I was super excited when Obsidian announced that the final Grounded update, “Fully Yoked,” would be releasing on the PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch. Not that I hadn’t already played the game to death on my laptop but I thought it would be nice to see my favorite survival game on a much bigger screen like our LG 40” OLED TV (which is much bigger than my laptop’s humble 15” screen and has better color quality as well). I figured that learning to play with a controller was something I was willing to do even if it meant I get to play the game on a console we actually own (sorry, Xbox).
As I fired up Grounded for the first time on our PS5, I was a bit… disappointed. Mostly because I had not considered that to play multiplayer and pick up our game from where we left off, I would need to have an active PlayStation Plus subscription, which I couldn’t justify since I already own the game on Steam. Big whoops.
Slightly discouraged, I decided to play the game again from the start. Having no clue how to play using a controller, I found myself struggling to do basic stuff (like switching to third-person mode, crafting, et cetera), which added to my annoyance of not being able to play with my existing save, where I had all the survival stuff sorted and weapons fully upgraded. I eventually stopped when I realized that most of the update’s contents were mid- to late-game expansions, which meant that I would have to either play on my laptop or get a PlayStation Plus subscription to really see all the shiny new things they added like the new high tier weapons and the REMIX.R (Grounded’s version of a new game plus).
Nevertheless, from my brief replay of the starting area, I was amazed with just how much better the game looked and felt on a much larger screen. It emphasized just how tiny you are compared to everything else in the game. I was also able to see details like small plant animations I never noticed before on a smaller screen.
When I finally booted it up on my laptop, I immediately saw some animation improvements, especially with my favorite weapon: the Spicy Coaltana. I then immediately headed towards the Red Anthill to see the new Ant Queen, and subsequently got my new Baby Ant pet.
While we still haven’t finished the game as were stuck farming for gold cards before the update, we can now finally go back and finish it and see the rest of Fully Yoked’s new features now that they removed that requirement for 100% on the Report Card.
Grounded is one of the best and most polished survival games I’ve tried. It has a pretty painless multiplayer system thanks to saved games being hosted on Xbox servers so that anyone can log into a shared world if they have access.
I’m glad that more console-only players will get to experience it for the first time, complete with all the quality-of-life improvements (Hot deposit! Craft from storage! Storage labeling! And the brand-new Pet Recall function!) that they’ve added since the game’s original early-access release back in 2020. No other game also comes quite as close to the nostalgia overload I get seeing all the ‘80s and ‘90s toys and knick-knacks scattered across the yard.
If you’re still on the fence about trying out Grounded, consider this: if you grew up in the ‘80s or have seen Honey I Shrunk the Kids and thought it’d be cool if that happened to you, and you like open-world survival crafting games, this is definitely worth your time and money, and worth playing on a much larger screen.
Grounded is available now on PC, Xbox One, Playstation 4/5 and Nintendo Switch. Just keep in mind that you’ll need extra subscriptions if you want to play the game with friends on PS4/5 and Switch.