Despite its Early Access state, Grounded 2 has already changed the formula significantly. Here’s everything you need to know to catch up to speed.
Combat Changes
Combat itself has been improved upon, adding new effects and uses for Charged Attacks. Most notable of these is breaking an Enemy’s block. Yes, you read that right, the bugs can now block our attacks, taking little to no damage in the process. Landing a charged attack on a blocking foe will apply a huge amount of Stun buildup in addition to forcing their block to drop immediately.
Many of the game’s bugs are also trickier to fight, as in addition to Blocking, some of the tougher bugs can now perform feint and charge attacks as well, generally reacting better to how we fight.
If we try to just spam regular attacks, our foes become more likely to block; repeated dealing charge attacks will lead to them going for quicker attacks more often; even blocking too much can see us punished by their charge attacks, which will break our block and take a huge chunk of Stamina, if not all of it in some cases.
We also get a new trick, as we can now dodge enemy attacks. This is particularly helpful for those pesky AoE attacks like the Bombadier uses. If timed well, we’ll avoid damage, save for any effects that may linger after the attack resolves. This will come at the cost of some Stamina
Faction Raids are a thing of the past, being replaced by a similar invasion-style event. We won’t go into details here to avoid story spoilers. The big difference here is that defeating bugs no longer causes them to get upset with us and attack us at random. They will, however, attack us regardless of our location, which can put us in tough situations.
The improved event also provides a full 24-hour in-game warning and is far less sudden than the original game. The bugs sent are also there to kill us, and will only focus on us unless buildings or companions are in the way of reaching us. Even still, they will ignore buildings when they can — no more unplanned base destruction or waking up without time to prepare.
Companion Changes
Grounded had the utility of Pets that would follow us around and act as extra storage for us as long as we protected them. These didn’t make the cut for Grounded 2’s Early Access, however. Instead, we’re given the even better Buggy System, or tamed bugs that we can ride as mounts.
These useful companions are great in and out of combat, packing tons of utility and other beneficial quality-of-life. While they may not be as cute as Pets were, they certainly make up for it in every other aspect.
For more Information on Buggies, check out our Buggies Guide, which details how to unlock Buggies.
Items and Gear
The biggest change for items from Grounded 2 comes in the form of the Omni-Tool, an all-in-one tool for Chopping, Digging, Repairing, and Smashing. No more need for 4 different hotpouch or backpack slots being taken up by tools. More room for supplies and the resources we need to gather.
To learn more about the Omni-Tool, check out our Omni-Tool Guide. This details how it works and how to go about upgrading it.
Gear has gotten a small adjustment with the addition of Archetype Perks, allowing for more ways to mix and match gear pieces if a set bonus doesn’t quite fit the style you’re going for. These perks offer bonuses that cater to a specific playstyle but aren’t gated behind having a full set, but these perks do become strong when using multiple pieces of equipment with the same Archetype Perk.
For more information about Archetypes and their perks, check out our Archetypes Explained Guide, which covers these in-depth.
Progression and Upgrades
A lot of Grounded 1’s early progression is story-gated, so making progress in the story will result in a generally easier time. This also means unlocking many of the useful buildings that enable character progression, such as the Smithing Station.
The Smithing Station also becomes available reasonably early into progression. However, unlike Grounded 1, the total upgrade levels are smaller for now. This means fewer resources are needed, but also less power from our equipment. Thankfully, the materials needed haven’t changed. It’s not currently known whether or not we’ll see the same system as before.
As stated before, the Omni-Tool upgrades take care of all of our tool needs, letting us more freely explore without risk of losing any of our much-needed tools if we die. This does, however, come at the cost of a semi-rigid line of progression. Each upgrade tool upgrade will require us to collect materials from our more recent tool unlock, cycling between Axe, Hammer, and Shovel upgrades.
We will, however, need to unlock the Tier 1 Omni-Hammer to collect Milk Molars and make the upgrade to the Tier 2 Omni-Hammer to collect Mega Milk Molars. Both of these still allow for similar stat upgrades as Grounded 1, increasing Health, Stamina, Healing, and additional Mutations to be active.
Compared to Grounded 1, only some of the Mutations and their effects are hidden. Most of the basic combat perks are shown from the start to allow for an easier time deciding on our weapons of choice. There are even some Perks only available through special trinkets, variations of which may be craftable or available through rare drops.
More Content
It should come as no surprise that Grounded 2 is planned to have more content than the original. With a map that’s roughly three times larger than the previous game, it’s a massive area. Although there’s already a substantial amount of content in the current early access, only a small portion of the full park is available to explore.
Despite its current early access state, there are already plenty of secrets to be found, including encoded messages, hidden items, and similar discoveries. It pays to be diligent when exploring a new area.
Not all creatures have returned from Grounded 1 just yet, but we have plenty of new bugs to encounter and fight. Not only this, but due to the combat changes, even returning bugs feel different to fight. Everything looks familiar, but the changes that have already been implemented bring a whole new feel to everything.
At the current time in Grounded 2’s Early Access, only one chapter of the game’s story is available. While this may not seem like much, it doesn’t hold back at all and feels far more involved than the original. The story also feels paced to be much quicker.
Systems and Balance
Some features and systems of Grounded 1 have carried over into its sequel, but not all of them are staying as-is. While we don’t have the full information on what’s changing or will change in the future. This is where the Early Access Roadmap comes in.
This is a good heads-up for the system changes that are being worked on and when to expect them. The earliest example of upcoming changes here is reworks to the Sour Element and the PEEP.R, or the creature scanner.
Due to other changes, like the addition of Archetype Perks, it’s fair to expect plenty of balance changes throughout Early Access, as some of these perks or new gear may require adjustments.
