Beat the Heat Update – Your Lizard Has Arrived
You asked for something bigger than bugs, and now it’s here.
The Beat the Heat update is now live in Grounded 2, bringing a new boss fight, a new buggy progression system, and a wave of content, improvements, and community-requested features across the park.
Meet King Dozer
During your adventures out in the park you might find King Dozer, a massive horned lizard and one of the most dangerous creatures we’ve added yet.
This is a full boss encounter — one you’ll need to prepare for. You’ll summon it, face it head-on, and survive long enough to take it down.
If you do, the rewards speak for themselves:
- New weapons and armor crafted from its scales
- Unique gear that reflects just how dangerous it is
- Furniture and trophies to prove you took it down
A New Way to Grow Your Buggies
This update brings a community-requested feature that we are excited to further develop alongside you, our community.
Buggy Progression is here and it introduces a full system for upgrading your buggies and making them a core part of your build.
Using Moldy Milk Molars, you can invest directly into your buggy’s growth:
- Increase health, damage, and effectiveness
- Improve how they gather and support you
- Bring early buggies into tougher fights
You’ll also unlock mutations that reinforce each buggy’s role. Some are always active based on the creature, while others trigger from your actions, giving you more control in the park.
The Buffin’ Barrel lets you evolve your buggy to the next tier, increasing its power and what it can gather so it scales with you instead of falling behind.
And new additions like the Black Soldier Ant Buggy expand your options even further.
The Park Is Expanding
There’s more happening across Brookhollow Park than ever before.
A new point-of-interest landmark and anthill named the Sinkhole Anthill are appearing, along with new creatures, resources, and gear to chase down. You may also encounter O.G.R.R. creatures in the picnic and garden areas, adding new threats to familiar spaces.
Building continues to expand with new sets and parts, plus utility structures like the Buggy Buff Hut and EverChar Roasting Spit, a new cooking device that can handle more food at once while keeping your base well lit.
More Ways to Fight and Survive
Combat and survival continue to evolve.
You can now block while using a bow, adding more control to ranged fights. O.R.C. creatures have also picked up new abilities, including lasers and healing, making encounters less predictable.
We’ve also made improvements across the board:
- Reworked poison gas and related gear
- Smoother inventory navigation
- Clearer bandage healing values in menus
Seasonal Content: Easter
The Easter update is live alongside Beat the Heat.
Easter Eggs can now be found around the park, dropping marshmallows used in new Ranger Station recipes. Craft and eat s’mores for a sugar rush or build a Marshmallow Chair for your base when the recipe releases later this month (so stock up and start saving those marshmallows)!
Make the Park Your Own with Playgrounds
Playgrounds Mode is ready, giving you the tools to shape the park your way. Create arenas, challenges, puzzles, or anything you can imagine, then share your creations with the community.
You can also dive into a growing collection of player-built worlds that are already live and waiting to be explored.
A New Ominent Training Video has Appeared
Lead Community Scientist 347 and Field Intern 678 are here with a new mandatory update seminar for you to view as they discuss the new update.
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Grounded 2 is in Early Access, and we’re continuing to build the game alongside the community. This update brings in some of your requested features, along with new challenges to take on.
Jump in, take on King Dozer, and let us know how it feels. Join the Discord and help shape what comes next.
Patch Notes
Beat the Heat patch notes can be found here.