Before you start reading please keep in mind that the article we bring to you today is based on the preview build of this game.
From the same creators of Pid, an imaginative platformer that came out last year, Shelter is definitely not an experience for everyone, this type of project is why the indie gaming industry exists, continues to grow, thrive and prosper. It requires an enormous amount of courage to release a title that is so conflicting with the common gaming "journeys" that we embark on with most games these days, thankfully developers like Might and Delight still prevail and are able to take these leaps of faith for the good of our industry.
Shelter is a very minimalist game, a story exists, but it is told without any kind of cutscenes or real dialogues, the environments, the way you, the mother of five cubs, interact with them and help the little fellows eat, grow and ultimately survive in the harsh nature is what will ultimately define your tale.
The game's visuals are presented almost like an ever changing painting, using warm colors in the first few levels to transmit an idea of safety, happiness and joy. These colors quickly adjust themselves to more darker and menacing tones, representing the dangers that start to emerge little by little, threatening your cubs survival.
Like almost every other element present in this title, the gameplay is simple and quick to master, you move along down an almost straight path, collecting all sorts of food for your cubs to eat and subsist, either by hunting, scavenging off the ground or ramming trees for their fruits.
The hunting in particular has some pretty interesting ideas and mechanics, mainly the concept where you have to hide from your "target" until just the right moment to strike, it's a nice idea to build up tension as the possibility of failure is ever present, the only problem being that failing is never a big deal, there is so much food scattered around that botching up one hunting "trip" will never really affect you too much.
Maybe in more advanced levels of the final version of the game we will be able to see the difficulty increase and because of that, the tension from this hunts go up as well.
At the moment what really gets your blood pumping is the threat of you and your cubs being hunted, you're far from being on top of the food chain, so threats will naturally arise and make themselves felt. As the number of cubs under your care starts dwindling, you will feel a sense of loss and maybe even failure. But just like in real life, the only course of action available is to keep moving forward and accept the terrible fate bestow upon your relatives, next time you will be able to protect them, or so you hope.
This sort of emotional investment will be different from player to player, as people change so will the tale that this game tells, it's all thanks to the freedom that Shelter grants you to imagine your own personal adventure.
In our playthrough of Shelter we still found some minor technical problems, mainly regarding our furry relatives, they would get stuck or simply insist on not following us properly, still it was not a big deal since they are returned to you if you get to far away.
There was also an issue with the last of our cubs (yes, terrible parenting ftw!), getting stuck in an eating animation forever.
Hopefully the nice folks from Might and Delight will be able to fix these small technical issues before the final release.
Might and Delight Website: http://www.mightanddelight.com/
Shelter Website: http://www.shelterthegame.com/
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