I'm sad to write a negative review for this game. I was a Worms player long ago, and being a big fan of resource-management survival games, when I saw Team 17 was making one, WOOOO!

I anxiously awaited this game for months, maybe a year or more.

I was so very disappointed.

This game amounts to nothing more than a click-to-repair simulator.

Honestly, almost everything is unenjoyable.
-Poor combat
-Zero enemy scaling (I rarely ever take damage in combat, and if I do, it's miniscule)
-You have very little influence over certain things that decide whether one of your people lives or dies, unless you meticulously micro-manage where every single one of your people are.
-Meticulous, unenjoyable micro-management.
-Repetitive, Repetitive, Repetitive. You repair the same things, loot the same houses, "resolve" the same people situations. Even the silly little quests that pop up are just some greedy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that tells you to bring them something, and then maybe they'll give you some nicer looking toilet that doesn't need repaired as often.

There is just really nothing fun about this game, and this is coming from someone who really wanted to like it. Someone who likes the Genre, and the Developers. Sorry Team 17. I know you can do better, and I hope you do next time!

Even on sale, my opinion is there is just no value to this game at all. Maybe at 60 or 75% off, if you think you'll enjoy it as a mindless zone-out game.

Shame really; I would have thoroughly enjoyed having a new challenging survival game, especially from a talented Developer.

maeh. the game concept is mediocre. i played it for some hours and got bored. payed half price but still would like to have my money and my time back.

gameplay time consists of the following:

- 40% inventory transfers and inventory sorting (because its capacity is so damn limited)
- 30% fixing stuff
- 20% answering radio messages (you can lower that to 15% if you are confident to always click the left button)
- 5% other, more interesting activity
- 2% fights or dialog interactions with NPC
- 2% finding out what it needs to build stuff
- 1% building stuff

the game has nice graphics, sounds and animations. and the game has this sublimal promise, that a lot of stuff will happen on the hughe map and along all those days the palyer spends extending the bunker and exploring the map.

but nothing really interesting happened until day 50 (on day 50 nothing interesting happend either, i just stopped playing the game). the one exception was in the 2nd game when i accepted outsiders into the bunker and they for no reason and out of the blue murdered someone and then left the bunker. "murdered by psychopath" ... ok, this may happen in a postapocalyptic world. but 3 out of 5 people who joined me were psychopaths? and i have no or maybe just some very obsucre way of telling that they are? well, in the 3rd game i did not invite anyone into the bunker anymore.

but that really were the most exciting events in the game. when someone randomly was murdered. and the 2nd most exciting moment was when i understood, that it suffices entirely to send the parents and the dog on scavanging missions and keep the children in the bunker to fix stuff. btw, the dog rocks when it comes to combat. but speaking of the children, ... i dont even understand why they are in the game. ... they just have different stats ... and can not carry a corpse to the incinnerator. but there is no tactics or strategy necessary to keep them alive, and no emotional drama poured into the players heart either. so why not have just 4 people. some stronger, some weaker?

honestly, i believe the devs wanted to make a neat bunkerbuilder and a family drama and a game about all the terrors of the postapocalypse. and they did everything, but just 30% as good as it needed to be to make a satisfying game.

i really wish some dev or player would jump by and reply "dude, play until day 100, then the horrifying story starts to kick in".

but .... nah ... dont invest any time in this game.

This game was made for people who think the only thing that gives life a value is all the horrible and degrading things you are ready to do in order to remain alive (and this statement doesn't mean that every person who plays it corresponds to this description). It's masochistic and morbid.
This is a game that shouts : "look how realistic we are ! Micromanagment ! Not for pu**ies !!! A lot of objects and tools to make and use. Your characters will starve, die, sh*t, puke in front of your eyes ! They will kill and cannibalise.
And they won't laugh ! They won't smile ! They won't rejoice ! Because life is sh*t and it's only because you're ready to kill and starve and work until you're completely exhausted that it proves that you really consider it's worth something ! All hail slave psychology !"
This game is misery porn, just like The walking dead or The revenant. And the same way the characters are supposed to enjoy life because it makes them so miserable, the player is supposed to enjoy the game because it makes him miserable. Its main "appeal" is morbid, it is the satisfaction of carrying on playing although the game punishes you for playing it constantly (in an impressive amount of different manner).
If you look at the number of hours I've played you'll see that I didn't play just a few, because I actually liked all of the game features, it's just the way they're all put together, the randomness, the harshness, the lack of joy, the fatal glitches, the ruthlessness that make the game just unbearable on purpose when it could be easier on the player and it wouldn't make it worse.

