Highlights

  • Craft cooking and crafting stations for better food and water in Grounded. Multiple Dew Collectors and the Jerky Rack and Oven are essential.
  • Look for BURG.L Chips and Milk Molars to advance the story and unlock upgrades in Grounded. Head to the Great Oak tree and explore the yard.
  • Experiment with mutations and equip helpful buffs to survive challenging bugs in Grounded. Meat Shield and stamina-boosting mutations are recommended.

When players first start Grounded, they possess nothing and must learn and adapt quickly to survive. It's a fun, challenging, and immersive open-world game that may remind many players of classic sci-fi movies like Honey I Shrunk The Kids or The Borrowers. New players may want to know the first things to do when starting the huge sandbox game, and faithful pre-release followers may appreciate a refresher with the 1.0 full version, which launched on September 27, 2022.

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Although the objectives in Grounded lead the way, players are free to explore the backyard setting as they choose, so there are some handy tips and tricks to survive and progress.

Updated January 16, 2024 by Gemma Johnson: Grounded is an evolving, survival, action-adventure game that continues to give players more tricks, gizmos, and gadgets to use in the backyard. More recently, this includes the addition of Playgrounds, enabling players to design unique and testing sandbox scenarios. However, learning the ropes takes time, and many beginner players may be eager to know several handy Grounded tips and tricks to survive and thrive in the yard.

Knowing what to do first and what to prioritize is also essential for surviving the challenging bugs and beasties around almost every blade of grass. Fortunately, there are several Grounded tips to help players along their way and progress in the game. While many focus on early-game tips, many remain relevant as players progress further into the game.

1 Craft Multiple Cooking And Crafting Stations

Better Food And More Efficient Resource Collection

grounded dew collectors

Keeping tabs on food and water is one of the first things to do in Grounded. Beginner players start with basic food like mushrooms, but crafting cooking stations makes for better and more efficient food and water. Exploring the yard for new ingredients and analyzing them gets players new crafting recipes like the Dew Collector, Jerky Rack, and an Oven.

Crafting multiple Dew Collectors lets players quickly scoop up plenty of water to take on the go. Additionally, using the Jerky Rack and Oven enables players to make plenty of the best food in Grounded to keep hunger at bay, like Miteloaf.

2 Focus On Finding BURG.L Chips And Milk Molars

Advance The Story And Unlock Upgrades

grounded burgl lab

There's a lot of ground to cover in the yard, and new players might wonder what to look for first. One handy Grounded tip is to look out for labs to find BURG.L Chips that advance the story and unlock more recipes. To begin with, new players should head to the Great Oak tree in the middle of the yard to rescue BURG.L and get the Grasslands Chip.

Players should also look out for Milk Molars hidden around the yard. Regular Milk Molars enable players to upgrade their character in a lab, like max health, max stamina, and healing. Whereas gold, Mega Milk Molars boosts the stats of all group members in multiplayer.

3 Make Use Of Mutations

Get Helpful Buffs To Survive

grounded meat shield mutation

To stand the best chance of surviving more challenging bugs in the yard, it's a good idea to experiment with mutations for different situations. Equipping some of Grounded's best mutations, like Meat Shield, can help make all the difference in surviving boss battle encounters like the Assistant Manager.

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Boosting stamina with mutations like Cardio Fan and Buff Lungs is also ideal in various situations, from surviving spiders to swimming in the pond. Remembering to swap out and try different mutations can be beneficial to give players the edge in surviving various challenges across the yard.

4 Craft A Canteen For Slurps On The Go

Reduce The Dangers Of Thirst

grounded canteen

Besides basic weapons and armor, crafting a canteen is one of the most essential things to do first in Grounded and one of the first tier-two crafting items many players will make. Finding water is one of the first survival problems that players must face, so making a canteen to store water saves a lot of hassle searching for water droplets, especially if thirst gets dangerously low mid-exploration.

A level two canteen holds two sips of water, so it's handy to keep equipped in a player's inventory to quickly scoop up water, juice, or fizzy drinks on the go. Alternatively, the Canteen+ holds four droplets.

5 Maximize Space With Storage Chests

Keep Resources And Back-Up Supplies Handy

grounded storage chest

Although update 1.1 gave players an additional row of backspace, players new to Grounded may still find that they run out of storage quickly with so many things to discover and collect. Crafting several storage chests certainly makes life easier to swap out and store any items no longer needed. Chests also allow players to save backup supplies of armor, tools, and more just in case.

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It's also pretty easy to craft storage chests, as they only require sap, acorn shells, and clover leaves. Players looking to try Grounded's best builds further in the game will also need lots of storage space for their growing collection.

