It’s not uncommon to see arachnophobia modes in modern video games. Effectively, these are commonly accessibility options that remove spiders from games by replacing them with other models. This is to help players with a fear of spiders from being unable to play this game. Dragon Age The Veilguard announced it would not be shipping in such a mode, but not for normal reasons. For the first time in franchise history, the game will feature no spiders at all! This renders the need for such a mode moot. Let’s look at what the developers have to say about this.
No Spiders
Bioware recently revealed an update on the accessibility features in Dragon Age The Veilguard. This includes myriad options for the user interface, game difficulty, and graphical settings. Effectively, playing the game should be possible for many players regardless of their ability. A response on a Reddit thread about the update from a Bioware official revealed the reason that an arachnophobia mode wasn’t mentioned: No spiders in the game! This will be a first for the franchise, as giant spiders have featured as enemies in the previous three games. A fantasy staple, it may be surprising to hear they are not featuring in the upcoming installment.
Spider Bosses
Dragon Age’s creepy spiders have been a major part of the games. The journey through the Deep Roads in Dragon Age: Origins includes reaching a massive spider nest and killing their queen. Hordes of spiders would often await for players who ventured into caves in Dragon Age II and Inquisition. One of the franchise’s recurring enemies, Fear Demons, are even designed to look spider-esque, playing off of the commonness of arachnophobia. A massive one known as Nightmare traps the Inquisitor and companions in the Fade, and defeating it is no easy task. For Dragon Age the Veilguard to be complete without them is a bit surprising.
Implications
Can we pull any implications from this? It’s hard to say. Dragon Age: Inquisition featured many demons as a result of its story, with them invading through rifts in reality. Without those rifts still present in Dragon Age The Veilguard, the developers may have wanted to move away from including creatures such as Fear Demons out of fear that it would be redundant. Similarly, adding more caves with big spiders may have seemed like an overly-visited trope. Despite these facts, it is unlikely we can make too many assumptions. Demons will inevitably still appear, as will spooky caves. Moving to a new part of the map perhaps gives justification for more biodiversity in this new game.
Final Thoughts
Few players are likely to miss giant spiders, but it may still seem strange for this fantasy trope to be ignored in its entirety. Avoiding spiders is in many ways easier than an entire arachnophobia mode as an alternative. Other games must make use of similar-enough models, or disable special effects like swarms of tiny arachnids. Maintaining visual fidelity in a AAA game release could add extra overhead to the artists to create entirely new and hopefully acceptable models. Dragon Age The Veilguard is probably not wanting for enemy variety as it is, and so eliminating spiders from the bestiary may prove to be a change few notices.
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