Over the past few months, we asked the community to spotlight some Playgrounds for us to showcase. Thanks to the community, they have delivered 3 amazing Playgrounds to check out.

Up first we have Legends of the Five Jewels by Rossoccx! Famed Archeologist Christopher Packett mysteriously vanished and you’re on the hunt for these enigmatic jewels that hold strange powers. In this unique storytelling map, you’ll find puzzles, clues, different biomes, and complete quests from NPCs! Find all the jewels and discover the legend of the five jewels!

Legends of the Five Jewels
Download Code: CSQ-LCB-B5H


Next, we have Nightmare of the Yard! Get ready to experience the backyard in a new narrative experience by Mariuss PL! An evil corporation has shrunk you down, where you’ll need to build, craft, and survive. Lucky for you, someone on the inside is trying to help you out. Follow their instructions, take out the evil corporation security nodes, and get big again!

Nightmare of the Yard
Download Code: GH2-WNW-MK8


Welcome to the Spyderverse! Not that spiderverse though! Created by Kingslayr330, you are in a backyard filled with spiders. I mean A LOT of spiders. Find fortified bases around the yard, equip yourself with gear, and utilize the laser defense systems to help you take out the horde of spiders you will encounter. Discover the tombs of the Four Warriors, learn their stories, and find a way to get out of the spyderverse!

Spyderverse
Download Code: GWN-JNP-ULS


That’ll wrap up this month’s edition of Grounded’s Community Playground showcase, we’ll be back next month with some festive Playgrounds for you to check out.

Thanks for reading, and as always, stay safe, and stay grounded.

• The Scarecrow building is now available for purchase in the Science Shop (through October only!)
  
• The porch Jack-o-Lantern properly shows up when loading a world that was started prior to October.

• Red Ant Pet: Bonus hauling capacity increased from 10 to 15.
  
• Black Ant Pet: Damage resist increased from 10% to 50%.
  
• Fire Ant Pet: +10% Acid damage changed to +25% all damage.

• Sour Orb Infusion
  
  • Dramatically Reduced AOE Damage
    
  • Removed the Stun from the AOE Attack
    
    • If the Sour Orb Attack hits you directly it will still do high damage and stun
  • Sour Orb attack can be Perfect Blocked
• Creature damage scaling reduced from 40% to 20% per REMIX.D level.

• Additional items that can only be found in REMIX.D yards can be placed in Playgrounds Mode.

• Koi Armor Set bonus defense down effect works correctly against creatures resistant to “Acid” status effects.

Welcome to the spooky edition of the Playgrounds Showcase for October! We have some scary Playgrounds for you to check out this Halloween season! Will you be able to escape Granny’s House? How about escaping the Mines? Will you survive the haunted forest in Spooky Mystery? Let’s dive in!

Granny’s House:
ZWM-LQL-R3Z


Granny's House
Up first we have Granny's House by IZ BURG L. After a car crash, you find yourself at Granny's house. As you approach the house, you get knocked out by a mysterious figure and awaken in a strange and dark room. The goal is to survive for 5 days and escape from Granny’s House. There are tons of puzzles to solve and mysteries to uncover. Be careful though, there are some creepy monsters hunting you down. Try to get all 4 endings and change the difficulty for a more challenging experience!

The Mine: Horror From Within:
TSY-NSP-XFQ


The Mine: Horror From Within
You are looking to make some quick cash by smashing rocks in this abandoned mine, but something is amiss. The more you delve into the mines, the more unsettling it becomes. Why is the mine abandoned, where did the townspeople go, who is "The Strange Quark" and will you make it out alive? Only one way to find out.

Spooky Mystery:
99D-YQM-VWM


Spooky Mystery
Unravel the mystery in Spooky Mystery by Daie Beans! Investigate an Infected Mansion and Explore a Haunted Forest that are full of terrifying bugs. Find out what is terrorizing the villagers and complete their quests! Listen to their guidance to help you through what’s troubling them. While this playground is a work in progress, there is still a good amount of content and something to look forward to when it is complete.

