Cub Life: Shelter 2 Lynx Parenting Footage

Perhaps I'm not the best person to be talking to you about Shelter 2. The original Shelter revealed a fundamental non-maternal aspect to my character and saw me pleading with an eagle for it to "TAKE MY CHILDREN INSTEAD". Alas, the more compassionate people of the team are absent and so you will just have to make the best of it.

What you'll find after the cut are two whole minutes of footage showing you Might and Delight's take on being a mother lynx. In terms of art style and charm it's much the same as its predecessor although, given you're now further up the food chain, there's more in the way of killing.

You start the game as a pregnant lynx. It's a slightly different proposition to the resolutely post-partum badger from the first Shelter as you'll need to prepare a den "in order to give birth to a strong litter of cubs". The wording from the press release implies to me that a shoddy den might result in shoddy cubs. I wonder if a den with a roof terrace would lead to cubs wearing hats?

Anyway. The lynx uses smell to track prey and to build up a memory of the different areas. Those memories flesh out the area maps. There are also seasonal changes which affect the terrain – water freezing in winter making it easier to cross rivers but harder to find water is the example they give.

From the trailer and the screenshots the aesthetic of the game also seems a little less muted. The original Shelter had great artwork but it felt like you were looking through a sheet of tracing paper sometimes and putting up screenshots had a peculiar effect where you would mouse over them expecting them to get more saturated.

Shelter 2 is due to be released early in 2015. Also expected in early 2015: John approaching the game like an affectionate parent; me approaching the game like it's the CV episode of The Apprentice.