Obsidian Entertainment is a developer mostly known for in-depth RPGs. You have Fallout: New Vegas and then most recently The Outer Worlds. These games involve a lot of world-building and numerous ways to customize your created character. That’s why it’s so surprising to see Obsidian Entertainment reveal their latest project, Grounded. It made its grand appearance at Xo19, and for many in attendance and those watching via the live streams, it stole the show.
So what exactly is Grounded? It’s certainly not an RPG, that’s for sure. Instead, it plays more like a co-op survival game. At least, that’s what it looks like judging by the trailer that was revealed in addition to this game announcement. In the trailer, we see that it is — in fact — a survival game only there’s a huge difference compared to the rest of the survival games currently on the marketplace today.
You’re as big as an ant. That’s right, Your character has somehow been shrunken and is now tasked with navigating ordinary environments that are now massive in stature.
To paint a picture of the scale at play, the trailer shows a baseball with your character standing next to it. The baseball completely dwarfs you, amazingly enough. This is like a scene from the iconic family movie, Honey I Shrunk The Kids. If you haven’t seen the movie, it revolves around a young family who have stumbled upon their dad’s shrink-ray machine. As expected, they hit the machine with a baseball and anarchy ensues.
That seems to be what the people at Obsidian are going for with this game. As a now bite-size character, you’ll have to put your survival skills to the test to last in this massive backyard. There are tunnels everywhere, which may seem like a great way to get around. Only, there are huge insects lurking beneath. You’ll have to find a weapon fast if you wish to stand any chance against their pinchers.
According to the trailer, you’ll get the chance to play with a friend as you make your way out of this massive arena full of so many possibilities. Building will be an important skill you’ll need to master out of the gate. It also seems like Grounded involves a lot of exploration. Who wouldn’t want to check out seemingly normal objects and areas as a human the size of an ant? It’s a brilliant idea and instantly makes Grounded one of the more unique games to look forward to.
