Following its release of The Outer Worlds last year, many fans didn't expect to see Obsidian's next title as a survival style game in the vein of the classic film, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Grounded lets players team up a shrunken down kids in a backyard, tasking them with surviving against bugs and managing resources like food and water. The reveal trailer at Xo19 also showed off certain apex predators like spiders, but their inclusion actually had a negative effect on fans that surprised the studio.
Following the spider reveal, developers on Grounded were surprised to see reactions from fans saying they couldn't or wouldn't play the game. Obviously, for an enemy to cause that level of reaction was concerning to Obsidian, so the studio partnered with Microsoft's Xbox research team to figure out not only what triggers those sorts of reactions, but to find a way for sensitive players to still play the game. As such, the aptly titled Arachnophobia Mode was born.
Inside of the game, players have new options to customize how spiders appear in the game. These accessibility options include changing the number of eyes, legs, removing the fur, and audio effects. For players who have an extreme level of phobia, spiders can even be rendered invisible if so desired. Better yet, these tools that Obsidian has created for Grounded will be available for other Microsoft Game Studios to use going forward.
In order to get to that point, the research team held surveys and studies to gather data on what actually triggers the fear of spiders. Numerous spider models were built inside of the game, including some without eyes, legs, or hair, then showed to individuals to gauge their reactions. One of the biggest triggers found during research was the eight eyes of the spider as well as audio effects. People in the studies were also given the option to stop participating if the images and models were becoming too overwhelming, which the team would then note as another indicator.
Players can tinker away with these accessibility options right now as Grounded is available in Early Access through Xbox Game Pass or for $29.99 through Game Preview and PC marketplaces like Steam. Considering the final game isn't expected to launch until sometime next year, players should keep their expectations in check as the game is still in active development and is missing content. Still, early reports seem to indicate there's a lot to see and do, even in this Early Access build.
Grounded is set to launch in 2021 for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Early Access is available now for Game Pass subscribers.