Grounded’s new update lets you wage war against bees

On a less self-defeating note, inventory management is now a little more forgiving

It might not be the meaningful story shakeup that some players are waiting for, but I’m ready to revisit Grounded with update 0.6.0 – it adds a few aerial attention-grabbers like bees, mosquitoes, and fireflies, as well as what I’d call an essential quality-of-life change to backpack inventory management.

(The way the dead bee’s body rolls away from its head at 2:33 is wonderfully unsettling.)

The change that’ll have a positive ripple effect: your equipped items won’t take up space in your backpack, and when you die, you won’t lose them. Instead, your equipped gear will take a “small” durability hit. It’s a fair trade-off between providing tension (this is a survival game) and ease of use.

This update also includes gear to go along with the flying menace – you can craft Bee Armor, a Firefly Head Lamp, Stinger Spear, and Mosquito Needle, among other items – and numerous tuning changes. Another good bullet point: “Most unblockable creature attacks are now blockable with shields.”

I haven’t even explored the koi’s domain yet, so I have a bunch of ground to cover. Wish me luck. It’s a testament to this tiny-huge world that, even after a long break, I still vividly remember the landscape.

January 0.6.0 Update is Released [Obsidian]