The headset-crabs scare the living F*CK out of me , how can i continue playing? SOLVED!!!!!!!!

[Sweed.Money]

Whenever i see a headset headcrab i instatly just back away scared as F. Idk how im supposed to keep playing this game if i can't even look at them anymore? Im currently in Central Station the level after the damn warehouse. Any tips?
Btw i have Arachnophobia and anxiety.

FINAL EDIT (MAYBE) I've solved it! I went into arena and spawned 20 crablet plus, and 10 crablets and well now my fear is greatly reduced finally after a year i can reduce my fear on will. thanks for the tips i can finally finish boneworks =) (maybe XD)

EDIT: after reading you advice and after playing more of boneworks, i still am terrified but not exacly as much. I will say thank you and F u to boneworks XD. (its a joke chill) I played today and them creeped my out a bit and i jumped but i was THAT scared anymore. But then a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ jumpscare happend. I was just shooting some enemies in slow mo and all of a sudden out of nowhere this loud blasted in my ear and the headcrab instantly was on my head. I had no time to react, i didnt hear or see so that scared the living f outta me. This wont last long tho but i just wanted to uptate it. Also please stop saying imagine them not scary, mess around or face your fears, i dont work like that. But anyway atleast you gave me advice and thats good.

Edit #2: so i fiinally see the problem. Its when they jump so fast and so far. Trust me, if the crablets couldnt jump i would not be afraid them almost at all. So do you have any mods or anything like that that removes headcrabs completely or make them not being able to move?

Edit #3 2021-04-16
So i am back now one year and a few months and I'll admit, I still haven't gotten over the fear, however I have played a bunch of Zombie Warehouse and after a couple of rounds, the zombies (I don't remember what they are called) and the other humans (I also don't remember their names XD) and when I see them with the helmet on, I dont get that scared at all. At first I got pretty nervous but after a couple of rounds I didn't give a ♥♥♥♥ about them. So I am taking a step in the right direction. And also some very good news, I played yesterday with no audio and I was in sewers climbinb a piece of dangling rope right above the huge pit, I climbed up and I saw a couple of ammo boxes, I lifted up my head more and as soon as I turned to my left, a headcrab leaped at me XD. I immidiately lifted my headset up and started to calm down pretty slowly. BUT, the good thing is I didn't say anything, scream or just say anything at all. I just freaked out and lifted by headset up. I quickly calmed down and laughed at it. So I might face my fears soon and make a video about it but idk. I wanted to make an update because this is a pretty old post. So yeah I'll try to face my fears soon.

Edit #4 2021-04-18

So I played half life alyx today and i played for about 25 minutes, I killed some zombies with a headcrab on them and then I killed some alive headcrabs in the 3rd area. I played until the 5th area I think. So I oficially faced my fears today and I will be doing the samet thing in boneworks soon. Finally! After more than a year I am getting rid of my phobia for headcrabs in vr. I hope some people congratulate me for my achievment today because It's really huge for me. I might be able to finnish 2 games completely that Is considered one of the best vr games. So yeah thats about it XD. Wish me luck!

[Sweed.Money]

Ok man thanks! The level im in doesnt have a kataana but others do. Also you cant just imagine something that you are afraid of for something else. Other side from that, good tips.

[dSpect]

I don't have arachnophobia and they still give me chills, even when I know there's one nearby. They're pretty easy to bat away with any melee weapon when they jump at you though. And well, try to keep in mind it's just a game and nothing can physically hurt you.

But yeah, it's really what's unique about VR. How it can trigger a fight or flight response is both a blessing and a curse.

[Sweed.Money]

Ok. Should i face my fears and shoot the crablet-boxes and let a few of them out? What i mean is: if im really scared and i force myself to fight the crabs. Is that a good strategy to try and overcome my fear in this game? Also the thing that mosly terrifies me about them is actally when they come out of boxes. Everytime i just take of my headset in panic. Otherwise, yeah they still terrify me but not as much. Like if i see a crab far away and i shoot it and it doesnt jump or get to close to me then i don't get that scared. Thanks for the responses tho. I needed some support.

[virtual_man.exe]

First, man UP. Second, just hold your hand out and grab them when they jump at you. Then shoot the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ point blank while it's in your other hand. Works every time.

