All you need to know about Grounded.

Grounded was officially announced at X019. The game is a survival-action game made by a very small team (12~ people) at Obsidian Entertainment. The game is directed by Adam Brennecke who previously worked as executive producer on the two Pillars of Eternity games.

Obsidian Entertainment is usually known for bigger-scaled RPGs where you can choose your own paths and story. Grounded is on paper a big chance from that but it is known that this game is a project that several developers at Obsidian have been wanting to do for quite some time.

The game will launch first via Xbox Game Preview (for Xbox One and Windows PC) and via Steam Early Access. While there is no specific date, the start of the Game Preview phase will start “soon”.

The game features up-to four-player coop but can be played fully solo. A story-driven campaign is currently being worked on. There will be full cross-play between Xbox One, Windows PC and Steam players. Xbox One X support will come eventually.

The Outer Backyard.

The game is set in a ’90s neighbourhood’s backyard. You play as one of four pre-made characters: Max, Willow, Pete and Hoops. The world is filled with insects ranging from friendly insects that can help you out to lethal insects like spiders. Killing these insects will give you items that you can use to craft items like armour, weaponry or tools. For example, killing a Weevil will give you items to create a Weevil mask which can protect you from haze.

Every ant has a distinct sort of personality and trait. Ants, for example, will look and take your food but if you anger them, they’ll go and send out soldier ants at you. Gnats have no useful traits besides the urge to push you when you get near them. Some specific insects only come out at night. There will also be different variations of each insect.

You can also collect items by destroying grass, mushrooms or other plants. These will help you to craft bigger items that can be used for your base. You can build chests, place trophy heads of insects on your wall, etc. All of these plants will regrow over time.

In order to build constructions, you will first need to create a blueprint. After that, you’ll use the right items on the blueprint to build the construction.

Early Access

This is what you can expect from the Early Access build:

• Roughly 20% of the full storyline
• 3 major biomes – the grasslands, the hedge, and the haze
• Crafting
• Base building
• Single and online co-op  play
• First two tiers of weapons and armour
• At least ten insects
• Arachnophobia mode

What can be expected from the final release:

• Complete storyline
• Achievements and Steam Cards
• More bugs! The insect kind.
• More environments and biomes
• More crafting recipes
• Additional features and updated systems to improve the entire experience”

No price has been mentioned for either the Early Access game or the final product. The price will increase however once the game is out of Early Access.

Play it your way.

The game will feature an arachnophobia mode. This will change the spiders’ look, sound and feel and is mostly meant as a way for someone who is scared of spiders to still enjoy the game’s core gameplay loop.

If you’re not interested in survival mechanics and you just want to enjoy this ’90s looking backyard creating some cool looking bases, you can play around in the Creative mode. In this mode, hunger and thirst will be disabled.

You can toggle between first and third-person camera on the go.

Wrapping it up.

That’s about it! More information has yet to be unveiled and we will most likely hear more information about the game once the preview is up and running.