Chunky Grounded update adds the only thing worse than spiders

Backyard survival game Grounded just got its 1.2 update, adding wonderful new quality-of-life features and the only thing that could be worse than spiders.

Yes, Grounded now has the most terrifying bug of all: wasps. You'll find their mini hives across the upper yard, and if they catch sight of you and get angry (spoilers: wasps are always angry), they'll call in an entire army's worth of their compatriots to sting you for no other reason than pure, unfiltered hatred - just like in real life. Hey, at least spiders are good for the ecosystem.

If you really want to go wasp hunting, you'll also be able to delve into the main nest and fight the Wasp Queen, the update's new creature boss. Beating her will unlock a new wasp-themed armor set and trinket for you to craft.

It's not all horrifying bugs in this update, though. The patch is properly titled the Super Duper update because of the new Super Duper machine - a place where you can spend raw science to duplicate specific equipment and items, including the upgrades you've applied to them. You'll have to find Duper Discs throughout the yard to get the ability to duplicate different items, however.

Maybe the coolest addition for this patch is the 'handy gnat.' This is basically just a tool that'll let you fly around and more easily build your bases in creative mode, similar to the free-fly option in many building games under the Minecraft lineage.

You can see the full list of additions over on the Xbox blog, but there's one more thing worth pulling out here: Grounded is now Steam Deck verified. So yes, you can battle in the backyard while sitting in your own backyard.

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Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.