Is Wendell a generally nice guy who got in over his head as a result of his unchecked ambition, or was he always a Jerkass who deserved what he came to him before and during the game? The full release seems to imply the former, as several later notes and data logs establish that Wendell has had a long time to think and come to a My God, What Have I Done? conclusion about how he's neglected his family.
Hoops, despite her optimistic attitude and sporty personality, seems to be stuck in an abusive household depending on how one interprets her voice lines. She mentions to Pete that her parents refuse to let her eat any form of junk food (including coffee) or play video games, and that her parents basically forced her to become an athelete. Moreover, while in the Termite Den, Hoops tells Willow that her house got infested with the aforementioned creatures and her grandmother made Hoops eat all the food so the bugs wouldn't taint it, which is supported by a line that Hoops begrudgingly mutters when she eats items like cookies or apples found in the yard consisting of "Can't waste food...can't waste food!", and the poor girl sounds like she's almost crying while choking it down. Willow actually seems reluctant and unsure how to respond to Hoops about it, even after Hoops quickly adds it was the best day of her life. Assuming the above is true, then how much of Hoops's happy-go-lucky personality is genuine? Is it just who she is, or is it her coping mechanism as a result of her upbringing?
Annoying Video Game Helper: Once you rescue Dr. Tully from the Undershed Lab, they follow you around and attack O.R.C. insects that come into view with a charged electric orb projectile. You are not immune to these electric orb projectiles. They also have collision, causing your attacks (especially arrows) to hit them instead, or just otherwise get in your way.
The main theme, an ominous synth packed track that will get you ready to venture into the backyard
The Broodmother's boss theme: Mother. A "Psycho" Strings laden, Ominous Latin Chanting belting, orchestral masterpiece unlike any other track in the game. Fitting for the game's first official boss fight.
Part Man, Part Ant. A dramatic 90s beat when the teens go up against the Mant in the Shed lab. It's upbeat, intense, and catchy!
Danger Dumplings plays the moment any of the five spiders aggros and locks onto you, and it really does scream "DANGER!". The devs knew that the spiders would be menacing enough to players that it would warrant getting their own theme.
Stronger Than You Think We Are plays whenever you fight a Black Ox Beetle or Wasps. A heavily percussion based song, with timpanis punctuating the battle and a low tone synth providing the melody. A perfect tune for a tank sized bug and a decked out teen circling each other in a fight to the death.
Fight of the Orchid is a shared theme between the Mantis and the Wasp Queen. The first half sets the intense atmosphere with a lower toned symphony. The second half turns it into a more optimistic and higher pitched tune, backed up with choir. Almost as if the music is encouraging you in your fight against these two titans.
Demonic Spiders: Quite fittingly, the spiders themselves are these, who can instantly kill you if you're caught without any armor, and can slash you to bits fairly quickly otherwise. Some other specific examples:
The most infamous of these are the Wolf Spiders, whose patrol routes include the biome you spawn in (though thankfully as of the Hot and Hazy update they don't spawn here during the first couple days) and whose very damaging strikes also inflict venom for damage over time. If they hit you more than once at a time, or they hit you with their damaging lunging attack, you're likely to end up dead from the venom, even if you have good enough armor to survive the first few blows. You can gain a mutation that provides up to 75% resistance to their venom... if you manage to kill five different Wolf Spiders first.note By 'different,' that means you have to kill five Wolf Spiders who spawn at five different parts of the map - you can't wait for them to respawn and farm them in one area
If you plug up the weed killer canister in the Haze biome, Infected Wolf Spiders will start to show up. They're every bit as dangerous and deadly as they sound - they're even hardier than normal wolf spiders, are almost always patrolling their spawn areas since they never sleep, have even faster, harder-hitting melee attacks, and their jumping lunge attack now causes an explosion when it lands, dealing tremendous damage even when attempting to block it and while wearing the game's best armor sets. Unlike regular wolf spiders, they also possess a ranged attack in the form of an explosive spore shot. If it doesn't hit you directly, dealing heavy explosive damage, it sticks to the surface of where it lands, becoming a fungal land mine that detonates if you get too close. While thankfully rare, one notably spawns outside the Oak Lab making returning future BURG.L chips and scavenging acorn materials much more dangerous, especially for players who haven't visited the upper yard before plugging the weed killer canister.
Diving Bell Spiders. These horrors are the main reason you shouldn't go dipping your toes in the pond until you're ready - they're very quick swimmers, can catch up to players without Fin Flops easily, and do sizeable chunks of damage even when blocking. Furthermore, as you only encounter them underwater, you don't have many means of defending yourself beyond daggers or spears, the better-tiered ones of which require you to obtain materials found in the depths of the pond... where the Diving Bells are most plentiful.
Mosquitos. Peppered throughout the swampier areas of the map and on the rims of the pond, these terrors do massive damage with their pointed sharp beaks, are very difficult to shake off your trail due to being able to fly around and above terrain, are nigh impossible to fight with melee weapons due to bobbing and weaving while flying out of your reach, and have a dive-bomb attack that deals significant damage even with good armor, enough to one-shot players wearing lower-tier armor or none at all. There are also Tiger Mosquitos in the upper yard, an Underground Monkey variant which boasts even more health and damage. Bees are similarly-dangerous flying threats, although they are generally neutral unless provoked if attacked or if their hive is approached.
