Avowed's arachnophobia update is giving players „meatballphobia”
Obsidian's solution to Avowed players with arachnophobia is so unexpectedly brilliant that it makes me want to jump back into the game just to experience it.
In a new update for Obsidian’s Avowed, arachnophobes can finally explore the Living Lands in peace, and all players can enjoy the ridiculous solution the development team came up with. Thanks to a new setting, players can toggle spiders on or off. They are replaced with a floating spikey orb with two swords. I stumbled upon the video on social media and couldn’t help but laugh. The Avowed shared a video of the new orb in action, swinging its two swords as they floated beside it.
Avowed’s new arachnophobia setting is an elegantly hilarious solution
Avowed launched earlier this year, and while it hasn’t remained at the top of everyone’s mind, it was a great experience. You can read our review, where we wrote that Avowed “sets a new standard for Western RPGs.” Much like the recent Oblivion Remaster, Avowed is a fantasy RPG commonly played from a first-person perspective, though third-person is also an option. The combat can be intense, and when a game does so well to immerse you in a vibrant world, the sight of a giant spider running towards you can be unnerving.
Something about this new setting is so perfect. The orb could have easily been something nondescript, but instead, it fits right into the Living Lands as if it’s normal to see floating spiked balls in nature. Then there are the two floating swords. The ball did not need to have this. It could have easily just lunged forward to do damage. The spikes could be enough for that to be believable. Instead, Obsidian turned this strange sphere into a sword-wielding, telekinetic terror. It’s brilliant. It makes me want to play the game with this setting, and I don’t even have arachnophobia.
Fans of Avowed had fun with the video in the responses. One person wrote, “Come play Avowed, we have spicy meatballs!” and another simply replied, “BRO WTF THATS BETTER THAN A SPIDER,” which elegantly sums up my general thoughts on this topic. Unfortunately, you can’t please everyone, as one commented, “Thanks, but apparently I have telepathic-sword-wielding-meatballphobia now.” The good news is that you can always go back to spiders. And hopefully that is just a typo. If that meatball could read my thoughts, that would actually be a lot scarier.
Avowed's 2025 Update Roap.Avowed, Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
This update arrived alongside a glimpse at Obsidian’s update roap for the rest of 2025. Future updates will include new unique weapons and armor this summer, and Photo Mode and New Game Plus this Fall. There is still no confirmed DLC for Avowed, but I can wait a little longer when there are high-quality updates like this.
