Avowed Update Adds Arachnophobia Safe Mode, Improved Reactivity, and Much More

New settings allow for displaying chests on the player’s minimap, cancelling power attacks on the Bow and Arquebus, and more.

Obsidian Entertainment has moved on to The Outer Worlds 2 but its support for Avowed is only beginning. A new update is available, which adds an Arachnophobia Safe Mode, replacing spiders with “little spheres wielding swords.”

Other notable quality-of-life features include the ability to slay critters (who will drop loot), a map’s fog of war lifting after exploring almost all the accessible areas, and a greater radius of fog clearance while exploring. You can also wait in the party’s camp to pass the time until day or night, and there are new settings to display chests on the minimap and cancel Bow and Arquebus power attacks.

And for those comparing it to older Bethesda titles, yes, arrows will now hit the ground naturally instead of sailing off into oblivion. You’ll also see improved reactivity from the water, including ripples when moving through it. Those with RTX 40 and 50 series GPUs can also enable DLSS Frame Generation.

Patch 1.4 Notes

Features and Improvements

Arachnophobia Safe Mode

The highly requested Arachnophobia Mode is now available in Avowed! You can enable this option in the Accessibility menu to replace all spiders in the game with little spheres wielding swords. Please note that while their appearance is “friendlier”, they remain just as deadly!

Community Highlights

Once a player has explored nearly all of the accessible areas on a map, the fog of war for the entire map will automatically clear.
When entering a city on an overland map (for example, entering Northern Paradis in Dawnshore), the corresponding section of the overland map will now be revealed.
The radius for clearing fog while exploring has been significantly increased, allowing players to uncover more of the map as they move.
Critters can now be killed and have a chance to drop loot.
Players can now wait to pass time (day/night cycle) while in the Party Camp.
Soul Pod throwables now dispel illusions, with the exception of Ryngrim’s entrance, which still requires Yatzli’s interaction.
Added a settings option to display chests on the minimap.
Added a setting option to allow canceling power attacks with the Bow and Arquebus.

World Reactivity Improvements

Arrows will now fall naturally and hit the ground.
Water now reacts with splashes and ripples when players enter it or fire weapons into it.

Economy & Loot Adjustments

Critters now drop loot when killed.
Added more weapons to loot throughout the game, including many that come pre-upgraded (+1, +2, +3 versions).
Increased monetary rewards for main path quests and exploration.
Small loot containers, such as backpacks and lockboxes, can now contain larger items like body armor and larger weapons, leading to more fairly distributed drops.
Significantly increased the drop rate of Creature Parts (which can now also be used for upgrading grimoires).
Increased the drop rate of higher-tier weapons in later regions.
Updated loot lists to include slightly more upgrade materials.

UI/UX Improvements

Added a visual effect and UI indicator to help players locate Downed Companions during combat.
Enabled the “Talk” interaction prompt for Companions.
Added support for Mouse and Keyboard input on Xbox.
Updated the loading screen art for the Dawnshore and Fort Northreach maps.
Added an ‘Auto Detect’ option to the Graphics menu to find and set the recommended settings for your hardware.
Added support for Nvidia DLSS Frame Generation (for RTX 40 and 50 series GPUs).
Added a “Read All” button to the Journal; each tab (Quests, Documents, and Tutorials) now has its own dedicated button.

Combat Updates

Enemies now become shocked faster when standing in water.
Creature Parts can now be used to upgrade Grimoires.

Companion Improvements

Companions now gain Ability Points every 3 levels instead of every 4 levels, increasing their maximum from 8 to 11. Players will automatically receive the additional points upon updating.

Enemy Behavior

Enemy awareness speed now dynamically adjusts based on their distance from the player — closer enemies detect players faster, while distant enemies react more slowly.

Unique Item Updates

Updated the stats on many Unique Items throughout the game:
– Thirdborn Brigandine Jacket: Increased regeneration rate.
– Civilizing Influence: Increased damage reduction against beasts, primordials, and wilders to 10%.
– Berath’s Blessed Ward: Increased damage reduction against vessels to 20%.
– Chitin Band: Increased damage reduction against beasts to 20%.
– Nimanna’s Ward: Increased damage reduction against spirits to 20%.
– Wildwalker Ring and Threads of the Faithful: Increased health regeneration from 0.05 to 0.5.
– Thirdborn Brigandine Jack: Increased health regeneration from 0.05 to 0.8.
– Faith and Conviction: Increased essence regeneration from 0.05 to 0.1.

Enchantments Rework

Replaced obsolete Carry Capacity enchantments on certain Unique Items with new stat buffs:
– Boots of the Bricklayer / Porter: +2 Might
– Animancer’s Swallowtail / Stelgaer-Hide Pouches: +2 Dexterity
– The Packmule’s Burden / Honorbound Mule: +1 Might, +2 Constitution
– Tranton Family Brigandine / Tranton Tenacity: +2 Might
– Thirdborn Brigandine Jack / Grim Hope: +3 Resolve
– Thirdborn Boots / Explorer’s Boon: +3 Constitution, +10% Move Speed

Key Bug Fixes

Limited CPU utilization during the “Compiling Shaders” screen to improve stability across all CPUs.
Fixed an issue where Shadows of the Past waypoints could become stuck at the beginning of the entrance path to Naku Kubel.
Totem pieces now correctly go into the player’s inventory instead of the party stash when picked up.
Resolved cases where certain totem effects would stop working after a conversation or cutscene.
Minoletta’s Conduit now correctly interacts with the Wand Mastery ability.
Fixed an issue where companions could be removed from the party, resulting in broken conversations and quests.
Enemy vitals UI has been updated to always stay properly positioned above enemies, preventing occasional clipping.
The statue in Ryngrim’s Domain now remains interactable even if the player previously interacted with it without fully advancing the quest.
An Untimely End quest now correctly triggers the final objective and no longer gets stuck under rare conditions.
Completing certain quests on older saves now properly counts toward the Pentiment achievement.
Fixed an issue where the Armor Fit for the Wilds quest could get stuck at the “Gather Materials” stage.
Re-added the FidelityFX 3 option to Graphics Settings for AMD graphics card users.
Binding the scroll wheel to hotbar slots 1–6 now works properly after restarting the game.
Binding Ability Slots to keys 7, 8, 9, or 0 no longer casts an unintended additional ability from the radial menu.
Players will no longer encounter unkillable Dreamthralls outside of Thirdborn.

Additional Bug Fixes

Crashes and stability

Limited CPU utilization during the Compiling Shaders screen, to increase stability on all CPUs.
Fixed a rare hang that would cause the whole PC to freeze on some machines.
Fix rare crash when traveling between maps.
Fixed a crash that could occur after idling in Dawnshore for a long period of time.
Fixed a rare crash related to audio systems.
Resolved a rare crash related to the radial UI and food items.

Performance and Optimizations