Stinkbugs. They're massive, can leap towards players quickly and attack using noxious gas that quickly drains your health unless you've got smoothie buffs or a Weevil Gas Mask to combat the effects, the latter of which makes you more susceptible to its powerful physical attacks due to it lacking any sort of defense boost. The Upper Yard brings their own version of Stinkbugs, Green Shield Bugs, taking everything Stinkbugs do but far more of it (even a highly upgraded Gas Mask will be heavily damaged after a fight with just one of them!)
Infected Ladybugs. Exclusive to the Haze biome, these mutants are always hostile, as opposed to normal Ladybugs which are neutral until provoked. They can quickly catch up to players and deal pretty scary damage with their melee attacks, much like normal Ladybugs, but what makes them truly dangerous is their bomb salvo attack - every few seconds they shoot out four fungus bombs in random directions, which explode after a second and a half, dealing massive unblockable damage. It's very easy to lose track of where these bombs go and end up getting two-shot even with decent armor, especially in the cramped confines of the Haze Lab, where you are required to defeat one (among other dangerous enemies, which you should absolutely take out first in order to stand a chance) to obtain the biome's BURG.L chip.
Ladybirds. Essentially the Upper Grasslands equivalent of the ladybug, except tougher, more plentiful, more aggressive with its attacks that tend to knock you back if you parry them, and always hostile, unlike its neutral cousin in the lower yard.
Antlions. You really shouldn't be traipsing around in the Sandbox until you're Crazy-Prepared, because the Antlion Monsters that dwell within are immensely dangerous, very quick and can deal wide-range, very-high-damage pincer attacks that can two-shot players wearing even the best currently-available armor sets. They can also burrow underneath you and attack while emerging, dealing insane amounts of damage and stunning you long enough for them to get the fatal blow. To give you an idea, wolf spiders can also occasionally be found prowling about the Sandbox, and antlions will instigate fights with them... and win. Fighting one is difficult enough, but the sandbox is absolutely rife with these threats, making it absolutely possible to be chased down by a whole pack of antlions. Furthermore, unless you engage them at nighttime, you take constant environmental sizzling damage, unless you're wearing the armor set or buffed by the meal that is... oh dear... made from Antlion parts.
Naturally, the ones nestled in their burrows are even worse, to the point where each one could be considered a Boss in Mook Clothing. They inexplicably have higher health bars and throw out melee attacks that are just as deadly as their walking counterparts. Trying to cheese them by sniping them with arrows from the outer rim? Not only do they have heavy damage resistance to arrows, prolonging the fight, they also toss black ant corpses at you with blinding speed, which for some reason is one of the most damaging attacks in the game. They can also toss sand at you, causing you to sink down to melee range. If you want to access the antlion burrows, and therefore the best loot the Sandbox has to offer, you'll really have to earn your keep.
Goddamn Bats: All variants of larvae. A single larva isn't usually a problem on its own, but they often travel in groups, meaning you can get easily swarmed if you're not careful. One particular cave not too far from spawn houses dozens of larvae, making picking them off one-by-one a must. Infected variants in the haze have a larger aggro range, and can use an explosive goop attack that bypasses shields and outright kills players with lower-tiered armor. Ladybird larvae found in the upper yard are even hardier, can hide underground and emerge when players get too close, have an irritating habit of dodging backwards away from your melee strikes, and cause sizzle buildup on hit, which can lead to them quickly roasting you to death if they get enough licks in.
Soldier ants. Unlike regular ants, they are naturally hostile to players who aren't wearing full sets of red ant armor, and if a soldier ant engages in combat, nearby worker ants will automatically aggro against its target as well. These guys make traversing the Red Anthill near-suicidal without a set of red ant armor (parts of which, of course, include mandibles obtained from killing said soldier ants). While naturally neutral, red and black worker ants also have a nasty habit of finding their way into your bases and eating or stealing your food if left out in the open.
Black and fire soldier ants are even worse because their respective armor sets will not fool them - they will still attack you on site (and in the case of the former, rally other nearby black worker ants against you), making them especially dangerous. Fire worker ants and termite workers are also always hostile and have a ranged acid-spitting attack that reduces your defense, although they are mostly limited to the upper yard.
After meeting up with Dr. Tully and escorting him to the JavaMatic, you'll start to see O.R.C. versions of hostile insects throughout the yard. These insects have mind-control devices planted on them by Director Schmector and his research team at Ominent Labs, which drastically increases their aggro range, to the point where if one spawns on the map, they likely already know where you are and are making a beeline towards you. Thankfully, the more dangerous ones are reserved for the JavaMatic defense event, but you can still occasionally be assailed by O.R.C. Orb Weaver Jrs out of nowhere.
Nightmare Retardant: Deliberately invoked with the arachnophobia mode as an accessibility option, that scales back the spideriness of the spiders, with the maximum potential of them looking like floating white blobs. Lampshaded in the Shroom And Doom Trailer when discussing the Broodmother.
