I was somewhat surprised to see Grounded 2 when it was announced at the Xbox Games Showcase 2025, and even more so to be able to go hands-on with it less than a month later. Despite initially liking my time with the first Grounded, the sheer influx of open-world survival games with crafting elements that infested gaming in the late 2010s, like so many ants in a backyard, had me effectively exhausted with the concept.
But like I said in my review of the Switch version of Grounded, it was the right game at the wrong time—its premise was so fresh and fun that despite my weariness with the genre, I was able to really get hooked into it. A second time around, its sequel is again doing everything right in a bigger, weirder and much more approachable way.
Grounded 2 sets its tone pretty immediately as one that’s a bit more tongue-in-cheek than its predecessor. While I never felt like the first game was taking itself too seriously, I couldn’t help but laugh this time around when the intro cutscene presented me with a news broadcast wherein the anchor said, “formerly evil company Ominent.” And while this air of levity is certainly present in the game’s storytelling, it can also be felt a bit more in the gameplay.
That’s not to say Grounded 2 plays in a more slapstick, silly kind of way—while its predecessor’s cartoonish vibes are still present—this game does a much better job at onboarding the player into the experience, so that it feels far less intimidating than before. Unlike its predecessor, which kind of just threw you into the world and told you to get busy living or get busy dying, Grounded 2 gives players a small tutorial area that gives them a sense of the world, their chosen character, and the basics of survival.
“Grounded 2 sets its tone pretty immediately as one that’s a bit more tongue-in-cheek than its predecessor.”
And it was here that Grounded 2 delivered its first major quality-of-life improvement to the player—the Ominent OMNI-Tool. Unlike the first game, which followed more traditional survival games requiring players to craft their tools from materials found in the world, Grounded 2 gives players an all-in-one tool right at the start of the game. The only caveat? Players start with a basic axe and will need to use Raw Science—the resource gained from analyzing materials and completing minor objectives—to unlock a shovel, hammer or wrench.
It’s such a small thing, but it makes a world of difference—which feels thematically accurate for this game. Rather than overloading the player with things they need to get in order to build the tools they need, Grounded 2 eases the player into the experience much more naturally. While you’re still in an incredibly hostile environment, it makes the overall experience feel far less harrowing, and doesn’t totally discourage taking things at your own pace.
“Of course, there’s the change of setting that adds a lot to Grounded 2.”
This is incredibly meaningful because, at its core, Grounded 2 is fundamentally the same as its predecessor. With the exception of some QoL improvements to the UI and crafting systems, it’s practically identical—from the materials you find, to the weapons, armour and structures you craft, to getting absolutely obliterated by spiders, a lot of the first game’s structure remains faithfully intact. So, fans of the first game will feel right at home, and newcomers will be treated to an experience that is much more polished and refined than its predecessor.
Of course, there’s the change of setting that adds a lot to Grounded 2. While the first game managed to make a relatively small area like a backyard feel genuinely leviathan, a city park by comparison almost feels planetary. It’s not simply the size of the world, but the scope of everything surrounding it, from the moment you leave the minaturized lab and are greeted by a monolithic hotdog stand, to when you find yourself on the frozen landscape of an overturned icecream cart, or the charred landscape of the Fire Pit littered with burnt and melted army-men.
While the first game definitely had its fair share of fun details, they were somewhat limited to objects and landmarks that are a little more typical of your average home. Setting the game in a city park gives Grounded 2 so much more to work with, and it’s certainly having a lot of fun with its new location, creating biomes that are both much more diverse than their predecessor but also a lot more creative and dynamic visually.
While there are certainly still some small kinks to work out, Grounded 2 looks to be in a pretty comfortable place for its Early Access launch. The foundation established by the first game was so rock solid that a sequel only really needed to find more interesting ways to work with it, and this game definitely did.
