First impressions

I’d like to start off on a positive note and say im really enjoying myself and the new weapons are really exciting in the early game! I found the claws really fun to use and having more options at each tier allows you to play around and discover what you enjoy using. I’m only a few hours deep at this point.

In terms of constructive criticism, I have felt that the early game has been quite rushed and much less exploratory than Grounded 1.

In grounded 1, the quests mostly ask you to visit various places and you just unlock cool stuff along the way through analysing materials. I felt like I wasn’t pressured to get upgrades or play in a particular style. In grounded 2, I have felt that the early quests don’t leave much room for independent exploration and are very directive. (Find THIS, craft THIS, retrieve THIS) rather than “visit point of interest” and stumble across an item to analyse / take to a person of interest.

For example, going from grounded 1 to 2 means that we get mounts now, and that’s a huge change. Imagine spending 100 hours on foot, only to realise you can unlock an egg hatchery now! Maybe you think that’s how you get pets now. But wait, you crafted it and it mentions saddles?? A MOUNT!

Instead of a game-changing revelation which introduces this whole new system in the game on your own terms and through your own discovery, you just get a quest to build it. There’s no discovery, there’s no anticipation, there’s no buildup. I really think that landing this as something special is important and needs some more polishing.