Grounded
Moderate overall intensityWhat's in it
The story involves child kidnapping and unethical human experimentation by an evil corporation called Ominent, with the teen protagonists being experimented on and nearly killed before escaping.
A shriveled test subject appears in a lab freezer, and the oversized garden insects attack as looming enemies.
Fighting is against giant garden insects - ants, spiders, mosquitoes - using homemade spears, axes and a bow. Defeated bugs flop over and break into harvestable parts such as chitin; there are no human targets, no blood and no gore.
The player regularly kills insects for resources such as silk, honey, and carapace.
Who can reach your kid
What it is
In Grounded, a title centered on survival and constructing bases, the player controls one of six teenagers who have been miniaturized and left stranded in a residential backyard where garden insects loom as large as dogs. Play involves collecting materials such as chitin harvested from dead bugs, assembling armor and weaponry, erecting shelters along with defensive structures, and battling oversized creatures while waiting for rescue. Through the plot, it emerges that a company named Ominent abducted the teens to run experiments without ethical limits; after breaking free, the group is left with a permanent affliction, Raisining Syndrome, whose symptoms can only be eased for a short time using an uncommon flower. Features extend to internet-based cooperative sessions and modifications made by players.
How it's framed
Survival is cast by the story as a grim fight against brutality, with the firm Ominent and the tests it conducts positioned as the antagonists, and the teenagers depicted as blameless targets struggling to stay alive.
Details
- Developer
- Obsidian Entertainment
- Publisher
- Xbox Game Studios
- Released
- Sep 27, 2022
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