PPP2 Review: Shelter

Probably one of my favourite games of the last year is Shelter made by Might and Delight which is a small company that managed to publish this through Steam in August last year. But it is a beautiful little game where you take control of a mother badger who is trying to escort her 5 cubs as they move from their burrow to a new home. At every stage you must protect your badger babies from danger and along the way they will eventually get hungry and there are also different threats that are involved as well int he form of birds of prey and forest fires.

It is actually quite an emotional game as you become attached to your badger family fairly quickly and when dangerous bird swoop down and take one of them it feel genuinely responsible and I for one had to start the level again to ensure all my badger babies made it to safety. Each section of the game is different and new threats emerge as you make your way through each level, ensuring that your cubs stay with you at all times.

Probably the thing that most drew me to this game, beside the fact that you get to play as a badger!, is that the overall art style is stunning. It's a very unique and interesting style that is almost put together like a patchwork quilt, but is lovely and creates a really nice atmosphere to explore, which is something that you do get the opportunity to do throughout the game as you must find your way to the next section in order to find a new home. I just think this game is stunning and mixed together with the beautiful soundtrack you are transported to a different world, where you must protest these lovely badger babies from coming to any harm, and you do feel responsible for them and I think that emotional attachment is perfect for a game like this.

So perfect... that there making a Shelter 2, which I am so excited about. This time it is about a lynx as she goes through pregnancy and eventually has her babies and again you are in charge of saving them. Once again you are placed in this beautiful world which has such a unique art style is just looks so beautiful. They have added in some slightly new game mechanics which would be great to try out and I can't wait to see what its like. Judging by the concept art for the environment, which can be viewed here (http://www.mightanddelight.com/index.php?page=shelter2#main) it promises to be a visually-stunning game.

'The beauty of nature goes hand in hand with its unforgiving rawness. That is central in Shelter 2, and one of the reasons we chose to make a game about a Lynx. They are in middle of the food chain, and there are far more vicious things out on the cold tundra...'