Sheltered (video game)

Last updated

Sheltered
Sheltered cover.jpeg
Developer(s) Unicube
Publisher(s) Team17
Designer(s) Sonny Meek, Dean Foster
Platform(s)
Release
    • WW: March 15, 2016
  • Android, iOS
    • WW: October 25, 2017
  • Switch
    • WW: December 18, 2018
Genre(s) Survival game
Mode(s)Single player

Sheltered is a post-apocalyptic survival game developed by Unicube. Team17 published it on March 17, 2016, for Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch. Players control a family that survives a nuclear war by taking refuge in an abandoned underground war shelter that they found. As their supplies run low, the family must scrounge above ground.

Contents

A sequel, Sheltered 2 was announced during the 22nd of April 2021, set for release on Steam in 2021.

Gameplay

A family survives a nuclear war by taking refuge in an underground shelter. Players must guide the family to survive various threats, such as starvation, radiation poisoning, and dehydration.

Players will need to extend the shelter, build toilets and showers for hygiene and stress prevention, and storage for all manner of items, including food, water and crafting components and upgrade many aspects of the shelter to improve the lives of the family.

Each family member starts with two traits, choosing a positive one when creating the characters, and including a negative one when the game starts. Negative traits can be changed to positive ones if certain conditions are met (e.g unhygienic can be changed to hygienic by contracting food poisoning).

Players will also choose a pet for their family, the pet can provide many different advantages if they keep the pet alive, and if the pet dies, each family member will suffer severe trauma.

In order to get supplies for the shelter, the family will need to go on expeditions, the map is randomly generated, and different locations contain different loot unique to them.

On the surface, family members will meet survivors of the nuclear war, these characters have procedurally generated appearance, stats, and traits, these survivors can be killed for their items, traded with, or even recruited to their shelter, though players will have to carefully watch what the survivors say prior to recruitment as "psychopathic" survivors may try murdering the characters in their shelter before running away, if their loyalty has gone up completely, then the recruit will not attempt any murder, and can go on expeditions themselves. NPC survivors are more liable to come in groups or armed with more powerful weapons as the days go on.

The penultimate quest of each map and overall goal of the game, "Extended Family", is achieved by fixing the camper van above the shelter, and scanning frequencies with the radio to obtain the quest, the player must get some requested items for the survivor they meet for the quest, when the survivor's request is fulfilled, they will inform the family of a new shelter housing another member of their family, the player can then move to their new shelter, leaving their recruited surface survivors and old shelter behind, which contains a procedurally generated new family member, who can be either an adult or a child, as well as a chance to contain a new pet if the previous one died, with each shelter and map travelled to becoming harder to survive in.

The game is over when all members of the family die; all family members are colour coded red, and therefore are more important to keep alive than recruits, even when there's recruits left alive, the game will be lost.

As the days go on, factions will start appearing, these factions are often more dangerous than other procedurally generated survivors, and cannot be recruited, while not all are hostile upon meeting them and may trade with the player, they are more likely to be hostile and attack the player, there are 4 factions in the game;

Development

Following a successful Kickstarter funding drive in which the game surpassed its goal of £15,000, Team17 announced they would publish the game. [1] It was released on March 15, 2016. [2] The game was last updated on July 16, 2019. [3]

Reception

At Metacritic, the Windows version has an aggregate score of 62/100, [4] 69/100 on Xbox One, [6] and 70/100 on PlayStation 4. [5] Sam Loveridge Digital Spy cited Sheltered as "Xbox Live Game of the Week" and rated it 5/5 stars, comparing it to This War of Mine . [8] Reviewing the Windows version for Eurogamer , Cassandra Khaw wrote, "Sheltered is an interesting attempt to simulate the life of a post-nuclear family, but it falls short of its potential." [9] Also reviewing the Windows version, Kyle LeClair of Hardcore Gamer rated it 3.5/5 stars and called it a "fun and challenging game" that nevertheless fails to stand out from other survival games. [10]

Sequel

Sheltered 2, a direct sequel, has been announced and scheduled to release on PC in 2021. [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Worms</i> (series) Artillery strategy computer game series

Worms is a series of artillery tactical video games developed by British company Team17. In these games, small platoons of anthropomorphic worms battle each other across a destructible landscape with the objective being to become the sole surviving team. The games are noted for their cartoony animation and extensive use of surrealism and slapstick humour.

<i>Fallout</i> (series) Video game series

Fallout is a media franchise of post-apocalyptic role-playing video games—and later action role-playing games—created by Tim Cain, at Interplay Entertainment. The series is set during the 21st, 22nd and 23rd centuries, and its atompunk retrofuturistic setting and art work are influenced by the post-war culture of 1950s United States, with its combination of hope for the promises of technology and the lurking fear of nuclear annihilation. A forerunner of Fallout is Wasteland, a 1988 game developed by Interplay Productions to which the series is regarded as a spiritual successor.

