Grounded 2 is a solid sequel, but may have come too soon

I'm conflicted. I'm still not able to decide whether Obsidian has nailed the perfect sequel with Grounded 2, or whether it's severely lacking any imagination. To begin, a brief history of the first game. Inspired by Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Grounded finds you waking up as a shrunken teenager stranded in someone's backyard. As you progress, you uncover the detestable acts of Ominent, a science and tech company that has abducted and miniaturized five teenagers. Playing as one of four playable characters, you hear of a mystery fifth teenager who is often referenced, but presumed dead.

The game itself, a survival game, is more challenging than you'd imagine when looking at Grounded's colorful, '90s-style aesthetic. What should be tiny critters are now terrifyingly gargantuan foes, many of whom can defeat you in a single hit if you try to tackle them too early. The questline is somewhat short, albeit with an incredibly steep difficulty curve, and the majority of your time is actually spent gathering resources and upgrading your gear instead of furthering the story. Meanwhile, building is clunky and inessential, and is one of the things I hoped to be improved in Grounded 2.

Instead, nothing much really changes at all, and it often feels as though you could be playing the original game. Oftentimes, what is now Brookhollow Park could be Dr Tully's backyard all over again. I guess grass is grass, dandelions don't vary much, and insect variants in the same town are likely to be much the same from location to location, but I would have expected Grounded 2 to feel like a step up in some way, even in early access. It almost makes me wonder if three years post Grounded 1.0 was far too early to debut the sequel.

As I mentioned above, building is the main mechanic I'd have loved to have seen improved. Grounded's building is famously frustrating - instead of being allowed to clip a rock or a mound, you're often blocked from building altogether, while the naturally uneven surface of a garden doesn't allow for flat surfaces to be placed straight. None of this changes in Grounded 2, leaving base building as the least desirable, and maybe even altogether off-putting, aspect of the game once again.

Similarly, most weapons look the same and require the same ingredients. Status effects have barely changed. Milk Molar and Mutation mechanics are much the same. The list goes on, but there are some decent changes in Grounded 2. The first of these is the addition of the Omni-tool, a new multitool that replaces the original game's axes, hammers, and shovels. With the right upgrades, the one tool does it all and is automatically equipped when needed. This small change is brilliant and makes general exploration much easier, but the same button is used for attack and utility, which can sometimes cause misclicks.

Perhaps the biggest change of all is the Buggy mechanic, replacing the first game's pets. By finding and hatching a red ant egg, you earn yourself a loyal pal who can be ridden across the map at speed. Your buggy also helps in combat, though its health deteriorates rapidly, and your pal disappears to lick their wounds if you don't revive them in time. This change feels like a necessity given the increased size of the grassy sandbox, though - it is a very welcome addition. Obsidian's Grounded 2 roadmap confirms that more Buggies are being added on top of the two existing ones, and I hope other aspects like the ability to change the color of a Buggy's armor (for multiplayer purposes) are added too.

All this in mind, many fans of the original game are already applauding the sequel for the very reason that it /doesn't/ stray too far from the original, and that's great. Especially since Grounded 2 is in early access. The plot is a brilliant continuation of the events from the first game, providing more context, revealing previously hidden truths, and answering questions fans have had for over two years. Perhaps this more seamless crossover makes for the perfect sequel. After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

As ever, the challenging nature of the games' survival aspect puts the series among the genre's best, despite their less serious setting. Unlike many other, easier survival games, hunger and thirst are literally life or death - something which often feels like an oversight in other games. There are enemies any which way you turn, making every expedition a dangerous venture, and your gear deteriorates at a rapid rate. Your progression is satisfying as you improve and begin to realise you no longer run at the first sight of Orb Weavers and cockroaches, instead rushing eagerly into battle. This all remains perfectly true in Grounded 2, and some of the minor changes do, in fact, make a large difference. I just wonder what Grounded 2 might have felt like were it left to ripen for a few more years.