Grounded - Early Access Review - IGN

Grounded has a lot of potential as a great survival RPG, but its early-access offering comes up a little short.

[SullysCigar]

"6/10" from IGN then. Hopefully they can turn this around with the final retail code.

[RpgSama]

Another GaaS Game Pass filler, Bleeding Edge has already been forgotten.

[porkChop]

Both games were in development well before either team had any talks with MS. So explain how they're just "Game Pass filler"?

[moriarty1889]

exactly. this is what most games will be like on gamepass. smaller budget indie quality titles to justify content.

[JayRyu]

I still play Bleeding Edge. Its a fun game. I think it needs more promo.

[RpgSama]

They are Game Pass filler because even though development for both of them was started well before their studios acquisition, it's MS responsibility that they were released while they're still severely lacking content.

These "early access" full games are just an excuse to release games lacking content and development time just because they needed something new and "free" to give that month, and they leave you with the promise that they MIGHT get better with time.

[ElementX]

Valve has had early access on Steam since 2013. Kickstarter games which give supporters beta versions have been around since Kickstarter began. People who are interested in games can buy them early and provide feedback and make suggestions. This isn't an idea MS came up with for Game Pass to release games early

[RamRod88]

The difference between Grounded and Bleeding Edge is night and day. Grounded will be a fully fledged game with a complete story mode and way more content once it fully launches next year. Obsidian could have waited and released the game next year, but with Grounded being a survival game, the community can really help the game grow. There have been plenty of examples of early access games being successful. Lets be real for a second, if Grounded was a 3rd party game, you wouldn't be be making an issue about it if was releasing on playstation too.

[Marquinho]

IGN is one of the few that gives a score to early access games... absurd to me.

Also, this is the Top Seller game in Steam as of now, so it might not be a "filler" after all.

For comparison, Horizon Zero Down doesn't even appear in the Top 10... however, that must be because of its awful optimization on PC.

[SullysCigar]

@Marquinho, I'd imagine that's because many PC players already played it on PS4. I mean, the game's over 3 years old and was so highly acclaimed, they may even have bought a PS4 for Horizon alone.

[KyRo]

I havent really followed Grounded much but I do love survival games but a lot of places never understand survival games. DayZ reviewed bad and was popular. Ark reviewed bad and in massive. Dead Matter is about to drop, one of the most ambitious survival games released and no doubt will review bad.

The problem is, reviewers skim though these games and give it a score. There's so many systems in these games. I've played Ark for 5 years now and still learn new things.

[neomahi]

I wouldn't bet on it. From here on out it's not looking at the game and saying "we need a complete overhaul", but squashing bugs, that's it. You're gonna have to wait for Grounded 2. In all my life following gaming carefully and watching as games first display "This is not a Representation of the Final Product" it generally is. Graphics may change a bit but generally for the worse as they have to really be hacked down to prioritize performance. What you're seeing is what you're going to get, with some minor tweaks here and there and honestly thinking about it, this is a horrible way of doing business. So goes the old saying "You have one shot to make a good first impression." Consider Drive Club and Days Gone, didn't matter how good the games got over time with updates, that initial review, like this one, shut everyone down and put Evolution Studios out of business.

[Spenok]

Well, the didn't exactly give it a score, so that score is your interpretation of their review... so readers beware.

But you are likely correct FOR NOW. Hence why it's in early access, and this review doesn't have a score.

[SullysCigar]

No, it's not my interpretation, if you read the article, they gave it 6/10 and summarised simply with the word "okay"

This is the same score GameSpot gave it.

[Spenok]

Hmm, I scanned through the article to see if I could see a score before writing that comment... but I guess I missed it.

I retract my previous statement!

[Marquinho]

So they're basically saying it needs more content and polish... in other words.. It's an "Early Access" Game. 🤦‍♂️

[yarbie1000]

Seems pretty standard for early Xbox GAAS games

[lelo2play]

Not my type of game, but most people seem to be enjoying it on Steam.

[porkChop]

Sounds like the game needs more content and a bit more work. That's not completely surprising as it's early access, but hopefully they can turn it around like Sea of Thieves.

[glenn1979]

I tought the same thing, the game is already great ,overtime it will be even better with content

[BeOpenMinded]

Already better than SOT because of progression! Grounded has immense potential and is already fun, look forward to whats next

[Profchaos]

Basically it's a shell that takes an hour to get to the end content. It's got a lot of potential but it's not ready yet is the vibe I get from early access reviews

Side note I find it funny that IGN states for platforms xb4 PC Xbox one like xb4 is a legit product

[Donnie81]

Are we really putting numbers on early access games now? This game is gonna be huge! But I guess ign has to get traffic moving to the snooze fest of a website somehow these days

[SullysCigar]

To be fair, GameSpot gave it 6/10 as well.

