What you need to know
- Grounded is a unique co-op survival game that shrinks players to the size of insects in a backyard.
- The game is currently in early access, and therefore receives regular updates and changes.
- The next major update, 0.6.0, was recently teased for release later this month.
- Ahead of the official launch, Grounded is testing 0.6.0 in its Public Test ring, which is now open to interested Grounded players.
Just as Obsidian Entertainment promised last week, the Public Test ring for Grounded's next major update is now open for dedicated Grounded players to enjoy. The 0.6.0 release, or January Content Update, is Grounded's first release after the holidays, and adds the much-anticipated flying insects to Obsidian Entertainment's quirky survival gem.
It's unclear how long the Grounded team will test the January Content update before releasing it to Grounded's early access, but I expect the Public Test ring to be open for about a week first. Most Grounded players will want to simply wait for the general release, but those hardcore Grounded players who want to be at the forefront of development can sign-up to participate now.
Grounded is shaping up to be a fantastic survival game, with incredible audio and visual design. On the former, be sure you're prepared with one of the Best Headsets for Xbox Series X|S.
The full changelog for Grounded's 0.6.0 update in the Public Test ring includes:
New creatures
- Mosquitos
- Fireflies
- Bees!
New crafting content
- Bee Armor Set (Face Mask, Shoulder Pads, Shin Guards)
- Firefly Head Lamp
- Stinger Spear
- Mosquito Needle
- Weevil Shield
- New consumable: Healbasa
- Two new stuffed friends: Stuffed Bee and Stuffed Firefly
New perks
- Barbarian Perk: Club damage increased
New features
All platforms
- Equipped items no longer take up Backpack space
- Equipped items will stay on the player after death. Each piece of equipment will take a small amount of durability damage after you die
Changes / tuning
Networking
- Container inventory contents are no longer replicated to clients until needed (an optimization)
- More reliable networking calls from clients to server
- Reduced the amount of network data sent between various systems
Other
- BURG.L Chips now award science when returned regardless of whether the corresponding BURG.L quest is active
- Mint Mallet has been renamed "Mint Mace"
- Rotten bee equipment can now be analyzed to unlock the un-rotten recipes
Combat
- Bone weapons have slightly less durability
- Most unblockable creature attacks are now blockable with shields (still unblockable with weapons)
- Pollen can now be thrown
- Previously-equipped off-hand items that were displaced by a two-handed weapon are restored when re-equipping a one-handed weapon
Interface
- Point of interest notification has been altered to be more responsive and look better
- Notifications now will display what's in the queue to improve feedback with this system
- Save game screenshots now work with Logout saves
- Rest / Set Respawn UI adjustments
- A "New Resource" queue will display on the HUD if you end up picking up new items faster than the HUD can handle displaying the notifications for them
World
- Nectar now spawns on top of flowers instead of below them
- Creatures will fade out / fade in when approaching their despawn distance to prevent visual popping (currently only works on host)
- Bratburst visual effects better match the ingredients that were used to craft it
Buildings
- Buildings will be invalid less often when placing them inside structures
- Incomplete buildings are more visually apparent
- Buoyant Markers can now be built in the lower pond
Bug fixes - all platforms
Top community issues
- Foundations will no longer be invalid when snapping to other foundations that stick out of the ground too much
- Clients can now dump canteens
- Autosaves no longer cause performance hitching
- Fixed issue with clients failing to spawn in games that have huge player bases built
Game
- Fixed crash with clients joining a saved game where their loot bag was collected by another player
- Incomplete doors will no longer have collision after loading
- The player can no longer eat or drink items while gliding or zipping
- The player will now drop all hauled items when starting zipping
- The player can no longer attack while gliding
- Air bubbles will no longer spawn in large clumps when first approaching sources of them
- Door frames now have collision applied to them
- Fixed issue where "Craft and Equip" could cause a random inventory item to get equipped
- Characters will no longer fall when loading a save in which they were ziplining (not retroactive)
- Dew drinking while hauling is disabled to prevent issues where dew disappears without giving you any hydration
- Fixed crash with clients joining a saved game where their loot bag was collected by another player
Items / equipment / resources
- Muscle Sprouts will now respawn
- Dirty droplets no longer act like clean ones when drinking them
- Buoyant Foundations can no longer be built underneath the water in some situations
- Buoyant Marker can no longer be placed on land
- Objects without physics will no longer cause the bounce pad to bounce
- The previous weapon, for the Equip Previous hotkey, now persists across saves
- Shovel+ now has a proper faster animation
- Fixed some interaction issues with FrankenLine
- Soda droplets will more consistently respawn
- Punch-O Juice drops properly despawn after 72 hours so new dew can drip out
World
- Gnats will get happy after boops more consistently
- Aphids will now face the correct direction when descending grass blades
- Clovers will now save and restore properly
UI
- The field of view will no longer sometimes oscillate when sprinting sideways
- Fixed issue with the "low O2" black vignette not working on clients
- Fixed issue with the 3rd person camera being in odd tilts after respawning
It's a big(ger) world out there.
Obsidian Entertainment makes its exclusive debut on Xbox One and PC with Grounded, a unique survival experience that literally makes all of your problems much, much bigger. Join your friends as you're shrunk down to the size of an ant and are forced to survive in a dangerous backyard.
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