Grounded

I absolutely love this game! Grounded helped me conquer my Arachnophobia - I kid you not. At first I screamed and panicked, but the more I played, the better it got. And then came the day when I fell into a cave with a Wolf Spider at the entrance. I had no choice but confrontatiin, and since then I learned to cope with spiders in real life. I owe you many thanks, dear devs.

This is the best open-world-survival-craft game money can buy. It is well polished, beautifully hand crafted world and one of the best games you can play as a group. It's multiplayer capabilities are second to none. You will have to set up an Xbox account, but this will allow you and your friend to start a session and then save the world in the cloud. Whoever decides to play the game will continue from the last point any of your friends saved. No server necessary for full multiplayer experience. Easy difficulty will allow for a relaxing game, where you can enjoy the beautiful landscape and interactions of the backyard crawlers. But if you and your friends want a challenge, then harder difficulties will deliver. Can't recommend this game enough Played it twice on Gamepass and now got it on Steam too.

love the 1990s feel to the game more games should be themed like this and it feels like a real video game and not the bs devs are making now id be getting grounded 2

With Grounded 2 coming out, this game has genuinely become one of my top 10 games in the world as someone obsessed with base building. I play with a boyfriend who goes on killing sprees and harvesting rampages and he seems well entertained as well lol. Even with the next game coming I still say run through this game!!! The lore is amazing and there's so much to explore. Next game is 3X bigger so start with the shallows here then you can start the next with some experience. This game is legit a love letter to gamers. ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ (Pls fix the tiny issue with Roof Interior Corner in the second game though pls, with love)

The best survival/base building game I've played. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see what the world looks like when you're the size of an ant? Yeah, me neither. But this game did an excellent job of showing me anyway. Fight or run and hide from ants, spiders, beetles, and other creepy crawlies. Build your bases (or bases) almost anywhere on the map. Connect ziplines to bypass all the critters on the ground. Find lots of collectables. Grow from a squishy newb to a spider-slashing pro. Learn the intriguing story about the shrunken teens. Then when you're done, keep everything you've built, all your weapons and upgrades and start all over in new game +. I did not expect to like this game as much as I do. But after almost 600 hours, I'm still loving it. Now I'm ready for Grounded 2!

Incredible game with an amazing story, very cool graphics and mechanics. Lots of big boss fights and progression. Highly recommend it 11/10

the game is overall nice but there are too many damn bugs that the developers dont bother fixing it at all. so if you have the patience to endure these bugs then go ahead and play the game.

One of, if not the best survival game out there. (outside of Subnautica). I generally don't like survival crafting games due to the tedious gameplay, but I was hooked on Grounded from start to finish so they must've done something right. The difficulty, sense of mystery and early 90's vibes are all spot-on. It does tend to get to get very difficult at times as a solo player (especially as a person suffering from severe arachnophobia), but the sense of resilience and accomplishment you get from overcoming every obstacle is very souls-like. I can't fucking wait for Grounded 2.

the best game ever in the world if i could give it one million likes id give it to this game

9/10 Masterpiece - would definitely ground all over again Almost everything about this game is satisfying and full of adventures that are unique and challenging. It's like playing a game version of that movie from the 80s named Honey,I Shrank the Kids with twists and surprises. I hope you don't rush to play the game to the end like what speed runners do, cause once you reach the end and grow back to normal you'd wish you'd just stay forever shrank (no pun intended) the end was a bittersweet goodbye to being was once was legend of the yard

So fun, so much attention to detail in this game! So much content

The actual story isn't long (which I appreciate), there are a few bugs here and there when discovering new things, overall this game was worth every penny. The ability to play single or in a group, upgrade weapons/armor, fight insects of increasing difficulty, and discover a multitude of items/secrets just made this game fun for me. I typically do not play survival games due to having to build, eat, drink, and well... survive. This game has changed my perspective. Looking forward to Grounded 2!

I really had Alot of fun with this game. The Combat, The bugs, Tools & Weapons Loved everything. But I will admit I did run into one problem and that is the game would on some occasions Crash and kick me out of the game. So don't like that. but other than that It is a solid game and still worth the try. 7/10 oh the crafting and survival was super fun too.

I LOVE THIS GAME IT HAS GOOD BASE BUILDING, COMBAT, STORY, POST GAME CONTENT, BUT HAS A VARY HARD 100%.