That's it for this spooky edition of the Playground Showcase, we'll be back next month with even more awesome Playgrounds for you to check out. Discover any cool playgrounds you want us to showcase? Let us know in our Discord server or even on our Twitter and TikTok!

Thanks for reading and as always, stay spooky, and stay grounded.

Greetings friends! We have a small patch out today for some changes to the Steam store, you no longer have to sign in with your Microsoft account, but is still required for Crossplay, Shared Worlds, and Playgrounds. If you are experiencing any issues, please contact us at http://support.obsidian.net.

• Steam players no longer require a Microsoft Account to play multiplayer
  
  • While not logged into a Microsoft Account, you can host and join standard world multiplayer sessions with players from your Steam friends list
    
  • Note: a Microsoft Account is still required for Crossplay, Shared Worlds and Playgrounds

• Added a Crossplay Toggle in the Main Menu to quickly switch between a “Crossplay State” and a “Steam Native State”
  
  • Friends will need to be in the same “State” to see and join each other online
• Players can now unlink their Microsoft Account from their Steam Account
  
  • Navigate by going to Options - Game Tab - At the bottom you will see “Unlink Microsoft Account”

Welcome back friends! We have returned with another set of three Playgrounds you should check out this September. Experience a blast of nostalgia as we battle in the Temple, progress through increasingly tougher wave battles, and behold the legend of Pete!

Get ready for some 007 action in Groundedeye! Created by ADRANUS, prepare to see who the best secret agent in the reimagination of the el-Saghira Temple level from one of the most nostalgic 007 games around. Filled with hidden secrets, power ups, and gear, take on your friends to see who the top agent is. Oddjob is obviously banned.

Groundedeye:
LQR-ZLY-ZAT


Up next is Cage Wars! In this progressive wave arena created by Axel99ZX, take on challenges and get better gear with each wave you beat. The waves start out simple but scale up in difficulty as you progress further and further. How many waves can you defeat?

Cage Wars:
AJ2-7LH-GQK


Behold the Legend of Pete! In this unique narrative driven experience created by DESITHEWIWAO, uncover the fictionous, mysterious story of the of Pete as you explore different regions, solve puzzles, and take on challenging fights. The Legend of Pete has over 3 chapters and multiple acts to complete as you uncover how legendary Pete is.

Legend of Pete:
YSW-KU4-4SQ


That concludes this month’s Playground showcase, we’ll be back next month with a spooky edition of Grounded’s Playgrounds Showcase! Have a favorite Playground you’d like us to showcase or even one of your own? Let us know in our Discord Server in the Playgrounds section of the server! We are always on the hunt to show off your amazing creations.

Thank you for reading, and remember, stay safe, and stay Grounded.

Hello again, friends! We’ve returned with another set of three Playgrounds you should check out. Mega dungeon crawls, puzzle solving, and a Halo themed arena, oh my! The Grounded community continues to blow us away with how creative and talented they are.

Grounded: The Tower
RAA-CGF-7C2

Welcome to Grounded: The Tower, challenge your way through 10 floors and over 40+ rooms as you climb to the top to become the champion of the Tower! Apex Predator created this amazing Playground where you find loot, upgrade equipment, explore unique rooms filled with dangerous encounters, and test your combat skills as you bring them to new heights. Challenge yourself and become the ruler of the tower!

Find The Button:
Y2Q-2SV-2ZZ

For our second Playground of the month, check out Find the Button by Paraly5er! Your task is simple, find the button, activate the telepotty, and head to the next stage. Finding the button is not as easy as it seems. Each room you encounter is filled with environmental challenges and hiding spots, so keep your eyes open. Where could the button be hiding? Only one way to find out!

Halo Guardian
D99-PMD-QXZ

Queue the Halo theme song! Challenge your friends in this amazing recreation of Halo’s Guardian map made by Rossoccx. In this 4-player free-for-all, find power-ups, zoom around the arena, and become the all-time Halo champ! Each participant has 3 lives to survive and compete to be the best Spartan. Once you are out of lives, you are sent to the waiting room so you can relax and watch the rest of the match until it is concluded. Keep an eye out for some pretty cool easter eggs, and don’t fall off the platform!

