Within the upcoming Obsidian sport Grounded 2, a sport a couple of group of youngsters being shrunk right down to bug measurement in a large park, one of the premier options that’s new in the sequel is the power to mount a bug like a horsey and experience it round. It’s a function request the group has been making for a very long time, and one which Obsidian has been very eager to honor.
And it’s additionally one of the principle causes that Obsidian is making Grounded 2 in the primary place. Put merely, Grounded 1 couldn’t deal with mountable bugs…or actually a lot in the best way of new content material in any respect by the point it was completed. Obsidian needed to make its sport about turning into very small…greater. A lot greater. And a transfer to Unreal Engine 5 helped make it attainable, he says.
“There is a handful of completely different causes, however I am going to focus in on a couple of of them,” solutions govt producer Marcus Morgan, when requested why Obsidian made a sequel as a substitute of simply regularly updating Grounded 1. “Factor primary was, we began Grounded 1 on the unique Xbox One. And we have been operating out of room to really bodily get issues into the sport. And so if we needed so as to add any extra content material, we truly would’ve had a tough load to broaden the sport. And that ruined the idea of being actually immersed and actually being in this steady area.”
Morgan goes on, stating that the group had advised a whole story in Grounded 1 – starting, center, and finish – and needed to do a separate full story in sequel type. However lastly, there have been the bug mounts, or “Buggies” as Obsidian playfully calls them.
“We had already prototyped out making a number of creatures in Grounded 1, the problem was although we did not design all of the areas to match that new model of play. You modify the velocity of traversal, you must unfold out your distance between [points of interest], the way you deal with over lands, the way you deal with inside areas, the way you deal with environmental hazards. All that stuff wasn’t actually thought via, so we would have liked to construct a complete new area to actually let these issues land, that is why the sport’s a lot greater.”
(*2*)We began Grounded 1 on the unique Xbox One. And we have been operating out of room to really bodily get issues into the sport.
Obsidian isn’t making Grounded 2 alone. The group is partnering with the developer behind Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Eidos Montreal, for co-development. It is a partnership which Morgan praises extremely for a way properly the groups have labored collectively, and describes as co-development “in the truest sense.” He explains that Obsidian initially reached out to Xbox’s central group to ask for assist discovering a studio associate for Grounded 2, but it surely was the second-party partnerships group who responded and steered Obsidian converse with Eidos. Seems, the studio had quite a bit of massive Grounded followers on board – sufficient that it was the Eidos group who chosen and refined the premise for Grounded 2’s story and antagonists. That was sufficient to promote Morgan and his colleagues on Eidos as a co-development associate. (*1*)
At present, Grounded 2 is deliberate for early entry launch on Xbox and PC – no PlayStation or Nintendo Swap or Nintendo Swap 2, despite the fact that its predecessor finally made it onto the previous two platforms. That doesn’t imply the door is closed perpetually, although.
“I’ll say that I am so, so comfortable for Grounded 1 that we have been capable of go on all these platforms,” Morgan says. “On the finish of the day, we’ve got just a little tagline of experience collectively, survive collectively. This sport to me is about enjoying along with your folks irrespective of the place they play. And so our objective at all times is to succeed in as many gamers as attainable. We’ll begin off with this, we’ll see the place it goes in the long run.”
Morgan actually can’t converse in a agency means about any plans for the long run of Grounded 2, however he does recommend the thought from Obsidian is to do one thing just like what was executed for Grounded 1: a pair of years of early entry, then a 1.0 launch. After which, who is aware of? However he provides that the group doesn’t “put any arduous and quick constraints on that as a result of there’s a very honest dedication to the early entry course of of placing content material on the market, seeing how individuals react to it, iterating on that and constructing from it.”
“And so, what I might say is I undoubtedly see Grounded 2 as being, it is set as much as be way more expandable than possibly we had initially laid out Grounded 1 for, however we have to see the way it goes in phrases of whether or not or not we put a cap on or not,” he continues. “In phrases of what we do for future content material and past, that’ll actually be dictated by what gamers do after which assuming if backend and tech can nonetheless maintain and preserve us in the long run, however we might stick to that too. However we’ll play that out as we work with the group via it.”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You could find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Bought a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.