Hogwarts Legacylaunches on May 5 for thePlayStation4 andXboxOne, and, to better welcome the host of new players that will undoubtedly be jumping in soon, developer Avalanche Software has just released a new patch that adds in a bunch of bug fixes, as well as an Arachnophobia Mode that gives a subtle shout-out to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Hogwarts Legacy doesn’t pull its punches with its spiders. They are huge, hairy, and pretty realistic in their designs. They make unsettling skittering noises when attacking and moving, and, to purposefully creep you out, they sometimes crawl on the ceiling right next to your character when you’re trying to squeeze through a tight space.
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As seen in the picture below, Hogwarts Legacy’s Arachnophobia Mode will make all its spiders much more tolerable, which is undoubtedly a godsend for those with very severe arachnophobia. They’ll have a much less realistic spider design, looking more like an abstract ceramic model of a spider, and, instead of long, creepy legs, they’ll have floating roller skates, which is a fun nod to one of the most beloved Harry Potter movies, the Prisoner of Azkaban (the third in the series).
For those that need their memory jogged, in Harry’s first Defence against the Dark Arts lesson with Professor Lupin, Lupin has the students tackle a boggart, a shapeshifting entity that assumes the form of whatever the person facing it fears most.
The Riddikulus charm can turn the Boggart into something funny, which then allows the wizard to defeat it with laughter. When it’s Ron Weasley’s turn, the boggart turns into a spider, and Ron’s Riddikulus charm gives it roller skates, causing it to stumble helplessly.
This new Arachnophobia Mode also removes the sound of the spiders' “skitters and screeches,” it removes the visual effect that occurs when small spiders spawn out of the ground, and it makes spider corpses invisible. The announcement notes that spiders will still look realistic in the Field Guide, though these will at least be static images that can be avoided. The patch also added about 500 bug fixes, the full list of which you may seehere.
