Ground is a great survival game worthy of a sequel. It’s just that me and many others didn’t expect it to get it anytime soon. I’ve already lost on Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 this year, and when Obsidian announced, I was shocked Ground 2 A few months ago, I was even more surprised to see the early access launch day on July 29th. Well, today is that day, and despite the two grounded 2s on Game Pass working really well on Steam, it’s actually already blowing up the best player peak ever by its predecessor on Valve’s platform.
Original Ground – A fitting inclusion for the list of the best survival games – Ground 2 is still a rather unexpected sequel considering it was dropped only in 2022 and was still being played regularly. It follows the same four main characters (a few years after the events of the first game), and revolves around a very familiar gameplay loop that explores, builds bases, fights bugs and ultimately reveals the secrets of your shrinking.
But Grounded 2 does some innovations – were they a major upgrade to the original game? perhaps. But collectively, these changes are sequels that feel significantly different.
The new world of Brookhollow Park is bigger and contains more biome varieties than the previous games. Dash has been added as a new movement and combat mechanic for both you and your insect enemies. You can capture bugs and turn them into easy-to-survive mounts. The UI has been updated. We aim to bring the original beloved gameplay to new heights. And although it is now starting with early access today, it has proven to be extremely popular.
On Steam, the debut of Grounded 2 gave us a peak of under 50,000 simultaneous players. This is impressive. This is impressive considering it’s ready to go at no extra charge for millions of GamePas subscribers. Its peak players are far above the original ground’s record, located at around 32,000.
Although the number of players appears healthy, it is worth noting that early user reviews on Steam sit on a positive “mixed” score of 64%. Most negative reviews call for PC performance, but given it’s only a few hours and in early access state, obsidian can quickly become much smoother for anyone. You’ll be surprised over time if that review score didn’t improve significantly.
If necessary, Grounded 2 is currently available for $29.99/£24.99 on the Steam and Windows Store or as part of your Xbox or PC Game Pass subscription.
If Ground 2 is seducing you to pick up subs, check out what else you can play in our list of the best game pass games. If you go to this new world in miniatures, we have plenty of guides to help you.
You can follow us on Google News’ Daily PC Games News, Reviews and Guides. There is also a lively community of Discord Server. You can chat with team members and fellow readers about this story.
