Grounded Preview

August 2, 2020 at 7:02pm
By Jason Stettner

The latest title from Obsidian Entertainment is definitely an odd one, and a really fun one too. This is Grounded, which presents a larger than life type of atmosphere. It’s basically like “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” and it plays on that concept very well.

It doesn’t have anything to do with this series of films, but just the feeling and concept is along those lines. This is a survival game, with light mechanics in regards to keeping yourself alive. The crafting is simplistic in presentation, yet actually really in-depth. This is a very impressive title, and it’s only going to grow since it was launched as Xbox Game Preview title.

At this time it does have plenty of survival aspects, it’s just the campaign that does need work. You get to a certain spot of discovering this mystery and then main goals end. There are some side objectives to work towards, but the story aspect does generally stop there.

Not a whole lot to that, but a ton to the truly fun aspect of play. You’re basically given free rein to explore this vast backyard area. You can do so however you’d like, and that’s quite fun. It’s about discovering how to make new things, where to gather resources and also how to run frantically away if large insects come after you. The bugs are very big here, and those spiders can definitely be dangerous.

There are various tiers of ants, bunches of other tiny bugs that make good snacks and a few surprises too. While the lady bugs are fun to ride, but cautious as they can get insanely mean. Just a good little note to make on those critters. I really liked the building aspects here, the mechanics are very well done.

Everything snaps together snuggly, allowing multi-level creation easily. It’s also a blast to play with others since it offers up to four player coop online. It would be nice to get an invite system added, but that’s coming in a later update apparently. It also performs quite well, I didn’t face any real issues and it’s lovely to look at. They have a great artistic style with this one and it fits the atmosphere very well.

It’s great to just chop away at grass, run from enemies on the horizon and try to survive. It was also nice not to have to constantly micromanage things like in other survival games. The food and water systems are fair, as are the events in regards to many monstrous bugs coming your way.

You get neat tools to survive with as you discover them and craft better options. It’s definitely got a lot of potential as well. If you’re wanting to try it it’s on Xbox Game Pass for Windows 10 PC or Xbox One which is great.

I really also hope it gets a bump up on Xbox Series X as this game is ripe for taking it up a notch too. Just a really good time, and it absolutely delivers as being such a strange yet unique adventure to take on. You can read our review of Google Stadia’s Crayta below, or check out the general game hubs areas for additional coverage.

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