Released in early access in July of 2020 and often referred to as “Honey I Shrunk the Kids, the game,” Obsidian Entertainment‘s Grounded represented a unique survival crafter. After a couple years of additional development and expansion, it released fully in late 2022, and later on additional platforms in 2024. While its content offering was rather slim initially, Grounded evolved into a fully-featured, beloved game in the genre.
A surprise during Xbox‘s summer showcase this year, Grounded 2 was announced with a very near “game preview” release date of July 29th. With hundreds of hours of time spent in the backyard in Grounded, our guest contributor, Mariano Pompa, headed to the park to see how Obsidian had expanded the sandbox. Grab your Omni-Tool, and let’s dig in.
To Brookhollow Park!
One of the most notable expansions in Grounded 2 is sheer size and scope. While Grounded had you occupying the backyard, the sequel lets you explore an entire park. Of course, in its current early-access state, a good chunk of it isn’t accessible today. But even in its current state, it’s about the same size as the entirety of the original. While it doesn’t have the full range of variety as the original at the moment, it still features a number of charming accents. Litter and trash are still prevalent, not only adding visual hues and variety but also creating different biomes for you to explore. Already, these include a gaseous underground, frozen wasteland, and more.
Immediately apparent is the improvement in fidelity. Lighting in the park is beautiful, creating an improved sense of immersion while the effective day and night cycle returns…and yes, night time can still feel like a horror game. Some of the returning bugs have seen improvements, and there’s a good variety of new bugs to study, attack, and be attacked by as well. Seeing butterflies, caterpillars, cockroaches, scorpions, snails, and more join the fray is excellent, which, of course, leads to more equipment that can be crafted over time. Each of these is rendered beautifully and are always fun to encounter. OK, maybe not the roaches. It’s worth noting there are some bugs that haven’t returned from the original, but it’s likely merely due to the early-access state.
Enjoying the park in your own way is supported broadly with three different difficulty levels, a creative mode, and, eventually, custom sliders. You can still swap between first and third-person, and there is also a fidelity or performance mode toggle, an FOV slider, and extensive accessibility options. There’s also a much stronger sense of on-boarding for teaching players the ropes this time around, which is very welcome. Thankfully, the world map has also seen a sharp improvement and is infinitely more usable than in the original.
While we recognize that Grounded 2 is in early-access, we did see notable performance issues at times. Generally, gameplay is smooth, but in some later areas or more intensive engagements, the framerate can stutter quite badly. We also experienced several crashes along the way, so make sure you’re saving your game often!
Who Doesn’t Want to Ride an Ant?
After spending a few dozen hours in Grounded 2, it becomes apparent just how much more extensive character building is than in the original. Right out of the gate, you’re introduced to the new Omni-Tool which replaces four tools from the original (the axe, hammer, shovel, and wrench) and combines them into a single, upgradeable item. Accessing Ranger Stations allows you to utilize Raw Sciennnnnccccceeeeee and resources to plan your upgrades which enables expanding access to new materials and gear.
Crafting is handled similarly to the original but, as expected, has expanded in ways. With the addition of new bugs comes new armors, weapons, and specializations. Crafting a loadout that focuses on a specific aspect of your play style is not only easier with more available options than before, but doing so is often necessary to navigate the later and more dangerous areas of the park. Some of these, such as the snail armor, provide greater defense while new options for weaponry, such as dual-wielding, adds greater variety. During combat you’re also now able to dash in addition to parrying, so while the combat remains relatively simple, you’re a bit more versatile now.
Base-building continues to be expansive and enjoyable, but it’s also an aspect that is very similar to the original. So, for those aiming to create a grass-walled mansion that would be the envy of 7mm kids everywhere, you’ll have to wait for further additions to get excited, I’m afraid.
But by far the most fun new addition is mounts. There are two available in early-access: A red soldier ant and, eventually, an orb weaver spider. Both can be used to race across the park, making navigation and longer exploration a lot more enjoyable. They can also store their own items, battle other bugs with you (or while mounted), and will come to you when called. Their versatility adds a lot to the moment-to-moment gameplay, and I’m really excited to see how they continue to expand their use in time. Flying mounts, eventually? We can hope.
All of your item, character, and resource management is handled through your new device that looks shockingly like a NES Power Glove. The inventory and radial menus return but with more detail and descriptions which, again, make this sequel feel deeper even in its current state, which I personally enjoy a lot.
Story
Once Grounded reached its full 1.0 release, it told a fun and surprisingly memorable story. Grounded 2 is a direct continuation of the events in Grounded, and as such, returning players will recognize various story beats, characters, and callbacks. In its current state, Grounded 2 features about 15 to 25 hours worth of content for the main portion of the game. As with any survival crafter, a lot of that will depend on how much you stray from the main path to explore and search for upgrades (some of which are necessary to progress). Currently, the story ends on a cliffhanger that the crew and I can’t wait to see continued.
Without revealing too much, the new lead narrating the story elements, Sloane Beaumont, is an intriguing character who doesn’t fully reveal her motives as of yet. Tying the story elements together with the original and touching on some of the main callbacks was a delight which sets up the next major points to come. Obviously, we have to wait for now, but there’s still quite a bit to consume in current state.
Building the Future
We’ve sincerely enjoyed our time with Grounded 2. Even in Game Preview, there’s a lot of content to consume and fun to be had. And, just like the first, grabbing a friend or two to peruse the park can be both relaxing and exhilarating. The improvements made by the teams at Obsidian and Eidos Montreal are noticeable and expand the depth of the game in meaningful ways. There are a few shortcomings and technical issues today, but given the journey of Grounded and the shared roadmap, we couldn’t be more excited to see how the game continues to evolve.