edit: I apologize to the players who own the game and enjoy it, I didn't realise my rantview could be insulting to them (because simply I'm talking about a constructed target audience based on my experience of the game). I've played it 16hrs so I can't, and wouldn't want to, pretend there's nothing cool about it. Also, I'm not saying everybody takes things as seriously as I do. But I do take the meaning of the games I play seriously, and I really don't like the whole logic of that one.
And if the developpers are reading these lines, guys, you made a walking animation for when a character is ill or exhausted, you made a slow creepy collapsing animation for when they die, you made an animation for when the characters puke, you made an animation for when the characters defecate, you made an animation for when the characters clean the bucket in which they've just defecated AND you made this task a task of the game, but you didn't bother making a crying animation for when a character dies, because you know, it's the apocalypse nobody gives a ♥♥♥♥, and you didn't make an animation of happiness for when characters come back home with food and useful stuff after a long and dangerous trip. You made a teddy bear for the kids, but it had to be in very bad shape. You allowed the player to paint the shelter, but the painting had to crackle so quickly that it's useless to hope that you're gonna have a "nice" shelter. If you want your game to be realistic, you cannot pretend that life is just joyless and loveless and ugly.

This game is SUPER fun, except one *SUPER HUGE* bug that I'm encountering that is a genuine, real deal-breaker.

I thought it was just a one-time thing the first time it happened, but it's recurring and it's really turning me off the game (apparently it's been a problem since May 2016, and and it's now August 2016 and it still hasn't been fixed). It makes it so that no matter how prepared you are/how well off you are in your game, it doesn't matter because your whole family could be slaughtered by invisible asailants who can walk through walls.

If not for that bug I'd give this game a 10/10, seriously. This game has got everything you could ever want from a game like this. I like to tell people it's "The Walking Dead, without the zombies" which I feel is super accurate. Survival strategy, risk taking, stress, reward, getting you attached to the characters, etc.

Overall, however, I'm going to give it a 4/10; I LOVE it, but that bug is SO SOOO bad that I genuinely don't want to continue playing it (at least until it's fixed) because it's just not worth the time/effort you put into it for everything to be thrown out the window for something that isn't your fault.

Once they fix the issue I'll happily submit a new review, but for now... I cannot reccoment this game. The bug is just TOO bad.

This potentially brilliant title crumbles by midgame under a burden of poor interface design and its dedication to micromanagment within the shelter.

Like some other bad reviews for this title, I wanted to like it so much. With recent titles such as Kingdom, I expected a level of contemporary elegance in how the game plays and unfolds. Instead, this feels like an unfinished title from 1987.

Much of the footage within the documentary is not from this game. It is either from the game jam or tests from early development.

What stands out most at this point, after about 24 hours of play (grinding to get the final achievements associated with this title), is the interface issues when switching from one survivor to another in the shelter. It is frustratingly easy to misdirect a survivor when simply trying to select another. Add to that the constant intrusions of "Incoming Radio Transmission" which is where the bulk of the scavanging game is played, and the game feels like a herky jerky mess of mircomanagement of bad AI via a poorly designed interface.

The game theme, aesthetic, and concept all hold promise. But the execution sinks this title for me.

I give it a solid 3/10.

This was a fun game that I put a little over 24 hours into. It starts off slow and difficult, but gets easier to play overtime and more fun with additional features that are unlocked. It's a must buy for any fans of Fallout Shelter.

tl:dr;
It's not a bad game, not really. It's not a great game either. Recommend if on sale, sorely lacks content for endgame and many functions that you would expect from resource management and survival combo game are not present.


Long version:
Sheltered is a cross between Fallout Shelter and This War of Mine. It lack in every aspect when compared to the above titles.

Audio: 7/10
Amazingly good. Ambient sound and sound effects constantly remind me of Fallout1/2.
They are great in building the atmosphere of the game and definitely fit the setting.
However the music (either battle or jukebox) is like 12 sec long loop that gets pretty annoying fast.

