The Outer Worlds Dev's Next Game, Grounded, Gets A Release Date

Grounded, the next game from Obisidian--the developer of The Outer Worlds and Fallout: New Vegas--is basically Honey, I Shrunk the Kids meets Rust, and it's set to launch quite soon. During the April Inside Xbox briefing, Microsoft announced that Grounded will launch on Xbox Game Preview and Steam Early Access on July 28.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers on Xbox One and PC can get the game for no extra cost. As with other Early Access releases, Grounded will launch as an in-development game, with gameplay bugs and other oddities to be expected. A release date for the full game has not been announced.

A new trailer for Grounded was also released during the livestream, featuring game director Adam Brennecke and social media manager Shyla Schofield sharing new insights on what to expect from the game where you play as a person the size of an ant.

"You wake up in a suburban backyard, shrunk to the size of an ant. You hear the voice of a mysterious robot named BURG.L. He seems to know what's going on and lets you know that the machine to turn you back to normal size is currently out of order," Microsoft said.

Everything in the yard is trying to kill you, not unlike the Rick Moranis movie, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. "The backyard is rife with different kinds of ants, flying insects, and spiders. You must gather, craft, and build bases from scavenged items found in the backyard, searching for life-saving resources such as the dew off grass to quench your thirst or transforming an acorn shell into body armor to defend against a host of unpredictable creatures," Microsoft said about the game.

Grounded features solo play or multiplayer with up to three others.

GameSpot got to see an early build of Grounded back in 2019. Editor Phil Hornshaw noted that Grounded appears to be a "confident step in a new direction, and we'll need to wait to see whether the things people like about the studio's games, like storytelling, character development, and player choice, are compatible with the survival genre."

Developer Obsidian is owned by Microsoft.