A little person in a HUGE backyard. There's nothing better than getting together with 3 of your friends and surviving, fending off hordes of bugs, build a base, and a decent story to boot. Definitely worth the money.

The openness of a survival game meets rich story and challenging game play. Highly recommend.

this is a good game but ALL THIS GAME DOES IS MAKE YOU GO BACK AND FORTH ALL THE FUCKING TIME. need chopping level 2, 3 busting level 2, 3 need a specific animal part that is found NO WHERE FUCKING NEAR YOU. i am in endgame and then i go to repair the 3 modules and then realise i need a repair tool but i need red ant parts WHICH ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FUCKING MAP. Never ever does this game specify the requirements need for missions requiring you to go back and forth so so so much. And also the map system is absolutely terrible getting led to the random ass locations when the actual way to enter the location is way further away leading you to just randomly look to then just eventually wasting your time looking at these shit videos from like 4 years ago. GROUNDED 2 PLEASE DON'T DO THIS I LIKE GROUNDED 1 BUT THESE ISSUES PISS ME THE FUCK OFF.

Honestly, this is the most well designed and player-friendly survival game I've ever played, by a long shot. Put a couple hundred hours into it on game pass and now doing the same again on Steam lol. Very excited to see what they do with the sequel.

I rarely leave reviews, but I've put over 100 hours into this game and really enjoyed it. I have been playing through a bunch of survival exploration type games with a friend of mine. We've played Seven days to die, the Forest series, Dont starve together, Conan, Valheim, Once Human, Etc. As we've played games and we start getting burnt out on a game after the first 20 hours, we keep finding ourselves reminiscing about our first playthrough of Grounded and how fun it was. You barely notice grinding. Every part of the game felt like a really well thought out gem. My only few nitpicks were that the game really lacked in-game explanation of how things work. I don't mean I need stuff spoon fed to me, but there were so many armor and weapon effects that we simply couldn't find any in-game explanation of the mechanic and we'd have to pull up the wiki to see what it actually means. There was also a lot of stuff that seemed to unlock out of order. We generally followed the progression the game suggested in terms of which bases we raided for chips, and there were accessory items or things we'd unlock that we couldn't do anything with for a long time. And because there was no explanation of anything, we didn't know if we had just missed something so we did a lot of pointless circling at times trying to figure out what we hadn't scanned. I was excited for pets and hoped there'd be a way to tame, capture, and domesticate bugs but no. It seems that'll be part of Grounded 2 though! I also wish the water buildings had been unlocked or incorporated differently. By the time you have it unlocked and have the resources to build a water base, you likely already have a substantial base elsewhere and you'd only really build a big water base if you just....feel like it. All the water stuff was cool but we were like "eh..." and basically done with the water area by the time we considered building a water base. I highly recommend you check this game out despite those minor complaints. It was a blast and really felt like an adventure. One of the bosses in particular was very memorable and totally "had" us. Was the first time in a long time we got spanked by a boss in a game the first go-around. The way the game stays challenging after you've completed the main story is also really clever and fun.

i f*cking love this game, it's so much more charming and fun than it appears! can't wait for the sequel soon 🥳🥳

Since the steam summer sale is coming up, I figured it's time to leave a review for one of my favorite games. This game checks all of the boxes: ☑ Fun to explore ☑ Survival game ☑ Fun enemies and environment ☑ Extremely fun with friends but can also be fun solo ☑ Great graphics ☑ Great story & game play Anytime I play this game, I always feel like I discover something new. New enemies. New hidden secrets. It's fun to explore and play, build a great base, or just complete the story. Highly recommend (a sequel was also announced), so get it on sale while you can!

It's good. quality drops a tiny bit at the very end of the game but its overall good.

