IMMERSION IMPROVEMENTS

[Br7xX]

1. Starting the game

When the game begins and we wake up, the task “Do IT for BURG. L” is already displayed. That feels off — we just woke up, like come on!

 

Instead, display the task “Explore your surroundings” once the player gets out of bed. After that, dialogue: “Dr. Tully ran off with BURG. L’s head” followed by “I have to find them and save BURG. L.” This is where “Do IT for BURG. L” should appear alongside “Explore your surroundings.”

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2. Combat evaluation

The dialogue says “Your combat skills will be evaluated,” followed by “But what criteria are we being evaluated on?” — only for us to face two lawn mites. There’s even a line saying “You survived, good.” Well of course we did, it was just two enemies.

Make it more engaging: spawn five lawn mites scattered around the area — 2 on the left, 2 on the right, and 1 in the center. That feels like a real test.

Also change the "Received opponents to "Start".

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3. Character dialogue

Different characters have different perspectives about being tiny again, but their dialogue feels flat. Each character’s lines could be fleshed out more to really express their unique take and improve immersion.

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4. Ant behavior

The distance when the ants eat player's food is way off, make it closer.

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ADDITIONAL IMMERSION IMPROVEMENTS

Multiplayer scaling: In multiplayer, the “you survived, good” dialogue doesn’t land when there are only two mites. Also if more players are present, spawn stronger and more enemies.

Better yet, redesign the training room to be bigger. Instead of pressing a “Receive Opponents” button, make it so that when a player steps into the training zone (marked with a glowing floor border), enemies spawn automatically.

A new line for Sloane could explain this mechanic, letting players know stepping inside starts the training.

 

Death mechanic idea: When you die, imagine waking up on the back of an ant (or other insect). To break free, you’d have to mash buttons quickly while the character delivers some dialogue. This might be too complex to add now, but it could be a feature idea for Grounded 3.

[Br7xX]

ADDITIONAL IMMERSION IMPROVEMENTS

1. When the game begins in multiplayer, there are four beds, but three players spawn in the same bed while only one spawns separately. This looks like a bug and should be fixed.

 

2. In single-player, seeing multiple Omni tools but only being able to pick up one breaks immersion. In multiplayer, the system automatically gives everyone an Omni tool once one person picks it up, which makes no sense—what about the other Omni tools on display?

Suggestion: Only display four Omni tools in total (since multiplayer is capped at four players). In single-player, the player can pick any one of the displayed Omni tools; once chosen, the others should lock, and a dialogue should appear if the player tries to pick up another. In multiplayer, each player should manually pick up one of the four Omni tools displayed.
 

3. The roasting spit background UI is too large and unnecessary—removing the background color would be cleaner. Overall, the UI needs a major overhaul. Many menus feel barebones yet cluttered. For example, the death screen has too many options. Keep it simple: no more than three key options (similar to Minecraft’s respawn menu). Minecraft’s success partly comes from simplicity, while Grounded overwhelms players with unnecessary buttons.

 

4. Milk molars should be placed logically. For example: Inside an ant nest (ants could have carried it there). | In a soda can or near points of interest. | Scattered in the open world, like discarded teeth. Logical placement makes exploration more rewarding.

 

5. Collision Issues

Please fix collision problems when walking through stacks of grass planks. This issue was never fixed in Grounded 1 and should be addressed in Grounded 2.

 

6. There should be a limit of three backpacks per player. After three deaths, the oldest backpack should despawn. Otherwise, death becomes an exploit with no consequences.

Similarly, when players craft and throw dozens of spears, the UI fills up with spear icons, becoming overwhelming.

Limiting backpacks and reducing clutter would add more challenge and immersion.

 

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Other Suggestions

• Add more dialogue from the kids reacting to being shrunk again in multiplayer.

• Introduce a creature that hunts players who sleep in the open without protection.

• Rename menu/UI options for clarity:

Quit → Return to Main Menu

Super Quit → Quit

Huck → Throw

 

• Add a tired animation when stamina is depleted. Check Breath of the Wild for reference on stamina balance and UI.

• The pulsing red color when at low health is oversized—it visually clashes with the hunger and health bars.

• The “Superbuild” takes longer than standard building, which feels backward. Make the superbuild faster instead.

• Remove unusable chests, such as the ones in the ant cave, since they serve no purpose.

• When riding the buggy, allow players to collect items from the ground consistently (some areas prevent this).

• Add more bug types and variants for diversity.

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Final Note

It feels like features are added without considering logical consistency. Focusing on immersion and logic first would make Grounded 2 the best survival game of all time.

Edited 5 hours ago by Br7xX

[Br7xX]

Hello Obsidian Team,

 

First off, thank you for creating such an amazing and unique survival experience with Grounded. The game runs smoothly for me during normal exploration and combat, where I can maintain stable performance at around 60 FPS. However, I’ve noticed a major issue whenever I interact with menus such as:

• Hotpouch / Quick Slots

• Inventory

• Building Menu

• Other UI Overlays (map, crafting, etc.)

 

Whenever I switch to these menus, my FPS suddenly drops from stable 60 to as low as 48–40 FPS, making it feel extremely sluggish and unresponsive. This is surprising because combat, exploration, and even larger fights with multiple insects do not cause performance problems — only the menus do.

From my perspective as a player, it feels like:

• UI elements (icons, textures, blur effects, transparency) might be causing high GPU/VRAM or CPU spikes.

• The rendering pipeline for menus may not be as optimized as the 3D world.

 

Because of how often menus are used, these performance drops break immersion and can even affect gameplay in tense situations.

Suggestions

• Optimize UI rendering so menus don’t create sudden FPS drops.

• Pre-cache or compress menu assets (icons, thumbnails) to reduce VRAM spikes.

 

This issue was never fixed in Grounded 1 and should be addressed in Grounded 2.