It is a piece of art. One can not argue about style and taste. The game mechanics are boring as hell though. The theme about life, protecting the young and survival is lovely. So how should I rate this?

The game was just not for me, that's the major problem I'm sure other players would love this game! but not me. Why I didn't enjoy this game well A. I kinda lost all five of my children so skill issue I guess, B. You kinda don't know what to do I had to use google twice in the start (Ps to get past the start you give the turnip to the sick/white badger who
s sleeping) but of course this is all my opinion I listed problems that I have but if you do like enjoy this game.

I'm sorry, this game just wasn't my cup of tea. I personally like Meadow, and I'm going to try and play the other games in the series but this game I just don't like.

It is a cute game, but it only lasts for 45 minutes. I checked other comments and it seems like it is not a bug, the game really ends after the "night scene". You cannot go on anywhere else on the field you arrive to.

Additionally, I don't know if it was a bug, but during the "night scene", I tried to feed the kids, but the food got stuck in my character's mouth and could not pick up more food.

All in all, it's a casual play, nice soundtrack and sceneries, but there is nothing more to it.

It's hard to get mad at this game. The game is overall fine. There's even certain things I can appreciate like the stylish art style, clear and simplistic objectives and how it presents it's overall message.

Normally this would be good enough for me. However, considering just how short and mechanically bare bones this experience is, £12:79 is far too much to be asking for a game like this, especially since it's approaching 10 years since it was released. I got this game on sale for £4:75 and it still feels like too much.

There's obviously a certain demographic aimed for this game but if you're anything like me who prefers their games to have a bit more bang for their buck, for £12:79, you can do a lot better than this.

por alguna razon este juego me hace mal la vista, la interfaz es muy mala y las letras se confunden con el fondo, una lastima porque es un bello juego

Synopsis: you're a mother badger, leading baby badgers around trying to find food and generally keep them safe. That's it, that's all. Basically four levels, beatable in about an hour.

Graphics: 2/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Story: 1/5
Sound: 4/5
Intangibles: 2/5

Graphics: ehh...I know some people gush about the style, but unless alternative art choices really impress you, this game ranges between kinda pretty to kinda ugly. The environments don't evoke wilderness so much as paper mache; it's purposeful but not clever. There are several underwhelming elements to the graphics, but the most telling example is that it doesn't even look as "good" as the promo pictures here on Steam; everything is really, really washed out, and this was apparently by design. No, it's not my computer or game settings (and in fact you can't change the graphic settings other than screen resolution); looking around I saw that quite a few others had this issue too. It's not a bug; it's a feature. A *stupid* feature.

Gameplay: controls are simple and responsive: WASD moves, L-shift runs, Space crouches, mouse moves the camera. No frills, but it doesn't need them to accomplish its goals. The camera control wasn't really explained, but once I discovered it I found that I could easily control its movement speed in any direction, with no screen tearing or motion blur. A basic feature, but welcome when your VP character is so low to the ground. Actions are repetitive, but it only takes an hour to finish, so what do you expect?

Story: there really isn't one. And that's fine; lots of great games have no story. What's happening is highly intuitive and it's relatively easy to tell where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do, so there's that. Your adventures, if you could call them that, do lead to something like a point about Badger Life or whatever, but no one should pick this up thinking they're going to be entertained so much as "occupied".

Sound: well it doesn't look like a forest, but it does sound like one. The badgers sound like badgers; the birds sound like birds. Wind through the trees, running water, and other environmental effects actually elevate the experience, though there's not much to them. Musical cues do a decent job coaxing you to feel a certain way or know whether you're in danger, and there's one level where the sound effect of a twig snapping as if being tread upon gave me the jitters every time. That's some good, minimalist work.

Intangibles: Shelter is less than the sum of its parts. There's no sense of connection developed or encouraged between mother and baby badgers unless you bring that sense with you to the game, and during the hour I played it I never felt attached to them, or the environment, or any other aspect of the game. There's scant control to be had over game settings, there are no special touches layered in or neat discoveries to make or cool extra bits. I can't imagine it would hold up well to multiple playthroughs, because once you know what to do, you know what to do.

Final Assessment: Unfortunately I can't recommend Shelter. I...don't get it, I guess. I don't get the hype, or the "Very Positive" rating, or the earning of two sequels. It only took me half as long to write this review as it did to beat the game, and frankly I had more fun with the writing. I don't *hate* the game or anything, and I have no doubt at all that plenty of people found legit enjoyment out of it, and will revisit it many times. But it's not for me. Maybe I just got to it too late? I owned it for years and only played it for the first time in 2023, but that really shouldn't matter; there are plenty of games from ten years or more ago that I played late and enjoyed even well past their freshness date. It's not in any way worth the $15 USD currently being asked, unless you want to pay for a game-as-art that doesn't do anything special in the "fun to play" game department, and is questionable at best in the "pleasing to look at" art department.

Wow,... last time I played this game was 10 years ago.
Awful game, never could figure it out. Not worth the purchase

really short game, not really worth it unless it's on sale. ending kinda ruined the experience for me, i see what they were going for but it made the story feel kind of pointless

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☑ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☑ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☑ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☑ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☑ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Unable to skip 17 minute long end credits for a game that also has opening credits.