That concludes this month’s Playground showcase, we’ll be back next month with even more Playgrounds you should check out. Have a favorite Playground you’d like us to showcase? Let us know in our Discord Server! We are always on the hunt to show off your amazing creations.

Thank you for reading, and remember, stay safe, and stay Grounded.

Welcome back, friends! If you enjoyed the three Playgrounds from last month, then you definitely won’t want to miss this month’s set of awesome maps made by our talented community. Looking for a challenge or just some good wholesome fun? We got you covered.

Kicking off the list this month’s Grounded Shrunken Souls by Capitao Shultz! This Playground is the perfect soulslike experience in a big way, but tiny. Explore various locations filled with creatures, loot, and hidden secrets. Steele yourself to overcome challenging biomes and face your fears against epic bosses. Don’t forget to raise the BURG.L bonflags to set your spawn point and keep an eye on the lighting to help guide you to the next location.

Download Code: X8J-UCF-L4X

Up next, we’re going to look at one of Axel99zx’s Playgrounds! Get ready to defend your tower against waves of spiders in Supreme Commander! You are charged with defending your tower against an arachnid assault where killing spiders will reward you with upgrade points. Use those points to upgrade your crossbow, increase your ammo refill rate, automate your robot army, upgrade your TAYZ.T’s, and activate your automated turret systems! Endless waves of spiders will attack your tower, and as time progresses, the more difficult it will get. See how long you can last and rack up as many kills as you can to secure the high score!

Download Code: DQW-XQ5-8DP

Are you ready to win some prizes? Then let’s head on down to Manty’s! Created by RYYY Jones, Ticket to Mantys is an incredible wonderland of mini games! In this interactive experience, you’ll shoot hoops, go to the shooting range, play stab-a-bug, and so much more. There are even five hidden treasure chests to collect. Don’t forget to bring home a stuffed Aphid for your kid sister, or she’ll throw a tantrum!

Download Code: VBN-P39-XBS

That wraps up this month’s Playground Showcase. Give these Playgrounds a try and make sure to share your own Playground in the official Discord Server; they might just end up on future showcases in the months to come!

Thanks for reading, and remember, stay safe, and stay Grounded.

General Changes

• Updated the Photomode screenshot folder location on Windows to be compatible with Windows 11.
  
• Improved shadow drawing distance of a handful of Playground gizmos and gadgets.
  
• Pinned objectives with a lot of text will instead cut off after 70 characters and show “…” at the end.
  
• Improved the Hedge visuals when viewing it from far away on Low graphics settings.
  
• The “Load Last Save” button in the Death menu is usable when playing on a Shared World.

REMIX.D Yard - Changes:

• Hedge Broodmother scream attack no longer triggers Infusion Effects unless damage is taken.
  
• Randomized trinkets that have different effects no longer stack in the hot pouch allowing you to assign them to different hot pouch slots.

Optimizations:

• Memory usage optimizations to prevent rogue spikes of memory when loading some assets.
  
• Improved load times in later game saves.

Xbox One:

• Dramatically reduced memory usage resulting in less Out of Memory crashes.

PlayStation 5

• FPS will more consistently stay at 60 FPS.
  
• Fixed issue where save games during New Game+ could sometimes corrupt.

Nintendo Switch

• Reduced memory usage resulting in less Out of Memory crashes.
  
• Reduced FPS drops when walking around labs via lab doors opening and closing.

Major Fixes:

• Deduping an equipped trinket via the ASL properly removes the trinket. (Fixed in 1.4.2 hot-fix)
  
• Buildings will no longer improperly say “No Land Rights” when building on a base near large objects (like the Oak tree). (Fixed in 1.4.2 hot-fix)
  
• Baby ant pets and other walking pets should no longer knock you around and off of ledges when walking or teleporting near you.
  
• Pets will no longer occasionally fall through the world when teleporting near you.
  
• Saves that had started the Hedge Quest prior to version 1.3.0 will properly unlock the Hedge Ascent landmark in their data tab.
  
• When a crossplay user invites a non crossplay user, the non-crossplay user will now receive the invite.
  
• Added a “Restore Player Data” Game Repair button if your save game is in a state where you have multiple player files matching your profile and you are loading the incorrect player data.
  
