It’s been almost a year since xbox and developer Obsidian Entertainment released Grounded 2 — a sequel to the studio’s original co-op survival game that shrinks you to the size of a bug and transforms everyday suburban environments into vast open worlds — in early access on Xbox, PC and Xbox Game Pass.
Since then, Obsidian (with joint development support from Eidos-Montréal) has delivered three major updates to the game, and a fourth, Into the Abyss, an aquatic-themed patch that adds the pond area, is scheduled to release on August 11. At the same time, Grounded 2 will also come to PS5inviting a new network of players to join the game’s community.
It’s worth noting that the first Grounded, by contrast, wasn’t released for PS5 until 2024, which came two years after the title left Early Access and launched in full with its 1.0 update in 2022.
In fact, it’s no exaggeration to say that Obsidian has been quite busy building on the foundation of Grounded 2 to refine it into a bigger, deeper experience, and I found a recent interview with game director Chris Parker, in which he talks about its development, its journey to PS5, and Into the Abyss, quite interesting.
“Every time we think we’re done, we can take a breath — just a breath, that’s all you get — and then we move on. At the same time, we’re constantly processing all the feedback from the community and lovingly trying to figure out how we can do as much as we can, while recognizing that we can’t do it all,” Parker said. GamesRadar+. “And now we’re about to release the biggest content update we’ve ever done. It’s bigger than Garden (The Toxic Tangle update), and launching on PlayStation 5 effectively makes this our second release, right? We had the Early Access release before, but this is like doing it all over again this summer.”
Parker noted that Obsidian and Eidos originally “had some difficulties” when they first worked together on Grounded 2, but would “eventually figure out what the best solution for the game would be and move forward.”
“Those things happen less and less frequently now. What’s much more likely to happen is that Eidos will come and throw something at us, like the pond story, and I’ll just go along with it with them. Then I’ll suggest something to them and they’ll get excited and stuff,” he added.
Regarding the game’s arrival on PS5, Parker commented that “there are other people above my pay grade who might have other opinions on what should happen with all of that,” referencing Xbox’s new push and return to exclusives that has started with Mechanical Revolution and Gears of War: E-Day. “As a game developer, what I want is for as many players to love my game on whatever platform they have.”
He added that “we have ideas for the future” of the Grounded 2 roadmap, but made it clear that the Into the Abyss update shipping alongside PS5 availability is Obsidian’s priority right now. “It’s a big content update with multiple biomes, there’s a new buggy joining the party, we’re bringing back swimming as a gameplay experience, and we’re also offering some other things you can do while you’re underwater. We’ll talk about all that later.”
Exclusivity debates aside, I think it’s great to see that the Grounded 2 game director is excited to welcome a new community of players to the open-world survival game, and that Obsidian and Eidos have come together as co-developers to collaborate on the title passionately and efficiently. That makes me even more interested in seeing Into the Abyss later this summer.
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