When I was in L.A. for Summer Game Fest 2025, multiple people at Xbox told me that 2025 is the "year of Obsidian," as the studio is launching three distinct games this year.
Perhaps nothing exemplifies that as well as the announcement and imminent arrival of Grounded 2, a sequel to Obsidian Entertainment's popular co-op survival game.
After watching the game's reveal and Direct presentation during the Xbox Games Showcase, I had the chance to play about 30 minutes while speaking to Chris Parker, one of the founders of Obsidian Entertainment and the game director on Grounded 2.
The team wanted the kids to age up a bit because so many younger players had a formative experience playing Grounded through the pandemic.
My demo opened at the beginning of the game, with some story setup as the kids realize they've been shrunk once again.
It's two years after the events of the first Grounded, and moving the story forward this far was a careful, conscious choice, as the team wanted the kids to age up a bit because so many younger players had a formative experience playing Grounded through the pandemic.
Moving onto newer Xbox hardware helped the team realize their vision
After crafting some spears and completing the early tutorial, I moved ahead to a save file several hours later, where I had a full base, good weapons, and most important of all: a Buggy.
Buggys are new to Grounded 2, letting players hop on the back of various tamed bugs and ride them around, making exploration far faster and making combat against larger creatures a bit easier.
While Obsidian supported the original Grounded past its 1.0 launch with a number of updates, the team eventually made the choice to work on a new game. The main reason? Platforms.
Buggys were by far the most requested feature from fans, and the team wanted to deliver.
Because Grounded had to run on the Xbox One, the team found itself faced with technical problems that were easier to solve with a higher baseline, which would necessitate a sequel.
"Our ability to sort of grow on that platform was really restricted," Parker explains, adding that while they probably could have eventually figured some things out, moving onto a new game made it far easier, especially for designing Buggys.
This was extra-important as Buggys were by far the most requested feature from fans, and the team wanted to deliver.
Buggys add another level of strategy, if you can get one
While I was given a Buggy to enjoy riding around in my demo, it'll be a bit of a challenge for players at launch.
To get a Buggy, you have to find an egg, which means sneaking into a Fire Ant or Orb Weaver nest and stealing the egg back to your base, something far easier said than done, as the creatures won't be too happy to see you.
Parker explains that different Buggys are meant to have very distinct roles. While the Fire Ant Soldier can recruit Workers to aid it. Meanwhile, the Orb Weaver has a roar attack that can stun enemy bugs, making it more specialized for combat.
Parker eventually expects Grounded 2 to be three times the size of the first game.
Riding around on a Fire Ant is a blast, making it easier to cut through grass quickly and gallop across the map.
At launch, Grounded 2's map is set to be the size of Grounded 1.0, and as the game continues evolving through updates while it's in Game Preview, Parker eventually expects Grounded 2 to be three times the size of the first game.
A major reason that's possible is because the team at Obsidian Entertainment partnered with Eidos Montreal for support. With Eidos Montreal providing external development supports, it's easier for Obsidian to add new creatures, Buggys, and areas over time.
Obsidian is looking forward to player feedback
To close out my session, I asked Parker what kind of feedback (good or bad) he's hoping to hear from players.
"Obviously I hope they're having fun with it, right?" he says, adding that he really hopes players "appreciate the method and process of getting and maintaining and interacting with Buggys."
The dialogue between players and developers is a key part of why the team is once again choosing to launch in Game Preview.
Parker also notes that the entire team is looking forward to player feedback on what isn't working, and that the dialogue between players and developers is a key part of why the team is once again choosing to launch in Game Preview.
I'm not the biggest fan of survival games, but I had fun playing the original Grounded. I'm expecting that to continue now with Grounded 2, and I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of new Buggys will be added over time. Personally, I'm hoping for a tarantula.
Grounded 2 is slated to launch in Game Preview and Steam Early Access on July 29, 2025 across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud, and Windows PC (Steam and Xbox PC). Like all Xbox first-party games, it's also available at launch in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
