(From left to right) Alon, Rune, Thistle, Max, Burry, and Cooper
Shelter is a post-apocalyptic, fantasy furry visual novel created by rausmutt
using Ren'Py. The visual novel is currently in production, having begun monthly publication in March 2020.
It follows the story of Luke, a lonesome human living among a bunch of anthropomorphic dogs in a mysterious, colossal structure built in the middle of a frozen wasteland. This structure, called Shelter by its inhabitants, is full of futuristic technology that only Luke is able to operate, owing to his racial abilities as a human.The visual novel covers events of a single day in the life of the inhabitants of Shelter, following Luke's point of view as the community prepares for their version of fireworks night, Skies Ablaze, by using a life-force fueled turret of mass destruction. As the day unfolds, Luke spends time with various dogs (and an edgy, loner wolf) after, for the first time, he decided to automate Skies Ablaze so he may join his friends in celebration.
This visual novel contains graphic content, sex, and violence. As such, all external links on this page are to be considered NSFW unless stated otherwise.
Shelter contains examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: The Relic knife Teak gifts to Burry turns out to be able to cut things apart with blades of pressurized air, at least in Luke's hands.
- Aerith and Bob: Canines in general. Among Burry's brothers alone, we have Ace, Chance, Dexter, Harvey, Zane alongside names like Arlo, Gus, Koda, Ringo, Rocco, and Tripp. Names like Max are seen next to names like Mordor. Granted, they are (for the most part) actual dog names.
- After the End: The abundance of Lost Technology, including Shelter itself, creates an impression of a post-apocalyptic setting.
- And I Must Scream: Implied to be the case with sentient beings who become corrupted into Monsters.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: The nature of Pack Mentality allows potentially any pair that's using it to becomes this, as long as one of them possesses the necessary skillset. The cast demonstrates this repeatedly over the course of the visual novel.
- Burry and Luke, during the fight with Monsters on the top deck of Shelter, show what two badasses can accomplish in Pack Mentality.
- Badass Adorable: Max. Sweet, thoughtful, and cute, but more than capable of dishing it out if he needs to.
- Badass Boast: When confronting the Monsters on the top deck of Shelter, Luke gets an awesome one, doubling as a Precision F-Strike.Luke: Take on a fucking Ancient if you can!
- Badass Crew: Subverted. Despite hearing that the Ashen Tails are supposed to be a renowned group of adventurers, during the events of the story itself, they're taken completely out of commission by the Shelter sickness, and we never see them in action.
- Badass Pacifist: Luke refers to himself as a pacifist and seems to generally avoid conflict, but he can still kick plenty of ass.
- Beehive Barrier: Rune's Relic sword can produce these with a slash.
- Being Human Sucks: Luke constantly feels like he doesn't fit in with the dogs, at times wishing he was one of them instead of remaining human.
- Benevolent Precursors: The inhabitants of Shelter believe the structure was built by mysterious Ancients that left behind its miraculous technology.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Max may look adorable, but if pushed far enough, he's more than capable of defending himself and his friends.
- Big Damn Heroes: Multiple times, throughout the Night section. Luke can even take a detour for a rescue mission himself, if the player chooses, where he will find Baxter right as the Great Pyrenees is about to be killed by a Monster.
- Big Friendly Dog: Naturally! Subverted with Teak, who's friendly to everyone except Luke.
- Bilingual Bonus:
- Druh's name means 'comrade' in Polish.
- Fantastic Flora: Trees that grow meat fruits, as in fleshy fruits with muscle, bone, and skin. Bushes with eggs... The flora in Shelter's world is decidedly odd.
- Braving the Blizzard: Burry first found Luke while the latter was in the middle of doing this.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Barkest corner sections are a meta part of the story that take place after Luke has made choices that have led to a bad ending. Alon discusses the decisions made and advises Luke (and the player) on how to achieve a better outcome, all with a generous heaping of snark.
- Break Them by Talking: Teak attempts this repeatedly on Luke, pointing out how weak the Human is and how little he fits in with the rest of the Canines in Shelter, all in the hopes of driving him away.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Rune. A constantly horny, immature goofball who's nevertheless the best person to be in charge of Shelter's defenses.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Sorrel and Baxter, despite how obvious it is that they're into each other.
- Cast Full of Gay: The cast is unabashedly gay. It seems to be the norm in the setting.
- Cast of Snowflakes: Raus gives all of the dogs distinctive designs, in large part due to the variety of dog breeds represented in Shelter.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The visual novel is largely lighthearted in the first half or so, but the tone shifts quite drastically as the Night section begins.
- Chekhov's Gun: The notification that pops up after you hand over the bomb to Rune after the intro sequence even refers to it as a 'Chekhov's Bomb'.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The types of Mana are all different colors. Red for Canine, orange for Feline, yellow for Avian, green for Rodent, blue for Saurian, violet for Ungulate. The color of Human Mana is yet unknown.
- Cool Sword: Relic swords, as well as those forged by Canine blacksmiths.
- Dark and Troubled Past: For a lot of the characters. Fortunately, Shelter welcomes everyone and gives them a second chance at life.
- The Dead Have Names: Burry, when he eventually had to experiment on his own brothers. He etched the memory of each of them into his very Core, thus preventing himself from forgetting them, which is usually what happens to those who turn into Monsters.
- Despair Event Horizon: Luke almost crosses it when he's unable to get through Monsters to reach the control tower and considers flinging himself to his doom so the dogs realize there's no hope and retreat. Luckily, he snaps out of it.
- The Empire: The Wolves seem to be in charge of one.
