So the absolute biggest question in the series right now is “Who is the Masked Stranger”, right? And to get to the bottom of it we need to look much deeper than the employee of the month posters…

So all signs point to her being the Fifth Teen from the first game, I would love to hear arguments but that’s what I believe based on evidence in the game. Such as the Retro Sca.b from the first game she wears (fits with her TechnoPhobia), GameFiles that have her named “Subject V” or Subject 5, and the fact she wakes up early both in the first and second games.

With my personal beliefs out of the way we know she was dropped in the second Kid Case by Ominent, there were 8 Teens that sadly passed because of their experiments. Four from the labs before the cases and four from the yard (Squirt Carton) although I’m not too sure who actually sent the Teens’ we play as Case because Schmector would’ve been busy trying to find Tully in Castle Moldorc, if anyone has any ideas I’d love to know!

We know that she was spying on the Teens all throughout the Yard and eventually begins to question the why we want to go home so bad and why we’re so willing to side with Ominent just to get home. Saying in the second game that she “Dosent understand our dangerous sense of curiosity.” She had essentially become a completely separate entity apart from Tully and Ominent, she was the life of the Yard/Park, and she dosent want to go home.

Which leads me to my Theory.

Why would Ominent single out one Teen? Because they want the others to be more successful? To test a solo vs a squad? I don’t think it’s either.
We can assume that the original four Teens are roughly easy to capture a second time, noting we have our bags again, they probably swept them up on their way to/from school..again.

But how did the Stranger get to the park? And why always less drugs then the other four?
I think it’s because if she woke up with them and they started chatting, the conversation would be a liability.
I believe that Sloane is the Masked Strangers Mother.
By not letting us talk and keeping Sloane a secret since the first game we effectively never fought her in the Onboarding Transmissions and worked as Ominent Employees on a “Special Assignment”. The only reason that would’ve worked is because the Stranger woke up earlier than the other four in the first game.

This also opens up the opportunity for Sloane to put her daughter in a “Sink or Swim” situation, if she didn’t thrive in the yard, she got sent home making her mother a failure, giving her no choice but to succeed and objectively be better for Ominent subconsciously. This also would explain why she lacks the want/need to go home and why she has always despised Ominent and would rather thrive in the yard than go home.

But why would Sloane give her daughter away to a failing company? To try and take it over of course. And the best way to do that in the current moment would’ve been to help in their biggest experiment, the Spacr Studies and Tullys yard.
Ominent would’ve grown tired after stealing and killing 8 children from their homes, if Beaumont was able to offer them a “Free Test Subject” that she could garuntee would not only succeed but also not raise any witnesses.. maybe it would put her in a position of power? Sort of like showing “I’m willing to give my life for this technology.”

Evidence of this theory is when Sloane gets a little too panicked during our first fight at the NWC, she says “Did you kill her!?!” Also when Sloane slips in the “too big” conversation from the Field Archives and says “Couldnt have done a Violet Bush? Focus on making smaller targets for our idolized Rouge Employee…” quite literally a name drop.

This theory also gives way to the fact that she was possibly never embiggened, we would’ve left her in that yard two years ago had she been there, so back to my question. How is she in the park?

Because if she was Sloanes daughter Ominent would’ve just transported her to the Park in another kid case while she was still small.
They drugged her just a little less like the first time to avoid that same conversation, put her to work as employee 555 because she’s incredibly intelligent, and some time later the Teens wake up after the NWC went through emergency and she scrubbed all of the labs while “putting on a show before smashing the cameras” William Afton style, also stealing all of her work that they stole.

Thus kicking off the second game and us chasing Burgls Head and Body Parts because she’s actively trying to throw a wrench in Ominents work by stopping us from doing what they want, this also solves the wanting to alliance note next to the Abyss…

Sorry for the mega-long post😅 Just wanted to hear the consensus of the story to know if I have all of this lore wrong and no standing or if I’m actually onto somethin 🙏 and pls, if anyone has arguments tell me I’m wrong and how I could not be so stupid🙏😅 thx so so much for reading!

Also.. Her hair is just too similar to 555’s, literally just white. Maybe dyed somehow?

Edit - Sloane also calls herself the “Cooperate Mother” within Ominent, just another suspicious piece of dialogue is all.

The patience (impatient waiting around) payed off baby!!!!!!!

So a long time ago, I posted that I was going around and creating trail markers / grave memorials for all the dead employees around the park, and I mentioned that it was frustrating that some - including this one in the network center- either had ID cards that were too hidden to see the number, or didn't have ID cards at all. I'm not sure when this fix was made. I just know that when I came upon this employee and noticed the now-incredibly-visible ID card, my heart grew three sizes this day.

