Grounded 2 Toxic Tangle Update: Release, PTB and Changes
Short version: The Toxic Tangle went live on January 27, 2026, 14 days after its public test build (0.3.0.1) opened on January 13. Obsidian's notes list exact before-and-after numbers for the Fabulous Femur, Pinchwhacker and two shock damage values. Eight later announcements, from a hotfix on January 29 to the Rot and Ruin update (0.6.0) on October 20, changed parts of what it added, mostly the Ladybug Buggy. This page lines them up by version.
What changed: Before → Toxic Tangle update
| Area | Before | Toxic Tangle update | What it means for you | Official line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fabulous Femur trinket | Trigger chance 20%, crit buff 50%, buff duration 5 seconds | Trigger chance 7%, crit buff 25%, buff duration 3 seconds | The notes give all three values as "reduced from" the old number. They don't say which build the old numbers came from. | Trigger chance reduced from 20% -> 7% Crit buff reduced from 50% -> 25% Buff duration reduced from 5 -> 3 seconds |
| Pinchwhacker | Base Damage 33, Stun 7 | Base Damage 30, Stun 6 | The notes give both values as "reduced from" the old number. They give no units for Stun. | Base Damage reduced from 33 -> 30 Stun was reduced from 7 → 6 |
| Shock damage | Volatile Capacitor 15, Shellshocker Shield 45 | Volatile Capacitor 10, Shellshocker Shield 30 | The notes give both values as "reduced from" the old number, with no further detail. | Volatile Capacitor Shock Damage reduced from 15 → 10 Shellshocker Shield Shock Damage reduced from 45 -> 30. |
| Mutations | Not stated in the notes | Split into active and passive. Passives apply automatically from your weapon loadout; actives still need to be equipped and swapped | The notes say: "There will be more passive mutations coming throughout development." The 0.4.0 notes say: "Passive mutations guide added to the Mutations Survival Guide." | There will be more passive mutations coming throughout development. Passive mutations guide added to the Mutations Survival Guide. |
| Pebblet path cost | Not stated in the notes | Pebblet path and curved pebblet path cost 3 pebblets | The notes list this under Community Requested & QOL Features. | Updated the pebblet path and curved pebblet path cost to 3 pebblets |
| Unique weapons | Not stated in the notes | Unique weapons can be crafted at the workbench | Not stated in the notes beyond the line itself. | Unique weapons can now be crafted via the workbench |
| Sour Seed | The Sour Seed could vanish after a save/load | Corrected; a lost Sour Seed respawns after you sleep | The Jan 29 hotfix notes say: "Fixed an issue where the Sour Seed being planted wasn't counted toward quest progression." | Corrected an issue where the Sour Seed would vanish after a Save/Load. If you’ve lost the Sour Seed, it will respawn after you’ve slept. Fixed an issue where the Sour Seed being planted wasn't counted toward quest progression. |
| Seasonal decorations | Not stated in the notes | Seasonal decorations can remain in your base past their respective holiday months without resulting in a crash | The notes list this under Bug Fixes. | Seasonal decorations can remain in your base past their respective holiday months without resulting in a crash. |
Short version
Obsidian called The Toxic Tangle “the first major content update for Grounded 2”. It added the Garden biome, the Ladybug Buggy, new creatures, a Masked Stranger boss fight and a Snake Colossus. It went live on Jan 27, 2026 (UTC).
All dates below are UTC announcement dates from Obsidian’s Steam announcements. We checked every quote against copies of those announcements saved on Nov 6, 2026. For every other update and the gaps between them, see our Grounded 2 update schedule. For the August 11, 2026 pond update, see Into the Abyss. For two later patch pages, see Patch 0.5.0.5 and Patch 0.5.1. The game page is here.
Public test to release
| Step | Date | Days since previous |
|---|---|---|
| Public test build 0.3.0.1 | Jan 13 | – |
| Second test post, names the release date | Jan 15 | 2 |
| Release | Jan 27 | 12 |
The test build came 14 days before release. The Jan 15 post said: “the full release of The Toxic Tangle update on January 27th”. The release post doesn’t give a version number. The first test post calls the test “optional”.
Later patches that changed it
This is the part the release notes can’t give you. Each row is a later Steam announcement that changed something The Toxic Tangle added. Version numbers are as Obsidian titled the posts.
| Patch | Date | What it changed |
|---|---|---|
| Hotfix 0.3.0.2.6971 | Jan 29 | Mysterious Stranger scanner, Sour Seed quest progress |
| Patch 0.3.0.3 | Feb 11 | Earwig blocking, Ladybug damage, Cactus Flowers, O.R.C. waves |
| Beat the Heat 0.4.0 | Apr 14 | Ladybug Buggy fixes and mutations, Rust Beetles, passive mutation guide |
| Patch 0.4.0.2 | Apr 28 | Busting resources on the Ladybug Buggy |
| Patch 0.4.1 | May 27 | Ladybug ram attack |
| Into the Abyss 0.5.0 | Aug 11 | Bardic Inspiration, Garden Boss, Sour Spills, Ladybug mutation |
| Patch 0.5.1 | Sep 24 | Ladybug Reservoir, “End on a Sour Note” challenge |
| Rot and Ruin 0.6.0 | Oct 20 | Ladybug Buggy on web bridges, the Scarecrow and the Ladybug Nest |
The original lines, one per row:
- Hotfix 0.3.0.2.6971 (Jan 29, post): “The scanner to start the fight with the Mysterious Stranger should now spawn normally in all instances.” and “Fixed an issue where the Sour Seed being planted wasn’t counted toward quest progression.”
