Xbox Game Studios has a lot of different titles in development right now. Whether it's Arkane's Left 4 Dead-like FPS Redfall, Bethesda's spacefaring adventure Starfield, or Playground Games' fantasy RPG revival Fable, Xbox fans of all kind have something to look forward to in the coming years. These kinds of story-driven games with realistic graphics aren't all that the Xbox Series X has to offer, though. There's also Grounded, the survival game from Obsidian Entertainment. While the premise of Grounded is familiar to anyone who has seen Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, its delivery is special, especially within the greater Xbox environment.
In Grounded, players take control of kids who have mysteriously been shrunken down to the size of insects. Players must use the resources found in their own backyards to craft shelter and weapons that'll help them survive attacks from insects. Although Grounded doesn't take players to new, fantastical worlds, it cleverly uses the real world to create compelling challenges and objectives for players, all while developing a unique aesthetic that blends thrills and whimsy. Grounded is a unique title in the Microsoft library that ought to encourage similarly creative endeavors at Xbox Game Studios and beyond.
The Distinct Identity of Grounded
Grounded's sense of scale lends it a special atmosphere. Plenty of games feature giant spiders and other bugs as enemies, but Grounded is different. Hostile bugs may look huge, but the player is the one whose size has been meddled with. The bugs and environmental details work together to make the player feel very small, which makes exploration in Grounded feel different from other sandbox or survival games where players are the right size for the world around them. The player's scale in Grounded pits the odds against them, which makes overcoming battles and building elaborate structures feel all the more rewarding.
There's also a unique blend of tones at the heart of Grounded that makes it stand out. On the one hand, Grounded can be frightening thanks to the spiders, wasps, and other hostile creatures that lurk in claustrophobic spaces, waiting to attack and eat players. On the other hand, Grounded is pretty whimsical. Rather than having realistic graphics, it uses a slightly cartoonish art style that supports the theme of childhood adventures. Its environments are also filled with playtime objects like literal sandboxes that lighten the environment and give the game a sense of humor. The balance Grounded strikes between these real-world elements makes it a great way to look at familiar environments, and a compelling survival game concept overall.
Grounded's Value on the Xbox
Grounded isn't just unique and valuable because of its own qualities; the broader state of Xbox game development makes it a breath of fresh air. Many Microsoft games in development share the same genres. For instance, there are all kinds of ambitious RPGs in development at Xbox Game Studios, including Obsidian Entertainment's own Avowed. The Xbox is also rich with FPS games from Halo Infinite to Redfall, and Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard means it'll have access to Call of Duty too. Microsoft's high quantity of IPs is valuable, but it could use a little more variety.
As a survival game, Grounded already stands out from its peers, but the details of its survival concept make it even more unique among the rest of Microsoft's library. Grounded's lore rubs shoulders with few other Microsoft properties, which makes it precious. So far, the response to Grounded's Early Access period has been positive, so hopefully Microsoft takes that as a sign to approve more projects that push boundaries and bring creative ideas to the table.
Grounded is available now in Early Access for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.