Grounded takes the well-worn survival genre and shrinks it—literally. Instead of post-apocalyptic wastelands or alien planets, Obsidian Entertainment drops you into a suburban backyard as a kid the size of an ant, and what follows is a wildly inventive survival adventure packed with charm, tension, and surprisingly deep systems. At its core, Grounded hits the familiar survival beats: gather resources, build shelter, craft tools, and fend off dangers. But the context changes everything. Twigs become trees, juice boxes are reservoirs, and ladybugs are lumbering beasts. The clever environmental design makes even mundane objects feel grand and meaningful. Combat is surprisingly tough. You'll square off against aggressive spiders, stinging mosquitoes, and territorial ants, each with distinct behaviors. Armor, weapon upgrades, and consumables are necessary for survival, especially at night when the backyard turns hostile. The game smartly balances resource scarcity and exploration freedom, keeping you constantly engaged. Building in Grounded is flexible and rewarding. You can construct everything from tiny lean-tos to multi-story forts hanging off a juice box cliff. Crafting systems are intuitive and layered, with blueprints expanding as you analyze new materials. The addition of ziplines, traps, and decorative items adds fun to both form and function. The UI for building can be a bit clunky at times, especially with placement in uneven terrain, but it’s improved steadily with updates. The real star of Grounded is its backyard world. It’s not just a gimmick—it’s meticulously crafted and full of personality. Every corner has a distinct biome, from murky swamps around a sprinkler system to sunbaked deserts near the sandbox. The map encourages verticality, clever navigation, and curiosity. Hidden secrets and lore entries flesh out a story that’s surprisingly compelling for a survival game. The scale never stops being novel. Climbing a garden hose or navigating inside a soda can offers a new perspective on the environment—literally. Grounded shines in co-op. Teaming up with friends to build bases, hunt bugs, or take on massive spider boss fights turns every moment into a shared adventure. The game supports up to four players, and it runs well with minimal syncing issues. Communication and teamwork feel natural, and the ability to specialize roles (like one person building, another gathering) adds real depth. Grounded has a vibrant, stylized look that fits its tone perfectly. The exaggerated scale and cartoonish visuals sell the backyard fantasy while still making insects look terrifying. Weather effects and lighting add to the atmosphere, especially during tense night sequences. Sound design is top-notch. From the rustling of grass to the menacing hiss of an approaching wolf spider, the audio cues are both immersive and functional. Performance is solid on most systems, though large bases and late-game areas can cause slowdowns. The developers have made great strides in optimization since launch. Importantly, Grounded includes a spider phobia mode, letting players tone down the spider models to make the game more accessible—an appreciated and thoughtful feature. Grounded is one of the most inventive survival games in years. It combines classic mechanics with an unforgettable setting, a surprisingly deep world, and a strong sense of humor. Whether you’re playing solo or teaming up with friends, there’s always something new to discover in the underbrush. It’s not just a game about staying alive—it’s about thriving in a tiny, dangerous, and wonderfully weird world. If you’re looking for a fresh survival experience that’s both familiar and wildly different, Grounded is a gem worth exploring. Rating: 9/10

This game is truly special. You invite your friends — they don’t join. But you still play, because it pulls you in completely. The world reminds me so much of that old cartoon The Ant Bully — tiny world, huge adventure. And when you finally reach the top of the yard, the view? Absolutely insane. Grounded isn’t just a survival game — it’s a nostalgic trip that makes you feel like a kid again. I’m honestly hoping for Grounded 2.

This was my first survival style game and once you learn the basics it's a blast, especially if you have a group of friends to play with!

This game is wonderful. Such a clever and unique take on the survival game genre that makes it stand out among many other games like it. I will definitely continue to play this game and the sequel when it releases.

This is one of the best games ive ever played. This game is the perfect balance of what you would want in a open world survival game. from the many weapons, armor, and enemies. The lore is rich and explains just about everything that took place.

Incredibly charming, kind of a grind on standard settings but super fun and chill on custom

Game is pretty good, shame they just reused the lower garden creatures for the upper garden though.

Amazing game with so much to do and very fun fight mechanics.

This game is a top notch good time the whole way through. combat can be challenging but never tedious. Building mechanics are fun and easy to understand. There are so many combinations of skills to make yourself a force to be feared in the yard. 10/10