- Patch 0.3.0.3 (Feb 11, post): “Earwig attacks have been changed to now allow perfect blocking on certain attacks”. “Fixed an issue where the ladybug could deal significantly more damage than intended”. “Resolved an issue where Cactus Flowers had trouble spawning on older saves”. “Corrected ORC Waves so they now spawn in the correct scenarios”.
- Beat the Heat 0.4.0 (Apr 14, post): “Fixed an issue where the Ladybug Buggy’s health would scale with nearby player count.” “Block on Lock: The Ladybug Buggy’s block reduces incoming attack damage.” “Fixed an issue where Rust Beetles would be immune to the sizzle status effect.” “Passive mutations guide added to the Mutations Survival Guide.”
- Patch 0.4.0.2 (Apr 28, post): “It should now be easier to bust resources on the Ladybug Buggy”.
- Patch 0.4.1 (May 27, post): “Fixed an issue with Ladybug ram attack dealing multiple hits while sprinting around the King Dozer hitboxes.”
- Into the Abyss 0.5.0 (Aug 11, post): “Fixed a bug where Bardic Inspiration buffs were not granted to Buggies and other Teens, and added more info to mutations description.” “Fixed an issue where the Garden Boss posed no challenge to the sizzle mage build.” “Fixed an issue where Sour Spills would reappear after some time despite being cleaned up by the player.” The post also lists “Turret Master” under Ladybug in “New and Updated Buggy Mutations”.
- Patch 0.5.1 (Sep 24, post): “Fixed an issue where it was impossible to fill the Ladybug Buggy’s Reservoir with Pond Water.” “Fixed an issue where the “End on a Sour Note” Challenge would not count as completed if the Garden Boss died after the Player due to Damage Over Time.”
- Rot and Ruin 0.6.0 (Oct 20, post): “Fixed an issue where riding a Ladybug Buggy across a web bridge would not trigger an ambush.” “Fixed an issue where mounting a Ladybug Buggy on the Scarecrow teleported the player outside the playable area.” “Fixed an issue where a Ladybug Buggy spawned from Design Objects couldn’t be deposited into the Ladybug Nest.”
What this means for players now
Only what the notes say:
- Five later posts name the Ladybug Buggy in a fix or change line: 0.4.0, 0.4.0.2, 0.5.0, 0.5.1 and Rot and Ruin 0.6.0, as quoted above. 0.3.0.3 and 0.4.1 say “ladybug” without “Buggy”.
- The Jan 27 notes list a Sour Seed fix. The Jan 29 hotfix notes list another one, for quest progress.
- The Patch 0.5.1 notes say: “Fixed an issue where it was impossible to fill the Ladybug Buggy’s Reservoir with Pond Water.” The Toxic Tangle notes say: “refill your reservoir at water sources around the park”.
- In the copies we saved on Nov 6, 2026, no later announcement up to Patch 0.6.0.5 (Nov 4, 2026) lists new numbers for the Fabulous Femur, Pinchwhacker, Volatile Capacitor or Shellshocker Shield.
Is The Toxic Tangle the Winter Update?
Lines in Obsidian’s own posts use the name.
The Dec 3, 2025 December Feature Update post says: “Feature Updates are different from Content Updates (like the Winter Update, more news coming in January 2026).” The same post says “Tier 4 is coming in the Winter Update!” about Coziness, and “More features to the PEEP.R will be added in the Winter Update!”
The Jan 27, 2026 Toxic Tangle release notes say, under Public Test Fixes: “Resolved an issue where the Grass Side Table would disappear when updating to the Winter Update.”
Obsidian has not said in a post that The Toxic Tangle and the Winter Update are the same update.
In the copies we saved on Nov 6, 2026, no announcement posted after Jan 27, 2026 mentions a Winter Update.
How we checked this
We read the Toxic Tangle release post, its two public test posts, the December 2025 post and every later Grounded 2 announcement up to Patch 0.6.0.5 (Nov 4, 2026), from copies of Obsidian’s Steam announcements saved on Nov 6, 2026, and checked each quote above word for word against them. We haven’t played the update to test these changes ourselves. If Obsidian has posted newer patches that touch Toxic Tangle content since then, they are not listed here.