Grounded’s garden survival co-op is sprouting from early access this September

Obsidian have announced that their co-op garden survival game Grounded will burst forth from early access into a full 1.0 release like a seed in your backyard this September. A story campaign playable in co-op or solo will explain how Grounded’s kids were shrunk by a mad scientist, and probably persuade me to finally give it a go. Watch out for colossal bugs in the trailer below.

The 1.0 version of Grounded will add a new area to explore in the form of the upper yard. There’ll be new armour and weapons introduced too, which is good news because the kids are going to face off against the huge Mantis boss coming as part of the update. Shudder. I was attacked by a small mantis once and it properly stung my hand, so I don’t like to think what damage a massive one could inflict. Besides that, Obsidian say there’s more secrets they don’t want to spoil just yet.

Sin really enjoyed Grounded in its early access form back in 2020, when she could get the co-op to work. “The garden feels convincing, and familiar enough that you can easily get your conceptual bearings,” she said, “while also being original enough to invite exploration, wonder, and joy in its simplest elements.” She interviewed Grounded’s lead designer Adam Brennecke too, and that’s well worth a read.

Grounded is on Steam for £25/$30/€30 for now, but Microsoft say the price is bumping up to £33/$40/€40 when the full game releases in September.

Not E3 2022 is in full-swing – see everything in our E3 2022 hub, as well as our complete round-up of everything announced at Summer Game Fest 2022. Many more big game showcases and streams are still to come this summer, so make sure you stay up to date with our summer games stream schedule.