- Eye Scream: Teak's first attempt at using Human Mana to utilize their racial ability has his so overwhelmed that he almost claws his own eyes out, if not for the timely intervention of Rune.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Canines who aren't friends with Luke refer to him almost exclusively as 'The Human'.
- Fate Worse than Death: Many. The worst may be becoming corrupted into a Monster, destined to reincarnate again and again as a rampaging, mindless beast.
- Fantastic Racism: Crops up now and then. Besides Teak's obvious racism against Luke, the various species in the world don't seem to get along well.
- Fanservice: Naturally.
- Rune almost perpetually has at least one part of his muscular body displayed, and isn't remotely shy about nudity.
- Invoked during Rune's training in his Afternoon. He has his class train naked for Luke's enjoyment.
- The baths scene is full of fanservice from Burry, Rune, and Max.
- Freudian Trio:
- Id: Rune — Impulsive, goofy, self-indulgent.
- Ego: Max — Thoughtful, friendly, concerned with maintaining stability and peace among Shelter's inhabitants.
- Superego: Burry — Calm, sensible, stoic, and very formal.
- Genius Bruiser: Burry is an extremely accomplished scholar (ethical issues aside) first and foremost, but he is also a very capable fighter.
- Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex:
- After the cannon is fired and the Monsters finally retreat, Luke and Burry have the option to celebrate their victory with this.
- Groin Attack: Luke can choose to kick Rune in the groin when the husky gets particularly needy during an optional scene in Early Afternoon.
- Handicapped Badass: Rune is missing an eye and his right hand, but it doesn't seem to have slowed him down at all.
- Healing Factor: Saurians, presumably, due to naturally producing Saurian Mana, which allows regeneration.
- Humans Are Special: Luke is the only person capable of utilizing the mysterious technology powering Shelter, as well as figuring out the uses of the many Relics brought there. This is due to his unique racial abilities.
- Interspecies Friendship: Luke with several of the Canines.
- Interspecies Romance: A possible outcome of the events of the story.
- Jerkass: Teak is consistently dismissive, rude, and insulting toward Luke, despite everything the human does to keep Shelter running.
- Jerkass to One: Teak is very friendly with the other Canines, but is horrible to Luke.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Luke's dream during his morning nap (should the player take that option).
- Left for Dead: If Luke ignores Sorrel's cries for help, it's implied that this is what ends up happening to Baxter.
- Life Energy: Mana is this to all sentient species.
- Lizard Folk: While yet to be seen, the Saurians fit the bill.
- Lost Technology: Roaming the snowy landscape for Relics that often turn out to be unknown technology is fairly standard. Shelter itself is full of technological wonders that are barely understood.
- Magic A Is Magic A: The way Mana functions, what effects it can accomplish, and how Embers work is consistent across the story.
- Magitek: All of the Lost Technology, including devices that, in the real world, would be mechanical (such as rifles or vehicles) is fueled by various types of Mana.
- Manly Tears:
- Alon sheds some tears if invited to the baths, moved by the speeches made by the route characters. Not that he would ever admit it.
- Teak, on a couple occasions.
- Burry, during the conversation with Luke after the blackout.
- Luke himself, a number of times.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Burry has 11 brothers.
- Mature Animal Story: Very much so.
- Mr. Fanservice:
- Rune for most of the story. On purpose.
- Mundane Utility: All over the place, simply because the function of most Relics is poorly understood. For one example, Thistle uses a rifle as a walking cane.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Corrupted Borderlands does not sounds like a nice place, at all.
- Odd Friendship:
- The perverted, older Thistle and the stoic and pure Cooper.
- One-Sided Arm-Wrestling: Despite their obvious difference in strength, Luke can challenge Teak to an arm-wrestling competition. Naturally, he loses horribly if he plays it fair.
- Our Monsters Are Different: The Monsters are corrupted souls of sentient beings that come in various twisted shapes and sizes. Unlike regular people, they can possess more than one type of Mana.
- Poor Communication Kills: Burry explains to Luke that the dogs never stepped in when Teak was verbally abusing Luke because they thought Luke wanted to handle Teak himself like he did with Alon in the past.
- Precision F-Strike: Burry gets one during the Night section.
- Prefers Raw Meat: Although the Canines can and do eat cooked meat, they seem to like it raw as well.
- Punny Name: Alon E. Wolf.
- Raging Stiffie: Cooper throughout his Afternoon scene.
- Scars Are Forever: Despite Saurian Mana allowing healing and regeneration, quite a lot of the Canine characters sport prominent scars.
- Serious Business: The canine inhabitants of Shelter take discussions of certain...unique parts of their anatomy very seriously.
- Shipper on Deck: Luke likes seeing the dogs get together, and can even encourage two of them to admit their feelings for one another in Max's Afternoon.
- Species Loyalty: A fairly common attitude among the various species.
- Splash of Color: Thistle's illustrated story is mostly monochrome, except for some choice bits.
- Stepford Smiler: Luke at the beginning of the visual novel.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Luke rips into Burry, Rune, and Max after they fail to come to his defense following Teak's verbal abuse.
- Time Stands Still: An Ember cast by Alon lets him do this and strike an opponent multiple times with his daggers from different directions.
- Token Human: Luke is the only human in Shelter. There are implications that he might be the only human in the setting as a whole.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Luke calls out his friends for being more concerned about how Teak feels, despite the Tosa having just verbally attacked Luke unprovoked.
- Wham Shot: The Monster looking at Shelter from a hill right in front of the structure, seconds after the lights go out.
