Players of Grounded 2, beware, you're in for a scare, as the developers are now teasing and giving a first look at a boss coming to the game.
While Grounded 2 launched in early access back at the tail end of July, this game (which is being co-developed between Obsidian Entertainment and Eidos Montreal) still has a ways to go, with updates planned that'll add more content over time.
One such incoming addition is AXL, a huge boss that's been teased in-game for some time, if you've been paying attention. A shattered tank
For those who missed the clues, AXL is a large Tarantula, and during Gamescom 2025, Obsidian Entertainment dropped a teaser video that officially revealed just what this behemoth looks like.
You can check out the teaser for AXL below:
As you can see, AXL is MASSIVE, quite easily one of the largest creatures we've seen in Grounded so far outside of the first game's unkillable Koi fish.
The first Grounded also added bosses over time, with the Broodmother, Praying Mantis, and Wasp Queen all presenting some ferocious challenges. None of them was quite like this, however. I can't get over the scale!
The shot of the towering Tarantula compared to Hoops and an Orb Weaver Spider Buggy is frankly astounding. Seriously, it brings to mind comparisons of King Kong against a normal human being.
For the teens that have been shrunk down like this, AXL might as well be some sort of Kaiju!
I'm expecting this to be an extraordinarily difficult fight. Hopefully, that means the rewards for managing to take AXL down will be worth the effort, with the materials gained used to craft high-end weapons and armor.
Fortunately, if you're a player who finds the idea of taking on a spider like this too scary, you can always take advantage of Grounded 2's arachnophobia mode. There are different settings, with lower filters merely removing some eyes and legs, while at full power, the arachnophobia mode renders all spiders as mere blobs.
What else is coming to Grounded 2?
According to Obsidian Entertainment's official Grounded 2 roadmap, AXL is currently planned to arrive in the game's big fall update. This update will also bring a number of recipes, as well as some armor and weapons based around AXL. This update is also planned to introduce Japanese text localization for players.
Beyond that, the teams at Obsidian and Eidos Montreal are also planning a winter update, which will include Steam Deck verification, new base defenses, a Ladybug Buggy, Crickets, Earwigs, and even more.
After that, it'll be a bit more of a wait, with a planned summer 2026 update slated to include water-based creatures, including watery Buggies. We'll have to wait for further details, but let the speculation abound as to exactly what these critters could be. Personally, I'm expecting a diving spider enemy and Buggy to be added.
If you haven't picked up Grounded 2 yet, be sure to check out our early access review. In it, my colleague Zachary Boddy and I wrote that "Grounded 2 is far larger and considerably more ambitious, but it’s also starting from a much stronger (and considerably more beautiful) place. This foundation is solid, and there’s already a lot of content to occupy the earliest players."
Grounded 2 is undoubtedly off to a great start so far, with the game reaching over 3 million players just two weeks after launch.
Grounded 2 is currently available in early access on Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC (Steam and Xbox PC). Like all Xbox first-party games, it's available in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
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