Grounded shrinks you down to the size of an ant and turns an ordinary backyard into a sprawling survival world. Grass becomes a jungle, spiders become terrifying predators, and every dewdrop is a resource worth fighting for. It is co-op survival crafting with a genuinely fresh perspective, and that shift in scale is what makes exploring feel new again.
If you have built your base among the blades of grass and want more of that mix of crafting, exploration, and co-op survival, these 15 games deliver it from different angles. Some share Grounded’s small-scale premise directly, some go bigger, and some trade insects for other threats entirely. All are worth your time in 2026.
Quick Comparison: Top 5 Picks
| # | Game | Setting | Price | Platforms |
| 1 | Smalland: Survive the Wilds | Tiny-scale world | $24.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 2 | Valheim | Viking survival | $19.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 3 | Raft | Ocean survival | $19.99 | PC |
| 4 | Subnautica | Underwater survival | $29.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch |
| 5 | ARK: Survival Ascended | Creature survival | $44.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
1. Smalland: Survive the Wilds
Why it’s similar
Smalland shares Grounded’s exact premise: you are tiny, the wilderness is enormous, and everyday plants and insects become genuine threats and resources.
What makes it unique
The setting is a lush, more fantastical forest rather than a suburban backyard, with giant creatures and ancient ruins giving the tiny-scale survival a more mystical tone.
Key features
- Tiny-scale survival perspective
- Giant creature encounters
- Crafting and base building
- Co-op exploration
Price: $24.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Where to Buy
Available on Steam.
2. Valheim
Why it’s similar
Valheim shares Grounded’s co-op survival crafting loop, sending you and friends through increasingly dangerous biomes as you build up gear and shelter.
What makes it unique
Norse mythology and sailing set it apart. Building your own longship to explore new islands adds a layer of open-world discovery Grounded doesn’t offer.
Key features
- Co-op survival crafting with exploration
- Boss-based progression through biomes
- Shipbuilding and sea exploration
- Base building with structural integrity
Price: $19.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
3. Raft
Why it’s similar
Raft shares Grounded’s cooperative crafting and expansion loop, just relocated to the ocean, where your floating base grows plank by plank as you scavenge the waves.
What makes it unique
The entire game takes place on the water. Managing hunger, thirst, and shark attacks while paddling between islands gives survival a constant sense of isolation.
Key features
- Ocean-based floating base building
- Cooperative resource scavenging
- Shark and hazard survival
- Story-driven island exploration
Price: $19.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Steam.
4. Subnautica
Why it’s similar
Subnautica shares Grounded’s thrill of exploring a hostile, unfamiliar environment while scavenging resources and slowly upgrading your gear to survive.
What makes it unique
The entire game unfolds underwater on a single alien ocean planet, with a tense, story-driven descent into the dark that gives exploration real stakes.
Key features
- Underwater alien world exploration
- Crafting and base building beneath the waves
- Tense survival against deep-sea creatures
- Story told through exploration
Price: $29.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
5. ARK: Survival Ascended
Why it’s similar
ARK shares Grounded’s survival crafting and base-building core, scaling things up with creature taming and progression across sprawling, dangerous maps.
What makes it unique
Taming and riding dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures is the signature feature, with large-scale tribes and creature-based combat giving it a very different rhythm than Grounded’s insect-sized world.
Key features
- Dinosaur and creature taming
- Large-scale survival and base building
- Tribe-based multiplayer progression
- Multiple sprawling maps
Price: $44.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
6. The Forest
Why it’s similar
The Forest shares Grounded’s base-building-meets-survival-horror tension, dropping you into a dangerous environment where shelter and defense matter as much as crafting.
What makes it unique
Its cannibal enemies and creeping horror atmosphere push the tension further than Grounded, with a strong single-player story woven through the survival loop.
Key features
- Survival horror atmosphere
- Base building under constant threat
- Crafting and exploration
- Strong narrative throughline
Price: $19.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Steam.
7. Sons of the Forest
Why it’s similar
Sons of the Forest shares Grounded’s mix of building, crafting, and surviving against dangerous enemies, in a bigger, more detailed world than its predecessor.
What makes it unique
Improved building systems and smarter, more aggressive enemy AI push the survival horror tension further, with a deeper crafting and construction toolkit.
Key features
- Advanced building and construction tools
- Smarter, more aggressive enemy AI
- Co-op survival horror
- Detailed crafting systems
Price: $29.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
8. Don’t Starve Together
Why it’s similar
Don’t Starve Together shares Grounded’s co-op survival tension, asking you to gather resources and craft carefully to survive an unforgiving, atmospheric world.
What makes it unique
Its hand-drawn gothic art style and quirky, punishing systems create a distinct tone, with sanity management adding pressure beyond hunger and health.
Key features
- Distinctive gothic art style
- Sanity, hunger, and health management
- Co-op survival for up to six players
- Seasonal world events
Price: $14.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Steam and GOG.
