The Sheltered
- April 23, 2015
- Benjamin Famiglietti
- 2h median play time
Get on Steam"The Sheltered" is a post-apocalyptic survival simulation game where you manage a fallout shelter and its inhabitants. You'll need to ensure their needs are met, manage resources, and make tough decisions to ensure their survival. As the player, you'll face various challenges such as radiation, scarcity of resources, and moral dilemmas, testing your leadership and survival skills.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has an interesting storyline and atmosphere that some players found engaging.
- Players appreciated the moral decision-making aspect, which adds depth to the gameplay.
- The game is affordable, making it accessible for those willing to try it despite its flaws.
- The game suffers from a severe lack of save points, which can lead to frustrating gameplay experiences.
- Many players criticized the low-quality graphics and amateurish writing, detracting from the overall experience.
- The controls are clunky and the gameplay mechanics are often frustrating, making it difficult for players to enjoy the game fully.
- gameplay7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game is a mixed bag, with some reviewers noting sound mechanics and an interesting storyline, while others criticize the low-quality visuals and frustrating elements, particularly in specific areas like the blue cave maze. Despite its potential, many feel that the gameplay issues detract significantly from the overall experience, making it hard to recommend at this time.
“It's genuinely a well-made game with an interesting storyline and good gameplay.”
“Gameplay mechanics were relatively sound, and I would have enjoyed it.”
“This game has a lot of potential, and I would definitely play a revised edition or a sequel.”
“Like most RPG Maker shovelware and asset flips, the game features extremely low-quality copy-pasted 2D retro pixel art, generated characters, looks awful, and has even worse gameplay.”
“This game has a lot of potential and I would definitely play a revised edition or a sequel, but unfortunately there are too many issues with the mechanics of the game for me to recommend it right now.”
“However overall, I found the gameplay just much too fidgety and frustrating.”
- graphics6 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The graphics in this RPG Maker game are criticized for their outdated pixel art style and lack of modern features, such as full HD support and resolution options, which detracts from the experience for contemporary gamers. Users express disappointment in the developers' choice to rely on obsolete graphics without offering any customization or enhancements. While the story is praised, the overall visual presentation is deemed inadequate for the price point.
“The story is really good, the graphics are simple and the controls are pretty easy.”
“As with all RPG Maker games, the poor quality engine displays badly in fullscreen and doesn't have full HD support or any graphics tweaking options, making this unacceptable for any dedicated modern PC gamer.”
“A choice was made to use obsolete, decades-old retro pixel art as a substitute for contemporary PC graphics.”
“There's no option to change the resolution and no useful graphics tweaks.”
- story6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The game's story is a mixed bag, with some players praising its interesting premise and atmosphere, while others criticize it as weak and poorly executed. Despite the engaging narrative for some, the pacing and repetitive dialogue detract from the overall experience, particularly in the context of its old-school RPG style. Overall, the story's quality seems to significantly influence players' enjoyment of the game.
“I love the atmosphere it creates and the story it's trying to tell.”
“The story is really good, the graphics are simple and the controls are pretty easy.”
“It had a terrific premise, and a pretty decent plot to go with it.”
“This is an RPG Maker game that would sail or sink on the strength of its story, which is terrible.”
“Being of an old school RPG style, you don't exactly wander around the map at high speed, and so it takes a while to get back to your regular death spot where you'll have to destroy your spacebar tapping through all of the text speech to make limited progress before dying once more.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate a concerning trend of unethical monetization practices, where developers are accused of exploiting Steam by releasing low-quality asset flips and using fake accounts to generate misleading reviews. This pattern suggests a focus on quick profits rather than genuine game development, raising significant concerns about the integrity of the platform.
“The industry has shown a repeat pattern of unethically dumping other people's work onto Steam as a cheap, nasty cash grab.”
“They're all written in either Russian or broken English, appear at almost exactly the same time, very shortly after the game launched on Steam, and all have a direct Steam purchase of the game.”
“The accounts are used consistently to write fake reviews for asset flips and other cash grabs/scams.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is highly praised for its ability to immerse players in the narrative, effectively enhancing the storytelling experience.
“I love the atmosphere it creates and the story it's trying to tell.”
- music1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is praised for enhancing the intensity of action scenes while remaining engaging and not becoming repetitive or annoying.
“I also really loved the music, which added intensity to the action scenes and avoided becoming an annoying background loop.”
