The Game Census
The Grounding cover art

The Grounding

Gus Jewell · 2020-09-16

Steam

Indie

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: First person

Releases: Sep 16, 2020 (PC (Microsoft Windows))

Your mother grounded you. To get back at her, you need to smoke 6 times in the house without getting caught. Be careful though, if she catches you, she kills you.

The Grounding is an Indie title released in 2020, priced at $2.99, with an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 owners and a Very Positive review sentiment (89% of 675 reviews).

0
playing now
88%
positive of 675 reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
50,000–100,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
Unknown
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: 0
$2.99
steam price (US)

0 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 18:00 UTC (census sample)

Sneak around the house and smoke 6 times without getting caught by your mom. The more you smoke, the faster she moves, and she can only move when you are not looking at her. If she gets close enough, she will kill you.(Storyline via IGDB)

Health check

Quiet
  • · 0 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 3 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~0/week).
  • · Review velocity up 0% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 13% of 49,583 Indie games in the census by review count.
Estimated sales: 14k–30k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 675 total reviews — how this is computed.

All-time low: $0.30 at Steam (2022-12-22)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $2.99 · on sale 0 of 1 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
4420202026Week of 2020-11-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 1 positive
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

002026-09-15 03:00 — 0 players2026-09-16 11:00 — 0 players2026-09-17 19:00 — 0 players2026-09-19 02:00 — 0 players2026-09-20 10:00 — 0 players2026-09-21 17:00 — 0 players2026-09-23 01:00 — 0 players2026-09-24 08:00 — 0 players2026-09-25 16:00 — 0 players2026-09-26 23:00 — 0 players2026-09-28 07:00 — 0 players2026-09-29 14:00 — 0 players2026-09-30 22:00 — 0 players2026-10-02 05:00 — 0 players2026-10-03 13:00 — 0 players2026-10-04 21:00 — 0 players2026-10-06 05:00 — 0 players2026-10-07 12:00 — 0 players2026-10-08 20:00 — 0 players2026-10-10 03:00 — 0 players2026-10-11 11:00 — 0 players2026-10-12 18:00 — 0 players2026-10-14 02:00 — 0 players2026-10-14 18:00 — 0 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
131Sep 2020Oct 2023Sep 2020 — avg 13 · peak 36Oct 2020 — avg 7 · peak 22Nov 2020 — avg 2 · peak 11Dec 2020 — avg 1 · peak 5Jan 2021 — avg 1 · peak 3Mar 2021 — avg 1 · peak 5Oct 2023 — avg 1 · peak 2

No change (0) in avg players vs prior month — Oct 2023

Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$5.99$0.302020-11-122026-08-192020-11-12 — best price $0.992021-01-30 — best price $1.992021-03-10 — best price $2.992021-04-13 — best price $5.992021-06-24 — best price $2.992021-07-08 — best price $5.992021-07-13 — best price $2.992021-09-17 — best price $0.992022-10-25 — best price $0.492022-11-01 — best price $0.992022-12-22 — best price $0.302023-01-05 — best price $0.992025-01-19 — best price $1.992025-02-23 — best price $4.992026-08-19 — best price $2.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Details

WindowsSingle-playerFamily Sharing

1 supported languages: English

Player tags

PvEGoreIndieMemesHorrorNudityViolentMinimalistMultiplayerExperimental

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Don't Knock TwiceHouse of CaravanMasochisiaDARQ: Complete EditionRusty Lake: RootsInflictionThe Watson-Scott TestApsulov: End of Gods

Similarity via IGDB.