10/5/2023 0 Comments Grounded review![]() The early hours are still tough though, especially when played solo. This starts to explain The Backyard at a much more welcoming pace than I've gotten used to by playing similar games over the years. This helps lift up Grounded in those critical first few sessions, because though you still won't have much of what you need to craft some of the more elaborate items, you'll discover them-and thus understand their place in the world-much sooner than games like this tend to allow. As you study them, you'll discover all you need to know about the item, including the crafting recipes that demand it. Combined with the game's steady progression toward making your character formidable in their own right, Grounded is certainly one of the more welcoming games of its type.īecause of the game's '90s sci-fi overtones-your sudden status as a miniscule pre-teen is the result of an experiment you'll uncover as the story progresses-there are many field stations set up around the dense backyard which you can use to study materials such as plant fibers, spider legs, and dandelion stems. This doesn't directly make combat easier or base-building less time-consuming, but indirectly, it feels like absorbing the game's codex to the extent that you always know what you should be doing. Grounded's well-reasoned early onboarding and menu guidance helps clarify what you need and, oftentimes, exactly how to get it. Normally in a survival-crafting game, just the simple act of building a campfire or crafting an axe can lead to severe head-scratching due to a game's poor manner of explaining its world. The early hours aren't as steep a climb as these games tend to be, and that's a credit to the team that made it. For Hoops and her friends, a few steps across The Backyard become a trek through a dense and dangerous forest. It's the sort of thought experiment no one leaves childhood without having dwelled on-what if I was really small?-and as such, the game filters every weapon, potion, safe haven, and more through the eyes of its kids. In The Backyard, dinner is a tadpole cooked over campfire, or perhaps some gooey "gnatchos," and your biggest concerns are no longer homework and bedtimes, but wolf spiders and bees. The premise of the game's setup is simple: You take on the role of one of four kids inexplicably shrunken down to the size of an ant and must fend for yourself (and up to three co-op partners) in The Backyard, a typical residential space that would be less than notable if not for your sudden change in stature. Instead, it takes the best bits of these games, polishes them, and offers a childlike spin, giving it all a charming sense of place and a unique point of view. ![]() ![]() Obsidian's Grounded, launching into its 1.0 state after two years in Xbox Game Preview, delightfully rejects these tropes, by and large. The survival-crafting genre is famous for a few things: steep learning curves, a bit of jank in its systems, and a sense of seriousness that, to be fair, is to be expected in an experience that starts you off hungry, thirsty, cold, and defenseless.
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