Grounded (video game)

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Grounded
File:Grounded game cover art.jpg
Developer(s)Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher(s)Xbox Game Studios
Director(s)Adam Brennecke
Producer(s)Adam Brennecke
Designer(s)Andy Artz
Bobby Null
Matthew Perez
Programmer(s)Roby Atadero
Artist(s)Kazunori Aruga
Writer(s)Mitch Loidolt
Michael Chu
Composer(s)Justin E. Bell
Finishing Move Inc.
Marc Rebillet
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
ReleaseSeptember 27, 2022
Genre(s)Survival
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Grounded is a survival video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One in early access in July 2020. It was fully released on September 27, 2022.[1]

Gameplay[edit]

Grounded is a survival game that can be played either in first-person or a third-person. In the game, the protagonist is shrunk to the size of an ant and must strive to survive in a backyard. In the game, the player character (Max, Willow, Pete or Hoops) needs to consume an adequate amount of food and water, or they will lose health due to starvation or dehydration respectively.[2] The backyard is filled with various bugs and insects, such as spiders, bees, dust mites, and ladybugs. Different insects serve different purposes in the game. For instance, spiders are one of the game's apex predators that will hunt down the players, ladybugs can lead players to food sources, and aphids can be cooked and consumed for food. Players can also cut down grass to collect dewdrops.[3] The game has an accessibility option for players who have arachnophobia, which allows players to decide how scary spiders are going to be in the game.[4]

As players progress in the game, they will visit new areas in the backyard. The game's difficulty would slowly increase and enemies that are more dangerous would be introduced. Throughout the game, players need to scavenge resources in the world in order to construct a base so as to defend themselves from hostile enemies, in particular during nighttime as some of the insects become more aggressive.[5] The resources can also be used to craft different tools, traps and weapons, such as axes, spears and bows and arrows, to defeat enemies.[6] Players also need to manage their stamina as the playable character may become exhausted in sustained combat.[7] The game can be played solo, though it also has a four-player cooperative multiplayer mode.[8]

Story[edit]

In 1990, Pete (Max Mittelman), Max (Luke Youngblood), Willow (Ozioma Akagha), and Hoops (Charlet Chung) are the latest four teenagers in a string of disappearances. The teens wake up to find themselves shrunken down to the size of a small insect and trapped in a backyard, but have no memory of how they were shrunk or how they ended up in the yard.

As the teens explore the yard, they come across recordings left behind by a scientist named Dr. Wendell Tully (Zachary Levi), who invented the SPAC.R, which can shrink objects and people. The teens discover that they are in fact in Dr. Tully's backyard and find the SPAC.R. However, the device malfunctions and causes an explosion in a nearby oak tree. The teens head over to investigate the explosion and find an entire miniature lab built inside of the tree. Inside, they find Dr. Tully's robotic assistant, BURG.L (Josh Brener). Unfortunately, the explosion damaged BURG.L's memory, so it cannot help them repair the SPAC.R until the teens recover its memory backup chips stored in Dr. Tully's labs scattered across his backyard. Despite its memory loss, BURG.L assists the teens by providing them blueprints and knowledge on how to survive in the wilderness and defend themselves from hostile insects.

As the teens locate Dr. Tully's labs and recover the memory chips, they also begin to recover their memories, and recall that they were kidnapped and experimented on by a company called Ominent. Once they were shrunk and the experiments were complete, the project's leader Director Dalton Schmector (Roger Craig Smith) ordered the teens to be disposed of. However, one of the scientists took pity on the teens and secretly smuggled them into Dr. Tully's backyard, as he is the only person that can help them. BURG.L recovers its memories and explains that a side effect of using the SPAC.R is a condition called Raisining Syndrome, where the shrinking process goes out of control and the person suffering from it eventually shrivels up like a raisin. Ominent was experimenting on children since they appeared to be immune to the effects of Raisining Syndrome, and managed to find a cure. However, Ominent still has been unable to replicate Dr. Tully's secret Embiggening Formula, which is needed to reverse the shrinking process.

BURG.L sends the teens to Dr. Tully's last known location. They find a recording left by him explaining that he had begun to suffer the effects of Raisining Syndrome and retreated to an underground lab in an effort to find a cure. The teens head into the lab and find Dr. Tully barely being kept alive by a life support pod. Dr. Tully further explains that Schmector used to be his supervisor before he left the company to work on the SPAC.R, and is angry that Ominent already built their own version. Seeing the predicament the teens are in, Dr. Tully instructs them on how to formulate the Embiggening Formula. However, Dr. Tully also warns the teens that once they start mixing the formula, Ominent will become aware of it and send their army of mind controlled insects to attack. The teens then have the choice of going ahead with the mixing process or confront Schmector's surveillance robot first. If the robot is defeated, the teens will recover a disk containing all of Ominent's research data, including a cure for the Raisining Syndrome.

The teens then mix the Embiggening Formula and reactivate the SPAC.R to return to normal size. However, the ending depends on whether they confronted Schmector or not.

  • If the teens did not confront Schmector, then they will have no evidence to prove any of Ominent's wrongdoing. Schmector reveals the SPAC.R to the public and takes all of the credit for its invention. The teens try to return to their normal lives despite being accused of faking their disappearances, while Tully reunites with his family but remains in his shriveled form.
  • If the teens confronted Schmector and recovered his research data, then they turn it in to the authorities, and both Ominent and Schmector are put under investigation for illegal human experimentation. The teens are hailed as heroes and Dr. Tully is cured of his Raisining Syndrome and is recognized for his invention of the SPAC.R.

