Grounded 2 only just launched to Steam Early Access, and it has already broken its predecessor's record for concurrent Steam players. According to SteamDB, Grounded 2 has already attracted an all-time peak player count of 49,836 players, and that was a mere two hours after the game went live on Steam. That's compared to the original Grounded, which peaked at 32,012 players a year after it launched in Early Access. Since the launch Grounded 2 has plateaued somewhat, settling at around the 33,000-player mark, however, the game launched at the start of the week, and player counts tend to pick up around the first weekend after launch. It would not be surprising to see more players pick up Grounded 2 on its first weekend after launch, since the first game was quite successful over its five-year run. The launch of Grounded 2 resulted in a noticeable uptick in player counts for the original survival adventure game, to boot.

Grounded 2 builds on the premise of the first game, shrinking the protagonist down even smaller than before, revisiting the base-building and exploration mechanics in a larger open world with fresh twists, like insect breeding, new threats, and new challenges. Grounded 2 currently costs $29.99, and those who have played the new game and reviewed it on Steam have been impressed for the most part. The game currently has a 73% Positive Steam review rating from a total of 1,385 reviews. Grounded 2 is still in Early Access, and it will likely be for a while—the original Grounded game only exited Early Access over two years after its initial release. The launch price also saw a $10 increase when Grounded exited Early Access, so the same may be true for the sequel.

Welcome to the last week of July and another fairly packed week of new game releases. We kick off the week with a cosy trip to the shire, which is swiftly followed by some vehicular combat, some insect action, a virtual rebellion, a bit of law and order and finally landing in a post-apocalyptic world. We also have a few more new games that didn't quite make the list this week.

Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game / This week's major release / Tuesday 29 July
Welcome home, Hobbit! Live the cosy life of a Hobbit in the wonderfully serene landscape of the Shire. Discover, decorate, & share in this idyllic corner of Middle-earth. Join friendly Hobbits & familiar faces awaiting your arrival in Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game. Steam link

The Grounded team is excited to bring Update 1.2.0 to the community this week. Rightfully titled The Super Duper update, this massive update brings with it many quality-of-life changes, more than a hundred new items to craft, a brand new Base Coziness feature, and wasps, a new terrifying creature to fight. But first, let's dive into the Super Duper… an item duplication machine!

THE SUPER DUPER UPDATE
Item Duplication - The Super Duper is a new piece of equipment installed in the Oak Lab. Players will find the Super Duper machine the next time they visit BURG.L! This machine will allow players to duplicate specific equipment and items using Raw Science. To use the Super Duper, players must locate Duper Discs throughout the yard. The first disc unlocks operation of the machine, while the other discs grant the player the ability to unlock duping of higher-tier equipment and items. It can even duplicate trinkets, unique items, and upgrade stones. Making this even more helpful for players, any item duplicated will include all of the item's Smithing upgrades, saving a lot of time for when you and your friends need to gear up quickly and get back to adventuring.