6 Make A Gas Mask

Survive Dangerous Zones And Bugs In The Yard

grounded gas mask

A gas mask is another essential piece of kit for new players to craft first. This item is crucial to explore more areas of the yard like the Haze, survive tough bugs like Stinkbugs, and protect against toxic trash in areas of Grounded's Upper Yard. Fortunately, it's a relatively early-game item. Players can make a Gas Mask after analyzing a Weevil nose once they reach a minimum brainpower of level six.

Choosing whether to turn the Haze off after getting the tier two shovel can have advantages and disadvantages. Either way, it's ideal to have several gas masks on hand, especially when looking for BURG.L chips to advance the main story.

7 Cook For Better Ways To Heal

Get More Efficient Healing Items

Grounded fiber bandage

Grounded's 1.1 update gave players cooked meat when they kill creatures with a spicy weapon, like the Spicy Coltana. Similarly, players get cured meat when they hunt with a salty weapon. However, it can take a bit of time to get better weapons. With a bug around almost every corner, it's best to know how to craft Grounded's best ways to heal fast to survive.

Beginner players can make fiber bandages to heal, and it's ideal to have plenty on standby. When players unlock the oven and smoothie station, they can also cook better food to restore larger chunks of hunger and health, like Gnat Roast and Green Machine.

8 Build Up To Reach New & Secret Areas

Find Secret Weapons

Entrance To The Pinch Whacker And Grass Staircase

To progress in Grounded, players often need to build to access new or secret areas. For instance, there are different ways of reaching Grounded's Upper Yard, but often the most reliable way is to build upwards using grass and weed stem constructions, like stairs.

Players should also look for locations where they can build up to access hidden or secret areas, like the secret lab area containing Grounded's Pinch Whacker weapon, a powerful higher-tier weapon that can make surviving bigger bugs in the yard easier in the early stages.

9 Make A Bow & Better Tools

Survive Challenging Bugs And Cheese Fights

Grounded-Spider-Bow-and-Arrow-1

Making a bow and arrow is an invaluable early weapon as it can help players fight tough insects from a safe distance, a handy trick to cheese fights against ferocious bugs like Wolf Spiders from a height. It's a handy tool for players who prefer stealthier gameplay, and players can get better bows throughout the game as they progress, like the tier-two insect bow. As long as players have plenty of arrows, like thistle arrows, it can make fights easier.

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Prioritizing making tier-two tools, like the Insect Axe and Hammer, is also crucial for mining better materials. It's a great starting point to progress quickly.

10 Build Zip Lines To Get Around Fast

Remove The Need To Travel On Foot

Using A Zip Line In Grounded

One of the best BURG.L recipes to prioritize buying first is the zip line recipe, especially when built on a base high up in the Great Oak Tree. This is one of Grounded's best base locations, as it sits in the middle of the yard. Players can build a grass construction at a height around the tree and build zip lines to all corners of the yard, enabling players to quickly and safely travel across large areas.

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Grounded's zip lines work more conveniently after the 1.1 update added the ability to go up them using the ZIP.R, once unlocked. This removes the long and potentially dangerous trip back to base.

11 Keep Tabs On Food And Water Levels

Prevents Death From Hunger And Thirst Drain

Finding Water Drops In Grounded

Until players make a canteen and cooking equipment, finding food and water in the early game can be challenging. As tempting as it might be to slurp the nasty stuff, dirty water quickly diminishes the player character's health, and should only be used in emergencies. It's also essential to keep track of food and water levels.

The best food and water sources are the juice box and mushrooms growing near the Mysterious Machine, but supplies are unpredictable. It's important to keep looking up for water droplets hanging on grass, punching or chopping the blade till they fall. Just watch to make sure the drops don't disappear into puddles.

12 Avoid Spiders & Exploring At Night

Reduce The Risk Of Defeat From Challenging Bugs

Spider In Grounded

For beginners, a handy tip is to avoid spiders and explore during daylight, as some of Grounded's toughest bugs, especially Wolf Spiders, have devastating attacks and roam at night. Spiders tend to creep around the dry grass area and lurk by the Great Oak tree, so it's best to avoid them until players get better armor, weapons, and equipment.

New players can find most resources they need around or close to the Resource Analyzer base, so exploring too far isn't essential at first. It's also best to stick to daytime hours until players craft the torch and higher-tier gear, which makes traveling at night much easier.

13 Leave Ants & Ladybirds Alone

Avoids Unnecessary Fights

Ladybird In Grounded

Other bugs that can cause problems for new players are ladybirds and ants, so it's best to leave them alone. Ladybirds can be tough and are tricky to defeat with lower-tier weapons, so it's best not to pick a fight.

