Most post-apocalyptic games thrust you into an open wasteland with guns and mutants. Sheltered traps you in a claustrophobic bunker with your family, and lets the slow decay of survival grind you down.
In Sheltered, a game by Team 17 and Unicube, you play as a family that is sheltered in a bunker, protecting them from the nuclear apocalypse that is going on above their heads. It’s a rogue-lite; you can’t manually save or reload, and each run is defined by your choices and their consequences.
My First Run
I started out with the default family so I could get stuck in and start learning the game. I picked up the crafting and resource system fairly quickly. This is a survival game where you have to find random items to construct things that are actually useful to your survival.
My first mistake was forgetting to feed the cat. In all honesty, I didn’t even notice the little guy at first. By the time I did, I noticed he was starving, and his food bowl was empty. I watched helplessly as the poor creature collapsed and died. The game informed me my family was traumatised by the event. I felt the same as they did.
Disposing of the corpse requires a freezer, something which I didn’t have the means to build. So the cat would lie there for the entire run, flies gathering around as if they were mourning in their own way. It was the first casualty in a series of poor choices.
Water wasn’t just a resource, it was a leash. Without it, I couldn’t go on expeditions and explore to find other precious supplies. Every drop consumed became a gamble. The lack of water was exacerbated by my innate need to help people. I let anyone who visited the shelter join us. The extra help seemed like a good idea until they drained all our food and water.
Then the dust storms came and I started running out of another resource I hadn’t thought about: oxygen. With no food, water, or air remaining, I kicked everyone but my family out of the shelter. They broke as much of our equipment as they could on their way out. My family started to suffocate. I thought it was over.
But then the dust storm stopped and precious air started seeping back into the shelter. Then it rained. We were saved at the last minute! I built more water storage so we could gather more when it rained. I was then able to send out more expeditions looking for supplies, especially for food.
Unfortunately, we were out of gas masks and I couldn’t make any more. I had to risk radiation poisoning. After several expeditions and surviving some radiation poisoning we finally found some rations. But it didn’t matter. The father came back from an expedition with a serious case of radiation poisoning. And we were out of anti-radiation meds.
Eventually he collapsed right beside the cat’s corpse. He needed help, but no one could give it.I watched him die slowly, poisoned from the inside out, while his family looked on in silence. The game told me the family were even more traumatised by the death.
I was traumatised as well.
Lessons Learned
This is the only run I’ve played so far. As you can see, I have a lot to learn before I can survive in the world of Sheltered. Next time I’ll be more careful. No more strangers in the shelter. More stockpiles of precious water. And more expeditions to gather more supplies.
These are the few things I’ve learned so far. So I’ll try again. And this time, maybe the cat will live.
