In a fantastical world where people transform into all sorts of animals and objects, the modders who developed Hogwarts Legacy's spider-phobia mode (opens in new tab) chose to turn all spiders into red cubes. While not the most original solution, this was also their first mod, and it set the stage for the full release of the game today.

Hogwarts Legacy's spider-phobia mode does exactly what you'd imagine it would do: remove all spider enemies in the game and replace them with much less threatening red boxes. According to the creator, Norskpl, the mod works in the "Tomb of Betrayal" later in the game. The assumption is that all spiders in the game, including the bosses, are modeled similarly.

Norskpl asks users to let him know if this is not the case, in a joke that appears to be unintentional: "If there are any spider models I skipped that have not been replaced, please write in the bugs section."

To install the mod, you need a Nexus Mods account and download the Norskpl zip file. This folder can be found by right clicking on the game in the Steam library, hovering over manage, and selecting browse local files. You can also navigate to the game folder in the file explorer. The default location is: C:◆Program Files (x86)◆Steam◆steamapps◆common◆Hogwarts Legacy. Norskpl also provides a video tutorial (opens in new tab).

People listened and put some issues with the mod in the bugs section. There is a dead spider in the tomb of betrayal that will not be removed. Both bugs are "under investigation" by Norskpl.

Hogwarts Legacy is out today and comes with a small patch; according to Norskpl, the patch does not change the mod, so once you get the mod working, you should be spider-free for the time being.