Developer Obsidian Entertainment revealed during Microsoft's E3 2021 presentation that multiplayer survival game Grounded is receiving a huge update, adding a host of features requested by Grounded's over five million players.
Grounded has received a lot of great updates already, like the January update that added flying enemies like bees and mosquitos and the Koi Update last year that added underwater exploration and koi fish to deal with. The new trailer released at E3 2021 for the upcoming Shroom and Doom Update started off by showing players sitting, a feature that the narrator joked had been requested a surprising amount. This update will also add tiny bug pets that will follow the player around and can be petted.
Covering the “Shroom” portion of the update's title, mushrooms can be knocked down and turned into crafting materials to make Mushroom Castles, and can be used as decorations. The “Doom” portion refers to the new Broodmother enemy, a giant spike-covered spider that looks to be a tough enemy to take down. Thankfully Grounded’s Arachnophobia Mode goes a long way to make the creature less horrifying looking, but not enough for the trailer's narrator apparently.
The end of the trailer confirms that achievements will also be added to Grounded with the Shroom and Doom update. This update releases in just a few weeks on June 30 to all of the platforms the game is available on. This update will also include elements which Obsidian had discussed previously like more building options and changes to how giant food works. It was also previously confirmed that this update will add new features to photo mode like the ability to change the time of day, as well as smaller quality of life changes like being able to sprint-climb ladders.
This update looks to make good on the promise Obsidian Entertainment made to provide more "meaningful" updates to Grounded last month. Of course the game is still technically in Early Access, as the game is still moving towards version 1.0, but Obsidian continues to post frequent development updates and engage with its fans to ensure that the game is something players will already be happy with when that time comes.
Grounded is available on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and PC.