Was looking for a light hearted survival game for a while and was pleasantly surprised by this one. In particular the variety of quality of life features, the 90s aesthetic and overall artstyle, as well as being much more story focused than most survival games. It's very easily playable on controller, with useful radial quickslot inventory and quick menu features. Combat is has a "parry" feature where you can quickblock an attack with a weapon or a shield. Even bows can be used to parry. This makes combat a little more engaging than your standard hack and slash. However I still think combat is a bit bland compared to many games. The closest thing to any special attacks is a charge strike which comes across as so close to useless that I spent 90% of a playthrough forgetting it's even a thing. Thankfully combat is at least fun enough that the rest of the features of this game can mesh together to make a great experience. The building is fun, having a one button hot deposit system which automatically deposits stuff in your inventory into chests nearby which already have some of the item. The only other game I know which has that is Palworld, and Palworld only recently added it. There's also other QOL building features I'd like to see in other survival games, such as the "relocate" feature, which lets you place a structure (and any resources contained within) elsewhere, meaning you can pack up and relocate your entire base easily if you want. There's even armor sets and abilities focused on making building and resource collection easier. Also the setting is really fun to explore. Mundane objects have a certain majesty to them when you are shrunk to the size of an ant. You'll find yourself seeing objects in the distance and wondering if there's something neat to find around them once you get to them. A simple sandbox becomes a scorching desert biome to our small player characters. A hedge becomes a tricky platforming section of branches and ziplines. A koi pond becomes an almost Subnautica like experience where you explore while avoiding the now gigantic koi fish. Even resource collection is made rather fun. There's lab equipment you can use to mark resources on your map, and you can match resource collection with further exploration, collecting more parts to craft more stuff. A lot of the resources are drops from killing bugs, which makes this game occasionally feel like a weird 90s version of Monster Hunter. The only real problem I had with this game is I had to play it alone, so I didn't get to enjoy any of what I expect is an amazing co-op experience.

this game is my favourite survival game the building is probably the best building system ever and with grounded 2 on the way its gonna be even better with more weapons and bulding materials and i HIGHLY recomend this game i got it on sale cuz its a lil pricy but if u hav good mone then GET IT NOW

I wish I go further into the game and was able to interact with larger insects and scarier ones than just the bees and the spiders, but them alone were terrifying. I loved the game and the mechanics of everything, even the grind for items and gaining material was fun. I think that was honestly because I played with my group and it made it much easier that it didn't feel like I was grinding.

Great if not best survival game. With an interesting main quest !

Just a fantastic survival game. My son and I have sunk a lot of very happy hours together into this game.

I usually don't play games like this, but it was on sale and I had low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least after playing a couple hours. It has a Honey I Shrunk the Kids meets Strangers Things vibe to it that I enjoy.

I'd recommend this game (even though the second game is releasing to early access on the 29th) It might be a bit annoying at first, but once you learn the attack patterns of the enemies, it becomes pretty fun. And the base building is also excellent IMO.

This game was amazing, love it when my friends start a new world then punch the metric shot out of each other then revive each other to get reliable friend so we don't have to make heals while we fight bugs. 10/10 would complain about a BUG again, GETTTTT IT HAHAHAHA!!!

Fun and challenging game you can play with friends or alone.

Cut down grass, make forts and at night, hide from spiders. Solid recommend, unless you're arachnophobic.

Charming theme and visuals, super unique setting, a lot of quality of life features. One of the best survival games.

really good game very scary if you have arachnophobia but theres a setting to make spiders look not as scary. Also it has a really good story and i love playing it with my friends.

Really fun gameplay loop. Does the survival/craft genre well. Obsidian is GOATED.

Absolutely top tier game - especially with mates. Really good example of what survival-crafting games should aim to achieve in terms of game flow, progression, and the importance of good set/environment design - really loved the 90s feel and vibe that was just embedded throughout the game.

It's a really fun game, with a lot of exploring options and building. The downside is that we can see that there are many bugs in the game which don't actually affect the gameplay by itself but become annoying overtime. Multiplayer has it's issues with connection sometimes too. But it's still fun to play and made me have good moments. Without the bugs could've being even better.

One of the best games I've played in the last 5 years. If you enjoy base building, coop, survival and then of course being shrunk and surviving in a back garden - this you have to play this.

probably the best open world/survival game ever. looking at the world through the eyes of an ant is so freaking cool and makes all of the simple "oh that's just a tree stump" type of moments so neat, because of the fact that IRL, it's just a little tree stump. but in grounded, it's an entire ecosystem to explore. HIGHLY recommend for EVERYONE

Having originally played early release to the fully yoked version of this game, I highly recommend trying Grounded. Being able to make houses and bases with friends if really fun and taking down some of the tougher enemies for the first time and mastering the parry system is rewarding. There are lots of ways to enjoy Grounded, but please do try it out! I had to come back and finish it with Grounded 2 coming out! I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

its not easy and its not hard. its real survival