One of the biggest Xbox games of the year has arrived with Grounded 2 — Obsidian Entertainment’s sequel to its popular 2020 open-world survival game, and the second of three 2025 releases from the developer (Avowed and the upcoming The Outer Worlds 2 being the others).
It’s out now in Early Access/Game Preview on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, and Steam, with Xbox Game Pass availability and full support for Xbox Play Anywhere cross-progression. You can also buy it directly for $29.99, with a $39.99 Minotaurs, Myrmidons, and Mants: Oh My! Founder’s Edition that includes bonus cosmetics and a digital artbook and soundtrack also an option.
Even at launch, Grounded 2 is a considerably larger experience than Grounded was in its “1.0” state, complete with a big Brookhollow Park map that already matches the Backyard at just one-fifth of its size, tons of new options for making a character build, crafting gear, and putting together bases, ridable “Buggy” mounts like ant soldiers and orb weaver spiders, and more.
However, as future patches come throughout Grounded 2’s Early Access period, this “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!” inspired adventure only stands to grow even bigger. And shortly after the game’s release, Obsidian released a roadmap that highlights the studio’s plans for the next year of development and beyond. You can check it out below:
The roadmap reveals that Grounded 2 will receive large, seasonal updates, including one for Fall 2025, Winter 2025, and Summer 2026. Content releases beyond that point are considered “future plans,” though I’m sure we’ll get an updated roadmap with specific release dates and additional release windows as development progresses.
The fall update will feature the AXL boss — thought to be a deadly tarantula spider — along with gear, furniture, and other items you’ll likely be able to make after defeating it. Additionally, it’s also bringing quality-of-life improvements, a building grid to help with base construction, and pouches for your buggy mounts.
The following winter patch, meanwhile, will introduce some revamped systems and tools from the first Grounded like Sour damage and the PEEP.R binoculars, along with the ladybug buggy, cricket and earwig bugs, and additional sets of gear, furniture, and base defense items. It’s also bringing Steam Deck verification, Steam Deck-specific crossplay with other platforms, and improved support for the ASUS ROG Ally.
Then, next summer, we’re slated to get overhauled versions of Grounded’s Smoothies, as well as improved swimming, water bug mounts, equipment for aquatic environments, and even the ability to make “watery bases.” And from that point onwards? Pretty much every part of the game is expanding.
Notably, three additions — one of which is coming in winter, the other in summer, and the third at an unconfirmed time — in the roadmap have been redacted, though the green tree icon next to them identifies them as expansions for Brookhollow Park. These are undoubtedly the huge new map areas we know are coming, as Obsidian has said only a fraction of Brookhollow Park is available to explore right now.
Ultimately, it seems like Xbox and Obsidian have a clear plan in place to achieve this seasonal update cadence and consistently expand Grounded 2 with new content, though only time will tell how things play out. Hopefully smaller patches and hotfixes that address critical bugs (not the creepy crawly kind) come between these larger releases as well.
Thus far, Grounded 2 has garnered strong praise from critics; in our own Early Access review, my colleague Zachary Boddy asserted that “Grounded 2 is far larger and considerably more ambitious” than its predecessor, with my fellow contributor Samuel Tolbert adding he’s “even more excited to see where it goes from here” after going hands-on.
Notably, though, it’s off a bit of a rocky start on Steam. While it did (per SteamDB) rocket past Grounded’s 32,012 player count record with an explosive 49,836 peak on Tuesday afternoon, it’s also sitting at a “Mixed” review score, with only 67% of its 747 user reviews positive.
The negative posts decry extremely poor optimization and performance, though I’d argue issues like that are precisely what Early Access helps developers fix before launching titles in full.
Still, it’s worth keeping in mind if you’re interested in jumping into Obsidian’s sequel yourself. If you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass, I recommend using it to play, as it eliminates the risk of buying a game that doesn’t run well on your rig. Those who don’t already have Game Pass can get a month of $19.99 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for just $10.19 at CDKeys.