She's so terrifying... you should probably turn on arachnophobia mode! [Beat] (The settings change to enable arachnophobia mode.) Euugh! Even her blob scares the S@*T out of us!
Scrappy Mechanic: Corpses of non-aquatic mobs and some pieces of bug loot that fall into water have a chance to become 'water damaged', resulting in you gaining no loot from them. This appears to be put in place to prevent cheesing most hostile mobs by ducking in and out of the water where they can't reach you, but it can be annoying if you're trying to gain food or crafting materials, only to have it randomly deleted because the bug died in a bad spot over a bed of water.
Certain types of bugs and loot are only located in one specific biome and almost nowhere else. Want to farm acorn parts and berry chunks? You'll have to go out of your way to backtrack to the oak tree or the hedge several times, since they're exclusive to those areas. Some resources can be especially bothersome to try and farm - see That One Component below for examples of those.
Spiritual Adaptation: A bunch of teens get shrunk to tiny size and have to survive in a backyard, harvesting discarded food and fighting bugs. Sound familiar?
That One Component: Several resources are incredibly time-consuming and frustrating to obtain:
Red ant eggs. With a couple exceptions, you can only generally find them deep within the red anthill, and picking them up immediately aggros all nearby red ants regardless of whether or not you're disguised in their armor set. They also don't appear unless the amount of ants in the colony is low, forcing you to cull several red ants to obtain them. Worse still, if you take too long, they'll hatch into worker or, rarely, soldier ants, even while they're sitting in your inventory. Many mandatory paths to complete the game are hidden behind walls that can only be blown up with bombs made from red ant eggs, so you'll need to gather a few at some point.
Lint. Sure, there’s a few more places you can get the stuff than other examples here… but the only relatively safe place is the Abandoned Garden Glove, and you barely get any from there, only enough for two Lint Ropes. You could try and head to the doormat on the shed porch, but that area is littered with dust mites and overly aggressive Black Ants. Or you could try the insulation in the Undershed, which is detailed further below under That One Level.
EverChar Coal Chunks. Almost all of these are found in the BBQ Spill biome, and their resource nodes build up Sizzle so quickly they can cook you alive in less than a second if you're not wearing antlion armor or have mutations or food buffs active. Even with as much sizzle defense as the game allows, you'll constantly be running back and forth between hammer strikes to avoid getting burned up, making collecting them extremely tedious and time-consuming. Considering they're a vital ingredient in creating ovens, which are used to make higher-level upgrade materials for weapons and armor, you'll likely be spending a lot more time farming these than you'll want to.
Twinkling Shells. They're part of the crafting recipe for the final tier of weapon upgrades, and they're only dropped by Scarabs, who appear very rarely and randomly around the shed in the upper yard. As soon as they take damage, they dart away very quickly and soon burrow into the ground, despawning from the map. You essentially have to make elemental arrows to kill them, as even a highly-upgraded Black Ox Crossbow with Splinter Arrows won't down them in one shot and you won't be able to reload before it gets away. An upgraded Insect Bow can fire off more quickly, but considering it moves extremely fast after taking damage it can be very difficult to land that second shot. There is a small area in game where several of them spawn and can't escape you, but that area is a plastic pipe in the Undershed biome only reachable by a parkour sequence that practically demands a dandelion.
The Haze. Essentially off-limits until you procure a gas mask, and once you do, you get to contend with all sorts of dangerous infected critters, exploding spore pods, and infected critters that shoot exploding spore pods at you, all the while trying to navigate through the dense yellow fog and avoid or traverse the vast chasms that snake through the biome, housing even more deadly infected bugs. If you decide to plug up the weed killer canister and remove the toxic haze, the influence of the Cordyceps strain begins to spread across the yard, meaning infected bug variants will now show up in all sorts of places. Even with the haze cleared it still houses several underground caverns full of orb weavers and wolf spiders waiting in the wings to tear you to shreds. It's also one of the four biomes that contain a Super BURG.L chip necessary to complete the game, so you have to go through it at some point.
The Undershed. 80% of the biome is shrouded in darkness, which sheaths the many black ox beetles, termites, and wolf spiders within. If you're not careful, you'll plummet into a ravine housing several dozen orb weavers, who will gleefully gang up on you and rip you apart if not taken out one-by-one. After progressing for a bit, you'll come across a sinkhole flanked by droves of mosquitos. Trying to avoid them by jumping in the water? Prepare to get swarmed by dozens of spiky water fleas, who will instantly be aware of your presence the second you dip your toes in. Shortly after, in order to progress, you must traverse through a webbed cave housing a Black Widow spider (though, mercifully, you don't have to kill it to progress, meaning you can attempt to sneak by or make a mad dash for the other side if it spots you, and if you are able to kill it, it will never respawn) and several smaller spiderlings that can poison you on hit. This all culminates in an encounter with the Mant, who has a rather predictable pattern but takes ages to wear down.
, an ominous synth packed track that will get you ready to venture into the backyard