This is grounded for grown ups.

Smalland feels like a very early access game. I can't help but compare it to Grounded which is a similar game. Grounded outshines Smalland in every single aspect besides having the ability to tame/mount insects but even the ability to do so is rather mediocre.

Starting off with the UI/UX - Trying to pet your bugs is needlessly frustrating as they bob and weave around, constantly resetting your selection to the top of the list. Looting and issuing commands to the insects uses the same hotkey. This means looting will have you frequently command your bugs to wait which can be irritating to deal with as you fight insect after insect wondering where your pets are and why they aren't with you fighting. The Byakugan vision mechanic that lets you see resources and enemies basically requires you to be right up on top of them to see anything.

Insect control - the extent of the commands you can give to a bug is to follow or to wait. You cannot tell them to attack what you attack. You cannot tell them to NOT attack. You can have a damselfly, the Yamcha of the game, try to take on enemies that will kill it in one hit all while you blow your whistle to call it back to you to no avail. You also cannot ride most of the flying insects.

Survival mechanics appear to be more of a suggestion than a mechanic - Cooking recipes don't really offer anything useful. Steak mushrooms can carry you throughout the entire game. You can boost your character's tolerance for cold weather through changing gear or eating meals. Unfortunately, cold weather takes a while to have more than mild impact and doesn't last long enough to be meaningful.

Combat - clunky and insects have far too much health. Turning their health bars down to 50% or so made the length of fights feel more reasonable. Combat with your insects feel like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's free roam mode where your Pokemon will just go around fighting every random thing that moves but you can't tell them to return.

Movement - also feels rather clunky. Mounted insect controls feel reminiscent of 1990s controls. Your insects will also frequently push you around and can cause you to fall off narrow ledges and paths. You would also expect spiders and geckos and such to be able to walk on walls and carry you but no, they cannot and are limited to the same ground you walk.

Combat levels - all creatures in the game have combat levels including you. Levels do not have any noticeable impact in the game. You can kill a level 88 grasshopper with the same difficulty as a level 5 grasshopper. Your level 45 wasp will struggle to take down a level 15 stag beetle. You can be level 100 and only double your base max health from 100 to 200 (enemies can do 40+ damage to you in a single hit).

Crafting vs building - your crafting benches will pull from chests in a (small) area around it. If you try to build, you must have the components in your inventory as they will not pull from storage chests.

Empty map - There's really nothing of interest around the map. See that tent with the dead human body in it? Nothing there but a cockroach (the cockroaches in this game are absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ huge btw). What about that rusted truck? Nothing but another cockroach. Occasionally and excitingly, you might find a bottle cap in these kinds of locations.

All in all, while the game is not bad, the game is simply not good and isn't enjoyable enough for me to recommend it.

Last time I played my armor had wings, I was on a cliff when I signed out, now there is no way for me to get down with out dying, and because of that I cannot recover my gear.
I wish I hadn't wasted my time, playing it again.

Terrible hitching as well, do your self a favor and play grounded instead.