Available on Xbox and PC and via Game Pass

Official blurb:

The world is a vast, beautiful, and dangerous place – especially when you have been shrunken to the size of an ant. Explore, build, and survive together in this cooperative survival-adventure. Can you thrive alongside the hordes of giant insects, fighting to survive the perils of the backyard? Join our community and help shape the future of Grounded in Xbox Game Preview.

- Reactive World and Insect Life -

Explore this immersive and persistent world, where the insect life reacts to your actions.

- Base Building and Crafting -

Shelter and tools are critical to your survival. Build epic bases to protect you and your stuff from the insects and the elements. Craft weapons, tools, and armor, allowing you to better fight, explore and survive.

- Online Co-op -

You can face the backyard alone or together, online, with up to three friends - it is your choice.

- Campaign -

Uncover the secrets lurking in the shadows of Grounded as you freely explore the backyard and progress through its mysterious story.

Full details on the latest status of the game, how you can give feedback and report issues can be found at https://grounded.obsidian.net/

Official trailer:


A taste of the horrors within:




I've been playing quite a bit of this both solo and in co-op with Wookie and my boy Franny, it's absolutely delightful and terrifying in equal measure. I've still not got a good grip of the combat so I'm still in the avoidance/scarper mindset when I come across any aggressive bugs but my gear has plateaued with what's easily available so it's time to git gud and test my mettle.

I've still not explored the whole map yet either, it's deceptively large as landmarks such as the house or oak tree always seem so close. So I might chicken out of facing down the meaner beasties in favour of charting the map.

My "base" if you can call if that is a bed, work bench and a few chests perched on top of the baseball in the starting area. Franny is less than impressed by my lack of building skills, but I prioritised pitching camp somewhere safe instead of rolling the dice at ground level with the constant threat of a demon Larvae swarm to worry about.

It's Honey I Shrunk the Kids! crossed with Minecraft and somehow manages to be as awesome as that sounds. It's still in early access as one of those GaaS type deals, a drawback of that is the even more disgusting variety of bugs no gamer wants to see may be an issue, although personally I've only had a weird and brief disco light thing going on and a strange bonus dump of the games currency/XP which meant I can immediately buy all available blueprints. A positive is that content will be added over time, and I'm trying to keep my imagination from running wild here as the possibilities are endless. Be it new areas such as the house or shed, new bugs like wasps and bees or even my personal favorite content, new flowers and plants to make hats out of.

It's well worth a go as it's "free" to try out on Game Pass, if anyone wants someone to lend a hand and ease them into the early game (the tutorial is pretty much non-existent for stuff like crafting, even swapping your weapon or armour is a mystery you need to work out) then give me a shout and I'd be happy to join you.