Grounded 2 preview — You can ride the bugs now

In commemoration of the four teens who survived being shrunk down in the yard of Dr. Tully, the formerly evil corporation Ominent is set to unveil a new statue in Brookhollow Park. What should have been a joyous celebration however turns sinister as a mysterious explosion erupts at the park, with the four teens unaccounted for. Shrunk once more, the teens must navigate the new lands of Brookhollow to uncover the deeper secrets of the Ominent corporation and return to their original size.

If you’ve played the first Grounded, you’ll instantly be familiar with the premise here: you’ve been shrunk down to the size of an ant and must find a way to survive. Along the way, you will discover new crafting recipes from the bugs you defeat and materials you gather, as well as leveling yourself up through skills and perks. Grounded 2 largely carries over the survival systems like hunger and thirst, alongside the traditional trappings of craftable gear and a focus on exploration. Though this time around instead of wading through a backyard full of creepy crawlies and cute critters, the teens are taking on the expansive Brookhollow Park, with the starting area being nearly as large as the entire backyard space from the first game.

The visuals here are amazing, whether you’re wading through blades of grass and dandelion stems or delving into the dank depths of an ant hill, it all looks beautiful. The perspective of small things being big after shrinking is still novel in the sequel, and they’ve really amped things up in terms of fidelity as well. The lighting is marvelous, and works both ways with nighttime having this foreboding darkness that requires a torch to see even a centimeter ahead of you. The bugs are also wonderfully presented, whether it’s the elegance of a butterfly or the absolute horror of the wolf spider; it all looks great.

Fans who suffer from arachnaphobia will be happy to see the return of a mode to help with that fear.  If the creepiest of crawlies makes you feel itchy, you can slowly reduce the realism on the spiders by levels, all the way down to making them a shapeless blob without any legs whatsoever.  I personally don’t suffer from the phobia and even I get spooked when these monsters come out to play, and I have the sinking feeling that we’ve not seen the largest of the species quite yet.

One of my critiques of the first game was that solo-play could be quite brutal, and that hasn’t changed much in the sequel. There is, of course, the easy mode to help dial things back a bit, but on normal and above, bugs can squash you with ease. This is most noticeable in the early game, where you’ll likely die a fair share to buzzing mosquitos, stealthy scorpions and sturdy warrior ants. It can be a bit tiresome after a few hours of dying on repeat as you build up a base and gather materials for armor, but once you get over the hurdle of the first few hours of difficulty, it thankfully starts to level out.

Beyond just exploring and surviving, base building is another core aspect of Grounded 2, and it’s something that I found myself becoming blissfully consumed in. Much like the first game, you can lay out the blueprints for any structure before you place any materials, which can help you plan out your vision or just prepare things ahead of time before you go searching for the parts you might need. This system also allows your friends to add materials to the blueprints as well, which really streamlines the construction process if you’re building a large compound to keep the bugs out. It’s really up to you how much you want to build. If you prefer to have multiple small outposts, you can build those, but if you’d rather have a mega castle base of operations, you can construct that as well.

While there are a lot of similarities between Grounded and Grounded 2, the biggest difference is definitely the addition of mounts affectionately known as Buggies. This is exactly what it sounds like – a gameplay system that allows you to tame and ride bugs. This is an absolute gamechanger, allowing you to not only traverse the map with ease, but gain unique benefits depending on your bug of choice as well. One of the early game mounts is the Warrior Ant, who excels at gathering materials like weed stems and grass planks, but can also provide support in a fight as well with their jaws in a pinch. I adore this system, and I can’t wait to see the entire roster of bugs that I can patrol around with and explore each of their unique abilities.

In terms of bugs (pun intended, not the insects), this is an early access build which means I did see my fair share. The game reported running out of video memory a handful of times which led to intermittent crashes, but was largely stable for most of my play time. There were also a handful of smaller bugs that seemed to be passed on from the original game, like backpacks falling under the environment after dying. Thankfully, the build does have game repair tools to retrieve lost items like this, but it’s something to consider if you’re interested in picking the game up. It’s in no way unplayable, quite the opposite actually. I’m quite surprised to see the level of quality for an early access build, and the addition of some early narrative to chew on certainly elevates this as well.

If you were a fan of the first game, it’s a no brainer that you’ll adore this game as well. For people new to the series, Grounded 2 is just as easy to jump into as the first game. Exploring around as a shrunken teen is so much fun, even if the early game hours are spent having your behind handed to you by orb weavers and scorpions. While this game is certainly better with friends like most multiplayer games, the single player experience is also enjoyable, so long as you don’t mind the times being tougher as a result of going solo. I’m having a blast with the early access build and skittering around with my Buggies, and can’t wait to see how the community of players helps pave the direction of Brookhollow Park. Given how far along this game is at the beginning of its Early Access journey, we are already off to a magnificent start.

Grounded 2 enters Early Access on July 29, 2025 on Xbox Series X|S and PC. Stay tuned here at GamingTrend.com for more on Grounded 2 and all of your gaming, tech, and culture needs!