[Kibi]

To be honest, first time i saw this things i had my trash can shield cuz' of the turret and i screamed "I'AM CAPTAIN AMERICA" and just bashed it with the trash can lid but it didn't die so i took it and threw it a the turret and died cuz' of the turret... Yeah i think i lost this

[roflBeck]

You can also pick em up with both hands and smack em into the ground a few times. They kinda spook me, too.

[Dynamonic]

I read this thread earlier today, when I hadn’t encountered the Headset-Crabs yet, and I admit, I laughed. ‘They can’t be that scary right?’

Well, I encountered my first one about an hour ago, and it was horrifying! Totally something else seeing them in VR!
As someone above mentioned, I managed to use a nearby trash can lid to block it’s attack and managed to pin it down on the ground with it, before using a hatchet in my other hand to frantically whack it to death!

Goodness knows how I’m going to cope with Half-Life: Alyx’s Headcrabs!

It was great to experience how creative you can be in VR, and in particular Boneworks too! I bet everyone deals with these encounters totally differently.

[Baldrickk]

If you've done Warehouse, then you're past the worst of the headcrabs.
You can take them on one by one or just not engage and just run away from them for every future encounter.
As for how you deal with them, whether you should smash boxes to let them out and face your fear? That's up to you. I can't say what will work for you or not.

I'd say "just remember it's a game" but I know that if it's triggering a phobia, it doesn't work like that.
It will probably help to work out a good way of taking them on.
stabbing weapons work well - if you have a knife, if they get on your face you can stab them and pull them off in one go.

[Sweed.Money]

After replaying wearhouse a little bit im still terrified AF for them? I don't know why but they just seem to realistic and i have to awaken them first by running at them without my headset on and grab them to not be terrified. I don't know how to not scream like a b*tch over a headset crab. The sound and how quick they jump at you is always terrifying no matter what to me. No matter what i try or no matter how hard i try to focus not to be scared i still am. Also you cant just man the fck up whenever. Remember: I HAVE Arachnophobia and anxiety, that is uncurable.

[Kibi]

Every phobia is cureable, don't be like that. I have something to tell here, i'm working on construction buildings and i'm afraid of heights. So i was scared AF as i worked on ladders or something, i tried out Vr and played games like, Zero Caliber, Pavlov or other simulations with heights. It helped me a lot and now i can work very well cuz' I'm not afraid of heights anymore.

If you have a phobia ok, but saying it's uncureable is Bs and you know that, i hate spiders too if a see them either i'm running away or smashing the crap outta it. But you have to face your fear. You played gorn before? You saw this Badgers now these things are terrifying...

Just play the game and learn to overcome your problems and don't say you can't do it.

Anyway hold an AR-15 on them and Yeet them...

[4Donuts]

Originally posted by DragonMaze CS.MONEY:

Whenever i see a headset headcrab i instatly just back away scared as F. Idk how im supposed to keep playing this game if i can't even look at them anymore? Im currently in Central Station the level after the damn warehouse. Any tips?
Btw i have Arachnophobia and anxiety.

use gun

[Baldrickk]

After seeing this discussion, I had an idea that might help.
I suggested it on the fan discord, and it turns out that I wasn't the first.

So while I had the idea for this, all credit goes to Clementinise who got there first with the idea and made the mod:

NoMoreLegsForCrablets is a simple "mod" (Not really but I don't know how to call it xd) that remove the legs of the Crablets, they are now just floating head :D

Since a friend of me got arachnophobia I have made this for him, but since he might not be the only one having arachnophobia here it is for you

The Legs still have collision so you might pick them by the legs sometimes xd
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/661042292588544000/671441186497495040/NoMoreLegsForCrablets.exe

[Swadelus]

Make sure of you play Skyrim VR you mod out the spiders. Those are scary AF in VR.

[Muse Snooze]

They are some of the most harmless enemies next to... prrrractically all the pissbaby enemies in this game. Treat with headbutt. Catch the crab and slam it into your face, not the part it wants to put on you obviously. Should only take one solid strike. This is true of any melee enemy, headbutting is the absolute best. I literally lean back, let them step into my personal space, and stomp forward shoving my head forward. This wrecks them amazingly.

[FireFox]

Crowbar and other weapons with pointy ends help with that. Heck just hold a short sword out and a Crablet will jump right on it with disregard for their own safety and kill themselves.