Grounded 2’s Beat the Heat update arrives today, introducing the biggest, fiercest and hottest boss the game has seen yet, alongside a host of other new content and major improvements around the park. It marks a momentous occasion for the Grounded community, which has been requesting the addition of a lizard for a long time. To find out more, we stopped by Obsidian to speak with Chris Parker, Grounded 2 Game Director, about how the team designed this colossal new boss on a whole new scale (pun intended) with player needs in mind.

Introducing King Dozer – The Grounded series’ Largest Boss

The mighty King Dozer presents a hefty new challenge for even the park’s most fearless adventurers, and one you’ll need to be prepared for. A giant, horned lizard inspired by medieval fantasy, he’s the biggest boss in the Grounded series yet.

“When we are developing biomes and updates, we like to have ideas and themes that we use foundationally – that we can build everything else around,” Parker tells us. “Even if those themes don’t end up being in the player’s face, they still provide a rallying motif to the team and help ensure consistency.”

The theme for the Toxic Tangle update, released back in January, was all about fairytale fantasy. Every area in that update, from the biomes to the challenges – began with some sort of element that reflected a fantasy fairytale story, according to Parker. Introducing the lizard, King Dozer, as the fairytale dragon for Beat the Heat felt like the perfect complement to the update that came before it.

It’s this dragon inspiration that carries King Dozer’s design, from his looming, magical appearance to his toasty gameplay mechanics. Just like the massive medieval dragons found in folklore, King Dozer is Grounded 2’s largest and most formidable opponent.,  His super-heated lair keeps him toasty, and he loves to munch on Grounded’s Hot Cha Chas spicy candy found throughout the park.

“When we started working on the King Dozer fight, we spent time talking about ‘what would a lizard do?’ Our answer to that was that they’d want to find a nice warm place to hang out,” Parker explains. “This led us to wonder ‘what happens if the player can make the environment cold?’ Eventually that got us to the design you see in the game today where King Dozer thrives in the sizzling environment and the player is constantly challenged to cool down his arena to both protect themself and keep Dozer from being buffed.

“No other fights in Grounded 2 work like this, where the players’ tactics involve interacting with the environment.”

King Dozer’s moves are also based on a Horned Lizard – tiny, spiny reptiles that have their own instincts and behaviour. This type of lizard has a defence mechanic where it literally shoots blood out of its eyes – a move that the Grounded team tweaked and turned into more a spicy defensive squirt from the eyes to hinder players.

“Then much of the rest of the design comes from filling in holes around ideas like these; how fast should it move and turn, how will it melee, and can it use its tail to defend its flanks,” Parker adds.

All boss fights in Grounded 2 require a degree of preparation, and King Dozer is no different. In fact, his environmental quirks mean you’ll need to consider how to protect yourself from his sweltering swipes. Make sure your armor and weapons are repaired and upgraded, and you’re stocked up on healing supplies. Parker says you’ll want to focus on equipment that’ll protect you from that sizzle, while doling out minty damage, which King Dozer is susceptible to.

Defeating King Dozer will grant players a new suit of armor to craft, also inspired by medieval knight plate mail, a matching shield, and a host of items to decorate your base with, including a lizard-themed fireplace. The weapons and armor specialize in dealing out massive amounts of spicy damage, just like King Dozer himself, so you’ll not want to bring them back when you fight him again!

You’ll also be able to take a Buggy into the fight to help you out, freshly buffed out via the new Buggy progression system introduced as part of the Beat the Heat update.

Buggies, Evolved

The Grounded team’s ultimate goal with Buggies is to make them feel viable across every aspect of play, not just a pack mule for travel and gathering up materials.

“That’s why they traverse, harvest, gather, build, and fight. What we knew going into this though, was that if we didn’t have Buggy progression, the Buggies would become obsolete,” Parker tells us. “We knew that nobody would be able, or want to, use a Red Ant Soldier beyond early areas of the game, and we didn’t want that. We wanted players to be able to either level those beloved Buggies up and/or get new stronger Buggies.”

