Grounded 2’spark is full of danger, but a lot of them are threats we’d already met in the yard of the first game. We’re well-honed spider, larvae, and bee-killing machines at this point, and a new game with a much bigger map to explore should have new creepy crawlies to go with it.
Whether they’re terrifying enemies to give the Broodmother a run for her money, or just a lil' guy to chill in your base with, these are the bugs I’m hoping get added to Grounded 2. This is the only game we can hope gets more bugs during development.
I know some of these aren’t technically ‘insects’, but just go with it.
10Grasshopper
Leap Over The Grass
Other than flying bugs like the mosquitos and bees, most enemies in Grounded tend to just trundle along across the ground. Sometimes they run, sometimes they lunge, sometimes they dig, but they all tend to stay on one elevation.
Grasshopper, on the other hand, could leap. They can jump up to 60 times their body length, giving them a highly mobile way to quickly move through the park. Perhaps you could harvest their legs to get some of that jumping power for yourself?
9Dung Beetle
Roll Out
Considering just how many types of beetles there are, Grounded limited itself to just one in the ox beetle. It was a big, brutish bug that would charge towards you, and was one of the biggest threats in the yard.
A dung beetle would offer something else entirely: the Indiana Jones moment. Imagine crawling through the park, only to be chased down by a rolling ball of dung. They don’t just roll them up for fun, either; dung beetles roll these balls away while digging their tunnels under piles of faeces, which would be grossly interesting to explore.
8Leech
It’d Suck Without Them
Leeches were originally planned for the first game, but were eventually cut. With Grounded 2 being three times bigger, and with a larger aquatic area to go with it, bringing back these slimy suckers would add a bit more danger to the water.
Maybe leeches could even be crafted into ahealing item? After all, leeches can clot your blood once they’re done feasting, so finding a way to use that on yourself would definitely make sense in a pinch. Provided they haven’t sucked you dry first, that is.
7Centipede
Pure Eldritch Horror
The first Grounded was more commonly known as ‘The Big Spider Game’, with the wolf spiders often being seen as the terrifying mascot of the game. But anyone who survived the yard would tell you they’re actually not that difficult to deal with, and once you’ve taken a few down they stop being quite so scary.
The only thing scarier than eight legs is a hundred, and centipedes are long, writhing masses of teeth that could easily be the next big horror of Grounded. Imagine running into one in the dark, its body coiling around you as its pincers go in for the kill. Or taming one to be your horrific buggy to ride through the park.
6Dragonfly
Beautiful But Deadly
Flying enemies were far and few between in Grounded. Bees were only a threat if you got too close, and wasps and mosquitos were easily avoided by going far enough out into the water. Dragonflies don’t have that problem, and often hang around ponds and other wet areas.
Having enemies both above and below the water would make the pond a muchless safe place to build, and I’m sure the armour you could craft from a dragonfly would be gorgeous. I also really, really want to ride one as a flying buggy to soar through the park like something from How To Train Your Dragon.
5Palm Weevils
Take A Closer Look At That Snout
Weevils were adorable in the first game, making goofy noises as they snuffled along through the undergrowth. They were also an easily accessible source of meat when needed, but I’d like to see something a little more… snouty.
Giant Palm Weevils are found in Florida, and have a deep red and black colour pattern to them. I mostly just want more variants of weevils, but these are considered pests, so they could be the cute little weevil’s evil emo counterpart as they attempt to chow down on your leaf houses.
4Stick Insects
Hidden Menace
Building a base in Grounded requires a lot of chopping and lugging materials around. Grab a scythe from the mantis and you can lay waste to whole stretches of grass without a care in the world. But what if there was a hidden stick insect, waiting to attack?
Stcik insects would be the stealthy enemy of the park, hiding where you’d normally farm resources and looking like simple sticks until you got close enough. They’re weird-looking fellas at the best of times, when a stick insect is the relative size of a whole tree, it makes getting materials a bit more dangerous.
3Giant Water Bug
Almost Makes You Miss The Koi
The only real threat in the water in the first game was the Koi. Yes, there werespiders and daphnia, but they were mild annoyances at best. Giant Water Bugs, also known as toe-biters, could serve as the ox beetle of the water, filling that gap between the mild threat of the water spiders and the unstoppable force of the koi.
These things are big, with the biggest examples coming in at 12 centimeters. They can keep air under their shells and breathe through tubes in their abdomens, so taking one apart could be a greaty way to get some extra water-friendly equipment while survivng the depths.
2Cockchafer
A Big Boy
Enough giggling, the cockchafer is perhaps the cutest beetle in the world. They’re enormous, which would be a problem when you’re the size of an ant if they didn’t exclusively eat plants. This would be the rare example of a bug in Grounded not trying to kill you, like the ladybirds and bees of the first game.
More than anything, I want a cockchafer as a companion buggy. Not the fastest, not the most mobile, but a big, loveable bug to ride through the park. Just the two of us against the world. Add to that the leaf-like antennae which are peak camp, and I’d struggle to use any other buggy ever again.
1Jumping Spider
Spiders Can Be Cute
I love spiders. They’re interesting to watch, eat pests around your home, and can be weirdly friendly as long as you don’t mess with them. Grounded gives them a bit of a bad rep as the biggest, scariest bugs in the yard, and Grounded 2 could really do with repairing their image.
Jumping spiders are the puppies of the spider world, with their tiny bodies and massive eyes. Having a cute spider to encounter in the park, and not one that’s the size of a static caravan, would go a long way to repairing our relationship with the arachnids. I’d also just like one for my base.
