Grounded 2 Preview: Ride an Ant Thanks to Xbox One Absence

Sure, here’s a chaotic, stream-of-consciousness take on that article:

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So, I ended up in L.A. for Summer Game Fest 2025 — honestly, wasn’t even planning on being there, but hey, life happens. Anyway, some folks from Xbox just kept going on about how 2025 is Obsidian’s year. This studio’s got three games popping out, like rabbits or something.

The real kicker? Grounded 2. Yeah, the sequel to that game where kids get shrunk. Like, whaaat? I watched the Xbox Games Showcase and there it was — bam! Grounded 2 reveal. I even got to play it for 30 minutes. Chatting with Chris Parker, who’s basically the fancy head honcho at Obsidian, while maneuvering teeny-tiny kids. Quite surreal, actually.

Sidebar — who else remembers those endless Grounded sessions during the pandemic? Nostalgia, right? The team let the kids grow up a bit — not sure if it’s supposed to be deep or symbolic or whatever. Kids realize they’re mini-sized, again. Fast forward two years from the last game. I guess time flies when you’re small.

Oh, and hardware. They swapped to the new Xbox. Big whoop, right? But it actually matters. Because guess what — Buggys! Yes, bug buggies. Picture this: Tamed bugs cruise you around. Exploration’s faster and fights probably more ridiculous. Fun fact: Fans screamed for Buggys. Obsidian listened. On the original Xbox, they had issues. Like, tech stuff. Who’d have thought moving to a new game solves problems?

I got this Buggy, right? In my test, riding it felt cool. But for players? You’ll need to snag an egg. Sneaky time into a nest that’s like crawling into a beehive with a red flag. Fire Ant or Orb Weaver nests — your choice of nightmare.

Parker says these Buggys are versatile. Like, Fire Ants boss around Worker ants while the Orb Weaver’s got this scary roar. Spiders helping you? Might be a dream or nightmare — not sure. Imagine Grounded 2 growing to three times the OG game size with an assist from Eidos Montreal. Ah, teamwork.

To wrap it up, I asked Parker about feedback. He’s all about having fun. Appreciating Buggy interactions, whatever that means. They want feedback — the good, the bad, the ugly. Why? They’re dropping the game in “Game Preview.” Sounds like a fancy beta to me.

Me? Survival games? Not my usual jam. Still, Grounded was fun; I’ll probably dive into Grounded 2. Imagine new Buggys making their way in. Personally voting for a tarantula. Grounded 2 drops in Game Preview and Steam Early Access on July 29, 2025. Xbox and PC peeps, get on it. And yeah, Xbox Game Pass — saving grace of indecisive gamers.

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