Quick Links
Grounded 2is an open-world Survival Crafting game that picks up a unique mechanic from its predecessor by shrinking you and putting you in a world of small creatures. The entire map is a small park that you could probably cover with a few steps if you were a normal human being.
However, after being shrunk, it can take you ages to go from one corner to another. You’ll also find various bugs and critters that’ll challenge you to a battle in different ways. Thankfully, there are a few tips you can keep in mind to help yourself in this treacherous tiny world.
Grounded 2 is currently in Early Access, and everything mentioned in this article is subject to change.
You Can Change Your Perspective
When you first start playing Grounded 2 and create your own world,you’ll be asked to choose a perspective before you enter. The first-person perspective helps you look at things up close and aim more accurately, while the third-person perspective allows you to identify faraway items. Additionally, it can also help alleviate motion sickness in people prone to it.
The game might make it look like this is a permanent choice that can’t be changed unless you make another save, but that’s not true. You can easily change perspective by pressing a certain button. For the Keyboard, this button is U by default, and the Controller doesn’t have one assigned. If you want to change your perspective on the Controller,you can assign a random button to the “Camera Toggle” in Controller settings.
Since you don’t have as many buttons on a Controller,you can always switch it back outafter changing your perspective.
Alternately, you’re able to also change your camera mode by heading to the main menu andpicking the mode you want from the bottom-leftof your screen.
Try To Interact With Everything
After starting up the game of Grounded 2, you’ll first find yourself in a facility that’ll teach you the basics. However, as soon as you get out, you’llfind yourself in a massive open world where you can go anywhere. This world is filled with random grass, insects, and other deposits on the ground or the walls.
While the grass might all look the same at first glance, there arevarious plants in them with each giving you different items. Thus, once you’re out in the world, it’s important to get close to every new thing you see and check if you can somehow interact with it. Some of these will require a higher-level Omi-Tools as well, but you’ll know where to go once you get that upgrade.
Know What You’re Up Against
As you move around the map, you’ll find something moving in the bushes every few seconds,with the most common sights being roaches, bugs, and spiders. Some of these will attack you on sight like every spider or mite, while others aren’t aggressive by default like the roaches or most of the smaller bugs.
You’ll also find Ladybugs and Snails roaming around, and while these creatures are quite massive, they don’t attack you first. It’s important to know the behavior of your enemies if you want to survive in this world. For example,if there’s a spider on your path, you’d want to get the first hitbefore it gets aggroed since it gives you a better chance to defeat it.
It’s also necessary to know the power of your equipment anddecide when you should simply flee from a fight.
One way to defeat most creatures in Grounded 2 is by climbing up a leaf of the Thistle plant nearby and shooting at them. However, some enemies are smart andthey’ll either keep moving around or find cover for themselveswhen they see you using a bow.
Keep An Eye On Your Hunger And Thirst
As a Survival Crafting game, Grounded 2 also has a bar for your current hunger and thirst shown on the bottom left side. Once this bar stops losing color,you have to feed yourself and drink water or you’ll start getting debuffed. For example, if your hunger goes too low, your stamina bar will be reduced to half until you eat something.
Youdon’t have to deal with hunger and thirstin the creative difficulty.
Thankfully, there are some easy ways to keep these bars full:
Try Not To Explore In The Dark
Grounded 2 follows a day and night cycle where every few seconds in real life equates to a minute in the game. you’re able to see thecurrent time by heading over to any menu or by looking at your Lean-To. Once it starts getting around 20:00 on the clock, the world will get much darker and you’ll barely be able to see.
In the early game, you can create some torches from theSlime Mold Stalk that you can find in the caves, but these don’t give you a lot of visibility. Unless you need something urgently, it’s recommended tostay at your basein the nighttime and sleep at the Lean-To as soon as you can.
Create Your Base Near A Ranger Station
Talking about the base, it’s alsoimportant to figure out where you want to make your home in Grounded 2, just like every other Survival game. The map is filled with different landmarks, but the Ranger Outposts are arguably one of the best places to set up your base. You can find one of these not long after you leave the tutorial since the story takes you there.
These outposts generally have a bit of flat ground in front of them, allowing you to place a ton of structures. Moreover,they have the Resource Analyzer and the machine that lets you upgrade and unlockyour Omni-Tools. The Resource Analyzer has limited charges, so having your storage nearby helps with that as well.
Remember The Locations Of Different Items
One of the most important aspects of Grounded 2 is that you’ll need each item multiple times. Thankfully,most resources respawn after a bit and you’re able to farm them again. However, to do that, it’s important to memorize their location. For some itemslike the Thistle Needle, the location is easy to find since you can see the flower on the map.
Though many other items aren’t shown on the map, andfor these, you can use the Trail Markers. These can be found in your construction wheel by pressing B on the keyboard and the upward arrow on the Controller, and can be made using Clovers, Sprigs, and Plant Fiber. Once you mark an area, it’ll show up on your HUD.
Exploration Is Key
Finally, one of the simplest and yet the most important tip in Grounded 2 is to keep exploring. The map is huge and it has so many little secrets, items, and lore to offer. As you explore different biomes,you’ll also find harder enemies, which will incentivize you to progressand get higher-tier weapons and equipment.
If you simply attempt to follow the story without getting a little distracted, you might not have as much fun with the game. Moreover, with exploration,you’ll eventually get many items that you currently needfor crafting specific things.