• Fixed a a few cases of certain saves games infinitely loading.
  
• Fixed a potential client crash that could happen when starting a new game.

Other Bug Fixes:

• The Report Card and Milk Molar BURG.L quest will properly account for the different amount of Milk Molars in the yard when in New Game+.
  
• Water Fleas and Diving Bell Spiders no longer ignore you while having the Antbassador mutation activated.
  
• Ants will hoard less food around ant hills. This should reduce performance issues when approaching ant hills that previously would have a lot of food laying around.
  
• Baby Ants will no longer eat your food in your base.
  
• Using a keyboard on consoles to do in-game chat no longer automatically opens the virtual keyboard.
  
• Pets can be renamed on gamepad.
  
• Clients can unlock the “Royal Arrangements” and “Did I Do That?” achievements in New Game+.
  
• Clients no longer get disconnected on Playgrounds that have lots of links to base buildings.
  
• Clients who use “Place Many” will no have their building move around 1 second after starting the Place Many action.
  
• Toggling marker visibility on clients works correctly for far away markers.
  
• Raw science in Playgrounds handle their spawn state properly after all players are far away and then approach it.
  
• Interact actions while in third person mode work more reliably for clients.
  
• Mantis properly animates when emerging for the boss fight.
  
• Voice chat indicators no longer show up when sending an in-game message.
  
• Fixed some rebinding issues with building placement when using an AZERTY style keyboard.
  
• Red and Fire Ant Queen Pheromones now use the correct icons.
  
• “This save has a high object count” shows up underneath Published Playgrounds so it doesn’t block the download and vote counts.
  
• “Rotate Building” key rebinds can properly be changed for Keyboard.
  
• “Did I Do That?” achievement will properly resync if completed on next load if completed while offline. (Xbox, PC, Switch)
  
• “Did I Do That?” can be achieved for clients during New Game+.
  Fixed ‘Spicy Damage Up Best' using the 'Spicy Damage Up Major’ text.
  
• “Royal Arrangements” achievement can be completed on New Game+ for players who did not complete it in the prior playthrough.
  
• The Raw Science in the REMIX.R lab no longer triggers your SCA.B scanner.
  
• The “Community Playgrounds” section can be accessed while not logged into a Xbox / Microsoft account so you can access Playgrounds you have already downloaded.
  
• HUD Markers are no longer inverted on the screen while playing in Arabic.
  
• Dandelion Tufts will still activate if you have no stamina when attempting to use.
  
• The Object Limit indicator correctly resyncs after loading a save. Also syncs properly on clients.
  
• Using First Person Handy Gnat no longer hides your Handy Gnat for other players.
  
• “Spend More Science” no longer blocks 100% on New Game+ if you have purchased everything already in the Science Store.
  
• Improved grid snapping buildings on Grass floors.

Greetings, friends! Welcome to the first of many blogs that will showcase three amazing Playgrounds from our incredibly talented Grounded community. Moving forward, you can expect these blogs on the first Wednesday of every month on here, Steam, and Discord! (Except today, it’s Friday).

Heard of Only Up? How about Only Down! Created by JADEPG, you have to traverse this platforming course all the way down to the bottom to win. It’s not as easy as it looks. Fortunately, Jade set up some checkpoint systems, so you don't lose all your progress. Do you have what it takes to get to the final platform?

Download Code: D4Y-Y7E-4QZ


Always dreamt of running your own lemonade stand? Then check out Lemonade Tycoon by M09264! Make Lemonade, grow your business, and attract new customers! Get started by mashing lemons, mixing ingredients, and making juice. Once you start selling a steady stream of lemonade, you’ll get access to the upgrade store where you can unlock new customers and other perks. Get enough rare coins and you can unlock even more abilities to help your business grow and become a Lemonade Tycoon!

Download Code: TGG-NZQ-2XQ


Mordor
Experience Middle Earth in the Backyard! Created by Loodarav87, get whisked away to another world and explore the land of Mordor. Pass through the Black Gates where the armies of men prepare to take on the evil forces of Sauron, visit Minas Morgul where the Witch-King resides, experience the scorching heat within Mount Doom, and behold the magnificence of the Eye of Sauron! Explore all that Mordor has to offer.

