I’m fortunate enough not to fear most video game spiders. They’ve got to be huge to get my heart all anxious-like. There’s a big one inFinal Fantasy 14that haunts my dreams, and Armogohma in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has never been far behind my mind. For the most part, though, I’m totally OK.
Grounded 2is the kind of game that can flip my relatively carefree sensibilities toward arachnids on its head. After all, it’s not the spider that’s larger. Not really. Rather, we’re all far smaller than we ought to be. And that’s more than enough to make a certain as-yet-unreleased tarantula inObsidian’searly-access survival-centric adventure game terrify the ever-loving heck out of me.
Absolutely Not
The image making the social media rounds is reportedly from a leaked build. Grounded 2 is very much a work-in-progress, so even without Obsidian’sappreciably thorough roadmap, players could safely expecta great deal more contentin the months to come.
As for our massive spider friend - and by friend, I vehemently mean foe- this tarantula is most likely ‘AXL’. Grounded 2’s first major update, which is slated for this autumn, will be adding not only AXL but a slew of weapons, recipes, and furniture named in its honour - and an arena dedicated to the mighty arthropod itself.
The arachnid presumably known as AXL is being discussed onReddit, with fans mulling over the identity of a character whose visage has been included in the pic. (Evidently, her name is Violet.) As far as I’m concerned, however, Violet’s appearance at the forefront is ultimately overshadowed by the far smaller background form of another teen who is standing atop the tarantula. The fact that you may need to squint in order to notice the character is…precisely the point I’m trying to make here. That bug is gargantuan by comparison.
“Big is an understatement,“the original poster rightfully proclaims. “We aren’t even bigger than its toe.” Elsewhere in the Reddit thread, they’ve drawn attention to the terrifying fact that Grounded 2’s map already includesAXL’s escaped enclosure.
I’ll be honest. I haven’t played Grounded 2 firsthand yet. I’ve watched some friends get heavy into it, but I’m waiting for Obsidian to work its magic with a couple of those seasonal updates before I dive in. In other words, I’ve got to make my peace right now with the fact that AXL is going to pushmy spider-sensing fearto its breaking point when I finally do make my way into a world that TheGamer’s own Joe Parlockcan’t stop talking about.