This is where the progression system comes in – giving all Buggies in the game options to become more powerful, gain new skills or build out their existing ones, which are unique to each creature. For example, since Black Ants are sour insects and shoot sour blobs, that’s what Black Ant Soldiers do too – using their Tang Spit ability to disrupt enemies and break apart environmental objects.  

As you collect the Moldy Milk Molars found throughout the park, you’ll be able to invest them into your Buggy to improve things like stamina, health, and inventory capacity. Paired with the ability to unlock passive mutations for your Buggy, they will enhance how your Buggy functions as a core part of you team rather than just a mount. “The current progression system is fairly basic, but it also represents the core of how we want this feature to work,” Parker says. “We want all Buggies in a given family to have similar tier abilities. For example, a Tier 3 Red Ant Soldier should be similarly powerful to a Tier 3 Black Ant Soldier.”

“For now, with those basics in place, we can start working with and collecting feedback from the community and figuring out how this system will evolve in the future. We know it will not only allow for higher tier progression, but we think some other fun additions to the tiering-up process will make it a lot more intriguing.”

Explore the Sinkhole Anthill

There’s also a brand-new spot to explore with your buffed out Buggies – a mysterious landmark called the Sinkhole Anthill has appeared, containing new discoveries and opportunities for those brave enough to peek inside. Additionally, some O.R.C. experiments have gone awry, so you might run into some creatures with bizarre behaviour or abilities that differ from the norm. Between this new landmark, the formidable King Dozer, and lots of smaller tweaks across the board, Grounded 2 is beckoning you back to the park once more.

The Beat the Heat update arrives in Grounded 2 today. To get the full rundown on all of the content and changes coming, head on over to the Obsidian blog. Grounded 2 is available in Game Preview for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, ROG Xbox Ally handhelds, Xbox Cloud, with Game Pass, and in Early Access on Steam. And with Xbox Play Anywhere, a single purchase lets you play with Xbox consoles and Xbox on PC with full cross-saves – at no additional cost.  

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Shrunk again, but the world is much larger. Survive a sprawling open world alone or in co-op with friends. Craft weapons, forge armor, and build bases while exploring the park on your trusty Buggy mounts. Unravel hidden mysteries and face unexpected threats. But something else is out there—and it hasn’t forgotten you.
Shrunk to the size of an ant, you’ll find once-familiar spaces turned into a sprawling, uncharted frontier. Survive alone or in co-op with friends, crafting weapons, forging armor, and building bases as you explore manmade playgrounds overgrown by nature. Traverse this new realm on trusty Buggy mounts—your capable allies—and uncover the mysteries lurking beneath bright colors and towering structures. But stay wary: something else is out there, and it hasn’t forgotten you.

Survive, Adapt, Overcome
The world is relentless, but so are you. Shape your adventure with unique archetypes, each offering distinct abilities to match your playstyle. Whether you rely on precision, cunning, or sheer strength, you’ll need every advantage to survive against the threats lurking in the park.

Stronger Together
The perils of the park are daunting alone, but with friends, every challenge becomes an adventure. Work together to build, fight, and uncover the secrets buried beneath the grass. Whether you’re facing danger side by side or continuing your journey in a shared world, survival is always better with allies.

Because Walking is Bogus
They scurry, they fight, and now—they help you survive. Hatch, raise, and ride your own insect friends – Buggies! Saddle up and traverse through the park, fight on them or alongside them in battle, or use them to gather resources and build your base. The right partner could mean the difference between thriving and barely surviving.

A Shadow That Follows You
The threat is always there—watching, learning, waiting. You don’t know where it’s coming from, only that it never leaves. The deeper you dig, the closer it gets. Some mysteries should stay buried, but it’s too late now. It knows you’re looking. And it’s ready. Every answer drags you deeper, every step invites something closer. You were never alone. You thought you were in control. You were wrong.