One of the houses I'm looking at has earth surround on 2 sides. Basically the first floor & garage is like a walk-out basement, open on two sides, with just the garage roof & second floor showing, with a retaining wall between the earth surround and the driveway. Never dealt with or really seen that before. Anyone here familiar with the pros & cons of such construction? And what are the possibilities for prepping?

ETA: House is a 1950 build, mostly concrete block. on the first floor.