Grounded opens the Public Test ring for 0.9.0 April Content Update on Steam, other platforms to come later

What you need to know

• Grounded is an early access survival game on Xbox and PC from legendary studio Obsidian Entertainment.
• The game gets monthly content updates to add new features and improvements for players to try out.
• Now, Obsidian is re-opening its Grounded Public Test ring for the upcoming 0.9.0 April Content Update on Steam, with other platforms to come soon after.
• The April Content Update will include new improvements like a Creative with Bugs game mode, Photo Mode for multiplayer, and more.

As we near the end of April, the Grounded team at Obsidian Entertainment gears up to release another update to Grounded's early access. The 0.9.0 April Content Update isn't quite here yet, but the Grounded Public Test ring is open again so that players can get a sneak peek and provide feedback on the upcoming release. For now, the Public Test ring is only available for Grounded players on Steam, but the Grounded team is working on bringing the April Content Update to Windows 10 and Xbox soon too.

The highlights of the 0.9.0 April Content Update in the Public Test ring include new buildings like ladders and curved building sections, access to Grounded's recently added Photo Mode while in multiplayer, and a new game mode with Creative with Bugs. There's also the usual batch of general improvements, gameplay tweaks, and bug fixes to be found here. Minor things may change before the update's official release to the public (likely sometime next week), but the feature set should be relatively set in stone.

Grounded is already one of the best survival games on Xbox and it's not even fully released yet. With the April Content Update, Grounded edges ever closer to its historic exit from early access as a full-fledged first-party Microsoft game.

The full changelog for the 0.9.0 April Content Update Public Test includes:

Features

Buildings

• Ladders
  • Unlocked via the Hedge BURG.L Chip
• Curved Walls, Floors, and Railings
  • 3 Curved Grass Walls
  • 2 Curved Grass Floors
  • 3 Curved Stem Walls
  • 2 Curved Stem Floors
  • 2 Curved Railings
  • Unlocked via the Pond BURG.L Chip

Creative with Bugs

• New Mode Added: Creative with Bugs
  • All the building and crafting perks of Creative mode but with all of the bugs spawned in the yard which are completely docile to you

Photo Mode

• Photo Mode Multiplayer Support:
  • All players enter and exit photo mode at the same time; the game pauses
  • Each player controls their character's pose and visibility
  • Each player controls their own camera location and settings
• Four new poses: Modish Max, Wallowing Willow, Heroic Hoops, and Perilous Pete

UI

• Playthroughs in the Save Game UI are grouped and collapsed together making for easier navigation of playthroughs with lots of saves across multiple playthroughs
• Building Recipes are now sorted by subcategories in the Construction radial and in the Crafting menu
• Added a take-all option for processing buildings like the Spinning Wheel

Music

• New combat music when fighting weaker bugs (Mites, Spiderlings, and Water Fleas)

Changes & tuning

Combat

• Attacks can now be canceled into a block at any point during the animation
• Attacks now consume stamina on startup rather than on the hit frame
• Stinkbugs have a new attack

Interface

• Attack interaction display has been updated to match the new interact UI changes from last patch for consistency

World

• Increased the draw distance of bases for hosts on higher graphics quality

Buildings

• Lure Traps and Spike Traps will now take damage as enemies use / interact with them

Crafting

• "Beefy Smoothie?" can now be crafted at the Smoothie Station

Optimization

• Improved render performance with games with lots of buildings
• Improved CPU performance with games with lots of buildings
• Improved rendering performance for the Xbox One and Xbox One S
• Reduced the delay before opening the main UI window
• Reduced the delay before opening the Building radial
• Reduced the delay before navigating to the Data page

Bug fixes

Top community issues

• Save games should now properly display the mode in the multiplayer lobby
• Building UI's, such as the Container and Spinning Wheel interfaces, will be closed if the building is relocated too far away while they are open
• The Crafting menu will not lag so much when switching between certain items
• Foliage such as grass blades that is moved between patches will no longer duplicate itself
• Promised Chipsleuth quest science rewards will now be correctly shown to clients

World

• Underwater-capable buildings can no longer be built on bubbles
• Floors can no longer be built entirely under the ground
• Structures placed on floors will be invalidly invalid less often
• The player can no longer zip off a zipline when zipping up it
• Wall-mounted buildings can no longer be attached to dropped items
• Structures can not be completed while a character or creature is inside of them
• Buildings can now be placed in specific spots inside the Oak Tree where they previously couldn't be
• Throwing grass blades or weed stems in third person no longer has most of them thrown to the side

Items, equipment, & resources

• Doors can now be built facing other doors
• Weapon Wall Mounts and wall-mounted trophies no longer fall through the world when collapsed
• Harvested flower petals will no longer spawn inside the flower
• Spiral Stairs can no longer be placed underwater or inside blocking objects
• Plank and Log Pallets will align to the terrain better during placement
• Crow Feathers no longer respawn when harvesting them, walking away, and returning back
• Crow Feathers despawn after a while if not harvested
• Stuffed Bee now properly swings after save / load
• Wall-mounted buildings are easier to place on Stem Walls and Palisades
• Axes and Splatburst no longer stick to the free cam when falling

Creatures

• Ant eggs will now hatch properly while inside inventories
• Creatures no longer walk through walls when not looking at them
• All types of creatures will now correctly create ripples in water

Photo Mode

• Depth of Field now applies properly when entering Photo Mode
• Photo Mode can now be exited even when the HUD is toggled off
• Blocking, aiming, and charged attacks now release upon exiting Photo Mode without firing
• Lighting in dark areas is now properly applied in Photo Mode

UI

• The interaction UI no longer displays when on a zipline
• Characters are less likely to appear headless when finishing a conversation with BURG.L or interacting with certain items