Grounded - co-op survival craft

[coopasonic]

This has been in early access for a while now. I was introduced to it on GamePass for PC. It's basically Honey I shrunk the kids the base-building, crafting, survival game.

You are a teenager about the size of an ant in a backyard. You collect materials and analyze them to learn to make tools, weapons, armor, building blocks (foundations, floors, walls, etc) and explore to find BURGL chips that you turn in to unlock even more stuff that cost science points you earn from doing daily tasks from finding a specific BURGL chip to killing 10 aphids to building a marker at a specific landmark. In the beginning most everything is a threat. Eventually you are beating down orb weavers and stink bugs to gear yourself up to take on the first boss just added to the game, the brood mother.

I think that has been mentioned before but I couldn't find a specific thread. If you enjoy survival games, this is a nice take on the genre, though it can be pretty challenging without a co-op partner (plays up to 4).

[naednek]

I played it awhile back. Is this a new mode or did they change the direction of the game? The mode I played was more of a light rpg\adventure game.

[coopasonic]

I guess you could have played it with food & water needs turned off. It has never had anything like character levels or stats or any real choice story wise though so calling it an rpg wouldn't be very accurate in my mind. It has always had the building stuff.

[naednek]

I guess you could have played it with food & water needs turned off. It has never had anything like character levels or stats or any real choice story wise though so calling it an rpg wouldn't be very accurate in my mind. It has always had the building stuff.

weird i just never seen it advertised a coop survival. When I played it there was about an hour of content. You had to set up links to antennas, avoid ants, you then had to travel to some device which I can't recall what it was

[coopasonic]

Survival and Multiplayer are the first two tags on Steam. Every article I see describes it as a survival game. I haven't seen any advertising for it.

FYI you could easily spend 20+ hours with it now.

[coopasonic]

Full release coming in September (no specific date was announced that I saw). I am interested to get back to this. They've added a ton since the original preview release and I'm excited to get the full story.

[coopasonic]

Full release coming in September (no specific date was announced that I saw). I am interested to get back to this. They've added a ton since the original preview release and I'm excited to get the full story.

Today is the day. I will be playing this all the way through for sure, thanks GamePass! We spent a lot of time on it in early access and I am excited to see the whole thing come together.

They also are making co-op really easy with shared worlds, where basically it's a shared cloud save and whoever is playing is the host and when the host shuts down the save is updated in the cloud ready for the next session.

[naednek]

when i search for it, it shows up as a preview. Is that the same?

[rittchard]

when i search for it, it shows up as a preview. Is that the same?

Looks like it’s live for me, version 1.0 for $39.99. Maybe it was just the time or need a Steam update?

Anyway, looks like it could be fun!

[naednek]

when i search for it, it shows up as a preview. Is that the same?

Looks like it’s live for me, version 1.0 for $39.99. Maybe it was just the time or need a Steam update?

Anyway, looks like it could be fun!

ya when you search and select it says preview, but after it's installed the preview goes away

[naednek]

SmooveB, in case you are wondering. This game will make you queasy, but it has a FOV adjustment. I found out too late BLEGH

[Daehawk]

Looks fun and nice. Its by Obsidian too.

[coopasonic]

So far it has crashed to desktop twice in less than a minute of total play. I'll give it another shot tomorrow.

[Unagi]

So wait, in order to play this with my kids I need to pay for an XBOX Live subscription ??!

Whaaaaaaat?

[Carpet_pissr]

Can I play on PC Gamepass while my kid plays on his Xbox? (Same account).

I’m a literal moron when it comes to anything multiplayer and setup, connections, etc.

83 Metacritic for those that care.

[Unagi]

Can I play on PC Gamepass while my kid plays on his Xbox? (Same account).

Not a chance.

since like 1995

The entire reason the gaming industry made 'an account' and 'multiplayer games' - was to force 2+ purchases.

[Reemul]

Can I play on PC Gamepass while my kid plays on his Xbox? (Same account).

I’m a literal moron when it comes to anything multiplayer and setup, connections, etc.

83 Metacritic for those that care.

Yes you can, You make the Xbox the home xbox and he can log in to Game Pass on Xbox without the need for you to be logged in to the console and then you logging in on your PC to Game pass and play together. I play on the PC with my kids all the time on their Xbox. It's worked since Forza 4.

[rittchard]

Played a little bit yesterday, I have no prior experience with it during early access or whatever. No technical issues thus far which was nice because random games keep messing up on me lately (I'm looking at you Conan ). Graphics are fantastic, the UI and movement, etc all extremely smooth. I didn't experience any motion sickness luckily, but I did switch from first to third person fairly early on.

Gameplay seemed very RPG-ish to me. Not a bad thing, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Actually I didn't really know what to expect but I think I was imagining more of a strategic type of game. It actually reminded me more of Conan Exiles, but with even more story/quests and 100% less giant dongs. I'm not normally much of a base builder type of player, so I don't know how long this will keep me interested. It's not that I don't like building cool bases, but I just kind of stink at putting stuff together. I do like the entire setting/premise and in that sense it works better as an open-world-ish survival/crafting RPG type of game. I'm certainly curious to see if Pete can get himself out of this predicament!

[coopasonic]

I'd say base building is only a focus of the game if you want it to be. Yes, you need some structure to keep everything, but no need to get all fancy. A box is fine.

I am still seeing consistent crashing in multiplayer that makes it basically impossible to play. I don't really remember having any issues of this nature in early access, so this is pretty disappointing to me. I was to play a little bit single player this morning, but that's not what I want to be doing. I hope it gets worked out.

