Video games love giant spiders and insects. I don’t know why. Maybe because of the long shadow The Lord of the Rings and Dungeons & Dragons have cast over the medium. Maybe everyone just has those 3D models laying around from previous games. Maybe, though, it’s because so many people just find them viscerally distasteful. That last one causes a bit of a problem for some folks: They don’t wanna see big bugs in their games. Enter Elden Ring, a game full of different monsters from folks with a track record of adding spiders and other buggy things to their games. So, what’s the situation this time? Enough people have asked about the prevalence of spiders (or lack thereof) that I thought it might be helpful to create a brief list of text descriptions for people who might have phobia issues with the game.
It should go without saying that there will be MINOR SPOILERS for Elden Ring ahead. This includes enemy designs and vague descriptions of their locations so you can potentially avoid them. If spoilers are a bigger deal to you than seeing virtual monsters, you can probably skip this!
Note that I’m also not an expert on phobias. I don’t personally have a very deep reaction to digital creatures like some people do, either. Though I won’t be including any pictures of the soon-to-be mentioned monsters down below. Everything will be in text form only — based on my 80 hours exploring Elden Ring and conversations I’ve had with other reviewers. I may have missed something, given how vast the game is, so don’t take this as a 100 percent confirmed list of all creepy crawlies that might give you pause before you play. With that out of the way, let’s get into it!
Ants
I’ll get what I think is the worst offender of the bunch out of the way. There are giant ants in Elden Ring. The creatures are larger than the player character, crawl on walls before dropping down to attack, sport stingers, and spit acid as a ranged attack. They also have large, coarse hair visible at a distance. In one case, you can fight a clearly pregnant ant queen with a very large stomach. Though there were no larva or swarms related to this that I could tell. The big bugs usually appear in groups of 3-5 and don’t move especially quickly.
As far as I know, these monsters only inhabit a single side area of the game. The zone is an underground region called Ainsel River; the ants are visible almost immediately after entering. They don’t sneak up on you, at first, and you can actually destroy the initial group at range before they notice you. Once you proceed past the first wave, however, the monsters will attempt to sneak up behind you inside of tunnels (by dropping from the ceiling and hiding in alcoves until you pass).
These are, to my mind, the most unpleasantly bug-like or spider-like monsters in Elden Ring. Everything else is fairly tame by comparison.
UPDATE: It seems the beasties may show up again, in a vastly more hidden area connected to one of the game’s secret endings. This apparently includes some flying-type ants. Without going into detail, the secret area is found in the sewers of Leyndell, which isn’t easily accessible until very deep into the Elden Ring main story. Thanks to Alex Donaldson for the tip!
Hand Monsters
This is probably the enemy most inspired by giant spiders I’ve yet seen in Elden Ring. These creatures are giant, disembodied amalgamations of rotted human hands with extra fingers. They move quickly across the ground and sometimes cling to walls and ceilings before dropping down to fight. They use their fingers almost like spider legs to move across the ground, but otherwise don’t feature any overtly spider-like qualities. Think of a grodier version of “Thing” from The Addams Family, with too many fingers.
There are two varieties: some smaller than the player and some much larger. The smaller ones come in groups and can be destroyed very quickly. The larger ones typically fight you one-on-one. Though these big hands also hide underground, sticking their fingers through the surface, and wait for you to step over them. After which they will attempt “jump scare” you by rising out of the dirt and squeezing your character for major damage. This doesn’t look very spiderlike at all. If anything, it’s kind of silly as the hand floats up and squishes. The monsters typically appear in structures pertaining to the Caria family (e.g. the Carian Study Hall and the Caria Manor). Both of which I believe are optional zones.
Pests
These are humanoid monsters with insect-like qualities. They’re tall, thin, and pale priests usually holding staffs as weapons. The priests have extremely centipede-like features — most notably rows of thin legs along the sides of their bodies. In combat, the monsters can run away by dropping to their bellies and scurrying on these legs. Once at a distance they often shoot threadlike projectiles at the player character for high damage. You encounter them in various parts of the Caelid region (i.e. the poisonous red swamp).
Dragonflies
Much earlier into Elden Ring you can find oversized dragonflies roaming the plains of Limgrave. These are smaller than the player character and, while not entirely harmless, aren’t meant to be much of a threat. They typically expire in one hit from just about any weapon. Even at the start of the game. They’re more akin to sheep, deer, turtles, and other endemic life you’re meant to hunt than true “enemies.” As such they drop crafting materials after you slay them. They’re not broadly necessary to fight.
Chrysalids
These are mini-boss enemies mostly found inside Stormveil Castle. As such, they’re more likely to be “mandatory” for players to progress through the game. You can technically skip this zone, but Elden Ring very clearly intends it to be the introductory dungeon for the major bosses and story elements of the game. Thankfully, Chrysalids aren’t actually very insectoid. They’re larger than the player character and almost ogrelike. Each monster has multiple human arms and legs grafted across their bodies. These are mostly hidden by a huge cloth draped over their bulk. The arms and legs do poke out when they attack using weapons like halberds, however. The same goes for the final boss of Stormveil Castle, Godrick, who is himself a sort of Chrysalid “leader.” Once again, though, all of their limbs are human in nature.
Scarabs
These are honestly meant to be cute rather than upsetting. I’m just including them here for the sake of completeness. There are large beetles (usually still much smaller than the player) scattered throughout Elden Ring. The game calls them “scarabs,” although they’re clearly meant to represent dung beetles, as they roll round balls about like tumbleweeds. They’re never directly hostile (that I’ve seen) and in fact run away from the player on sight. You’re meant to chase after them and destroy their spheres to collect useful items and refill your healing flasks. In this way, they basically fill the role of Crystal Lizards seen in previous From Software games.
