The highly anticipated Xbox Games Showcase finally arrived and as expected, Microsoft doubled down on many of its big franchises like Halo: Infinite as well as bringing back the classic Fable series as well. The newly purchased studio Obsidian Entertainment was also a major player in the event, showing off new trailers for its upcoming games like the Elder Scrolls looking Avowed. Grounded also made an appearance and even had an interesting moment inside of its trailer.
Obsidian, known for utilizing humor inside of its games, had a very sudden and funny shout out inside of its launch trailer for Grounded. Inside the trailer, the narrator asks viewers if they're waiting for the biggest game of the year, implying that he talking about Grounded. However, he soon pulls the rug out from under everyone by saying they'll need to continue waiting for Cyberpunk 2077 and displaying the logo on screen.
It was a harmless and also pretty funny random shout out to the work and the hype that surrounds CD Projekt RED's upcoming open world title Cyberpunk 2077. The shout out was received by the official Twitter account, who responded in kind by saying they see the acknowledgement. It stands to reason if CD Projekt RED will return the favor in an upcoming trailer, however unlikely that may be.
The trailer kept going with the humor, however, acknowledging that Grounded really isn't like anything the studio has made before. Seemingly combining elements from Fortnite: Save the World as well as a bit of style from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Grounded is actually a survival game where players work together or try to go at it solo against hordes of bugs, crafting valuable supplies, and build shelter.
Most promotional materials have shown off the presence of spiders as one of the many antagonists, something which hasn't sat well for more than a few fans. However, for those people who may be reluctant to come face to face with a massive spider, Obsidian did confirm that Grounded will have an Arachnophobia Mode. While the studio hasn't detailed what it means exactly, it's likely that the mode removes spiders as enemies in the game, probably replacing them with something else entirely.
Grounded is set to release on July 28th, 2020, for PC and Xbox One.
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