[averagejoe26]

yea, the game clearly isn't that great

[SullysCigar]

^ maybe they'll finish it off over the next few years, like with Sea of Thieves. We'll have to wait and see.

[averagejoe26]

Haha this xbot is so salty

[Donnie81]

This game is gonna really grab that casual crowd. Obsidian will have it polished by official launch. Just don’t see the point in putting a score to a game that’s not finished and everyone knows it. Probably garner several goty awards this years

[PCgamer98]

I'm enjoying it on steam but I agree that it still needs a lot of features and content. Story is also pretty short and you're probably done with it after 30 mins. But yeah it's still an early access game so I hope it will eventually be as good as sea of thieves.

[RamRod88]

Critics: "the game is lacking content and still needs work." Geez wiz ya think?? They don't call it early access for nothing.

[Atticus_finch]

It almost seems like a desperate attempt to release any game. Why not just give it more time and give gamers the experience they deserve and avoid the controversy. Look at the passed releases, they are all incomplete games. For a ginormous company like MS that's plain embarrassing and a very bad precedent.

[RamRod88]

No it's not. Obsidian has been saying from the reveal of Grounded, we are releasing the game in game preview first. It has nothing to do with rushing a game out for people to play. Obsidian has never released a game like Grounded; a survival co-op game. The game is developed by a small team so getting feedback from the community is important. Early access titles like; Minecraft, subnautica, The Long Dark, Kerbal Space Program, and many others were very successful regardless of early access. Did you feel this strongly for those games too or just MS games?

All past releases? Even you can't be serious. Ori 2 and Gears Tactics both released this year and were complete games. This month XGS is releasing Wasteland 3, Flight Sim, Battletoads, and Tell Me Why(only 1 week apart for each chapter.) All complete games. Out of all of Xbox releases this gen Sea of Thieves and Bleeding Edge are the only games I believe that were lacking content at launch. Every other game released as complete titles.

[caddytrek]

Early access is just an excuse to release unfinished content. It's not like Microsoft is some indie developer who needs to sell early access to pay for development.

The truth is Microsoft doesn't care about quality, they just wanted to crap out a game onto gamepass to keep subs up.

[Deathdeliverer]

I said the same thing but I’m crazy. The game simply isn’t fun. Everything is more fun with friends, even bad stuff. The game isn’t terrible, but it definitely isn’t good.

[TheColbertinator]

Precisely. Elite Dangerous started in Early Access and expanded over 20 times what it originally was before its official launch and the months that followed.

[neomahi]

So, a sign of things to come from Obsideon, huh? Early Access is a horrible marketing idea. Sonia the old adage, "You only have one chance to make a strong impression". This is like the game that gets released and then various updates as time goes on. I would never release a game until it was completely done. Look at games like Drive Club and Days Gone. With time to clean up some of the smaller areas, the damage from reviews had already been done and people were convinced the games just weren't worth it.

This game has already made its mark unless Obsideon looks at this and says: "Alright, now that we've gotten feedback, let's scrap it and take a good idea back to the drawing board", but what you're going to see, now, is just minor tweaks but not a complete overhaul which is what this game needs.

[RamRod88]

This isn't a sign of anything. You're jumping to conclusions without anything to back it up. Obsidian has been very clear about how this game is in early access right now. When they revealed Grounded last year, they were very explicit about it launching in early access first, and explained why they are doing it this way. You're comparing apples to oranges with the official launch of Drive Club and Days Gone to early access preview of Grounded. Anyone who has played the game now knows it will change between now and launch.

You're right, the game has already made it's mark. If you have been paying attention at all, the game has been very popular on Steam and Xbox. The game has been the top seller on Steam since it launched in early access, and vast majority of reviews have been very positive on Steam and Xbox. The biggest issue I have heard is, lack of content and bugs, which are 2 things that will be fixed before launch.

[caddytrek]

Why launch it in early access at all? Why not wait until it's finished? I thought being bought by Microsoft meant they were going to have so much more funding for their games. So with all that funding why did they need to rush?

[Father__Merrin]

Looks an ok game but this is what Microsoft wants on gamepass

[MightyHealthy]

I'm loving the concept.
Honey I shrunk the kids was a favorite of mine growing up.
Is this on pc? I'm checking it out if it is.

[LoveSpuds]

Never liked early access as a concept, why the hell anyone wants to play incomplete games is mind boggling to me.

As far as I am concerned, devs cant have their cake and eat it, if they decide to put something out and charge for it then it is up for discussion/review just like any other title. I am sick of developers and publishers putting half baked bullshit out, as soon as I see the words 'roadmap' I immediately lose interest.