Development[edit]

Following the release of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, the team at Obsidian Entertainment began brainstorming ideas for a survival game. While the majority of the staff in Obsidian worked on The Outer Worlds, a small team of 13 people began the production of Grounded. The game was already in production before Microsoft's acquisition of Obsidian in 2018.[3] Announced by Xbox Game Studios at X019 in November 2019,[9] the game was released on July 28, 2020 for Steam's early access and Xbox Game Preview.[8] The early version will feature about 20% of the game's main campaign, and Obsidian planned to listen to the feedback from the community as they continued to work towards the game's full release in 2022.[6][10] The early access version amassed 5 million players within 6 months of release.[11]

The team was inspired by films such as Disney's A Bug's Life and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. To know more about different types of insects, the team also watched long featurettes at YouTube produced by insect enthusiasts. The team chose the backyard as the game's setting as the team felt that it is a recognizable and approachable location. Also, they believed that a backyard can also be "larger-than-life" and have a "real sense of danger".[3] The game's director, Adam Brennecke, compared the setting to a "theme park", as the team added numerous landmarks into the world in an attempt to make it more interesting.[12]

The team envisioned a game world that was interactable, and that players' actions would change the state of the world. Brennecke added that the game would feature a "memorable" story like other Obsidian's games.[3] The team worked extensively on the artificial intelligence of insects, which govern their behaviors. For instance, ants are curious about the player character and initially do not attack. However, if the player builds a base around their food, or the player character becomes stronger and the ants begin to see them as a threat, they will attack the players.[13] An animated series adaptation of the game is in the works with Brent Friedman developing the series.[14]

Television series[edit]

In July 2022, it was announced an animated series adaptation of the game is in the works with Brent Friedman developing the series.[14]

Reception[edit]

Grounded has received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[15][16]

It was nominated for Innovation in Accessibility at The Game Awards 2020.[25] As of February 2022, the game had attracted more than 10 million players.[26]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Gutierrez, Luis (July 28, 2022). "Grounded Officially Releases September 27, Many More Features Coming". GameSpot. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  2. ^ Fenlon, Wes (November 14, 2019). "In Grounded, an adorable survival game from Obsidian, you're a shrunken kid in a giant backyard". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d Mercante, Alyssa (November 14, 2019). "Time to get Grounded: A sneak peak at the surprising Obsidian game". GamesRadar+. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  4. ^ Makedonski, Brett (April 9, 2020). "Obsidian's Grounded has a mode for people who are scared of spiders". Destructoid. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  5. ^ Purchese, Robert (November 15, 2019). "Obsidian's first Microsoft-owned game is basically Honey I Shrunk the Kids". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Devore, Jordan (June 17, 2020). "The half-hour demo for Grounded is such a pleasant surprise". Destructoid. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  7. ^ Brown, Fraser (June 17, 2020). "Being shrunk down in Grounded made me confront my unquenchable thirst for blood". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Minotti, Mike (April 7, 2020). "Obsidian's Grounded enters early access on July 28". VentureBeat. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  9. ^ Tyrrel, Brandin (November 14, 2019). "Grounded Announced as New Co-Op Survival Game from Obsidian". IGN. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  10. ^ Ryan, Jon (November 14, 2019). "Obsidian's Grounded Is a Survival Game With Room for Growth". IGN. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  11. ^ Kerr, Chris (November 11, 2020). "Grounded tops 5 million players in under six months". Gamasutra. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  12. ^ Cork, Jeff (May 5, 2020). "Looking Into Grounded's Unnatural Wonders". Game Informer. GameStop Corp. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  13. ^ Cork, Jeff (April 28, 2020). "Three Big Ways Grounded Nails Its Micro-Scaled Setup". Game Informer. GameStop Corp. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  14. ^ a b White, Peter (July 18, 2022). "Xbox Video Game 'Grounded' In The Works As Animated Series From 'Star Wars: Clone Wars' Brent Friedman". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Grounded for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  16. ^ a b "Grounded for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
  17. ^ Devore, Jordan (September 26, 2022). "Review: Grounded". Destructoid. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  18. ^ Blake, Vikki (September 26, 2022). "Grounded review - a delightful mix of harsh survival and warm-hearted design". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  19. ^ Delaney, Mark (September 26, 2022). "Grounded Review - Mountains Out Of Molehills". GameSpot. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  20. ^ Avard, Alex (September 26, 2022). "Grounded review: "A mighty addition to the Xbox Game Pass catalogue"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  21. ^ LeClair, Kyle (October 12, 2022). "Review: Grounded". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  22. ^ Northup, Travis (September 27, 2022). "Grounded Review". IGN. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  23. ^ Brown, Fraser (September 26, 2022). "Grounded review". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  24. ^ Denzer, TJ (September 26, 2022). "Grounded review: Lord of the Flies (and other such backyard pests)". Shacknews. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  25. ^ Tassi, Paul (December 11, 2020). "Here's The Game Awards 2020 Winners List With A Near-Total 'Last Of Us' Sweep". Forbes. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  26. ^ Boddy, Zachery (February 10, 2022). "Grounded reaches 10 million players, official release coming later this year". Windows Central. Retrieved April 8, 2022.

External links[edit]

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