New Horizon Forbidden West patch provides thalassophobia mode

The team at Guerrilla Games has released Patch 1.21 for Horizon Forbidden West ahead of the release of the Burning Shores DLC. The patch adds some nice quality of life improvements, including a much-needed auto-pickup feature and the ability to increase subtitle size for better readability. But perhaps the most interesting feature of this patch is the addition of a Thalassophobia mode.

Thalassophobia, simply put, is the fear of deep water. Throughout the Forbidden West, Aloy has opportunities to go deep sea diving in the post-apocalyptic San Francisco Bay and elsewhere. There is a point in the story where she can essentially develop a scuba tank for extended periods of underwater exploration. According to the developers, Thalassophobia mode aims to “relieve thalassophobia symptoms by improving the visibility of the underwater environment and allowing you to breathe indefinitely, regardless of story progression.”

Video games are slowly getting better with their accessibility features. First-party Sony games in particular are known for the wealth of options tailored to individual and specific needs, such as: B. High-contrast modes for people with visual impairments and an audio cue mode that triggers a sound when an interactive object is nearby.

But accessibility means more than meeting people of different physical abilities there, and some games also take into account things that wouldn’t necessarily count as disabilities but still present a barrier to entry for some players. Grounded, the Xbox exclusive about kids shrunk to the size of ants and forced to survive in their backyard, features an arachnophobia mode that turns the game’s spiders into harmless-looking blobs. The as yet unreleased Final Fantasy XVI has gear that makes performing combat, dodging, and quick time events much easier. Meanwhile, Amnesia: Rebirth, an entry in a franchise known for its frightening atmosphere, has an adventure mode that turns on the lights and takes out the monsters.

It’s nice to see the team at Guerrilla thinking beyond physical ability when designing accessibility features for games. It’s something I wish Nintendo had done for misophoniacs like me in regards to Splatoon – all those inkblots make the game a no go for me.

But as cool as the Thalassaphobia mode for Horizon Forbidden West is, part of me wishes there was a reverse mode to make the sea even scarier. The rolling waves in Forbidden West were so incredible and lifelike that I remember feeling uncomfortable during my playthrough. And while Forbidden West isn’t a horror game, the idea of ​​plumbing the inky depths with a Sonic-like air timer counting down seems to give the fun but relatively tame game the touch of thrill it needs.