Grounded is now finally getting its official release after spending over 2 years in Steam Early Access. Now players can finally play the endgame and find out what’s actually in the house. Don’t believe me? Then check out the release trailer for yourself below:
Honey, the Game’s Finally Out!
Obsidian Entertainment is proud to announce the full release of Grounded via its official YouTube channel. I would say it’s about time to boot. With its September 27, 2022 release date, this would mean that this survival game took 791 days to finish development. Note that I’m not even counting the time the game was in development before it went into Steam Early Access on July 28, 2020.
So how can you purchase Grounded? Well, since it was in Steam Early Access, that logically means that you can purchase the game right now on Steam. You can also purchase the game in the Xbox Store for Xbox One or Xbox Series S/X if your PC just doesn’t have the graphics to run it. Either way, the retail price is still $39.99, so it’s a pretty hefty price tag. If you’re short of cash, I would recommend that you wait for a discount before purchasing this game. However, if you’re a fan of survival base-building games like Subnautica (but on land), then this might be the game for you even at full price.
Grounded: More Details
The full release of Grounded comes with a lot of updates to the game. You can find the full list of updates on the game’s official website from Obsidian Entertainment. If you want the short version though, here’s the low-down of the most important parts:
With the full release of the game, you can now actually complete the story. In fact, Grounded now actually has a story period, complete with fully voiced lines. Anyone with saves made during Early Access will have all of their story progress rewound all the way to the beginning, meaning that you have to start all over again. Well, not completely. All inventory, bases, and any unlocked stuff will still be there, so you don’t have to suffer a complete rewind.
There’s also a new area to explore in Grounded: the entire Eastern Upper Yard. The update describes it as a ” huge sprawling and wild land full of towering household items and new angry bugs. Complete with explorable tunnel systems and new plants and resources to discover”. There’s also a new area called the Undershed, plus new secret labs, existing lab room changes, and new secrets. However, all of them are either vague or have no descriptions. You’ll have to find out for yourself in the game proper.
There are also new insects in Grounded for you to encounter, slay, and use their corpses for various things. This includes some mundane insects like moths, spiky water fleas, fire ants, black widow spiders, and even a new boss in the form of an orchid mantis. How did an orchid mantis get into this normal-looking house? Well, that’s also something you’ll have to find out for yourself in the game, if you can lure it out with an orchid mantis kebab. It probably makes sense in context.
Source: Obsidian Entertainment YouTube, grounded.obsidian.net