Looking at the premise of Sheltered, you might notice how much it’s like the mobile game Fallout Shelter. You’re in a shelter protected from a nuclear fallout that has turned everything into a – you guessed it – wasteland. I’m sure it’s hard to make a post-apocalyptic premise feel original but what Sheltered does compared to Bethesda’s mobile game is much more involved, complex and challenging.
Sheltered starts by making you choose four family members. It’s always two adults and two children and everyone has specific traits you can choose that affect how well they function in the world. For example, a small eater won’t need as much food to feel satisfied or a heavy sleeper won’t need to stay in bed as long. But if you don’t take care of those family members, those same attributes can flip causing a heavy sleeper to become a light sleeper and needing more time in bed. It’s an appropriate complication that adds consequences for neglecting the well-being of your family, while permitting you some semblance of control of your time in the shelter.
Your first couple of times playing might be incredibly challenging. There is a lot to think about and it can be very overwhelming. Not only do you have to manage the necessities of all four members of your family – food, water, sleep, going to the bathroom, showers – you have to constantly fix things around the shelter. Anything that was already there or anything you crafted must be fixed unless you’re okay with spending the resources to rebuild it. But you don’t want to spend your resources rebuilding things because it’s extremely hard to acquire the necessary parts just to craft necessities.
You can automate characters but they may eat and drink when you don't want them to
In order to get parts, you have to make trips into the wasteland. There are specific points on the map you travel to in order to get parts but what you get and how often you get them isn’t consistent. I needed a freezer in order store meat from animals I caught in my trap. I had three elements to build it and all I needed was one hinge. It took me 27 days to finally get that hinge and it was completely random. I’m visiting houses, farms, and schools and I can’t find one door hinge? Really?
With that said, Sheltered does bend towards being realistic. In order to go into the wasteland, you need a gas mask or else you might get radiation poisoning. But you only have a certain number of gas masks and they only have one use per trip into the wasteland. So once you’re out of gas masks, you have to craft them. Now, certain parts used to craft gas masks are also used to create water tanks to store more water. And it’s really important to have water because you can’t go into the wasteland without water. But your family members also need water to drink. So you can send a family member to multiple places in the wasteland to conserve gas masks but will you have enough water to make the trip?
If you do have enough water but you don’t have any more gas masks, you’ll have to risk going into the wasteland and potentially get radiation poisoning. You can cure radiation poisoning with pills but once those pills are gone, that family member is basically dead.
I don't mind pixel art but it feels uninspired in this game
So if you need parts for anything and you don’t have gas masks and black rain is pouring and contaminating the water you do have, you’re a sitting duck. Moments like that completely arrest control from you and while it’s realistic, sometimes you can see the end of the road well before all your family members die and it sucks the joy out of the game.
Shelters come with essential parts needed for survival. There’s an oxygen filter, water filter, and generator and they can be upgraded to perform more efficiently, last longer before being fixed, and hold more of their respective elements. But it’s tricky figuring out what to focus on. Do you focus on finding the necessary pieces to upgrade your essentials or do you build other things to support those systems? A lot of factors connect with each other, so it comes down to making a decision and hoping the luck of the game works in your favor.
It’s hard to say if Sheltered was built with an FTL-style sense of fate. You’re dealt the hand you’re given and you just have to live with it. If that’s the case, I think it’s very acceptable but I wish the length of days was quicker or perhaps the occurrence of interesting events was more frequent.
Occasionally, travelers will visit your shelter asking for trades or seeking to join your group. You never know what you might get and it’s up to you if you want to let them in or not. But some will damage whatever they can if you refuse. Others if they joined your group will leave if they feel like they’re not being taken care of. Oh, and they might damage something on the way out. One guy pooped in my water filter and brought my contamination to 100% during an acid rain storm. Real nice guy, he was.
Bandits will also come and attempt to raid your shelter. You can lay traps and fight them to fend them off or you can hide and let them do their thing but I never encountered them in my 12 hours playing the game. You also might encounter travelers out in the wasteland. Most will want to trade but you might encounter fights which, if you come out in victory, will net you some supplies.
Journal entries are pointless and repeat a lot
While you do have a fair amount of control over how elaborate your shelter turns out, a lot of your playthrough ultimately ends up to chance. And a large portion of that chance is what you may or may not find in the wasteland. Everything logically works together but it overburdens itself. But when you do hit the sweet spot, the game isn’t very difficult. In fact, it can get quite boring.
I won’t go as far to say that Sheltered is what Fallout Shelter should be but it’s what a challenging post-apocalyptic survival management game should be. It is too over-bearing in its combination of systems and that it felt much worse with how random it might be to find parts in the wasteland. It could also use more excitement in a shorter amount of time but Sheltered is one game you have to look at if you enjoyed Fallout Shelter or enjoy management games.
SHELTERED VERDICT
Sheltered is unquestionably inspired by Fallout Shelter but it’s much more challenging and complex. It’s too complex for its own good and a lot is left to chance. It could also use more action. Over time, I am confident Unicube will make Sheltered very good but a lot of factors have to perfectly align to experience Sheltered’s goodness at once.
TOP GAME MOMENT
Dude pooped in my freakin’ water!
Good vs Bad
- Complex survival design.
- Lots is left to chance.
- Too many elements affect too many things.
- Graphics look cheap and uninspired – even for pixel art.
