Grounded (2022)

On paper, Grounded had everything to become my jam: a genre - survival - that I consider to be the one which fascinates me the most in gaming, even if not necessarily my personal favourite; a humorous tone that positively infects everything from gameplay to narrative; a phenomenal, tone-perfect 80s vibe that hits you right from the title menu and bursts with flavour through both visuals and soundtrack; and an on-the-nose homage to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, a film that entertained me for hours on end over countless rewatches when I was younger.

Has this charming, whimsical take on an often very tone-serious genre delivered then? For the most part, yes. But Grounded is not without its incredibly frustrating design mishaps that kept me from wholeheartedly loving my time with it.

At the beginning though, if your 80s sensibilities are tuned, it sort of feels like an alluring drug pulling you in. The world is immediately captivating and the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids similarities undeniable. It’s easy to get hooked on Grounded’s compelling settings, gameplay loop, addictive crafting mechanics, ominous soundtrack (in fact, the overall tone of the game is actually darker than the cutesy art style suggests), dungeon crawling chops and especially mysterious narrative, something so often stripped down to essentials - if at all present - in so many survival games. Yet one thing that struck me above all else was how well this title deals with perspective. I have genuinely lost track of how many times I found myself in awe of the way Grounded weaves this perception of grandiosity (almost overwhelm) into such mundane objects or layouts: a blade of grass seems massive; a simple plastic straw looks like a bridge; a nail cutter is this big sturdy object you can climb on to; something as banal as a porch feels like an intimidating hub world. This fully translates to creatures as well, which in this case is also enhanced by competent AI. Mosquitos look scary; warrior ants look scary; wolf spiders look - and sound - absolutely terrifying. The sense of scale in Grounded is almost unparalleled precisely because it makes the normal seem intimidating, and I can’t help but commend Obsidian for how good a job they did with it.

For all its awesomeness however, Grounded also comes with a hefty dose of issues, at least in the way I perceive them. For starters, the game clearly isn’t balanced for solo runs: everything from difficulty to loot distribution, carrying capacity or crafting recipe requirements seems almost exclusively tailored around a multiplayer experience, which is something single players should be aware of going in. Chances are by the time you begin to realise how grating this is you’re already in too deep so you push through, but nevertheless it’s a bit of a bummer. Somewhat tied to this, it was immensely frustrating having to deal with the fact that some relevant resources are poorly distributed around the map and only accessible on very specific locations, which hinders things like base building and item crafting. And I genuinely disliked that some quests’ requirements were quite obtuse, in the sense that they’d often require gear, materials or even recipes that at no point were hinted at so that the player knew he needed to bring them beforehand. As a result, pacing was often stifled and required quite a bit of annoying backtracking. Especially for a solo player, a simple system like linking storage would’ve been a great help.

Other aspects weren’t as frustrating, though they weren’t exactly irrelevant: the tutorial doesn’t do a great job of on-boarding new games, often making you feel a bit lost when dealing with items, recipes and game systems for example, and also making the game almost impossible to fully grasp without a guide; the map is super confusing to navigate at first, and even when you get the hang of it it never feels great to parse through; and to this day the game still is a bit buggy, with things like waypoints disappearing or items randomly being removed from the quick access wheel happening more frequently than they should.

So on the whole, how would I class Grounded? I’d say it’s a truly enjoyable survival experience with a unique feel amongst current survival offerings. Granted, you need to overcome some hurdles and come to terms with some of its quirks, but if you do, you’re bound to enjoy its world, style and sense of humour, especially if you’re an 80s or even early 90s kid. At the very least, it’s a game that deserves being given time to see if it resonates with you. A very different title from what Obsidian has ever done before, but with just as much - if not more - personality as their other ones. 8/10

Grounded it's that one game that went underneath the radar for most people I know but that is a wonderful little gem of a survival game. A Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! meets The Ant Bully, Grounded is a charitable trove of callbacks from the 80s to the 90s all packaged in a neat Survival experience.

The game looks gorgeous and performs extremely well, which makes for an enjoyable overall experience: most of the more glaring bugs (such as the ever so enlarged droplets of juice or the ants bugging beneath your foundations) were ironed out from Game Preview to official release and the game works as intended.

The variety of enemy is widespread, all of them contained in their own "thematic areas" where foreign elements (a broken water pipe or a leaky repellent spray) can mutate and give these enemies their own variations... and all of them are very real bugs (and a huge fish and some ravens).

One thing is that progression is very non-linear - you don't have a set path to work around from, neither certain elements are necessarily gated from you even if you don't have the equipment: your objective is to find C.H.I.P.S. and help B.U.R.G.L. help you. In which order you find them it's up to you which can be rather grating when it comes to certain players who like their path just a bit more linear.

The map has many storytelling elements and, honestly, I would be remiss to say that it's just a really good game at a decent price, better if played with friends.

Just be careful of the stinkbugs.

Really inspired and well executed survival craft adventure game that doesn't feel like it's in 'Early Access' or 'Preview' at all. Plays well and looks beautiful on both Xbox One X and Series S. There is a bit of tutorial that takes you through creating your first few items, tools and shelter. By the time the tutorial was over I was hooked. The concept is just so charming and they draw on it in some really clever ways.

Survival craft games aren't really ever about the story, but for what it's worth they've implemented it well here. It's never in your face, and it's often through environmental story telling. They more you explore the more you unlock audio logs and there's a main quest giver who can prompt you to explore if that really isn't in your DNA.

I've played 20-30 hours with my wife and we've only now just finished all the quests we've been given and I'm sure there's more to the backyard we could explore. I am definitely more of a 'survival explorer' type in these games and I had a blast just checking every nook and cranny for Easter eggs and audio logs.

Obsidian, the developers, have something really special on their hands here. I hope they get the support they need to get to this to a full release and continue to grow the world and player base.

I've spent 15 hours playing this game, that still is in beta, and I like it. I played it singleplayer and on gamepass PC. It's a very creative and colorful game, something I would've loved as a kid.

It's a survival game, much like many other survival games. Keep your hunger and thirst up, kill monsters, get better gear, build a base, etc. In this case though, you're a kid that's been shrunk and the world you're playing in is a garden where every insect is around your size. Such a cool idea, and it is well executed. The world has great physics and the base building is quite fun. The best thing though for me personally is how easy the game is. Survival games are always tedious and love to make you grind a lot. Here, you don't really have to do much to survive and can spend more time exploring the world.

The game has a little bit of a children's show feel, like Codename: Kids Next Door, I adore that about the game. However, I spent 15 hours and I feel like I've done most things there are to do. I'd say right now it's worth $20. 8/10.