Obsidian's latest work, Grounded, pits players in the role of minuscule survivors in a world of looming threats like ants and spiders, and now we know when to expect it to arrive. Announced during the Inside Xbox livestream, Grounded hits Xbox Game Preview / Xbox Game Pass and Steam Early Access all at once this summer on July 28.
Releasing into Game Pass and Game Preview simultaneously marks the first time for an Xbox first-party game, and given that the game falls in the survival genre, it makes sense. Survival games have a long history of hitting early access and iterating for years before ever exiting their early access phases.
Grounded is something of a side project for Obsidian, as the game is being developed by just 12 people in much larger studio. It offers co-op or single-player gaming and either way features a newly revealed story mode, even hinting at a Big Bad by the name of Ominent. Crafting, base-building, and more genre staples are on display too. See for yourself.
Grounded will be the first Obsidian game published by Microsoft since the company acquired the studio in December of 2018. Previously, The Outer Worlds also released after the buyout, but that title was already in production for Private Division, the "indie" label of parent company Take-Two. As the new rights holders to the Outer Worlds IP, it's expected that the almost certain sequel to the spacefaring RPG will come as an Xbox exclusive in the next few years.
As for Grounded, you can find it on Xbox One, Windows PC, and Steam this July. Bring the bug spray.
