Shelter 2 is the sequel to our Julian’s best game of 2013 – a mother badger sim so harrowing it briefly made Watership Down appear to be the age-appropriate animal cartoon everybody’s mums believed it to be.
We return to the wilderness as a rather toothier lynx – a change which has threatened to turn Shelter away from survival horror towards a surer-footed style of stealth. But make no mistake: this is still a game about loss.
Might and Delight have announced that players can now name their cubs, and record the survivors in a family tree – a sort of inverse XCOM Memorial Wall.
Any surviving cubs will sit in your family tree, ready to become the protagonist of your next playthrough.
The further you move through the generations, the more pronounced the prominent colours of your baby lynxes will become. They’ll be ever-present reminders of their parents.
“We wanted to continue to build features around the concept of family, besides just protecting your cubs,” said Might and Delight CEO Anders Westin, wringing tears from Shelter’s Steam forums as he did so.
“The idea of a bloodline that can be continued and evolved just fits the world of Shelter perfectly.”
The cruel, macabre world of Shelter. If it’s any consolation, the series will retain its astonishingly beautiful patchwork polygonal aesthetic. Will you brave the cold countryside again for that?
Shelter 2 is out in the Autumn – a game to hibernate with.
Thanks, RPS.