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As a fan of post apocalyptic survival games I was incredibly excited to get my hands-on “Sheltered”, and give it a test ride. The story of “Sheltered” revolves around a group of people who are trying to survive in a world that has fallen to nuclear destruction. However, surviving isn’t easy in this world as they have to contend with raiders, radiation and limited resources, just to stay alive.

The first thing you should know about “Sheltered” is that the game has no ending. The purpose the game isn’t to win, but to see just how long you can survive when the odds stacked against you. Everything in this game is randomized when it comes to the map, and events that you encounter as you play. One moment your characters are having a peaceful nap, and the next moment you’ve got raiders trying to take your life. This game kept me staring at the screen non-stop trying to keep track of everyone’s health, hunger, tiredness, etc. I literally couldn’t take a break without pausing the game for fear of something awful happening.

It´s always fun to customize your character the way you like it.

One of my favorite objectives is sending a party on expeditions to collect useful items and resources. As for the party you send to do expeditions, they can have random encounters like finding people in need of shelter, people willing to trade items, or worst-case scenario people who are mentally ill and want to kill you for no reason. This is where the more interesting RPG elements come into play. Among the available choices, you get to attack, disarm, subdue or flee from fights, but like most RPG´s there is a chance for any of these choices to fail. So make sure to choose carefully when jumping into these situations. As your character’s stats matter when picking an action, because some of them isn’t good combatants but agile enough to escape.

The only thing you can trust outside your shelter is your pipe.

The crafting system in Sheltered is vast, allowing you the opportunity to craft things for your shelter that will help you survive the wasteland. You can risk wasting your water supply finding assets needed to craft, but this can cause the death of a member in your group. One of the problems I encountered while playing the game, was having to do repetitive actions while waiting for expeditions to find items I needed to advance crafting. After a couple of hours playing the game, it started to feel like a chore when my expedition didn’t find the items needed to advance further.

Sometimes you have to take it easy at the shelter to save some resources.

Choosing a pet is one of the most important actions you can take, as you can only select one for the entire game. And you have to take care of it so it doesn’t die. Each pet has a specialty that will help you in your day-to-day life. For example, the horse will help you travel faster (which is great for gathering supplies), but the dog will go on expeditions with you and defend you if you´re being attacked. The most important thing to know when playing this game is that your characters will die at some point. The one character I tried to keep alive during my run, was the first to die from radiation poisoning, and I couldn’t save him because I ran out of anti-radiation pills. Make sure to recruit new members as needed, they will come in handy for expeditions and replacing your dead characters.

Pros:
+ The game´s maps are randomized each time the game starts
+ Great RPG combat system
+ Being able to fast forward

Cons:
– Having to do chores
– The tutorial doesn’t help new players
– Repetitive Game-play
– Hearing the same in-game music

Gameplay: 3/5
Graphics: 3/5
Sound and music: 2/5
Controls: 4/5
Replay value: 4/5

tgg grade 3 out of 5

Verdict: 3/5
Sheltered was an enjoyable experience, but it can become tedious if you aren’t into slower paced survival games, if you do I recommend picking it up if you’ve got the patience for these type of games.

Title: Sheltered
Developer: Unicube, Team 17 Digital Ltd
Format: PC
Genre: Strategy/Survival/RPG
Resolution: Highest possible for PC
Release date: 2016-03-15
Difficulty: Normal
Spent time: 10+ hours
Average grade internationally: 65% Gamerankings.com
PEGI/ESRB age rating: 12+/Teen
Price: 13 Euros via Steam