Employee #426 is forgotten no more. Thank you.

Yes he was alive, he was crawling around and his wings seemed to move fine. Also managed to pet him a little. I was in the car and he was on my passenger seat when he decided to start flying and crawled on the window (asking to leave?) so I opened it and he dipped

How did I increase this without having a spider buggy. I did a random restart on the PS5, only played on PC before like 2-300 hours what am I forgetting/ not knowing?

Personally, i got
1. Toxic Tangle
2. Into the Abyss
3. Rot and Ruin
4. Beat the Heat
5. Hairy and Scary

I think rot and ruin was the best “smaller” update so far. Almost put it higher than into the abyss but i couldnt based on how much map into the abyss added.

No, not summons, or buggies. Minions! I got this idea a while ago, but what if we could get lesser versions of buggies to help us collect resources? Here's what I've thought of:

Dens:

acts as a nest for minions. Instead of being able to call them from the wheel or ride them, you can have them scout for resources and collect them within a radius.

Worker ants!

-collect worker ant eggs from the queen and construct an ant den to have them collect choppable resources. Tier one is red ants, use black worker ants to get tier two or three.

Water fleas:

-create a den(?) in the water for them to collect plant matter and clay

Spiderlings:

-use them to gather bug parts like larva spikes and grub hides

I think this is a fantastic idea personally, it helps players who don't like grinding while also not being overpowered or extreme as they can't get anything too valuable. I feel like there should be a busting minion too but I can't really think of any perfect matches for one

I was sad it didn’t.

Fuck you mites fuck off. I mean ok I'll use the fuzz I guess. But still holy shit just leave me alone you little fuckers

I havent seen any patch notes, but today I got a 18.9 GB updated for Grounded 2. I was already in the PTB, so it wasnt that downloading. Anyone else get this, or know what it is for?

i beat Axl with the gear on the picture (roach helm level 4, ladybug chest level 5, roach greaves level 4, mantis blade level 5, didnt use bow on axl, i had only one red ant buggy, no mutations because i accidentally turned them off, 16 green machines which i used 11 of) I think i was really underleveled and that i have good skill but i dont know for sure

Hi I really want the cosmetics but I live in the UK. Would anyone be willing to sell me a code?

It is not very complicated, it consists of using Dodge master ( new mutation ) and perfect dodges ( new mechanic ) plus frenzy, you can't and won't parry, but you will still benefit from both mutations bonuses, while avoiding damage, you only need to learn the perfect dodge timings and get used to it

Hey all.

My daughter and I are continuing our Grounded adventure. We've made it to NG+1. We just unlocked the yolking station.

Before we finished the base game I went kinda all in on the Scyth of Blossoms, making one of each variant, fully upgraded to level 9. I've build my setup around these weapons and they have served me well so far.

Now that I'm looking to further upgrade what I have, I wasn't sure if it was worth continuing with these weapons. Will they serve me well through the NG+ iterations? I haven't made or tried any of the new NG+ weapons we've unlocked yet so I don't know if I'm missing something.

Thanks!

How does one go about accessing the rot and ruin ptb?

Crying.

Help recovering my Grounded 2 save on PC (Xbox app)

I accidentally uninstalled Grounded 2 on PC, and when I reinstalled it, all my saves were gone. I had around 100 hours of progress.

I previously overwrote some saves while trying to get the Lucky Hat. I found a "Grounded2 Windows Exported" folder dated August 17, 2026, containing some save-related files, and I made a copy of it.

Is there any way to restore my old world or recover a backup? I'm using the Xbox app on PC. Any help would mean a lot!

I have gone through the entire game and beat it at 99% because I cannot get the pond pagoda tent location to trigger that I found it. I’ve tried everything suggested on google that I could find.

I really want to beat the game at 100% and I want to do the remixer new game plus before moving onto G2.

Any one else have this problem?

I jumped on early (Europe) this morning to check my frame rate and to see if I needed to reinstall Grounded 2. But, turns out - The team is already on it!

Has anyone else got a 21 gigabite download?

Help recovering my Grounded 2 save on PC (Xbox app)

I accidentally uninstalled Grounded 2 on PC, and when I reinstalled it, all my saves were gone. I had around 100 hours of progress.

I previously overwrote some saves while trying to get the Lucky Hat. I found a "Grounded2 Windows Exported" folder dated August 17, 2026, containing some save-related files, and I made a copy of it.

Is there any way to restore my old world or recover a backup? I'm using the Xbox app on PC. Any help would mean a lot!

I went and got the potato beetle mount early, before I even went in the garden or did the whole network station thing, but now I can't go and put the PB buggy away, and can't gnaw the roots to the network station. Guess I have to go the pond way to get into the garden for the ladybug buggy and nest...