9. Minecraft
Why it’s similar
Minecraft shares Grounded’s sandbox crafting and survival foundation, letting you gather resources, build shelter, and explore a world shaped entirely by your choices.
What makes it unique
The blocky, fully destructible and buildable world offers nearly unlimited creative freedom, backed by the largest modding and community content scene in gaming.
Key features
- Fully destructible, buildable sandbox
- Survival and creative modes
- Massive modding and server community
- Constant new content updates
Price: $26.95 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Mobile
Where to Buy
Available on the Minecraft website and Microsoft Store.
10. Terraria
Why it’s similar
Terraria shares Grounded’s loop of crafting gear, exploring dangerous zones, and building up strength through boss fights and steady progression.
What makes it unique
It is 2D and endlessly content-packed, with hundreds of items, biomes, and bosses added over more than a decade of updates, all for a famously low price.
Key features
- Massive item and boss variety
- 2D sandbox exploration and building
- Extensive, long-running content updates
- Deep crafting progression
Price: $9.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Mobile
Where to Buy
Available on Steam and GOG.
11. Core Keeper
Why it’s similar
Core Keeper shares Grounded’s mix of crafting, base building, and boss-driven progression, set in an underground world you slowly carve out and settle.
What makes it unique
Everything happens underground, with mining and cave exploration as the primary loop rather than surface survival, giving it a distinct Terraria-meets-Stardew feel.
Key features
- Underground mining and exploration
- Boss encounters and progression
- Base building and farming
- Co-op multiplayer
Price: $14.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Steam and GOG.
12. Enshrouded
Why it’s similar
Enshrouded shares Grounded’s mix of survival crafting and RPG-style combat progression, sending you into a fantasy world to build, fight, and grow stronger.
What makes it unique
A toxic mist called the Shroud blankets the land, forcing you to manage exposure while exploring, and its voxel-based building lets you carve and construct with real freedom.
Key features
- Voxel-based building and terrain carving
- Shroud mist survival mechanic
- Class-based skill trees
- Co-op exploration and combat
Price: $29.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
13. Project Zomboid
Why it’s similar
Project Zomboid shares Grounded’s tension of surviving a hostile world through careful resource gathering, crafting, and long-term planning.
What makes it unique
It is a deeply simulated zombie survival sandbox where death is permanent and every decision, from what you eat to how you barricade a door, genuinely matters.
Key features
- Deep survival simulation systems
- Permadeath and long-term planning
- Detailed crafting and base defense
- Persistent, punishing zombie world
Price: $14.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Steam.
14. 7 Days to Die
Why it’s similar
7 Days to Die shares Grounded’s crafting and base-defense loop, tasking you with building strongholds that can survive increasingly dangerous waves of enemies.
What makes it unique
Its horde-night mechanic forces a defensive climax every week in-game, blending survival crafting with tower-defense-style base fortification.
Key features
- Weekly horde-night base defense
- Deep crafting and building systems
- Zombie survival sandbox
- Co-op multiplayer
Price: $44.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Steam.
15. Astroneer
Why it’s similar
Astroneer shares Grounded’s relaxed exploration and crafting loop, letting you gather resources and expand your base at a gentler, more curious pace.
What makes it unique
The setting shifts to colorful alien planets, with terrain deformation letting you dig and reshape the ground itself as you build, rather than survive backyard predators.
Key features
- Multi-planet exploration and terrain deformation
- Base building with automation
- Colorful, low-stakes sci-fi tone
- Drop-in co-op play
Price: $29.99 Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
Full Comparison Table
| # | Game | Setting | Price | Platforms |
| 1 | Smalland: Survive the Wilds | Tiny-scale world | $24.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 2 | Valheim | Viking survival | $19.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 3 | Raft | Ocean survival | $19.99 | PC |
| 4 | Subnautica | Underwater survival | $29.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch |
| 5 | ARK: Survival Ascended | Creature survival | $44.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 6 | The Forest | Survival horror | $19.99 | PC |
| 7 | Sons of the Forest | Survival horror | $29.99 | PC |
| 8 | Don’t Starve Together | Gothic survival | $14.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch |
| 9 | Minecraft | Sandbox survival | $26.95 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mobile |
| 10 | Terraria | Sandbox survival | $9.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mobile |
| 11 | Core Keeper | Underground survival | $14.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch |
| 12 | Enshrouded | Fantasy survival | $29.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox |
| 13 | Project Zomboid | Zombie survival | $14.99 | PC |
| 14 | 7 Days to Die | Zombie survival | $44.99 | PC |
| 15 | Astroneer | Space exploration | $29.99 | PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch |
Conclusion
If it was the tiny-scale perspective that hooked you, start with Smalland. It shares Grounded’s exact premise of turning the ordinary world into a giant threat.
If the co-op crafting and building mattered most, Valheim, Raft, and Enshrouded deliver that same teamwork-driven progression. And if you want the survival tension turned up, The Forest, Sons of the Forest, and Project Zomboid bring a sharper, more punishing edge. Any of these 15 will keep your tiny adventure going well into 2026.
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