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The same goes for ants, which can be cute and curious to investigate, especially when players build a base, so it's best not to hit them by accident when chopping grass and various stems. Otherwise, be prepared for chaos as they team up to defend their buddies. Not building bases in the middle of ant tunnels also reduces the chaos of mass ant destruction.

14 Explore & Analyze To Progress

Gain Raw Science And Unlock More Recipes

Resource Analyzer In Grounded

In Grounded, discovering and analyzing items is the key to progressing and unlocking new recipes. Although it's best to avoid certain areas at the start, players must brave the wilderness and expand their reach to source and analyze better materials, which is all part of the fun.

After a big exploration session, it's a good idea to regularly return to a Resource Analyzer to build Brain Power to level up and unlock new crafting recipes. It's a great time to replenish supplies, construct new items, and rest before the next big outing.

15 Look Up For Resources

Get More Resources Like Sap Quicker

Finding Sap In Grounded

Having a hard time finding Grounded's sap or other elusive materials? Try looking up! Although Grounded shrinks player characters to a minuscule size, that doesn't stop them from climbing up to explore, find resources, and reach new areas.

Sap can sometimes be sparse and trickier for new players to locate. It's best to search for fallen twigs, look up, and climb to reach individual sap pieces as needed. When players craft a hammer, they can also bust huge clumps of sap with large clusters found close to the central tree near Old Ant Hill.

16 Make A Workbench

Unlock The Ability To Craft Better Weapons And Tools

Workbench In Grounded

Apart from the Pebblet Spear, Axe, and Hammer, the workbench is one of the first essential Utility items to craft. Many of Grounded's best weapons and tools require a workbench to make, so it's a core piece of kit to prioritize making first, and fortunately, it doesn't require many materials to make.

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Players can craft a workbench using 3 grass planks, 4 sprigs, and 2 pieces of sap. Around the time players have a workbench installed, it's also handy to have grass and weed plank storage beds set up outside the base for tidy and easy organization and construction.

17 Prioritize Building A Base

Gives A (Mostly) Buff-Free Safe Haven And Place To Sleep

Building A Base In Grounded

While players can now skip nighttime exploration entirely, they should prioritize building a base as soon as possible to protect themselves from curious insects like spiders. Players should also carefully choose where they build their base to avoid the wrath of bugs.

Some of Grounded's best base locations can make the early days of surviving the yard feel less problematic, by being near handy juice boxes or a Resource Analyzer. Other good spots are located around high, climbable objects such as the garden telescope. Spending time building bigger and better bases also benefits players with the game's cozy system, which gives players additional buffs while inside.

18 Make A Smithing Station

Get Better Weapons And Armor

Clover Armor In Grounded

To progress and have any chance of surviving tougher bugs, it's crucial to prioritize making a Smithing Station in Grounded. The Smithing Station enables players to upgrade armor and weapons using collectible materials like Quartzite and Brittle Whetstone.

Acorn armor is the best armor for beginners to get first until they can get stronger resources, like ladybird and black ant parts. There are plenty of acorns and acorn shells to mine around the Great Oak tree in daytime hours. Red ant armor is also a handy set to get, as it provides decent protection and makes players undetectable by red ants.

19 Glide Using A Dandelion Tuft

Float Safely From Place To Place

Gliding Using A Dandelion Tuft In Grounded

One of the best items in the game is a dandelion tuft, which players can pick up randomly in the world. When equipped in the inventory, it's a neat trick that allows players to glide gracefully across short distances and small gaps, which helps avoid bugs and safely descend high areas.

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Gliding is helpful when exploring dangerous areas, like when searching around the Great Oak tree. If players peek through holes in the leaves, they may often see big beasties loitering below, so gliding is a safe way of traveling across, minimizing the risk of falling into a spider's lair. However, it's important to still be mindful of fall damage.

20 Trail Markers & Lights Lead The Way

Adds Custom Map Markers And Waypoints

A Trail Marker In The Craft Menu In Grounded

Grounded is an enormous open-world sandbox game where it's easy to get lost, especially at night. Although there are many landmarks like juice boxes scattered about, it's super handy to craft and deploy custom trail markers. These act like waypoints featuring player-chosen icons and colors, telling them how far away things are and their direction.

Placing lamps and adding lit items like the spit roast is also a handy way of lighting areas frequently visited and can help players find their way home and spot creepy critters lurking in the shadows before it's too late.

GROUNDED
Grounded

Released
September 27, 2022
Developer(s)
Obsidian Entertainment
Genre(s)
Survival Horror , RPG