I’ve been loving my time inGrounded 2. Even in its earliest of access launches, the survival crafting sequel is a sprawling fight for survival that lives up to the promises of its predecessor in just about every way. The world is still massive, the base-building still satisfying, and the crawlies are definitely still creepy, but there is one big, eight-legged problem I’d like to address.
There are so many spiders. Too many spiders. You can’t stumble over a pebblet without landing in a web or having your face chewed off by an Orb Weaver. I’m not scared of them anymore, I’m just annoyed.
Climbing The Food Chain, One Spider At A Time
Spiders are practically the mascot of Grounded. As much as Obsidian wants to push aphids or even Burgl as the brand ambassador, it’s the promise of gigantic and terrifying spiders that pulls people in. Just go on YouTube and you’ll find countless reaction videos to people’s first encounters with them.
In the original game, that moment was something to remember. It may have been a jumpscare as you ventured through a tunnel, or, like me, it could have been the slow, creeping dread of seeing a blade of grass bend over in the middle of the night. A leg, then another, then another, as you watched it slowly skulk its way through the yard.
Spiders were the big early-game threat of Grounded. Far too strong for you to deal with when armed with nothing but an axe, they served as soft barriers to your exploration. You couldn’t immediately explore the pond area, as between you and it was a whole fence teeming with orb weavers. Heading under the tree was a suicide mission, thanks to the sleeping wolf spiders as well.
It’s not until you’ve successfully unlocked the Oak Lab and have some new craftables to play with that the first game gives you a fighting chance. The big boys were still unstoppable monsters, but by now, you were gradually getting on their level, one upgrade at a time.
By the time you were ready to head up into the upper yard, spiders just weren’t a problem anymore. I can take down an orb weaver or a wolf spider with my eyes closed. So the spiders largely stopped, and in their place we had bigger bads, like wasps and ox beetles.
Black widows are still the most dangerous enemy in the whole game, but they’re more mini-bosses locked into specific areas than regular enemies.
Your relationship with spiders in Grounded represented your relationship with the yard itself. By the end of the game, you were the apex predator, and no eight-legged freak was going to stand in your way. Grounded 2, on the other hand, just really wants you to fight spiders.
Tangled Up In Too Many Webs
Grounded 2 takes a much more liberal approach to its arachnid offerings. There are small enclaves of them practically everywhere you turn, and every landmark is covered in webs and egg sacs. Spiderlings are as common as weevils or gnats now, serving as a constant menace as you explore the park.
Of course, this change is likely for a few reasons. Spiders are no longer the biggest threat of your early days in the park, with cockroaches, butterflies, and mantes all also putting you on the menu. There’s also the fact that, as this is early access, we’re only able to access about a quarter of the overall map, and so it may just be overstuffed to get everything currently developed in.
But the result is still the same: spiders are just annoying to fight now. They’re no longer punctuating moments of terror, they’re just another enemy you have to carve down as you make your way to the picnic table. They even infest the soundscape of the park, with their skittering and screeching seeming to drown out much of what else is going on.
Wolf spiders are still rarer, only spawning in the park after a few days, and their new and improved toxic-based moveset and new, hairier look makes them suitably intimidating. It’s just a shame that, by the first time you encounter them, you’re already burned out on the mountain of orb weaver carcasses you’ve had to mow through.
It’s like Obsidian has forgotten that part of the tension of spiders isn’t that they’re always gnashing at your face. The scariest spider is the one you can’t see – the one you tried to catch, but has now run behind a cupboard and out of sight. The one that appears out of nowhere and gives you a heart attack.
Spiders aren’t just a throwaway enemy to populate the park with. They’re a key tool to building the tension in those terrifying first few hours of Grounded, and a yardstick for you to measure your progression against. Hopefully, as more enemies are introduced throughout early access, the park’s spider infestation will abate a little.
