tiyoyodu27

Grounded 2 – Feedback After ~60 Hours on PS5 — No Spoilers Hi! After around 60 hours in about a week and a half on PS5, I wanted to share some spoiler-free feedback about Grounded 2. Overall, I'm having a great time. I played a lot of the first Grounded, and I think Grounded 2 keeps what made the original special while adding enough new ideas to make the experience feel fresh. WHAT I REALLY ENJOY Combat Combat is one of my favorite parts of the game. I love learning enemy attacks and timings until something that initially destroyed me becomes an enemy I can confidently dominate. Dodging adds welcome variety alongside blocking and perfect blocking, and I really appreciate returning creatures having new or modified patterns. Experience from Grounded 1 helps, but you still have to learn how these new versions fight. One difficult boss was a perfect example of difficulty done right. Our first serious attempt went terribly, but instead of feeling frustrated, I wanted a rematch. I changed my build, prepared more healing items and learned its timings. On our next attempt, I could recognize and perfect block most of its attacks, and we eventually won. That was extremely satisfying because I felt like I had improved as a player, not simply increased my stats. World and exploration I love seeing the Grounded universe expanded with new locations. The game still manages to create those amazing "WOW" moments when you recognize an everyday object and see what it becomes at this scale. The world also feels alive. I especially enjoy insects behaving in ways inspired by their real-life behavior. Exploration is very rewarding too. I've discovered many locations before quests eventually sent me there simply because the game constantly makes me think: "I wonder what's over there?" Buggys Buggys are one of my favorite additions. They don't just feel like vehicles: each has different abilities, uses and its own personality. Switching between them for mobility, combat, utility or exploration gives the system much more depth than I expected. Bosses and atmosphere I've really enjoyed the boss designs so far, both visually and mechanically. The overall atmosphere still unmistakably feels like Grounded while having its own identity. And finally: Bur Weed no longer immediately runs away after falling to the ground. Thank you. Seriously. Grounded 1 players will understand. 😅 WHAT I THINK COULD BE IMPROVED O.G.R.R. creatures This is currently my biggest issue. I CAN defeat O.G.R.R. creatures in melee. My problem isn't simply that they're too difficult — I just don't find them enjoyable to fight. There are so many elemental explosions and visual effects that their normal attacks can become difficult to read. That's frustrating in a combat system where learning animations and reacting correctly is otherwise so rewarding. The elemental damage also interacts badly with bandages. Taking even a small amount of damage interrupts their healing while the bandage still goes on cooldown. This makes them unreliable against constant elemental effects and pushes me toward using lots of instant-healing smoothies. Eventually I found a better solution: kill O.G.R.R. creatures from a safe distance with a bow. It's safer, easier and costs far fewer healing items. It's also incredibly boring. I'd much rather fight them in melee. I think elemental explosions would be more interesting if they were connected to specific attacks or player mistakes. For example, getting hit by certain attacks could trigger an explosion, while successfully dodging or perfect blocking them could prevent it. That would keep O.G.R.R. creatures dangerous while giving players another mechanic to learn and master, while also reducing the constant visual clutter. Some modifiers, especially permanent regeneration, can also be frustrating. I'd prefer powerful modifiers to have conditions or mechanics that players can learn and counter rather than simply being permanently active. I don't necessarily want O.G.R.R. creatures to become easier. I want fighting them well to make the fight feel better. A difficult boss made me want to learn its fight. O.G.R.R. creatures make me want to avoid interacting with their mechanics. PEEP.R and O.G.R.R. modifiers I'd also love the PEEP.R to show detailed information about an O.G.R.R.'s modifiers. If one has regeneration, increased damage, resistance, speed or another effect, observing it should tell me what those modifiers actually do. It would fit Grounded perfectly: Observe → understand the danger → prepare → fight. Underwater hunger Food consumption during long underwater exploration feels extremely aggressive. Managing oxygen, equipment and navigation is already interesting, so watching the hunger meter disappear so quickly sometimes feels more annoying than challenging. I think the current rate could use some adjustment. Retrieving arrows Arrows tend to scatter or move around after hitting enemies, making ammunition recovery unnecessarily tedious. Making arrows easier to locate or retrieve would make ranged combat much more pleasant without affecting its balance. A certain underwater encounter Keeping this vague to avoid spoilers: One large underwater encounter felt unfairly difficult rather than satisfyingly difficult while using the necessary diving equipment. I'm completely fine with the creature being dangerous, but I'd prefer the challenge to come from learning the creature rather than fighting against underwater movement and equipment limitations. Toe Biter Space Program This is more funny than frustrating, but it happens regularly enough to mention. When using my Toe Biter Buggy on land, it occasionally gets launched high into the air for seemingly no reason. Sometimes my aquatic Buggy apparently decides swimming isn't ambitious enough and attempts to become a bird. This has happened multiple times on PS5. 😅 FINAL THOUGHTS I'm really enjoying Grounded 2. Most of my criticism isn't about wanting the game to become easier. Some of my favorite moments have come from enemies that initially destroyed me. What I love about Grounded's combat is progressing from: "How am I supposed to fight this thing?" to: "I know exactly what you're about to do." I'd love O.G.R.R. encounters to capture more of that feeling: fewer constant visual effects, clearer opportunities to react correctly, useful modifier information through the PEEP.R, and elemental mechanics that reward learning the fight. I don't want difficult enemies to become easy. I want difficult enemies to make me want to master them. After around 60 hours, I'm still excited to explore, experiment with builds and discover what else is hiding in the park. I'm looking forward to seeing how Grounded 2 evolves throughout Early Access. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read all of this! And of course, a huge thank you to the developers for all the work already put into Grounded 2. I'm sharing this feedback because I'm genuinely having a great time with the game and I'm excited to see how it continues to evolve. See you in the park! 🐜 Platform: PlayStation 5