I recently got my very FIRST gaming console (at 34 years old), as my husband is a gamer and we wanted something to do together. One of the first games we started playing together was Grounded. I will admit, I did not grow up a gamer kid- I am an elder millennial, as one might say and I wanted to ride my bike, and roller-blade with my friends before I ever touched a controller.

Grounded is a survival action-adventure game. It for all kinds of game players, my husband loves survival games, and I although I am new, I love the story line of the game and that is why I play. I played this game on Xbox Series X and I was able to play with other Xbox players and a PC player. I logged 30 days of gameplay on this game.

I loved the graphics- the imagery was so clear. The developers did such a good job that there are warnings before the game starts about the realistic looking bugs and spiders and you can opt out of having that realism as it may invoke fear. The realism of the bugs themselves and the environment is also amazing. The bugs do things that you would expect real bugs to do, they make sounds when they walk and audible noises when around/fighting, you have a limited air supply if swimming. The yard is very realistic and there are landmarks in each part of the yard, like a sandbox, toys, a porch, trees, weeds, etc.

I would definitely play this again and now that the games developers dropped the last update, there is so much more to do in this game to keep me busy for quite a while. As of last night, my friend group who I have been playing with have just beaten the first part of the game and we are now in the “Remixed” yard. I plan to continue playing for some time.

Social media played a huge part for me in this game. I have friends who moved to West Virginia and because they have an Xbox and PC with the game, my husband and I were able to play with them and chat live via Discord. Discord is a free app that allows users to chat/talk/text together. It integrates seamlessly with Xbox.

Overall, this game provides endless hours of play, fun building experiences, and great realistic graphics. If you want to learn more, check out the developer page, Obsidian Entertainment. https://grounded.obsidian.net/