[Carpet_pissr]

Can I play on PC Gamepass while my kid plays on his Xbox? (Same account).

I’m a literal moron when it comes to anything multiplayer and setup, connections, etc.

83 Metacritic for those that care.

Yes you can, You make the Xbox the home xbox and he can log in to Game Pass on Xbox without the need for you to be logged in to the console and then you logging in on your PC to Game pass and play together. I play on the PC with my kids all the time on their Xbox. It's worked since Forza 4.

That sounds great, thanks! But…can you break it down a bit more for me/clarify? Pretend I have a very low console/gaming IQ.

[coopasonic]

My crashing problem was an issue on my end. Some services weren't running that apparently Grounded cares about. Anyway, I've been playing the game pretty steadily since release. My oldest joined me in co-op for a total of maybe an hour but has lost all interest. I'm not in the upper yard, an area I never ventured into in my time in early access. It didn't exist for most of my playtime. It's a bit tough going solo, but I am still making progress. The experience is super open world and I wouldn't mind just a bit more structured guidance. It all works, but is not 100% my preferred operating model.

[coopasonic]

Finished the game this morning. It was excellent all the way through with lots of exploration and some tough fights and possibly the best end credits song ever.

[TheMix]

Finished the game this morning. It was excellent all the way through with lots of exploration and some tough fights and possibly the best end credits song ever.

Better than How You Like Me Now? by The Heavy? Do tell! I still listen to The Heavy pretty regularly. Owing completely to BL2.

[stimpy]

Wait....so there's an end game?
I though this was like Minecraft where you just continue to build and grow stuff.
I may have to give this a look.

[hepcat]

I just found an area for Berries last night! Now I'm gonna be opening cans of whoop ass all over the place.

[coopasonic]

Wait....so there's an end game?
I though this was like Minecraft where you just continue to build and grow stuff.
I may have to give this a look.

This is very much a story driven game. Yes, you can ignore the story forever and ever and just explore and build and whatnot, but there is actually a point to it all.

Just a point of clarity, on growing stuff, the "farming" in the game is pathetic and largely useless.

Finished the game this morning. It was excellent all the way through with lots of exploration and some tough fights and possibly the best end credits song ever.

Better than How You Like Me Now? by The Heavy? Do tell! I still listen to The Heavy pretty regularly. Owing completely to BL2.

I have no recollection of that and I am in the office so can't check it out right now to see if it triggers any memory. Just to be clear, I am not calling it particularly musically impressive. It is just more lyrically cute and "best ever" may be a bit of hyperbole.

[TheMix]

Wait....so there's an end game?
I though this was like Minecraft where you just continue to build and grow stuff.
I may have to give this a look.

This is very much a story driven game. Yes, you can ignore the story forever and ever and just explore and build and whatnot, but there is actually a point to it all.

Just a point of clarity, on growing stuff, the "farming" in the game is pathetic and largely useless.

Finished the game this morning. It was excellent all the way through with lots of exploration and some tough fights and possibly the best end credits song ever.

Better than How You Like Me Now? by The Heavy? Do tell! I still listen to The Heavy pretty regularly. Owing completely to BL2.

I have no recollection of that and I am in the office so can't check it out right now to see if it triggers any memory. Just to be clear, I am not calling it particularly musically impressive. It is just more lyrically cute and "best ever" may be a bit of hyperbole.

Ah. Fair enough!

Borderlands 2 intro (jump to the 2:53 mark if you want where the song starts) will always stand out for me with The Heavy's "Short Change Hero"; and the closing credits, if you want the walk down memory lane.

... I never really connected how well those two songs fit. At the start you really aren't a hero yet. So you get mostly dismissed. But by the end you can stand up with a smug "how you like me now"? And I think it's fair to say that Jack doesn't like you... not at all.

[Alefroth]

I played it awhile back. Is this a new mode or did they change the direction of the game? The mode I played was more of a light rpg\adventure game.

This is what I thought it was going to be. I installed it a week ago and was very surprised it's actually a survival game. I'm really enjoying it though. They got the feeling of being shrunk down in the yard just right.

[Reemul]

Wait....so there's an end game?
I though this was like Minecraft where you just continue to build and grow stuff.
I may have to give this a look.

This is very much a story driven game. Yes, you can ignore the story forever and ever and just explore and build and whatnot, but there is actually a point to it all.

Just a point of clarity, on growing stuff, the "farming" in the game is pathetic and largely useless.

Finished the game this morning. It was excellent all the way through with lots of exploration and some tough fights and possibly the best end credits song ever.

Better than How You Like Me Now? by The Heavy? Do tell! I still listen to The Heavy pretty regularly. Owing completely to BL2.

I have no recollection of that and I am in the office so can't check it out right now to see if it triggers any memory. Just to be clear, I am not calling it particularly musically impressive. It is just more lyrically cute and "best ever" may be a bit of hyperbole.

Ah. Fair enough!

Borderlands 2 intro (jump to the 2:53 mark if you want where the song starts) will always stand out for me with The Heavy's "Short Change Hero"; and the closing credits, if you want the walk down memory lane.

... I never really connected how well those two songs fit. At the start you really aren't a hero yet. So you get mostly dismissed. But by the end you can stand up with a smug "how you like me now"? And I think it's fair to say that Jack doesn't like you... not at all.

Yep I still listen to those songs thanks for BL2, even my kids do