You most likely caught the reveal of Grounded 2 at Summer Game Fest 2025, but it surely wasn’t the one recreation highlighted this previous weekend that shrinks its heroes right down to the scale of bugs and sends them on an journey. Nevertheless, the twist with Cubit Studios’ Infinitesimals is that, though the sport is about on Earth and informed from the perspective of a minuscule hero, it does not share Grounded’s emotions of a survival recreation, which border on horror at occasions. As a substitute, its mechanics and ubiquitous velocity make all of it really feel like a sandbox filled with motion figures.
It is sensible, too. The sport’s director, James McWilliams, informed me the concept for the sport he is been engaged on since 2013 is the fruits of issues that fascinated him as a baby. “I all the time appreciated nature. And as a child, I used to be all the time fascinated by very small issues, you already know, like being small in nature. There was all the time an curiosity in that. After which I appreciated sci-fi, so I used to be bringing the 2 collectively.”
McWilliams mentioned he started toying with the idea 12 years in the past by himself, however later staffed as much as 4 because of an Epic Video games Mega Grant, after which, as soon as Epic Video games Publishing absolutely funded the sport, the group grew to 9. My favourite facet of the demo I performed was its velocity. McWilliams informed me I might taken over when the hero had utilized just a few upgrades already, however added his motion velocity begins quicker than most video games and solely will get quicker from there.
I felt equally about his hoverpack, which allowed me to spice up into the air for longer than I might anticipated. As I sprinted across the terrain, with “large” birds close by, I discovered myself hovering only for enjoyable a whole lot of the time, even chickening out in fight once I did not have to, so as to give my firefights some added aptitude.
The third-person action-adventure shooter appeared nice, and general, I used to be impressed by how intently the sport mimicked the form of mechanics a bigger-budget recreation sometimes provides. Infiltrating enemy camps enabled me to creep in through one among many entry factors, hack absolutely simulated electrical grids, sneak previous guards and cameras, or go loud and Commander-Shepard my method by means of the world. Gunplay consisted of military-style weapons, and although the unfold of gunfire felt too broad and erratic at occasions, I am hoping the group will fine-tune that earlier than launch, as a result of the sense of journey had actually grabbed me in any other case.
Its infusion of humor was an necessary contact, too, although McWilliams informed me the story will not be a one-note comedy act. “There are critical moments. There are moments of–I suppose you possibly can say tragedy, however there are nonetheless moments of levity,” he mentioned.
You’d perhaps assume that if the sport have been to remind me of any household film, it will be A Bug’s Life. Nevertheless, the challenge as a complete jogged my memory a whole lot of the cult-classic Small Troopers. This post-Toy Story action-comedy was edgier and fewer family-friendly than Pixar’s seminal movie, however nonetheless captured the sensation of toys come to life in a method that fulfills that unavoidable daydream each baby has in some unspecified time in the future. The aliens of Infinitesimals aren’t toys; they’re beings who land on Earth and have a critical job to do, however in enjoying the sport, I may sense the challenge being guided by an identical childlike spirit.