Obsidian has made it very clear that Grounded 1 is not going away, even when Grounded 2 arrives in early access at the end of July. This promise to keep their games available is very different from what often happens with online-only games, where they disappear forever when the servers shut down, like what recently happened with Anthem. It’s a big relief for anyone who loves getting lost in a game and doesn’t want their progress to suddenly vanish.
Obsidian wants its games to “stand the test of time.” As proof of this, earlier this year, they released a surprise update for Pillars of Eternity, a game that’s already ten years old. This wasn’t just a small fix; it showed they really want their games to stay fun and working for years. While Grounded 2 will be where new stories and expansions happen, they’ve promised that Grounded 1 will still get updates to keep it running. So if you’re still having fun playing as a tiny teenager in the original backyard, you don’t have to worry about the game being abandoned.
Grounded 1 Isn’t Going Anywhere When Sequel Releases
The key reason Grounded will stay playable in the future is how its multiplayer works. Even though it’s a co-op survival game, it uses a peer-to-peer system instead of dedicated servers. At first, peer-to-peer might seem outdated compared to the dedicated servers many modern games use.
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Obsidian has mixed this with shared worlds, making it feel like a cloud save you can share with friends. This means Grounded doesn’t depend on Obsidian to keep servers running forever, avoiding the big problem that kills many online games.
It works with peer-to-peer, and any player can host a shared world, and the progress is saved for everyone invited to that world. When one player stops, another can take over and host the same world. This smart system means the game can keep going long after official support might end.
It’s a clever way to give Grounded 1 a much longer life than games that rely on a publisher’s servers. This kind of thinking is a nice change in an industry where games shutting down is becoming a bigger worry, leading to campaigns like “Stop Killing Games.”
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Looking ahead, Grounded 2, which starts early access on July 29, will bring a much bigger experience. Instead of the backyard, the game moves to a huge new area called Brookhollow Park, with brand-new environments and deeper gameplay. Players will get to explore a massive setting full of secrets and challenges.
