Obsidian Entertainment is usually known for its role-playing games like Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, and more recently, The Outer Worlds. However, during the X019 Inside Xbox stream today, the studio announced Grounded, a brand new IP that is a cooperative survival game. See the announcement trailer above.
The game is played in first-person, set in a suburban backyard where the player is shrunken down to the size of an ant. As usual with survival games, players will be gathering resources, crafting, and building bases to make the process easier.
It seems there are some story elements attached to this sandbox title as well as missions to complete together with up to four players in co-op. Talking about the departure from the RPG side, Obsidian said:
This title has given the team the creative outlet to bring their years of developing highly regarded games to bear on the survival genre. RPGs like The Outer Worlds will always be in Obsidian’s DNA, but from time to time we want to stretch our creative muscles and try things that might be a little different.
Grounded is releasing sometime in Spring 2020, with players on Xbox Insider Program gaining access first, followed by it hitting the Game Preview Program, and finally, Xbox Game Pass. The platforms the game is heading to are Xbox One, Microsoft Store, and Steam.