Grounded 2 is a Proving Ground for State of Decay 3’s Multiplayer

In 2024, it was announced that State of Decay 3‘s Undead Labs was receiving assistance from Obsidian Entertainment on its shared world feature. This was big news then, but it’s even bigger news now with Grounded 2‘s Early Access release being right around the corner.

As fans know, the limited co-op of State of Decay 2 was criticized as being a “ride along.” It was meant to help out the communities of each player with additional loot and items, but it ended up not being very fun. As a result, the co-op community could never really get invested in SoD2, and that one promising feature ended up amounting to very little. Grounded, of course, did not have this issue, so Undead Labs leaning on Obsidian Entertainment shows how committed the studio is to State of Decay 3. More than that, though, it means Grounded 2 might foreshadow the full prowess of the feature.

Obsidian Entertainment releasing Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, and Grounded 2 (in early access) is one of the biggest surprises of 2025. It’s hard to say for sure what this means for the games and people of the studio overall, but it is becoming THE Xbox studio right now. With Grounded 2, players will see a new and improved take on Obsidian’s shared-save and persistent-world features.

While State of Decay 3 hasn’t been shown in a while, previous highlights pointed to how there were more expansive boundaries and more players involved than SoD2. Undead Labs has also indicated that it would be more flexible with online co-op so that players will have a true open co-op world owned by multiplayer, with deeper and stronger combat features in State of Decay 3. This, again, combines Undead Lab’s strengths in the IP with Obsidian’s expertise with the tech. Of course, it’s simple enough to talk the talk but not walk the walk, and that’s why Grounded 2 is important for State of Decay 3.

Grounded 2 is likely going to have the same persistent world and shared-save features that will indicate how State of Decay 3 works. Some improvements, innovations, and new features are to be expected, and while it’s possible State of Decay 3 represents a step beyond that, it’s going to be rooted in the expertise on display with Grounded 2. Sure, one is more child friendly and the other is a zombie co-op game, but the underlying tech is going to play a role in each of their success.