Graphics: 6/10
Ok, nevermind pixelized "oldschool" setting. The problem with graphics is that every shelter has the same background, locations have no variety to them (each farm has dead cows) and there are very few character clothes to choose from.
Asset variation is simply POOR, and considering everything else there is no excuse for it.
Also the UI. UI will overlap parts of the shelter, making sometimes invisible to see. Apart from that it's crowded and non-functional. It really would use a bar with all the most important actions visible clearly.
Also no help accesible from inside the game nor the full list of the people and their stats in a survival/management game is f*king insulting.

Gameplay: 5/10
Ok so it is not a bad game. For around dozen or so hours. It really gives you something to do in the beginning, there really is some pressure and tension and fun initially.
Problems starts when you finally get a grip of the situation and get some more people and build up your shelter.
Here are the issues:
- some facilities are unbalanced in terms of mats required versus what they give. For example it is better to build lvl 3 store boxes and lvl 3 pantries above them, as top level storage facilities take more space but give the same amount of storage.
- upgrades end too soon
- some materials are too difficult to come by, like ropes and hinges that are needed for most stuff
- space in a shelter is very limited (obviously) but still some facilities take way too much space for what they offer.
- everything breaks so fast it's just stupid! really need to fix a bed every five days?! really?!
- you can't rename nor change appearance of your toons. Why? why not give nickname or new harcut or new pants?
- no automation for characters beyond basic eat/drink/sleep/sh*it actions
- no crafting of weapons! you can have tons of nails, duck tape, pipes, metal and wood, but you cannot craft a baseball bat or a spiked mace!
- very limited character inventory. worse, you do not have character management screen, you cannot give them some items permanently.
- water requirements for travelling
- random loot! you are likely to find a single bulb, a single nail, a single duck tape, a single pipe, a single wood plank in a location than simply 6 nails! and you need dozens of them to craft upgrade, so there is always a problem with the flow!
- random encounters! only single people, no caravans, trading usually has very little to offer (one nail, one pipe, one water bottle etc)
- unable to store excess items in external nearby locations
- cannot change your weapons or use medkits while on expedition
- very limited and repetitive diary entries. like wth devs write more than 3 entries for a new recruit please?

Ok, so basically the worst part of the game is that you cannot equip your sheltered people, arm them and have them fend of raiders in battle. Either you build some crappy traps (selection VERY limited) or they rob you blind. You just cannot fight back.

Another major issue is lack of roles in the shelter. See, there is basic needs automation. But there is no roles automation.
I would love to mark a single person as botanist/cleaner and have them only plant and water seeds and clean the shelter.
I would love to mark a person as maintenance, so all they do would be fixing stuff and cleaning the shelter.
I would love to have a doctor, who would check the wounds, if there would be any wound system in place and feed the pet from time to time.
I would love to have a guard, who would be walking armed and fight back against the raiders, spending his time to train stats.
A scientist making research in the lab and reading books?

And finally. There is no entertainment facility in order. I wouldn't mind a poker table or an arcade machine for my toons to spend some time and relax.

Conclusion:
This game is bare bones as it is now. It was released 5 months ago and I am not sure if there will be any serious updates to it (homepage seems empty). If you find it with price tag below 10$ grab it. Support devs.
We need games like that, but we need them finished with some late-game goal to aim at. Right now it is dollar per hour and little more of value.

FInal tip - how to open mystery hatch:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sheltered/comments/4bcgk5/mysterious_hatch_spoilers/

this is a game- ign 10/10 would eat my parents for food again

Micromanagement. If that word doesn't mean fun for you, then Sheltered may not be the game for you. I, however, relished challenge of managing a tiny nuclear family as they struggled to survive the wastes. Granted, 3/4 of my original family died, and the father was the only one left. He's resorted to taking out his agony on others by bashing every head he meets.

Smashing. Would buy again.

This game is a fun little base builder with a neat mix of crafting and personnel management. However...

The mechanics (and bugs) of invasions absolutely break this game. It's absurd that even when you have a box full of armored vests and guns, you can't arm any of my survivors while an intruder is beating on the vault doors. If you can't equip your survivors as the doors are being beaten down, there's really not any point in having the vault doors at all.

What's even more ridiculous, though, is that as a lone intruder is beating on my door, my survivors get drawn into combat with a chain of 9 invisible bears that seem to have magically spawned inside of the shelter. Of course, since I couldn't equip my survivors at all, one of the children died after fighting 5 invisible bears in a row.

Fortunately, I think I'm still within my refund window.