Announced at X019 in London, which is an annual celebratory event for Xbox fans, is the co-op survival adventure title Grounded. From the renowned studio that created Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, the Pillars of Eternity franchise and the recently released sci-fi epic, The Outer Worlds, Obsidian Entertainment and Xbox Game Studios are set to bring Grounded to early access by Spring 2020 for Xbox One digitally through Xbox Game Preview and with Xbox Game Pass. Grounded will also be available on the Microsoft Store, Steam, and will be the first Xbox Game Preview title available with Xbox Game Pass.
In Grounded players take the guise of one of four children who have been shrunk down in an experiment. Taking liberties from the premise of Honey I Shrunk the Kids things don’t quite go as planned, and players are tasked with getting the experiment back up and running in an undertaking that may be too big for such small kids. You can check out more information about Grounded not shown here in our interview with Roby Atadero. After seeing Grounded first hand, we were able to get some more details on what players can expect when they shrink down in this hand-crafted co-op survival title.
- Grounded is a co-op adventure that allows up to four players to join in on the fun.
- You will be able to play in both first and third person
- Grounded will have a dynamic simulation world. Bugs will move about and act with their own behavior. They will also react to you and how you treat their natural environment.
- Maps are not random. The hand-crafted world you inhabit will always be the same physically. There is a large oak tree in the center, some man-made items will become landmarks. How you interact with the world and its inhabitants will determine the ways in which your experience will change.
- Just about everything you see, from blades of grass, to water droplets on leaves can be interacted with and utilized for your survival.
- There are 4 playable characters each with their own personalities. Depending on who you are playing with may change your experience. There are no character specific abilities at the time of this announcement.
- Players will encounter hunger and thirst mechanics, though you cannot die directly from hunger or thirst.
- Base building can be done cooperatively, and you can build bases with defenses such as traps to ward off encroaching enemies.
- You will be able to cook food, and food is better cooked than raw. Food does expire but there may be a way to extend your expiration of food.
- Different biomes have different creatures. For example, you may find certain creatures around water that you wouldn’t in other areas. Some animals hunt at night, and sleep during the day such as the spider, who is a formidable enemy.
- There will be an area with a haze around it where weedkiller was sprayed. In order to explore this area, you will need to craft a gas mask. In this way, the game has metroidvania gameplay, in that you need to unlock certain craftables in order to progress.
- Death at this time will drop some items, but this may be tweaked a little as game play progresses.
- You can set your game as public or private to allow only your friends, or to allow anyone to join you. Local co-op is not available.
- Grounded will not have any PvP as it is strictly cooperative.
“Grounded is a true passion project for the team," said Feargus Urquhart, CEO at Obsidian Entertainment. "We pride ourselves as being a creative studio and can’t wait to bring our expertise to the survival genre." “Grounded offers our unique take on survival games, creating an unforgettable experience," said Adam Brennecke, Game Director at Obsidian Entertainment. “It's a perfect setting to flex our creative muscles. We want to create a versatile sandbox where players can create their own memorable experiences.” “We first saw Grounded in development last year when Obsidian Entertainment joined our team. The game exemplifies the innovation we're excited to see from them in the years ahead,” said Matt Booty, CVP of Xbox Game Studios
Grounded is a unique survival title that brings back the nostalgia of movies like Honey I Shrunk the Kids while placing players in a world that is both familiar, but seen in a completely different way. In addition to the survival gameplay, players can expect to experience a story that will aid in driving players that are new to the genre to areas they may not know to explore on their own. Grounded is set to hit the virtual shelves as an early access title in Spring of 2020. Check out more on Grounded at the official page here.
