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Grounded 2 Hands-On Preview: How It Compares to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

Grounded 2 shares Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ tiny-world setup, but this preview focuses on survival crafting, bug combat and rideable mounts.
Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Grounded 2 shares the tiny-world premise of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, but this hands-on preview presents it as a survival-crafting adventure focused on gathering, crafting and fighting oversized insects—not as a second film. Its biggest new hook in the preview is rideable bug mounts. The gameplay impressions below come from a guided pre-release session on June 10, 2025, so they should not be read as a report on the current build.

Is Grounded 2 like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids?

Only in its broad premise: people are tiny in a world of oversized everyday objects. The June 10, 2025 preview by Dayna Eileen of CGM describes a game built around survival, crafting and encounters with bugs. Its title nods to the film comparison, but the preview is about a video game, not a sequel to the movie.

Eileen began a guided session as Hoops in an Ominent employee training tutorial. After a story event, the character was sent to explore Brookhollow Park, collecting natural materials, learning basic crafting and navigating human-made debris that looms large at a tiny scale. The preview’s takeaway is that the familiar shrinking setup leads into a survival adventure rather than a family-film-style story.

What stood out in the hands-on preview?

Bug mounts change how you move and fight

The preview’s central new feature was the “buggies” system. Eileen spawned an ant mount and used it to ride, fight, break walls and harvest resources. Spider mounts were shown in a trailer, rather than tried in the session. Executive producer Marcus Morgan also confirmed in the interview that Arachnophobia Safe Mode would affect buggies.

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That makes mounts more than a way to cross the park: in the session, the ant could also help with combat and gathering. The preview does not establish how every mount works or how the system behaves in the current release.

The session hinted at a darker tone

Eileen saw Grounded 2 as keeping the first game’s quirky nostalgic charm while moving toward a somewhat darker tone. Morgan said preserving the setting’s feel was a priority: “First and foremost was the charm, right? The quirky nostalgia is the setting that really brings that game to life. And how does it really stand out? And so that’s a piece that we absolutely didn’t want to lose, just the charm of the late 80s, now, early 90s, putting you really in that setting, because it’s such a good, fun, nostalgic feeling.”

Morgan also explained the team’s thinking about aging up the game’s tone: “Five years ago, if you were 12 and you played Grounded, you’re 17 now. So your tastes are different, the vibe you want is different.” That was his illustrative observation in an interview, not a published statistic about the player base.

Were the combat and map problems confirmed?

No. In the guided pre-release session, Eileen found spear targeting inconsistent and map markers difficult to interpret. She allowed that the spear, her own use of it or the pre-release build might explain the aiming issue, and likewise said the map confusion could be build-related. Those are qualified impressions from that session, not verified defects in the game as it is currently available.

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Where can you play Grounded 2?

Xbox Wire announced a July 29, 2025 launch in Game Preview for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC and Xbox Cloud, and an Early Access launch on Steam. The announcement also listed access through Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. The official Xbox product page identifies the game as Game Preview and lists Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Handheld and Steam platform icons. The Steam listing identifies it as an Early Access title.

Those routes let players choose a supported platform or access option; the preview does not establish that a particular console or accessory is required. Storefront status, access terms, price and regional availability can change, so check the listing for your region before buying or subscribing.

Check the storefront before choosing an edition

The Xbox page lists the base game and a Founder’s Edition. The storefront sources establish digital listings, not a physical boxed edition. Verify the edition and format on your local store rather than assuming a physical copy is available.

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