It's not a bug, it's a creature!Īnd then there's the undeniable horror of enemy designs – and yes, the spiders are complete nightmares, the way they animate with a mix of calculated movement and sudden maniacal hunger, like they just can't restrain themselves anymore. I could never be entirely complacent again, and spent the rest of the campaign in a heightened state of dread. I'm not sure what caused it to leave its regular territory – probably hunting Stinkbugs – but it hardly mattered. Not just because a predator far greater than me was in the area, but because the illusion of safety had shattered and wasn't going to come back. That was true for a while, at least, until one day when I was absent-mindedly glancing out the window and I saw a Wolf Spider crawling nearby, ten times my size and bristling with malevolent intent. For example, the shrinking machine landmark in the center of the garden is usually free of danger - enemies rarely spawn near here, which led me to think it was a safe spot for my base. And combat, as you might expect, makes you feel perpetually insignificant, with the game's lurking, predatory foes stirring a sense of constant, anticipatory unease.Ĭomplacency plays its part too. Blades of grass don't bend beneath you, and most threats force you to look up at them, reinforcing the whole "titchy" feeling. You're vulnerable, you're weightless, you're constantly forced to look up at everyday objects that tower above. It wasn't enough to tell players they were small, Grounded had to make you feel tiny as well, and you do that with more than just a shifting of scale. Speaking of the kids, being tiny brings its own perils. So when a rampaging invertebrate atrocity comes at you, mandibles dripping at the thought of ripping out your throat and laying eggs in the wound, and all the kids think to do is make light quips… well, it all feels a little surreal, to say the least, and makes me think I can't depend on these little brats quite as much as they'd have me believe. Not that they're brave, more like they don't recognize that they're in mortal peril at all. They've been kidnapped, imprisoned, experimented on, shrunk to almost nothing, and left to die at the hands of monsters with almost no chance of survival, for goodness' sake.Īnd weirdly enough, the teens never seem particularly frightened by this either. They're chipper and constantly joking among themselves, reflecting the corny movie dialogues of the 1980s, but don't seem phased by how awful their situation is. And that's another layer of oddness the game projects: all the teenagers you control feel, well, odd. Not only that, but craft and upgrade your armor and weapons to give your character the stats and advantages you need in order to take on the perils of the backyard.Consequently you're hardcoded to think of yourself as being on the back foot, despite the game not openly saying so – and the kids never acknowledging it either. Use the in-game customization systems such as Mutations and Milk Molars to activate the bonuses and perks you want for your character. However, the more you interfere with the creatures in the yard, the higher the chance that they come knocking at your own door, so you better prepare. You can even attract them to different places in the yard by activating the MIX.R devices. Not only that, but with the Shared Worlds feature, you can continue to play in your shared world even if the original host is not on, with all your progression saving!Ĭreatures can be found roaming the yard in a multitude of environments, such as the depths of the pond, the caverns of the termite den, and even the sweltering heat found in the sandbox. You can face the backyard alone or together, online, with up to three friends. How did you wind up so small? Who did this to you? How do you go home? These are all answers you will uncover as you play through the story. Uncover the mysteries while playing through the story! Can you thrive alongside the hordes of giant insects, fighting to survive the perils of the backyard? Explore, build and survive together in this first-person, multiplayer, survival adventure. The world is a vast, beautiful, and dangerous place – especially when you have been shrunk to the size of an ant.
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