Shelter Preview [PC]: Oh My God My Baby Badger
From the creators of Pid, Might and Delight are developing a new game called Shelter. The game has recently been Greenlit on Steam, so we should see that appearing there soon enough. Shelter is a survival adventure game, in which you are a mother Badger and you have to protect your babies who aren’t able to survive on their own. The hunt for food to sustain your cubs and the run from the dangers the world holds is supported by a beautiful, hand-painted world and ambient and relaxing music that doesn’t detract away from the point of the game – to survive
When I first had a look at the game, it reminded me of all those escort missions that I have grown to loathe, but as the game progressed and the babies grew, I ended up becoming quite attached to my little pixelated family. For your task of keeping your babies fed you can dig up turnips, knock apples from trees, and catch small animals to feed to them. You can even catch foxes. Your cubs will warn you they are hungry by gradually turning to a faded grey. Once you find something to satiate their ravenous little appetites, they turn a healthy brown again and there’s even a pretty little sound cue to let you know that they are okay. That’s if one of the healthier cubs doesn’t manage to run to the food before you have time to feed it to the starving tiny badger (which has happened to me a few times while trying to feed my poor little cub).
The beginning of the game is pretty slow moving for a while, since your cubs can’t keep up with your speed if you run. While they are small, their little legs will have trouble keeping up with you and you’ll be worried of losing them. As they grow older and larger, they gain some speed and you’ll be able to pay attention to other dangers looming around you. The slow start to the game isn’t too bothersome as the scenery is wonderfully crafted, and it’s worth the time to explore the world ahead. To me, the art style is reminiscent of paper crafting: Each surface is a piece that is hand-painted and then tiled together, the description of the game citing inspirations from Japanese art and symbolism. It’s very simple, but all-in-all is a very eye-catching game. The music adds its own subtleness throughout the game, being ambient and non-intrusive but at the same time beautiful and immersive in a way, changing as the game progresses and dangers appear.
Shelter doesn’t have any specific bosses per say, but there are large and scary animals that want to devour your baby badgers for their breakfast, and with the ever growing attachment to your cubs, that really is close enough to a boss. Fairly early on in the game, you come across your first significant threat. I watched the gameplay trailer of Shelter when it was released a few weeks ago, and I still wasn’t entirely prepared for the Eagle flying above my family, awaiting the chance to rob you of your offspring. There are hollowed out logs dotted around that you can hide in, but that small run from your safe place to the next safe place builds up a lot of panic and worry that your baby isn’t going to make it with their little stubby legs. One of mine didn’t. I was heartbroken when I ran with my little ones in tow from my first safe log to the second, and I saw the shadow of the eagle descend on my beloved spawn and take him off into the distance. What a wonderfully depressing note for me to end the first zone on.
On an overall note, I enjoyed playing this game. It was cute, but at the same time I was on the edge of my seat trying to keep my cubs safe from harm. The game is basically a disguised escort mission, but Might and Delight didn’t manage to take away my one major dislike for companions – they are generally slow. The asymmetrical travelling speed requires the player to pause continuously, causing your attention to lapse and break the immersion in this otherwise mesmerising game. On the other hand the realism does add to the general atmosphere of the game, after all, a set of tiny turbo badgers would quickly turn this game into a furry version of Trackmania.
However, with its delightful atmosphere and recurring edge-of-your-seat moments, Shelter does succeed in being a nice evening’s entertainment that succeeds in being different from your average adventure game. I’m curious to see how well it will do on release.
To check out how Shelter is doing on Steam click here.
For some footage of me playing the game, have a look below.