<i>Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction</i> 2005 video game

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction is an action-adventure video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by LucasArts for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game features an open world environment, with elements of potential stealth gaming and reputation-based social mechanics, and is set during a fictitious multi-national military action in North Korea, in an alternate history version of the year 2007. The player gains control of one of three mercenary main characters and completes contracts in the war-torn country for profit and to prevent a nuclear war. Critics gave favorable reviews to the game, in particular praising its focus on explosive mayhem.

<i>Fallout Shelter</i> Simulation video game

Fallout Shelter is a free-to-play construction and management simulation video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios, with assistance by Behaviour Interactive, and published by Bethesda Softworks. Part of the Fallout series, it was released worldwide for iOS devices in June 2015, for Android devices in August 2015, for Windows in July 2016, for Xbox One in February 2017, and for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in June 2018. The game is also available on Tesla vehicles. The game tasks the player with building and effectively managing their own Vault, a fallout shelter.

<i>Dead Rising 2</i> 2010 video game

Dead Rising 2 is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Blue Castle Games and published by Capcom. It was released between September and October 2010 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. It is a sequel to Dead Rising, and is the second entry in the series of the same name. The game features a number of new features and improvements to its predecessor, including multiplayer options.

<i>Worms Ultimate Mayhem</i> 2011 video game

Worms Ultimate Mayhem is a 3D artillery turn-based tactics video game developed by Team17. The game is a re-release of Worms 4: Mayhem with improved graphics. It features all-new content, story mode voice acting by Guy Harris, and other gameplay fixes such as reworked camera controls. The game features turn-based gameplay, a single-player campaign, and both local and online multiplayer. While primarily based on Worms 4: Mayhem, Ultimate Mayhem also includes content from Worms 3D, with its campaign and multiplayer maps included in the game.

<i>Worms Revolution</i> 2012 video game

Worms Revolution is a 2D artillery turn-based tactics video game developed by Team17 and is part of the Worms series. It was released on PlayStation 3, Windows via Steam and Xbox 360 in October 2012. An OS X version was released on June 6, 2013. A PlayStation Vita version including all three previously released downloadable packs and titled Worms Revolution Extreme was released on October 8, 2013. This version of the game was included as part of a promotional bundle alongside the PlayStation TV system. Like previous games in the series, gameplay is 2D and turn-based, but it is rendered with a new 3D engine. There are both single player and multiplayer modes with up to four players online or local hotseat.

<i>Fallout 4</i> 2015 video game

Fallout 4 is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the Fallout series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. The game is set within an open world post-apocalyptic environment that encompasses the city of Boston and the surrounding Massachusetts region known as "The Commonwealth". It makes use of a number of local landmarks, including Bunker Hill, Fort Independence, and Old North Bridge near Concord, as the bridge out of Sanctuary Hills.

<i>Hunt: Showdown</i> 2019 video game

Hunt: Showdown is a first-person shooter video game by Crytek. It was launched on Steam in early access on 22 February 2018 and for Xbox Game Preview on 29 May 2019. The full release of the game launched on 27 August 2019 for Microsoft Windows, it was also released on Xbox One on 19 September 2019 and PlayStation 4 on 18 February 2020. In the game, the player assumes the role of a bounty hunter who tries to kill mythical monsters in order to claim their bounties and survive long enough against other bounty hunters to reach an extraction point.

<i>XCOM 2</i> 2016 turn-based tactics video game

XCOM 2 is a 2016 turn-based tactics video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games. It is the sequel to 2012's reboot of the series, XCOM: Enemy Unknown; it takes place 20 years after the events of Enemy Unknown. XCOM, a military organization trying to fight off an alien invasion, has lost the war and is now a resistance force against the occupation of Earth and the established totalitarian regime and military dictatorship. Gameplay is split between turn-based combat in which players command a squad of soldiers to fight enemies, and strategy elements in which players manage and control the operations of the Avenger, an alien ship that is used as a mobile base for XCOM.

<i>The Escapists</i> Strategy video game

The Escapists is a strategy game played from a top-down perspective. The game was developed by Mouldy Toof Studios and following a Steam Early Access release in 2014, was released in 2015 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It was released on iOS and Android in 2017. A Nintendo Switch version of the game containing all downloadable content was released in 2018. The game was launched on the Epic Games Store on 23 September 2021, with the weekly free game campaign of Epic Games. Players assume the role of an inmate and must escape from prisons of increasing difficulty.

