lovely minimalist design with a lot of texture, and nicely un-signposty emotionally (it just has justifiable faith in its inherent evocativeness). probably says more ab me and my current mental state that i felt so emotionally fragile and on edge that i considered uninstalling after my first 30 minute session. nothing took me off guard, but such is the appeal of Endlessly Cyclical Nature i suppose. ending is laser-targeted at me tho, for probably obvious reasons if uve ever read any of my ravings ab how exhausting i find the physical plane. much of beauty and interest to be found here regardless.

Overall: 8/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Music: 7/10

A subtle game. You play the mother of a family of Lynxes attempting to raise her pups in an unforgiving and unfriendly environment. Do not be fooled, however. This is not an animal simulator. It is not simply running around as a cat for the sake of being a cat. This is a story. It is a subtle story who’s plot points are not dramatic and which will not leave you with some great musings on humanity, but will simply leave you with a profound peace and with some strange ethereal feeling. It is a slow game, and shouldn’t be played by those looking for an action packed, story-driven adventure. It is a game about life itself. The mechanics are quite fun and never feel old, and the game moves you, so long as you play at a decent pace, through its beautiful world without ever feeling stagnant. Speaking of, the art style in this game is absolutely magnificent. Just watching a trailer for it you should be able to get a feel for why it feels so magical. The entire experience gives the player the feeling of walking through a strange forest in a dream, but never wanting to wake up for all its natural beauty. Overall, a truly poignant game that, especially given how cheap it is, is well worth a play.

In Shelter 2 you play as a Lynx raising her cubs in the brutal, but beautiful landscape. Surviving in the middle of the food chain is difficult, as you will be both the predator and the prey. You learn the harsh realities of nature and you learn that surviving is not as simple as it seems.

This game is more of an in-depth look at the survival animal simulation than Shelter 1. Where in the first game it was quite linear and more simple, Shelter 2 brings in a more bigger and open world with more predators to watch out for, more prey to hunt, lots of things to collect and keeping your cubs safe is way harder this time.

This game is simultaneously breaking your heart into million pieces and making you aw out loud multiple times. It's calm and relaxing, but at the same time it can be very stressful. I do think there is a little too much collectibles to collect and it makes it more of a chore, rather than fun.

Anyways, this game is very fun to play through and enjoyable. I can definitely recommend this game.

The fundamentals were already defined in the first game. Turning back to check on your children, counting all of them each time. Searching desperately for the food that likes to hide when the hunger is at its high. One of the biggest differences is in the approach, as convincing as some of the set piece driven linear navigation was carried out, the nature calls for the wild, the dread of danger coming from any direction, the prey harder to corner. A harsher world that shows its hazards in just being there, and in consequence, a world where life is more prized.

Despite my bad memory, I still remember much of my first playthrough about 7 years ago. How only one of my cubs survived, often not even knowing how the others got lost. Getting better at my hunts, not sure if because of experience or because all that remained was only one hope. Asking the stars that guided me to a secure den at the start if I misread the constellations, if I did something wrong. As i kept thinking, the little one was no more, it matched my shape and size now, the steps that were always on my back now often stole my lead. I reached the conclusion that it was pointless to ask for what could I have done and better celebrate the life that survived, the life that now had to go away and truly live on its own. I remember being emotional at the ending where the lonely notes didn’t last for long when the stars appeared again and I was reunited somewhere else with, what I thought, was once my child.

Things have changed now. The harsh world that I remembered is bland. Not only you don’t have to go out of your comfort zone at all, completionism being the only incentive to explore to make it worse. Hunting rabbits for the whole year does the job, I don’t even think you need to return to the den at all. Climate changes the look and a bit of what gets added to your collection, but nothing more. The seasons run long, not because of the hard job of keeping the family alive, but because of the tedium of always repeating the same hunt. When the 4 cubs now survived and grew up I didn’t cherish the last moment, I just wanted them to spread as soon as they could, I knew they were ready after all. That ending scene that moved me so much was misunderstood, the 4 lynx survived, but there was only one there waiting for me. Who was that? My own mother, one of my children, some partner that I lost time ago? At least I can still recall the sentiment of what I once thought this was.