Good news for those who are afraid of spiders. The arachnophobia mode in Grounded 2 will allow you to enjoy the game to the fullest.
What’s the Deal with Spiders in Grounded 2?
In Grounded 2, you’re playing as an ant-sized human who’s trying to survive in the grass, which can be surprisingly difficult, considering that you’re surrounded by all the bugs and insects that are much bigger and stronger than you.
In this kind of game, you do want to add some spiders to make the environment look more realistic and believable; after all, spiders are natural inhabitants of such spaces, so if they were missing, it wouldn’t feel right.
However, this means that some players are essentially locked out of playing the game; if you’re afraid of spiders, you’ll freak out way too much and the game will be much more stressful than it needs to be.
That’s why developers sometimes come up with various accessibility features and try to sell the game to a wider audience. In the case of Grounded 2, the arachnophobia mode is what is supposed to take care of those pesky spiders.
How does Arachnophobia Mode Work in Grounded 2?
When it comes to how exactly the mode will work, the details weren’t confirmed just yet but we’ll find out soon enough as the game is scheduled for release in July this year.
We do have a general idea, though, as it’s supposed to work similarly to what we had in the first game. Grounded had its own arachnophobia mode, so it’s not an entirely new concept and Grounded 2 will likely feature a new iteration of the same system.
Good news for you, @TheRealKoding – the @GroundedTheGame team is implementing an arachnophobia mode to help with those who aren't fans of spiders and still want to enjoy the game! https://t.co/uhlnk4QBs4
— Obsidian (@Obsidian) April 8, 2020
Among available in-game options in the original Grounded, there was a slider that players were able to use to adjust how much the spiders should resemble spiders. Going all the way down on it removed all spider-specific features from the otherwise deadly critters and caused them to look like cute spherical blobs instead.
According to arachnophobes, it worked great and it did in fact help to mitigate the spider-related stress and anxiety while playing the game, so it’s only natural for Grounded 2 to implement a similar feature.
The main difference is that in Grounded 2 you will be able to use spiders as mounts which made the arachnophobia mode a bit tricky to implement. However, developers assure players that they’ve got things figured out and this accessibility feature will cover mounts as well.
Accessibility in Games
We can observe a trend in video games, especially in recent years, where developers are trying their best to make games as accessible as possible through an inclusive design philosophy. More games address issues such as arachnophobia or thalassophobia (fear of depths), allowing more people to play and enjoy these games which would’ve been nigh impossible for them otherwise.
And it’s difficult to argue why companies shouldn’t put some effort into implementing such solutions; if it’s an optional toggle, it won’t hurt anyone else’s personal gameplay experience.