Monster Hunter Wilds is, as you may have guessed, a game all about tracking and slaying all manner of terrifying beasts — but for some players, hunting spiders is a step too far. So if you’re fine going after creatures that can spit poison or fry you with lightning but would rather not deal with the creepy eight-legged variety, you can still play Monster Hunter Wilds. That is, unless you also happen to have a fear of jiggly blobs of green goo.
Early access for the Monster Hunter Wilds open beta on PlayStation Plus began on October 28, and upon starting, players noticed the appearance of the “arachnophobia assistance” option in the accessibility menu. According to the option’s description, it changes the appearance of “multi-legged creatures such as arachnids, insect-like small monsters, and endemic life.” Players have already noted that, in addition to spiders, arachnophobia mode also alters the look of a monster that resembles a giant mosquito.
In Monster Hunter Wilds, the solution to freaking players out with spider-like enemies is to turn those monsters into green blobs of slime instead. With arachnophobia mode turned on, you’ll get only the barest outline of converted creatures, just enough to see their gooey legs stretching out as they walk.
Arachnophobia assistance mode’s description explains that it applies to “small monsters,” but it’s not entirely clear which of the game’s creatures qualify as “small.” One of the most fascinating bits of the game already shown off is Lala Barina, a massive spider-like monster that will be the target of hunts in the full release. Lala Barina isn’t present in the beta, so there’s no sign of how it will be handled, but it’s hard to imagine the fight against it being in any way manageable if it were affected by arachnophobia mode. Still, not having to run into arachnids and insectoid creatures on the way to your main hunts does sound like a major boon to anyone who would be stressed out by constantly running into creepy crawlies.
Monster Hunter Wilds’ arachnophobia assistance mode is just one option in a robust-looking accessibility menu. The game also offers an array of accessibility options ranging from a color blind mode and configurable captions to a whole sub-menu of options intended to reduce motion sickness in players.
In recent years, dedicated accessibility option menus have become much more common in games, and arachnophobia mode itself is a frequent part of them. Turning off the visibility of spiders can make the difference between some players being able to play a particular game and needing to avoid it entirely, so the option can be essential for some. As we’ve seen before, though, arachnophobia mode can also unleash its own brand of horrors as developers balance arachnophobia friendliness with legibility.
It’s essential to be able to read the replaced creatures’ animations to react to them, which has led to some creations just as creepy as spiders. The arachnophobia mode in Bethesda’s Grounded gained a lot of attention for turning the game’s spiders into freaky floating beans that some players found even more upsetting than the spiders. Some Monster Hunter Wilds players have had a similar reaction in the game’s subreddit, noting that the mosquito-like Buburachika’s grab attack turns into the player being suffocated by a slime with arachnophobia mode turned on, which might not necessarily be an improvement.
No matter how creepy Monster Hunter Wilds’ slimy spider replacements are, they’re still essential for making the game playable for arachnophobic fans. The Monster Hunter series has traditionally been a hard one to get into, thanks to its steep learning curve and a wealth of idiosyncratic mechanics. Capcom is aiming to make Monster Hunter Wilds a more approachable starting point for the series, and making sure it’s not triggering players’ phobias goes a long way toward making that a reality.
