Grounded

The full release of Grounded is impressive due to its polish, attention to detail, and unique, compelling premise and world, but is still in need of some work to reach its full potential as a giant of the survival genre.

Like an ant, punching above its weight is the best way to describe Grounded. In many regards, this is the little game that could.

Grounded is a fantastic survival game with a killer premise, rewarding progression, and boundless creativity that even a host of bugs can’t spoil.

Grounded has become, over the years, a real gem that has little to envy to what we expect from Avowed.

Grounded concluded its early access tenure with one final update to pull everything together and add hours of fresh new content, resulting in one of the best games of 2022. Grounded is bound to inspire other titles in the survival genre for years to come.

Grounded is a complete, well-finished and multifaceted project, capable of satisfying a wide audience both for its setting and for its mechanics. Perhaps the two-year preview had a "cooling" effect on the interest of the public, but they did very well to the final result. Net of some frustrating elements, such as a difficulty level that looks upwards if it can, and the lack of a couple of mechanics useful for those who want to enjoy the game with maximum ease - fast travel for example - Grounded it is a product that if it had been released today, without first knowing anything about it, would certainly be the center of a lot of attention. If solo is a solid game, challenging but potentially difficult to digest in its entirety, in cooperative the experience shows its best side and is able to offer many hours.

Grounded is a deep and compelling survival game that immerses us in a fascinating world waiting to be explored, full of challenges and graced by an excellent co-op mode. It's a game that doesn't hold the player by hand, and for this reason it can often leave you stumped requiring a lot of tenacity and patience, but it can also offer great rewards. Recommended for survival game fans and newbies alike, especially those eager to enjoy it with friends.

Grounded is the perfect survival, building and role-playing game, with a good story and a miniature world full of life.

I feel that Grounded was able to take advantage of its long trial period to provide the content that was missing in its initial version. The changes in the quality of life, the fact that the swimming mechanics have been added, having a whole new biome with new enemies, improvements in construction, among other things, contributed to enrich the survival side of Grounded to make it one of the first options for fans of the genre. In addition, the narrative content of the game has enriched it in such a way that now you have an interesting story that you discover the more you explore and a real mission: to return to your natural state, escaping the limitations of measuring an inch. Visually the game stands out for its art, graphics and lighting. Sonically it doesn't disappoint either.

For its part, the gameplay of Grounded presents us with a cycle that constantly rewards us with new items, construction plans, and improvements that make exploration extremely addictive. You can spend days building your main base, collecting materials, and knowing the garden like the back of your hand before you even look for BURG.L for the first time, or embark on an expedition that's as complicated as you like. While there is room for improvement on a couple of elements, the base experience is extremely solid, and one of the most fun I've had the opportunity to experience all year.

Grounded is a very remarkable survival RPG that is only taking its first (and tiny) steps. It has a huge potential to become one of the must-haves of the genre, but it already has enough to make survival fans fall in love with it. Give it a chance if you can, because it deserves it.

Grounded remains strictly tied to its survival roots, but the strange and fanciful setting defines it as a peculiare game and can be a major selling point. Although it's clearly an experiment on uncharted waters for the team, Obsidian brings a peculiar touch to this genre.

Ultimately, how much you enjoy Grounded is going to depend on how you play and if you choose to enable any of the customization options. In the default state, if you're looking to adventure through the story, you'll have a fun time, but Grounded is at its best when played as a survival sim. Focus on exploring the world, and let the story happen in the background. It may be a slower pace, but it's also more rewarding.

Grounded captivated me with its survival layer and the atmosphere of its wonderful miniature world. Then it discouraged me with a couple of ill-considered design choices, including ones that artificially extend its length in a tiring manner. Ultimately, however, I kept coming back to Obsidian’s game not because I had to, but because I wanted to. Despite having devoted 60 hours to Grounded, I can’t shake the feeling this backyard still holds many secrets and I’m eager to discover them.

Grounded is an impressive entry in the survival game genre and one where the setting of being tiny in a suburban backyard amplifies its strengths as well as the stuff that we’ve all seen before in other titles. There’s just something fulfilling about hacking away at a thistle stem and using the falling debris to craft arrows - and then using said arrows to take out fireflies at night and then using those materials to create a makeshift mining helmet equipped with a torch. Even though the default settings feel overly punishing, and grind-y in terms of crafting, Obsidian does let you make your own rules - which for any time spent playing games in a backyard setting, is a definite plus.

Grounded changed the ordinary backyard into an intense place where you can't see what's coming next by simply adding a concept of shrunk kids. The sandbox game with survival and variety of crafting elements is always fun whether you are playing alone or with friends.

Grounded provides some great survival mechanics and challenging combat in a rather novel environment with an intriguing plotline. The game can be very tough but also very rewarding. However, it can take a while to really get the game going with the analysis mechanic and the lack of explanation revolving around many other ludemes.

Grounded offers a good survival for all audiences, but without forgetting those who are looking for something more.

Grounded has great ideas and delivers a truly entertaining experience. It is one of those games that are made for you to start a game and get lost for hours while you get resources, improve your tools and build the best base of all together with your friends. What started as a small and crazy idea evolved into an exceptional survival that shines with great strength.

Grounded is a solid title that has massive scope and a grand adventure for anyone seeking it, with its inclusion on Xbox Game Pass everyone who subscribes to the service should give this one a try.

This survival game shines thanks to its setting, as well as delivering a fun adventure that is best enjoyed with friends.

Grounded isn't the biggest game of its kind, and most of its moment-to-moment gameplay moments have been seen before in other games. Still, the fantastical setup makes for an immediately intriguing setup, and to further stylize it as a uniquely child-like adventure, polish it beyond most of its peers, and set it in a world full of familiar sights to see in startling new ways makes Grounded no small feat.

If you are in the mood to try out something new in the survivalist genre, Grounded may be the game you are looking for due to its unique shrunken environment and formidable enemies. All things considered, I can’t wait to see what will happen next in this first-person narrative from Xbox Game Studios.

When the imagination knows no bounds, numerous bugs, a frustrating level of difficulty and strange design decisions bother even more.

This final release for Grounded confirms that Obsidian gave its soul to the game, crafting a survival game which is still improvable, but unique in a lot of ways.