Game Ramble: Grounded - or the game in which I scream a lot

Grounded has a very simple premise. You wake up in the back yard, only you're the size of an ant and the yard is vastly bigger than ever before. You collect sprigs, pebbles, grass fiber and fashion yourself tools and weapons to combat the creatures that share this space with you.

All of this is very appealing to me. Even in early access, the game shows a lot of potential to be a great game. I daresay, it's already great. There's very little story as of yet. It's taking a similar route to The Long Dark in giving you the world to play in while it sorts out the story bits in the background. And that's fine. There's already so much to do and it's just delightful.

I just have one problem with the game. 

I do not like spiders. Not even a little bit. 

The game features an arachnophobia mode in which the spiders appear as circular blobs instead of the long and hairy creepers with large fangs, but that doesn't really help me. My mind can fill in the blanks and a part of my pride refuses to turn this feature on. 

So I scream in this game. A lot. And die. A lot. But Grounded is relatively forgiving when it comes to death. It expects you to die and die frequently and so you can set up respawn points in the world so that you're popped back into existence at that particular point. Then it's just a matter of fetching your gear... 

Grounded's atmosphere is gorgeous and lush. This is a very pretty game. I'm excited to see what else the creators cook up.

That is, if I can get over my screaming fits...