Grounded 2 / Roadmap
Grounded 2 roadmap: what's coming nextWhere the park goes next
Fall 2026 is the next major step. A later Winter update and an undated programme cover more of the park, Buggies, building and progression. There is no announced 1.0 date—and not everything on the plan is assigned to the next update. [1][3][15]
Game-state snapshot: . Roadmap state rechecked against the latest live patch; no material change to the current Fall, Winter or Future Plans horizons was found. What was checked.
Where to go next
Keep the wider plan here. Use these pages for the immediate update or the game you can play today.
A sequence of milestones, not a fixed calendar
The Year Two image marks Into the Abyss as delivered, then shows Fall and Winter. Its undated column is a separate pool of plans—not a dated update after Winter. [1]
Into the Abyss
The latest completed major milestone in the reviewed game state. Its released content is no longer part of the upcoming list.
See what is playable →[4]Fall 2026
Seasonal window · exact date unannouncedThe Rotting Wood Pile, a named Buggy, equipment and other additions. The official version number is not established.
See the scoped summary ↓[1][3]Winter
After Fall · calendar-year boundary unspecifiedAn unrevealed area, a story boss, Salty, further tool progression and more. The roadmap does not name a month.
Explore the Winter plan ↓[1]Future Plans
Includes more Abyss, Base Moving and broader systems work. Column placement does not guarantee when individual items arrive. Browse every undated category ↓ [1]
“Fall” retains Obsidian’s wording for the seasonal window. “Winter” is not converted into December 2026 or January 2027. Neither label supplies a public-test date or a fixed gap between updates.
Fall 2026 is the next major milestone
Fall expands the park with a new area, creatures, a Buggy, equipment and other roadmap additions. Its exact release date, public version number and concealed entries remain unannounced. Detailed feature scope, testing and practical implications belong on the dedicated Next Update page. [1][3]
Winter has a scope, but not a launch date
Winter is the next roadmap horizon after Fall. The current image assigns a clear set of categories to it, but does not establish an exact date, calendar year boundary, version number or public-test schedule. [1]
Timing boundary: Winter after Fall 2026. Do not silently convert that into December 2026 or January 2027; the roadmap does not resolve the boundary.
Park & story
The milestone expands both the park and story
The story-boss label establishes story-linked progression, but not an act number, campaign-ending event or relationship to the concealed area. The area, boss and creatures remain unnamed in the sources supporting this snapshot.
[1]Buggies
More rideable allies are assigned to Winter
The roadmap does not name the species, count or roles. Parker's separate statement that future Buggies will include new families with new abilities is a broader development direction and is not evidence that those families specifically arrive in Winter. [1][14]
Feature
“Salty” remains intentionally undefined
Obsidian lists the word under Features but does not define its mechanic. The evidence does not justify turning it into a salt-weapon system, recipe path, Sandbox mechanic or access requirement.
[1]Progression
Tier IV progression is staged
Some Tier IV progression already exists in the 0.5-era game. Winter therefore represents a further progression step, not the first arrival of Tier IV and not evidence that all Tier IV capability is being withheld until then.
Current-state note: Patch 0.5.1 changed the live Tier 4 Omni-Axe recipe after this roadmap structure was established. That does not alter the roadmap’s Winter promise of further Tier IV Omni-Tool unlocks. Current recipe details belong to Current Game / Gameplay.
[1][4]Building
Building grows again, but the roadmap names no set
No named material, building set, recipe or piece inventory is established. These entries are separate from the concealed Fall building item and from the undated Base Moving plan.
[1]What Winter genuinely establishes
- A further park expansion is planned.
- Story progression includes a new story boss.
- Buggy, creature, Tier IV tool and building development all continue.
- “Salty” is a real roadmap label, even though its function is not yet public.
What remains unknown
- Exact release date, calendar year boundary and version number.
- The hidden area's identity, size and access conditions.
- Buggy species, story-boss identity and creature roster.
- The function of Salty and exact Tier IV/building unlocks.
Still planned. Not yet on a release calendar.
The undated column is the long-range plan, not a guaranteed update immediately after Winter. Some entries are only labels; where Obsidian has not explained them, no extra mechanics are inferred. [1]
Park
The world keeps expanding beyond the next seasonal milestones
Into the Abyss is already live. The separately listed “The Abyss — Expanded” therefore means more work is planned for that part of the park, while the concealed entry remains a distinct unknown location. Neither has a size, access route or seasonal assignment in the current snapshot.
