Xbox Series X Critic Reviews

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

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

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

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.

Much like the protagonists, Grounded sees Obsidian heading into new brand new territory that’s still familiar in some ways, and their expedition ends up paying off big-time. Excelling as a survival game with a nice and meaty challenge, an adventure game with a lot of secrets and goods to hunt for and a highly-enjoyable story, and a visual spectacle as you wander around and take in the eye-popping sights of now-majestic backyard clutter (and the more frightening sights of the impressive and imposing insects), this is one trip that’s tiny yet epic at the same time and is not to be missed out on.

Though it finished with a thud, Grounded still stands with the greats of the genre, like Subnautica or The Forest. It just oozes confidence in its theme, and successfully pulls off the feeling of wonder Honey I Shrunk The Kids gave me when I first saw it almost 30 years ago.

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.

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.

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.