<i>Worms W.M.D</i> 2016 video game

Worms W.M.D is a 2D artillery turn-based tactics video game in the Worms series, released on 23 August 2016. Its gameplay resembles that of Worms Armageddon more than subsequent installments, while adding new features that range from interactive vehicles such as tanks, to buildings that the worms can enter for protection. It is also notable for being the first major redesign the worm characters have received since Worms 3D.

Enter the Gungeon is a 2016 bullet hell roguelike game developed by Dodge Roll and published by Devolver Digital. Set in the firearms-themed Gungeon, gameplay follows four player characters called Gungeoneers as they traverse procedurally generated rooms to find a gun that can "kill the past". The Gungeoneers fight against bullet-shaped enemies, which are fought using both conventional and exotic weapons. Enter the Gungeon features a permadeath system, causing the Gungeoneers to lose all obtained items and start again from the first level upon death. Between playthroughs, players can travel to an area called the Breach, where they can converse with non-player characters and unlock new items randomly encountered while playing.

<i>Phoenix Point</i> 2019 video game

Phoenix Point is a strategy video game featuring a turn-based tactics system that is developed by Bulgaria-based independent developer Snapshot Games. It was released on December 3, 2019, for macOS and Microsoft Windows, for Stadia on January 26, 2021, and Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on October 1, 2021. Phoenix Point is intended to be a spiritual successor to the X-COM series that had been originally created by Snapshot Games head Julian Gollop during the 1990s.

<i>Age of Wonders: Planetfall</i> 2019 video game

Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Triumph Studios and published by Paradox Interactive. The game is the fifth installment in the Age of Wonders series and features a sci-fi setting. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in August 2019 and later for MacOS.

<i>World War Z</i> (2019 video game) Third-person shooter video game

World War Z is a third-person shooter video game developed and published by Saber Interactive. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 16 April 2019, and a Nintendo Switch version was released on 2 November 2021. It was also released for Google Stadia on 5 April 2022. Ports for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S released on 24 January 2023. Loosely based on the 2006 novel of the same name and set in the same universe as the 2013 film adaptation, the game follows groups of four survivors of a zombie apocalypse in the cities of New York, Jerusalem, Moscow, Tokyo, Marseille, Rome and Kamchatka.

<i>Rad</i> (video game) 2019 video game

Rad is a roguelike video game developed by Double Fine and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in August 2019 and for Amazon Luna in May 2021.

<i>The Falconeer</i> 2020 video game

The Falconeer is a 2020 aerial combat video game developed by Tomas Sala and published by Wired Productions. It was released on November 10, 2020 for Windows, Xbox One and as a launch title for Xbox Series X/S. A version for Amazon Luna was made available on June 17, 2021. It received both good and mixed reviews upon release, with outlets praising its uncompromising vision and homage to the niche dogfighting genre, while the same elements where looked upon less kindly by other reviewers.

<i>Neon Abyss</i> 2020 video game

Neon Abyss is a run and gun video game with roguelike elements developed by Veewo Games. The game's premise is centered around members of the Grim Squad as they descend the Abyss, which consists of a series of levels with procedurally generated rooms, in pursuit of powerful entities known as the New Gods. The characters can use a variety of firearms and special abilities to fight enemies across each level. Neon Abyss was released for multiple platforms on July 14, 2020, with British video game developer Team17 as their primary publisher. Neon Abyss has received a generally positive reception with video game critics.

<i>The Lamplighters League</i> 2023 video game

The Lamplighters League is a turn-based tactics video game developed by Harebrained Schemes and published by Paradox Interactive. The game was released for Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in October 2023. It received positive to mixed reviews from critics and was a commercial disappointment.

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Adam (30 June 2014). "Gimme: Team 17 To Publish Sheltered". Rock Paper Shotgun . Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  2. ↑ Porter, Matt (10 March 2016). "Sheltered Release Date Announced". IGN . Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "Sheltered - Steam News Hub".
  4. 1 2 "Sheltered for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures . Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Sheltered for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures . Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Sheltered for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures . Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  7. ↑ "Sheltered for Switch Reviews". Metacritic . Red Ventures . Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  8. ↑ Loveridge, Sam (13 March 2016). "5 games you should play this week: Sheltered, Star Ghost and more". Digital Spy . Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  9. ↑ Khaw, Cassandra (18 March 2016). "Sheltered review". Eurogamer . Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  10. ↑ LeClair, Kyle (21 March 2016). "Review: Sheltered". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  11. ↑ Acebedo, Bayani. "Sheltered 2 Announced for PC in 2021". whatoplay. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.