It's strange how you can be playing a game - sorta enjoying it, sorta wondering what it's about, sorta thinking that you're going through the motions - when something happens and you're thinking "This isn't going to end well for these badgers, is it?"
Shelter is a strange, clunky game.
And short. I'm not sure it lasted an hour.
It's basically one of those art vs. game things, right?
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Was I upset when the badger got washed away? No. Did I go looking for him? You bet your ass I did.
And all because I'd spent 20 minutes finding food for the little buggers to eat. 20 minutes work literally washed away in a moment.
And then.
I very rarely say things out loud to myself when I'm at home on my own but I did hear myself say "Oh jesus, I've left two of them to burn to death". Only to see two baby badger running out of the burning bush with puffs of baby smoke trailing behind them. It was a good moment.
But, let's face it, it's a bit boring really. And if you don't like animals you'll probably just start laughing at the bleakness of it; a bleakness that you can't emphasise with because you're obviously a deranged sociopath. You might feel, if you're a normal animal loving person like me (and therefore normal), that the end was sad but, let's face it, we've seen worse on any wildlife programme.
I wanted this to be the type of 'game' that could provide a narrative and feeling that only a videogame can do, but after the credits had shuffled along and the post-game reveal was, um, revealed I was left thinking that, yes, animals kill animals for food - obviously - and that I'd seen more affecting stuff from an Attenborough documentary.
I'm glad it was as short as it was as there wasn't enough game in it to tell a story that, one day, only a videogame could tell.
About badgers.