In the upcoming sequel Grounded 2 from Obsidian Entertainment, one highly anticipated new feature is finally arriving: the ability to mount and ride giant bugs. The game, which shrinks a group of teenagers to insect size in a vast backyard, will let players saddle up creatures as trusty steeds—a long-standing community request the developers are thrilled to deliver.
This innovation is actually a core reason for creating a full sequel. The first Grounded, by the end of its development cycle, simply couldn't support the technical demands of mountable creatures or substantial new content. Obsidian’s vision was to make their world of tiny-scale survival feel truly expansive. As the team explains, transitioning to the more powerful Unreal Engine 5 was key to realizing that larger ambition.
“Several factors led to a sequel rather than endless updates,” says executive producer Marcus Morgan, when asked about the decision. “First, we began developing the original Grounded for the Xbox One hardware. We eventually hit a hard limit on how much content we could physically fit into the game. Adding more would have forced compromises, breaking the sense of seamless immersion and continuity we wanted for the world.”
Morgan adds that the team had completed a full narrative arc in the first game and desired to tell a fresh, self-contained story. However, the desire to implement “Buggies”—Obsidian's playful term for bug mounts—was a major catalyst. “We prototyped creatures in the original, but the entire game world wasn’t designed for that style of movement. Mounts change traversal speed, which requires rethinking distances between points of interest, navigating overland and interior spaces, and handling environmental threats. To make it work properly, we needed to build a brand-new, much larger world from the ground up.”
For Grounded 2, Obsidian is collaborating with Eidos-Montréal, the studio behind Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Morgan praises the partnership as a true, co-development effort. After Obsidian sought assistance from Xbox to find a partner, the second-party partnerships group connected them with Eidos-Montréal. It turned out the studio housed many passionate Grounded fans, who even helped shape the sequel’s core story and antagonists—a fact that solidified the partnership for Morgan and his team.
Grounded 2 is currently planned for an Early Access launch on Xbox and PC, with no immediate announcement for PlayStation or Nintendo platforms. While the first game eventually expanded to other systems, the sequel’s path remains focused for now. “I was delighted that Grounded 1 reached so many players,” Morgan states. “Our philosophy is ‘ride together, survive together.’ This game is about playing with friends, regardless of their platform. Our goal is always to reach the widest audience possible. We’re starting here and will see what the future holds.”
While Morgan avoids firm commitments about Grounded 2’s long-term roadmap, he hints at a similar approach to the first game: a multi-year Early Access period leading to a full 1.0 launch. The team emphasizes a commitment to the Early Access process—releasing content, gathering community feedback, and iterating based on player response. “Grounded 2 is built to be far more expandable than the first game was initially,” he explains. “Whether we eventually cap that expansion or not will depend on player engagement and our technical capacity. Our future content plans will be guided by our community and what the technology allows us to do sustainably.”