[1][4]Buggies
Buggies are an ongoing system, not a finished launch feature
Progression and mutations are already live, so “more” means continued development rather than an unreleased system. Parker also says future Buggies will include entirely new families with new abilities or skills, while traversal, storage and combat support remain the three core Buggy pillars. That developer direction is undated and should not be assigned to a specific roadmap column without further evidence.
[1][11][14]Encounters
The long-range plan keeps several encounter classes open
The roadmap deliberately keeps these as separate categories but supplies no identities, counts, rewards or order. They should not be folded into the Winter story-boss entry or attached to either concealed area.
[1]Progression
Further equipment and Omni-Tool progression
The current roadmap gives no armour set, weapon identity, Omni-Tool tier, recipe, effect or release window for these entries. Fall and Winter have their own separately scoped equipment/tool commitments; this list is the additional undated layer.
[1]Building
Building remains one of the clearest long-term investment areas
Base Moving is an explicit plan but its final mechanic is not described: the roadmap does not establish what can move, how relocation works or what it costs. The other broad labels likewise do not establish a named set, transmog system, combat bonus or particular Stuffed Bug function.
The broader direction is more meaningful than those sparse labels alone. In December 2025 the team said builder feedback caused plans and schedules to change so more building content could come online sooner. The current roadmap still carries both seasonal and undated building work, showing that the earlier acceleration did not exhaust the building programme.
[1][13]Playgrounds
Creator tooling continues after the mode’s launch
Playgrounds and Buggy Racing are already live. “New Toolsets” is therefore further creator-mode development, not a promise that Playgrounds itself is still waiting to ship, and the roadmap does not name the tools.
[1][10][12]Language support
Named text languages and a separate voice-over plan
The five named entries are text support. The separate voice-over item does not identify its languages, and the roadmap provides no date or platform-specific rollout for either track.
[1]What the long-range plan is strongest on
- More park space, including an explicit further Abyss expansion.
- Continued Buggy progression, mutations, customisation and entirely new Buggy families as a developer direction.
- A sustained building programme rather than a single final building update.
- More creator tooling and broader localisation support.
What it still does not schedule
- No Future Plans item has a release window in the current roadmap.
- The concealed future area remains unidentified.
- Generic equipment and encounter labels carry no names, counts, tiers or mechanics.
- Column placement does not establish delivery order within the undated pool.
“More” does not mean “missing”
Several roadmap systems are already playable. These comparisons explain what remains planned without putting released features back in the upcoming queue.
Buggy progression and mutations
Already delivered: a substantial progression and mutation system in Beat the Heat.
Still planned: more progression and mutations, plus customisation and further Buggies. The first delivery did not complete the broader plan.
[1][11]Tier IV Omni-Tool progression
Already live: some Tier IV progression in the 0.5-era game.
Still planned: the further Winter unlocks. Describing the whole tier as simply “delayed to Winter” loses the staged nature of delivery.
[1][4]The water expansion
Already delivered: Into the Abyss, including the Toe Biter and underwater building.
Still planned: “The Abyss — Expanded”. The old “Watery Buggy” label became the Toe Biter; the later expansion is not the first arrival of underwater play.
[1][4][5][7]Playgrounds and creator tools
Already delivered: Playgrounds, followed by Buggy Racing.
Still planned: further toolsets. The mode’s delivery and the continuing development of its tools are different states.
[1][10][12]Building development
Already delivered: multiple building waves have shipped, including earlier building work and underwater base capability.
Still planned: Winter materials/buildings plus an undated programme covering materials, buildings, customisation, Stuffed Bug improvements and Base Moving.
The team explicitly said builder feedback caused schedules to change so more building content could come online sooner. That history is why the remaining list should be read as continued investment, not evidence that building work has been waiting untouched since launch.
[1][4][13]Three other changes that prevent an old roadmap being mistaken for today’s plan
Passive Mutations moved forward. They began in the launch roadmap’s Future Plans and shipped with Toxic Tangle. Their departure from the future list reflects delivery, not cancellation. [7][9]
Coziness and PEEP.R 2K arrived in stages. The December Feature Update brought them forward from the original Winter plan. A seasonal label did not require all its systems to wait for the big content release. [7][8]
Steam Deck support is not a certification receipt. The 0.4.1 notes establish functional support and Microsoft-account cross-play. They do not, by themselves, verify the separate historical “Steam Deck Verified” certification promise. This guide does not mark that certification complete from those notes. [5][7][12]
No longer listed is not the same as cancelled
Three named plans disappeared across the recorded revisions. They remain visible here as unresolved history, not active commitments for a future milestone.
