highlight objects and accurately reflect what your cursor is pointing at. Select between Off, Only Selections, Only Hovers, or All.
Game Speed – This dropdown allows you to choose different game speeds the game simulation will run at. Slower speeds allow more time for players to complete complex actions. Select between Slow, Casual, Normal, or Fast

Scrolling

Scroll Speed – This slider allows you to control the speed the screen will scroll at, whether you are using the keyboard or mouse.
Scroll Inertia – This slider allows you to control the amount of acceleration applied once you begin to scroll the screen.

“Audio” Tab

Narrator

The World’s Edge team has made sure that the menus and UI of the Age of Empires titles support narration throughout our games. We have several options to choose from to allow the experience to be customized to individual preferences.

Menu Narration – Enabling this option allows the Narrator to read out menu text
Slide Show Narration – Enabling this option allows the Narrator to read out the campaign slide show text
Game Narration – Enabling this option allows the Narrator to read out the text related to the in game UI on hover
Chat Narration – Enabling this option allows the Narrator to read out any text chat sent via the in game text chat system
Menus Tooltips – Enabling this option allows the Narrator to read out tooltips related to the menu text
Game Tooltips – Enabling this option allows the Narrator to read out tooltips related to the in game UI text
Unit/Building Name – Enabling this option allows the Narrator to read out any units or buildings you have focused in the command panel
Resoure Node Name – Enabling this option allows the Narrator to read the name of any resource nodes (food, wood, gold, stone) you have focused in the command panel

Supported Platforms

The narrator is supported on the following platforms:

WinStore (Windows 10)

Steam (Windows 10)

How to enable Narrator on WinStore

To enable narrator on Windows 10 download and open the Xbox Console Companion app from the Microsoft Store. Once open, navigate to the Settings area and enable “Let games read to me”, which turns on all the Narrator options by default.

How to enable Narrator on Steam

To enable narrator on Steam, launch the game, navigate to the Accessibility menu, and choose which of the individual Narrator options you would like to enable.