Every Game Should Take Note Of Avowed's Newest Update

Avowed did a lot of things right, but it wasn't perfect, and the game's post-launch has tweaked, improved, and added plenty of features. Obsidian Entertainment has clearly been paying attention to what people want from the game, and the newest change, which addresses a particularly fervent community request, might be one of the most essential.

With Avowed's version 1.4 update, the game has added an arachnophobia safe mode, making the game more comfortably accessible for a significant portion of players. While it's not the first game to do so, it's a good standard-bearer as a major release, and taking this particular step could hopefully encourage many other games to follow suit.

Avowed Just Added An Arachnophobia Safe Mode

The Game Is Safe For Those Fearing Spiders

At launch, Avowed was far from friendly toward players with arachnophobia, with a seemingly endless succession of spider-like enemies throughout every region of the game. While plenty of players won't break a sweat upon the appearance of oversized arachnids, this isn't a niche concern, and a Cleveland Clinic estimate suggests that up to 15% of the world deals with the fear of spiders. This number, which would be over a billion, could vary, but the fact remains that it impacts a lot of people around the world.

Avowed's key art, showing a Skelton holding a sword, covered in various fungi.

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Unfortunately, this can also affect the player base of many games that involve spider-like creatures. With the new arachnophobia safe mode, all enemies resembling spiders become amorphous blobs with swords. To say this is a relief for those with arachnophobia would be an understatement, potentially making the game playable for the first time.

What Other Games Have Arachnophobia Safe Mode

Other Games Had The Same Thought Process

Many other games have the same thought process when it comes to the safety of their players. Even some relentless horror games include a mode in the settings that you can turn on and off as you please if you don't like the sight of spiders. One early example is Satisfactory, which has featured an arachnophobia mode since 2019, when the game was a fresh early access title. In Satisfactory's case, the spiders turn into 2D pictures of cats. Other games throughout the years have followed the same path by adding this game mode that replaces the spiders with something generic or even comical.

Lethal Company: Replacing a spider with the 3D red text model saying "spider"
Grounded: There are different levels of arachnophobia mode, going from a slightly smaller spider with fewer legs to two circles with red eyes.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor: Giant scorpions turn into low-poly versions covering their stingers
We Need To Go Deeper: The spiders in this game turn into translucent slimes.
Hogwarts Legacy: Spider bodies become two orbs with floating roller skates for feet.

The best way to implement an arachnophobia mode can depend on the nature of a game, and some particularly immersive titles might want to opt for more serious alternatives than Hogwarts Legacy's humorously self-referential option. Regardless, there's no shortage of possible ways to approach the situation and make the game more widely accessible.

If The Team Can Make It Happen, We'd Love To See More

This Should Be An Option With All Games With Spiders

Turning on the Arachnophobia mode settings.

From AAA titles to indie games, plenty of titles have proven that it's possible to add an arachnophobia mode, and there's increasingly little excuse for a game to leae it out. Not only could it generate greater profits by adding more players to the fanbase, but it would also show how much a studio cares about the health of those playing their game.

In many games, this mode can be found in the accessibility settings.

There are more advantages than disadvantages to having an arachnophobia mode in the game. It doesn't mean developers need to omit spiders completely from games, but at least having the option for players to omit them themselves could have a huge impact on the gaming industry. This is especially true for those with mental health disorders combined with arachnophobia, which could make being exposed to spiders potentially triggering.

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Arachnophobia is a very real fear, and it can be difficult to enjoy the things you love, such as games, when spiders are thrown in your face. If it's possible to have a safe mode to remove those creatures, developers should do it. Another great idea would be for games to put a warning on their game to let players know they may encounter spider creatures.

There's nothing worse than jumping into a game you're excited about only to be met face-to-face with a creature that terrifies you to the core. Preparing players either with the safe mode or a warning could also prevent numerous refunds. Personally, if I'm not warned about spiders in a game, or at least have an option like Avowed's newest addition to turn them off once I find them, it's a non-starter.

Source: Cleveland Clinic