No first-party cancellation is established in the reviewed evidence. Equally, an old appearance does not justify treating an item as still scheduled. These items were previously listed; what happened to those plans remains unresolved.
No longer listed · status unresolved
New Archetypes
- Previously visible
- July 2025 through June 2026
- No longer visible
- August 2026 / Year Two
The disappearance concerns the planned expansion of archetypes. It does not mean that the existing archetype/playstyle system was removed from the game.
[1][5][7][15]No longer listed · status unresolved
Active Mutations 2.0
- Previously visible
- Earlier plans through June 2026
- No longer visible
- August 2026 / Year Two
The named future overhaul is no longer visible. That does not reverse delivery of the existing mutation systems, or turn all mutation work into a cancelled feature.
[1][5]No longer listed · status unresolved
Smoothies 2.0
- Previously visible
- July 2025 and the January 2026 roadmap lineage
- No longer visible
- By June 2026
It was once attached to the Summer plan and disappeared before the Year Two revision. The reviewed evidence does not establish whether it was dropped, renamed, folded into other work or simply taken off the visible plan.
[1][5][6][7]How the four recorded roadmap revisions changed the plan
- Year Two11 August 2026 · current revision
- Into the Abyss becomes delivered history. New Fall and Winter milestones appear. The undated column adds more Abyss, Stuffed Bug improvements and voice-over languages; New Archetypes and Active Mutations 2.0 are no longer shown. [1][5]
- Pre-AbyssJune 2026 · historical
- The water milestone becomes the named Into the Abyss plan. New Archetypes and Active Mutations 2.0 remain visible; Smoothies 2.0 is already absent. This image is the important comparison point for the later disappearances. [5]
- Post-Toxic TangleBy 27 January 2026 · historical
- Playgrounds becomes a standalone milestone and a new Spring update is inserted. The Spring work later becomes Beat the Heat. The archival capture preserves a plan that the mutable official page no longer displays. [6][9][11]
- Launch roadmap29 July 2025 · historical
- The original structure is Fall, Winter, Summer and Future Plans. Its Buggy progression, Passive Mutations and building ambitions are the starting point for the later movement—not a second current roadmap. [7]
What 1.0 is meant to deliver
The Year Two roadmap does not contain a dated 1.0 milestone. Separate developer statements give a clearer definition of what Obsidian wants full release to mean, and those intentions should not be back-filled into Fall, Winter or the undated column.
The story and park define the completion threshold
Parker says Grounded 2 cannot reasonably reach 1.0 until the intended park and story goals are filled. He describes the two essential pillars as concluding the story through Acts 1, 2 and 3 plus endgame, and completing the park on land and underwater. [14]
The Steam Early Access disclosure also reserves the complete story and additional content for 1.0 but gives no fixed Early Access end date. [15]
Do not turn “0.5” into a countdown. Parker described 0.5 as “mathematically” 50% of the journey, but that is developer framing—not an independently measured completion percentage, a promise of equal-sized remaining updates or a release-date forecast. [14]
Current story extent and playable park coverage remain owned by the Current Game guide; this page only records the stated completion target.
Technical and platform targets around full release
- Unreal Engine 5.7
- After Into the Abyss · no named patchParker says the game is planned to move to UE 5.7 for optimisation gains. The reviewed snapshot does not establish which live build contains that migration.
- Continuing optimisation
- Through ongoing developmentParker says adding more park content tends to reduce performance, so optimisation is recurring work rather than a one-off final task.
- DualSense refinements
- During Early Access · PS5Haptics and adaptive triggers are already supported; Parker says they will be refined and strengthened through Early Access.
- PS5 Pro Enhanced
- Intended by 1.0 · PS5 ProThe Enhanced label and higher-fidelity outcome are targets for 1.0, not established current-state guarantees.
- 60fps Performance Mode
- Target by 1.0 · PS5 and PS5 ProParker frames a solid 60fps Performance Mode on both consoles as a 1.0 target rather than a blanket guarantee for today's live build.
- Achievements and trophies
- Planned for 1.0Parker assigns unlockable achievements and trophies to the final release.
