Unable to locate objects and characters as a blind player

First of all, I’d like to sincerely thank everyone who has shown support for my request. Sea of Thieves already includes a significant number of accessibility features that allow blind players to engage with many of its mechanics, and that effort is genuinely appreciated.

I am a software engineering student and an accessibility consultant, so I’m very aware of how complex and time-consuming it is to design and implement effective, well-integrated accessibility systems in a videogame. That is precisely why I wrote my original post, which was mainly addressed to the development team as constructive feedback.

I believe we all benefit from a growing community, where everyone can play regardless of their condition, and where the forums remain a welcoming and constructive place to exchange ideas. For those who have questions or curiosity about how blind players use technology, there are plenty of resources available—and asking them there might be more productive than derailing the thread.

As a brief aside, seeing my words quoted starting with “I read blind…” was an interesting reminder that reading comprehension is a skill we all keep improving over time. Progress is always a good thing.

Once again, thank you to the developers for the work already done, and to the community members who keep the discussion respectful and focused on improving accessibility for everyone.

Fair winds.

@rhomdur not sure if any of this helps and not wanting to dismiss your points at all as they are entirely valid but specifically the sword and other tools, only needs to be found once during the tutorial. After that it can always be drawn with the weapon swap button, radial menus and hot keys.

Just for information, in case it is at all useful...

Some items do emit a constant sound such as:
enemies
some shops and NPCs
certain loot items
holes in your ship

Also some events make a distinct sound such as:

Your ship being hit with a cannonball (different sounds if it hits your hull, wheel, mast, or capstan)
Your ship being hit with firebombs, blunderbombs, or chainshots (as opposed to cannonballs).
Food being cooked (different sounds for when it starts vs when it's finished)
Someone swimming in the water next to your ship, or grabbing the ladder.
Hitting someone with your cutlass
Killing another player
Your ship filling with water (different groaning/ creaking sounds depending on the water level)

Items that don't emit a constant sound but probably should (at least optionally) I would say are

Resource barrels (especially the ones on your ship)
Staircases
weapons cabinet
captain's table
cannons
wheel
anchor
sail ropes
ladders
wind

One thing I think would be really helpful is if we could have a kind of audio library of all the different sound effects we might hear while playing the game, alongside a description of what each of them means. I've been playing this game for months and only recently learned that cannonballs hitting your hull make slightly different sounds depending on whether they're making a new hole, or making an existing hole bigger.

Thank you very much for your detailed and thoughtful input.

The issue with the items I mentioned in my original post—such as the sword—is that they represent the entry point to learning how to play the game. Even if those items are no longer a problem later on, not being able to start the tutorial independently and reliably raises a very reasonable concern: if I cannot locate essential objects at the very beginning, how likely is it that I will encounter similar limitations later in the game with other important items, many of which you have already listed and which clearly play a significant role in gameplay?

In my specific case, there is also an additional factor to consider. Playing on PlayStation requires an active PlayStation Plus subscription in order to access the full game. When combined with the initial cost of purchasing the game, this represents a non-trivial investment without any real guarantee that I will be able to play independently and confidently. That uncertainty is precisely what makes early accessibility so important.

Your idea of an audio library that explains what each sound represents is genuinely excellent. This is a solution already implemented in fully accessible games such as The Last of Us Part I & II and God of War Ragnarök, both of which are playable from start to finish by blind players. Having access to this kind of structured audio feedback makes an enormous difference in understanding what is happening in the game world.

I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage the development or community management team to share their perspective, if possible. Any insight into the current state of accessibility development, ongoing work, or future plans would be greatly appreciated. Constructive dialogue like this benefits both players and developers, and helps ensure that accessibility continues to move in the right direction.

Thank you again for contributing to a respectful and productive discussion.

Fair winds.

@rhomdur I think I see what you're saying. It's not specifically about finding the sword itself. It's about what NOT finding the sword right at the beginning of the game represents? Apologies if it sounded like I was dismissing your concerns. I have my own disabilities (autism) which means I often need to have context explained to me.

I agree with what you're saying though, and while I respect that a lot of thought has gone into the sound cues in this game, I definitely wouldn't think of it as being fully playable by a blind person (happy to be corrected by any blind players). Perhaps it never will be, but we shouldn't let perfect be the enemy of good, so in the interests of improvement, I think some other areas that could be looked at are:

Items in barrels/ crates/ inventory being narrated as you go over them, or get them out - especially things like food and throwables where a selection of items are stored under one hotkey/ menu point. (Don't want to firebomb your own ship when you were trying to knock someone off your ladder with a blunderbomb)
Your health bar.
Enemy ships, and where your cannonballs are landing in relation to them.
World events, islands, and ships on the horizon.
Some kind of narration for maps (whether treasure maps with an X, or the map on your ship)

@eligibleeel6171 Thank you very much for your empathetic message, and for sharing your thoughts as well. I really appreciate the way you took the time to understand the broader context behind my original point.

I completely agree with you that making a game of this scale and complexity fully accessible and playable for blind players—while preserving all of its systems and nuances—is a considerable challenge. Realistically, it may never be 100% accessible in every single aspect. That said, there is already a great deal of meaningful work done in this direction, and industry-leading titles such as Diablo IV have shown that a very high level of accessibility and playability is absolutely achievable with the right design decisions.

It’s also true that a blind player is unlikely to compete on fully equal terms with a sighted player in a game like this. But gaming doesn’t have to be about perfect competitive parity to be valuable or enjoyable. There are many ways to enjoy games beyond raw competitiveness: exploration, immersion, atmosphere, cooperation, and simply sharing adventures with others. Even if we are less competitive in certain areas, we can still experience a very high level of enjoyment and satisfaction while sailing, exploring, and pirating.

The same applies across many other types of disabilities. Motor impairments, for example, can also limit competitive performance, yet thoughtful accessibility options allow players to participate and enjoy games in ways that suit their abilities. Accessibility is not about making everyone identical—it’s about giving everyone a fair chance to engage.

One of the things that originally inspired me to study software engineering and to focus my work on accessibility is precisely this: with the right tools, thoughtful design, and collaboration, technology can remove barriers that once seemed impossible to overcome. That belief continues to shape how I approach games, software, and accessibility discussions like this one.

Thank you again for contributing such a respectful and constructive perspective to the conversation.

Fair winds.