Grounded 0.6.0 January Content Update releasing now on Xbox and PC, adds flying insects and more

Grounded 0.6.0 January Content Update
Grounded 0.6.0 January Content Update (Image credit: Obsidian Entertainment | YouTube)

What you need to know

  • Grounded is an open-world co-op survival game from Obsidian Entertainment that shrinks players down to insects' size.
  • The game is currently in early access, which means constant updates with new content, features, and improvements.
  • The 0.6.0 January Content Update is the latest release and is currently rolling out to Xbox and PC players now.
  • The Grounded January Content Update adds flying insects like bees and mosquitos on top of much more.

Grounded is continuing the constant evolution of its early access with another new update. The 0.6.0 January Content Update for Grounded is releasing to Xbox and PC today, complete with a ton of new features and changes. The highlight of this release is undoubtedly the addition of flying insects like the bee, mosquito, and firefly. Obsidian Entertainment is also dropping a new Developer Vlog to go over all the most significant changes in the January Content Update, including some exciting footage of bees in action.

Grounded is already an excellent little survival game, and it never ceases to impress with the ongoing support and love from the team behind it. When the game eventually releases, it stands a good chance of dominating our already-impressive list of Best Survival Games for Xbox. The 0.6.0 January Content Update is available starting now.

The full changelog for Grounded's 0.6.0 January Content Update includes:

New features

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 perk

  • Barbarian Perk: Club damage increased

Changes / tuning

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

Networking

  • Container inventory contents are no longer replicated to clients until needed (an optimization)
  • More reliable networking calls from clients to the 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
  • The arrow you have nocked on your bow reflects the arrow ammo type you have selected

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 pick up new items faster than the HUD can handle displaying the notifications for them
  • Layout revision to the OS Config menu to make viewing status effect icon/details better
  • Weapons and arrows that are embedded in creatures will not display their floating icon until the weapon/arrow becomes dislodged. This cleans up some icon spam when using a bow
  • Items dropped in the world that uses the temp loot bag model (armors, etc.) will have their item icon displayed on top of 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
  • Added "Recover Backpacks" in the Game Preview debug menu to help recover backpacks that have gotten stuck
  • Busted Acorns can drop more shells

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

Creatures

  • Creature Perception: Player noise now has a linear falloff as opposed to all heard player noise having the same value regardless of distance
  • Increased hearing range of Wolf Spiders from 2500 to 5000 to account for the above change

Bug fixes

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 their source
  • 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 zipping (not retroactive)
  • Dew drinking while hauling is disabled to prevent issues where dew disappears without giving you any hydration
  • Structures that were anchored to certain objects, such as the baseball or flagstones, will no longer be considered unsupported
  • Fixed issue where kicked players end up having their inventory lost in the save data (does not retroactively restore inventory for players that have been kicked prior to 0.6.0)
  • Fixed issue with depositing items into a full container with a controller
  • Hauled items will correctly be dropped when knocked down in multiplayer
  • The dropped web will properly display on clients

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
  • Items floating on the water will now despawn when appropriate
  • Bratbursts now visually work correctly for clients

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
  • Grubs can no longer be dug up by the Repair Tool or the Mint Mace
  • Fixed issue where sometimes sleeping creatures were displaying as awake on clients
  • Mites no longer sometimes animate like they are walking while not moving

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
  • No longer showing the "Health Bar" for creatures that cannot be killed (BURG.L, Koi Fish, etc.)
  • Fixed issue with pixelated lighting artifacts showing up on weapons when held up to the sunlight
  • Fixed some rendering issues with player eyes around lights

Audio

  • Fixed submerged audio getting stuck on clients after death if they died underwater

Grounded

Main

Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.