Two years later, it’s almost done
It’s so easy to love the shrunken-kids-versus-oversized-insects premise of Grounded, especially with Obsidian Entertainment’s sense of humor, but no matter how good this base-building survival game looks, many players are going to hold off until early access wraps up. The studio previously quoted September, and has since narrowed it down to a September 27 release for Grounded 1.0 on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
In case you missed the 1.0 trailer during the summer gaming showcases, here it is again.
According to game director Adam Brennecke, the team is in the “home stretch.”
The final early-access update is being tested now. Obsidian also noted that “this update will be notably lighter than previous ones as we have been putting most of our focus towards 1.0 work and polish which will be our biggest content release to date.”
On top of armor and weapon upgrade changes (which no longer use Quartzite or Leather), balance adjustments, and fixes, there are several new features in Grounded:
- Convert Non-Custom Games to Custom — You can now convert any non-custom game into a custom game at any time while playing to be able to tune values on any game as you go.
- Gnat Pet — You can now tame and own a bumbling little gnat pet. Pets are also more helpful and less squishy as outlined in tuning changes further below.
- Rest Time-lapse — Upon resting, you will see a quick time-lapse of the yard as the 8 hours pass.
- BURG.L Moves! — BURG.L has acquired enough chips to remember he can roll his treads to inspect the Oak lab and fulfill his assistant duties.
- Cookery — Meals are now crafted at the new Cookery building instead of the Oven.
It’s a digital-only release
If you’re a physical game collector, never say never. For now, though, Obsidian has reiterated that Grounded 1.0 will be a digital-only release in September.
I’m curious (and generally hopeful) to see how things shake out after the slow-and-steady ramp-up. I’ve enjoyed my time with the early access build, and I hope the story comes together in a satisfying way. Worst case, I like the building. And since I last checked in, there’s a bunch of new content — on the ground, underwater, and all over the place.
As a survival fan who’s not totally burnt out yet, there’s a base mechanical allure here, though I know some of you need a compelling story hook, too. With wider plans for an animated series based on Grounded, let’s hope all of the pieces fall into place.