Download Code: AKP-BKH-6XG


That's all for this blog, I hope these Playgrounds inspire you to make your own creation, and who knows, maybe your Playground will be featured in these monthly blogs! We can’t wait to see what you all create and see the conversations unfold in our official Discord server!

Thanks for reading, and remember, stay safe, and stay Grounded.

We are excited to announce that we have patch 1.4.2 ready for you all to download and install! Thank you all so much for your patience while we worked to get this patch out to you, so please update when you see it and let us know how it works for you!

• You can now “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” any Published Playgrounds. These community ratings will be used to filter higher quality Playgrounds to the top.
  
  • This combined with the new “Filter Playgrounds” menu added in 1.4.0 should help you find quality Playgrounds of various types.
• Playground Descriptions are now shown when browsing Community Playgrounds.

• Hedge Broodmother Roar attack can be perfect blocked.
  
• Mantis attacks no longer always trigger additional effects even when blocked or perfect blocked.
  
• “Fury” effect can now trigger combo finisher effects.
  
• Explosive damage from enemies can be blocked with shields again (including infusion based explosive damage).
  
• +Summon Thorns effect from Red Strategist set decreased from 50% to 25% per piece (they still stack).
  
• Thorns now deal “true” damage.
  
• You can go back to befriended Ant Queens and get a new Baby Ant pet if your prior Baby Ant pet has died or was lost.
  
• Lowering the stun damage of 2 Handed Axe weapons.
  
• Increasing the stun damage of 2 Handed Club weapons.

• A new module is accessible in the ASL station while in New Game+: remote access to the Super Duper machine!
  
• When duplicating or deduplicating an item, you can now skip the animation.
  
• Clients that join a New Game+ world will have their starting Milk Molar stats matched up to the host if they are lower
  
  • Helps clients not lose out on prior Milk Molar upgrades from before new game+ or prior new game+ playthroughs.

• Infusion effects that creatures get will be more random instead of almost always having explosive damage (this was a bug).
  
• “+Unarmed Damage” effect can now be found on randomized trinkets.
  
• A large number of Random Effects for trinkets and infused weapons have been buffed:
  
  • All creature specific damage increases (such as “+Black Widow Damage) increased from 10% to 30%
    
  • +Damage Resist increased from 10% to 50% (in the previous patch)
    
  • +Block Strength increased from 25 to 100
    
  • +Max Health increased from 25 to 100
    
  • +Max Stamina increased from 25 to 100
    
  • Hyperstamina increased from 10% to 25%
    
  • +Attack Stamina increased from 10% to 25%
    
  • Exhaustion Recovery increased from 10% to 25%
    
  • +Sprint Distance increased from 10% to 25%
    
  • The Quickness increased from 10% to 25%
    
  • +Poison Resist increased from 10% to 50%
    
  • +Explosive Resist increased from 10% to 50%
    
  • Starcrusher Damage Resist reduction increased from 25% to 50%
    
  • Arcane Archer Damage Resist reduction increased from 25% to 50%
    
  • Fresh Mage stamina refund increased from 5 to 25 per attack
    
  • Spicy Mage attack speed buff increased from 10% to 15% per attack
    
  • Sour Mage charge time multiplier fixed from 1.5x to .5x so it actually reduces charge time instead of increasing it
    
  • Wizards Defense proc chance increased from 50% to 100%
    
  • Fixed +Bow Attack not being labeled as “minor”, “major”, and “best” for the 3 variations
    
  • Bow Attack Major increased from 20% to 25%
    
  • Bow Attack Best increased from 30% to 50%
    
  • Trickle Regen increased from 1 hp per 10 seconds to 2 hp per 10 seconds
    
  • Guard Dog increased from 50% to 100%
    
  • Tenderfoot Offense increased from 5% to 100%
    
  • Tenderfoot Defense increased from 5% to 90%
    
  • +Finale Damage increased from 10% to 25%
    
  • Fixed ‘Implant Weakness: Sour’ and ‘Implant Weakness: Salty’ using the ‘Implant Weakness: Fresh’ string
• “Fury” effect on New Game+ trinkets can now trigger other trinket effects such as “Samurai” and “Mad Scientist”.
  
