Things to Do First - Grounded Guide - IGN (2024)

In the world of Grounded, you'll start knowing next to nothing about your shrunken predicament, and it's up to you (and possibly a small team of others) to make your way in this new world and survive the big bad backyard. On this page, you'll find tips and information on things you should prioritize doing when you first leave the Kid's Case in Grounded.

Looking for specific information on what to do first in Grounded? Jump to the sections below:

• Analyzing Resources
• Tools to Create First
• Watch Your Thirst and Hunger Bars
• Build Shelter
• Use Trail Markers

Analyze Everything

As you begin exploring and getting your bearings, you'll be directed towards a small purple shelter called a Field Station. Head north from the Kid's Case as you begin your Walkthrough and you should pick up a signal for the field station in no time.

A signal detector will appear when you're in the vicinity of a Field Station, and the bars will get stronger the closer you are to it. This will help you work out the signal without a marker. For the first one though, a handy marker will appear to help you find it.

These small shelters can be found across the map, and each lets you analyze up to 3 different resources and materials every so often. This is extremely important, as it's the only way you can unlock some vital recipes for tools, gear, and building parts.

As a general rule, be sure to analyze the following items as soon as you can to unlock weapons and tools, as well as some basic armor:

• Analyze a Pebblet to get the Pebblet Axe recipe
• Analyze Plant Fiber to get the Crude Rope, Fiber Bandage and Plant Slurry recipe
• Analyze a Clover Leaf to get a Lean-To, Clover Armor, Trail Marker and Storage recipes
• Analyze Sap to get a Workbench and Torch recipe, as well as lamps for buildings.

Craft Tools for Chopping, Crushing, and Fighting

In Grounded, one tool does not fit all needs, and your inventory and quickbar menu has room to quickly pull up tools of all types. While almost anything can be used as a weapon in a pinch, it's a good idea to get different tools ready so you don't risk breaking one from using it for everything possible.

• Once you've started exploring, pick up a Pebblet and analyze it to learn the recipe to make a Pebblet Spear using 1 Pebblet, 2 Sprigs and 3 Plant Fiber.

• Analyze a Plant Fiber to get the recipe for Crude Rope, and craft one of them to learn how to make a Pebblet Hammer. You can use this to crush larger rocks and minerals into chunks to pick up, including clay and quartzite.

• Analyze a Pebblet to learn the recipe for a Pebblet Axe, which you can use to cut down blades of grass, dry grass, and dandelions.

It's also worth seeking out sap growing on larger branches to learn how to make Torches, which will vastly improve your ability to survive at night.

Begin Building a Shelter

You'll want to build a shelter to have somewhere to sleep through the night. After all, that's when things become more dangerous, and spiders will appear more frequently.

As soon as you are encouraged to construct a Lean-to, find a place on somewhat higher ground to give yourself a vantage point. Cut down Clover Leaves to build the Lean-to (you'll also need some Sprigs), allowing yourself to sleep the night away, as well as setting a respawn point in case you die. When you set a Lean-To as your respawn point, you'll be able to see it on your map.

Once you have a place to sleep, start chopping down nearby blades of Grass and pick up the planks to start putting up blueprints for walls around your shelter. In Grounded, you can place a blueprint down even before you have the materials - so feel free to fully plan out your walled settlement in advance, and then chop down the Grass you need to flesh out your walls. You can chop down a Dandelion to get the Weed Stem needed for a door, as well as sturdier building materials.

Having walls will go a long way in letting you hide from predators like Spiders, who may appear and wander past your home without warning - and can be incredibly frustrating if you're out in the open and respawn just a few feet away.

Be sure to also spruce up your shelter with added utilities - including Storage Baskets, a Workbench, a Roasting Spit, and others as you find new recipes.

Mark Your Progress With Trail Markers

As your exploration progresses in Grounded, you'll soon realize that not everything will be identified on your map - including your bases (unless it's your designated Respawn Point, then it'll show up on your map as such). This is why Trail Markers are so important. You'll need Clover, Sprigs and Plant Fibers to build them, and upon placing them at a designated spot, you can customize how they will appear on your map.

Use these to note where you build your shelters, where you've found an abundance of resources like nectar or dew, caves full of quartzite, or even hostile territory full of spiders.

Seek out Sources of Food and Water

As a survival game, the threats of hunger and thirst will ever be on your mind, and one of the bigger challenges will be finding a way to reduce this stress by knowing where to find food and water at all times.

Early on, be sure to track down any nearby large mushrooms to find smaller ones growing around them. A lone mushroom won't leave you feeling all that full, but having a bunch of them can help stave off hunger while you look for better things.

It's important to note that standing nasty water can always be used if you're in danger of taking damage from thirst - as dirty water will just make you hungrier - and if you already have a supply of food ready, no worries!

However, you should be constantly on the lookout for Dew Drops that will grow on the Grass. As well as this, you can find Aphid Honeydew that little insects leave behind, which can help deal with thirst and hunger in small bits. You can also sometimes find larger drops of nectar in the wild - and you should also familiarize yourself with nearby Juice Boxes or soda cans - as they will regularly spawn drops of liquid once a day or so that you can return to (though they may roll downhill).

Killing insects to roast their meat is always a viable option - but don't wait on it, as their meat spoils quickly, unlike mushrooms and dew that does not. To this end, you'll soon want to invest in renewable resources. Be sure to head over to the towering oak tree to locate Acorns, and break them apart with a hammer to learn how to make a Water Container so you can store drops of liquid.

Note: As you gain more resources and build up your camp, you can store food items in storage baskets or hold nectar in container for later consumption - but eventually, Ants may become alerted to your cache and try and take it all by force. You'll either need to be ready to deal with their groups, or seek higher ground where they can't easily reach to store your food items.