Grounded
Review

Grounded (2020) is a survival game where you are tiny and find yourself in someone’s back garden. It’s like Honey I Shrunk The Kids meets Fortnite. Ants, cockroaches, and bees pose a threat along with environmental hazards like water, tall grass and large drops.

The game has three different locations: the grasslands, the hedge, and the haze. It has an ecosystem that evolves as you play and that your actions impact. If you kill one type of insect, for example, other creatures that would otherwise have been eaten will thrive. The insects also react to your behaviour. Each has a full day and night cycle (that takes about 30 minutes in the game) that not only changes how it looks but how the insects behave.

You play from either a first-person or third-person perspective. To survive you need to find an adequate supply of food and water. Taking on bugs and insects (spiders, bees, dust mites, mantis and ladybugs) enables you to progress. But also each insect has a purpose. Spiders are predators, ladybirds locate food supplies, and aphids are edible. You can choose whether you coexist alongside ants or will you stop them from stealing your food and face their soldier ants as a result. You can also construct a base once you have enough resources.

This involves a similar building system to Fortnite but with options for defensive and offensive weapons. If you find the right resources you can craft tools, traps and weapons (axes, spears and bows and arrows).

Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Grounded 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 10 months ago.