These are attributed targets and intentions, not proof of delivery. None supplies a 1.0 date, and the roadmap image itself does not convert them into seasonal commitments. [14]
The roadmap can change without becoming meaningless
Obsidian has explained that player feedback brought Buggy and building work forward. Grounded 2's release history also shows features arriving through seasonal content updates, Feature Updates and standalone releases instead of every roadmap column shipping unchanged as one package. [8][10][13]
Window ≠ test date ≠ release
A roadmap window describes intended timing. A public test describes access to a test branch only when separately announced. Release evidence is what establishes that content reached the live game.
Movement needs item-level context
Work can be brought forward, split, renamed, partially delivered or rebucketed. A changed position alone does not establish a delay, cancellation or technical dependency.
Hidden stays hidden
The current image conceals a Fall creature, Fall building item, Winter area and later area. Their categories are visible on the roadmap; their identities are not. Artwork and community guesses cannot fill those slots. [1]
A current roadmap is not a historical archive
Obsidian's roadmap page is mutable. Older first-party images and contemporary captures matter because today's page cannot prove what an earlier revision contained. This is why disappeared items remain marked no longer listed / unresolved instead of being silently erased or called cancelled.
Generic labels do not imply counts or mechanics
“New creatures”, “New Buggies”, “New weapons” and similar labels establish direction, not a numeric promise. Repeated labels across Winter and Future Plans do not prove separate counts, and undated column order does not establish release order.
The safest reading is a bounded product direction with mutable sequencing and scope: specific labels and windows matter, but they are not contractual guarantees of exact dates, counts, mechanics or dependency chains.
Sources behind the roadmap
The official images establish what each revision lists. Released update notes establish delivery. Interviews establish attributed developer intentions. Contemporary captures preserve older states; repeating the same image does not create independent corroboration.
- [1]Year Two roadmap — original image
Current Fall, Winter and undated labels, including four concealed entries. The image itself was visually rechecked on 20 September.
- [2]Official roadmap page
The official roadmap’s current home. This mutable page is not evidence of what an older revision contained.
- [3]Help Us Decide Our Next Update Name
Establishes the next update’s Fall window, not an exact date or official version number.
- [4]Into the Abyss — released update
Delivery evidence for the latest major milestone, including underwater play, the Toe Biter and underwater bases.
- [5]June roadmap — retained official image
Historical comparison: New Archetypes and Active Mutations 2.0 are still listed; Smoothies 2.0 is absent. Visually rechecked on 20 September.
- [6]January roadmap — contemporary capture
Archival support for the January revision. A capture of Obsidian’s plan, not independent corroboration.
- [7]Launch roadmap — contemporary transcription
Archival support for the July 2025 original: initial seasonal placements and Future Plans. The underlying source is the official launch roadmap.
- [8]December Feature Update
Explains the Feature Update release type and the earlier delivery of Coziness and PEEP.R 2K.
- [9]Toxic Tangle — released update
Delivery evidence for the mutation overhaul and the Winter-cycle expansion; also points readers to a revised roadmap.
- [10]Playgrounds Mode is Here!
Establishes the mode’s live release, separate from its earlier public test.
- [11]Beat the Heat — released update
Delivery evidence for Buggy progression and mutations, the Black Soldier Ant Buggy and additional building content.
- [12]Buggy Racing / 0.4.1
Evidence for live Buggy Racing and Steam Deck support/cross-play. “Support” is not the same evidence claim as “Verified” certification.
- [13]Grounded 2 team’s year-end statement
First-party explanation of why feedback brought Buggy and building work forward.
- [14]Chris Parker on future systems and 1.0
Developer intentions: new Buggy families, technical work and the goals for 1.0. The English interview was rechecked on 20 September.
- [15]Developer’s Early Access disclosure
No fixed Early Access end date; complete story and additional content intended for 1.0. Its launch-era “current state” inventory is not used here.
![[5]June roadmap — retained official image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HKFjTr3bIAAJWcL.jpg){kind=link}
Snapshot, source-check scope and publication status
The official news index did not expose its dynamically loaded article list in the retrieval used for this review. It was not treated as proof that no newer news exists. A retained image proves the content of that roadmap revision, not that the URL can never change.
The January and launch comparisons rely on Sourceborne’s retained historical record and contemporary captures; those archival pages were not independently rechecked in this run. All material remains tied to its upstream claim or roadmap context. No new fact, commissioning decision or publication approval was created.