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Wandering around Summer Game Fest 2025, I somehow ended up playing a bit of Grounded 2. It’s a wild sequel where kids are still tiny and fighting creepy-crawlies. I cobbled together a spear out of twigs, pebbles, and some twine, and found myself fending off these eight-legged nightmares—as in, yes, arachnophobia terror alert, folks! Luckily, spiders don’t freak me out. But hey, there’s good news for those who can’t stand those little beasties: Grounded 2 has an arachnophobia mode.
Chris Parker, the game director, was there to chat about it. “The Grounded team really nailed it with the first game,” he said. You know, even if the spiders do end up looking like inflated balloon animals. Kinda funny, actually. “This helped us build more for Grounded 2,” he added. Yet, they’ve got new issues to tackle with those rideable bugs—totally awesome, by the way—like that big red ant, which felt kind of surreal. And, oh boy, there’s gonna be a rideable spider. Didn’t see that one coming!
Parker mentioned that making this work with arachnophobia mode was, well, a whole other thing. “You gotta respect the mode, which is a bit trickier,” he explained. Imagine calculating something like feet—turns out it’s not that hard, just slap some cute spheres where eyes and claws used to be. Funny how that works, isn’t it? Keeps folks comfortable without the eight-legged drama.
Some players might not be full-on scared of spiders but still want the thrill without going all in. Balancing fear and fun is tricky. Grounded 2’s characters have aged up since the first game—makes sense, right? Kids grow up fast. But it gets you thinking: How far is too far on the scary scale?
Parker said, “We’re always debating this. Sometimes we push too much and later are like, ‘Oops, maybe not.’” They use player feedback to tweak things in early access. “But really, we wanna hear from everyone,” he said. Community input is huge for them—you’re their radar, so to speak.
Oh, nearly forgot: Grounded 2 hits early access on July 29 for Windows PC and Xbox Series X, plus it’s on Game Pass. Dive in and shout if it gets too spooky. They’re all ears at Obsidian Entertainment!