• The “Increased Damage” infusion effect on infused creatures no longer also increases the damage of other infusion effects.
  
• Infused Weapons now have 2 random effects instead of just 1.
  
• BURG.L’s Old Flipper now has 2 random effects, much like infused weapons.
  
• The Assistant Manager can trigger the laser and shock pillars immediately in New Game+. Lasers will spin faster with each Remixed Level.
  
• Similar candy weapons acquired from NG+ now have different finale effects:
  • Example: the Sizzle Striker has Finale Aftershock, where as the Wallopeño has Finale Fury
• Thorns damage that can be reflected with any attack is capped to the max health of the character being attacked.
  
• Thorns damage that is reflected is no longer improperly double scaled from Status Effect or Difficulty modifiers.
  
• Salt Chipper now properly utilizes the “Smasher” mutation instead of “Barbarian”.

• Loading a saved game takes less time:
  
  • Xbox Series X / PlayStation 5: 5+ seconds faster
    
  • Xbox One / PlayStation 4: 15+ seconds faster
    
  • Nintendo Switch: 60+ seconds faster
    
  • PC: (Depends on your CPU but faster than before)

• Improved framerate.
  
• Save game thumbnails will no longer be extra dark.
  
• Added mouse and keyboard support.

• Reduced asset popping and short draw distanced in the Sandbox.
  
• Notes found in the yard that require scrolling to read all of it can scroll the text using the analog stick.

• Creatures attacking from the Waft Emitter are no longer randomly invulnerable.
  
• Power Droplet can trigger additional effects off of unarmed attacks again.
  
• Clients no longer sometimes respawn with no lighting after completing the undershed lab.
  
• Achievements will properly unlock after reloading your game if you had originally completed them while offline (Xbox / PC).
  
• Playing a Shared World game across multiple consoles will no longer have you load in with lost player data.
  
  • Retroactive fix still in the works for sessions that have already encountered this.
• Multiplayer games that were made while crossplay was off and then are converted to Shared Worlds when crossplay is enabled will not have lost player data upon hosting or joining that game.
  
  • Retroactive fix still in the works for sessions that have already encountered this.
• Stairs can be built up diagonally without direct support below again.
  
• Loading a Shared World backup save while in the middle of playing a Shared World will properly save continued game progress during that session.
  
• The loot delay on dead bugs has been reduced back.

• Fixed attempting to host or join a multiplayer game immediately after being disconnected from a game causing a crash.
  
• Fixed crash when loading an Early Access save.

• The Oak Lab explosion smoke no longer freezes when looking directly at it sometimes.
  
• BURG.L Quests are no longer reset when activating the REMIX.R.
  
• Using burnt toast in the Garden Patch no longer causes the growth time to be negative.
  
• Fixing an instance of a randomized milk molar that could spawn underwater.
  
• Fixing the repair costs on some of the NG+ elemental weapons.
  
• The web sacs in the Hedge Broodmother fight no longer will trigger infusion effects from the Broodmother’s roar or jump back attack.
  
• The Health and Stamina bar on the SCA.B properly show lines for values past 300.
  
• Infected Ant mounted trophy and infected ant stuffed creature buildings have had their materials fixed.
  
• The Sign Set Teen Spirit is no longer always removed after loading a New Game+ save.
  
• Improved building placement while trying to place a hanging stuffed creature.
  
• Additional creatures spawned in during boss fights are no longer lootable when they die if you fail the fight and return to the boss arena.
  
• Clients that are present when the REMIX.R is activated will spawn back in correctly at the kid case instead of being on top of the host.
  
• Rotten Stinger Spear in the T-Rex no longer falls out of the toy’s mouth on any new games created.
  
• Infected Broodmother final phase scream no longer triggers infusion effects.
  
• Chopper no longer improperly uses the Blademaster mastery effect.
  
• You can no longer build sap catchers in the Mantis arena.
  
• The “Royal Arrangements” achievement can be unlocked for new players in New Game+ if all Ant Queens were dealt with in the prior playthrough.