I wrote a rating for this and figured I'd share it in the comments as well.
First of all; Sorry for all the rambling. I'm mostly just writing down my thoughts and I know I'll end up repeating myself so I'll try to summarize somewhat at the end.
There's also a lot to say and most of it is tied in together so well with the other parts that it's difficult to sort it into segments.
That said, here we go.
As a side note, this rating is mostly written with Burry's route and character in mind.
I've played Shelter a few times, mostly passing it over as "Oh, it's well made and has good assets but it's not something extra ".
The part that stuck out to me most previously was the fact that it makes excellent use of the VN Media form to tell the story and present gameplay. There's a lot of choice and your decisions unlock further options in further playthroughs, even if it sometimes get a bit much to go hunting for unlocking different endings. It's a fresh breath breaking away from the semi-kinetic VN's I've grown used to, while still retaining most of the important bits. The only thing I missed in this was a clear way to see what route you're on, as it's tempting to mix and match and end up with one without realizing it the first time through.
Moving on, the excellent use of the VN media form was the one thing that stuck out to me until this update (V20) which tied everything together in a much better way for me. It balanced the scale, so to say.
Looking further, the reason that was the one thing that stuck out, rather than the story or setting is most likely due to the game feeling as "three games mashed into one", paired with some community prejudice.
With that, I'm trying to say that it's due to the fact that on the surface this game simply looks like it was made to get people off. Rather, it probably is. And yes, it does that well.
However, at the same time it's bunched in with a whole lot of comedy and some incredibly interesting world building and heartfelt stories. They're just behind the surface. With the different tone shifts, it becomes confusing at first.
If one goes in without real expectations and is met early on by the goofiness and horniness, it's easy to fall prey to prejudice and think that there's all that there is to the game. And that content is not bad, there's so much more to it in my opinion. This is where a few of my friends have gotten stuck and didn't really want to continue, despite the quality of the content. To me, that's unlucky, because somehow those moments also help build the entire world and story.
In every moment there's some kind of character or worldbuilding, mostly both at once. It's often in silly things, such as looking at Rune's balls 'to see if there's mana storied in them' introducing the idea of storing mana properly. There's the balls, which I find hilarious, but some of my friends just couldn't get past, while at the same time it makes your mind go 'Canine mana? Human mana? What's the difference? Are there more kinds? What do they do?' These little snippets of information makes the world feel more real and thought out.
Further, it's all quite grounded. It's not abstract concepts mostly, instead it's things that make sense, such as canine mana having canine properties. Pack mentality, improved smell and so on. It helps make the world more relatable, which is a big plus with how much there is of it.
Further on, every character seems to have an interesting backstory of their own, which ties in with all the worldbuilding and makes you ask questions such as 'who is in charge? where are they from? why are they at shelter?' It makes the characters feel more real, on top of helping introduce their goals and personalities, wishes and wants. The part that really makes it click for me is the fact that the world seems to have impacted every character. We're told this epic story, and the characters are actually a part of it.
The exception for me here would be Alon, I love the character and he has fun moments but for whatever reason he seems like bit of an afterthought. He's a little too opportune in that he seems to solve a few writing "problems" a little too often somehow. He sticks out just a tad too much, despite hinting at being a villain of sorts.
Moving on, it's the fact that the world building actually delivers which makes it a pleasure to play the game. What has me focusing on that so much is that there are more than a few (great) stories out there which have a lot of the same qualities when it comes to characters and worlds as Shelter does, but they never deliver. They have a great world and interesting characters, but they're never tied together. There's a world, and a story, and characters. And mostly two are tied together, but almost never all three. Shelter ties all three together, and it does it well. Shelter doesn't introduce Chekov's gun (bomb) and never have it go off. That's what truly makes it stand out.
Now, I previously said "It's well made but not something *extra*" and that somehow still holds true up until what I think of as the splitting point. The bath sequence.
Essentially, it shifts the tone from the "horny silly" and reaches a breaking point where it tills over to storytelling of the previously built world. It suddenly drops most of the goofy parts and forces you into the present, with the attack on shelter. In a way, it's a climax created by skipping the... climaxing we've had before.
All the hints and backstory we've gotten so far clicks, and Burry and Luke are all tied into it. We learn more about Skies ablaze, and what it all entails. Pack mentality and the differences between races is expanded on and further tied in with Luke, who as a human somehow is more relatable which really makes the reader fall into the role as Luke.
Now, focusing on Burry's route, it's a dark backstory filled with action scenes (which are excellently written and presented. These are one of the most difficult things to write in text or VN format, in my opinion).
For Burry's story there are no stops. It is a lore dump for all intents and purposes, but it's also a lore dump built on information we've been given before, so it doesn't really feel slow to read. Instead it's just a bunch of puzzle pieces falling together.
Somehow, I felt like I was missing a few pieces with how Burry felt within, rather than "at peace" while still being conflicted. It still tied together nicely, but with how good some other descriptions are it felt a little barren.
It was still heartfelt, as promised by the question in the bath, and it went through with a lot of different emotion. The parts that felt a little off was mostly actuated by the backgrounds and lack of sprites during it. Now, it's important to note that it is in no way below "good" VN standards, instead it sticks out with just how high quality and effort the rest of the assets are in the game. Somehow it turned into feeling more like reading a book than "watching a scene" at that point. I was missing a bit of interaction with Burry's brothers and despite it being such an important part of the story, we only got the tail (heh) end of it. It didn't hurt the story, but that's where I would have liked to have even more added in. Some interactions with his brothers, so there's not 11 names and 4 personalities, but rather some bonds.
Other than that, I loved the introduction of the wolfen rule and the contrast between Burry's backstory, the wolves, and how most common dogs probably live. It made my mind wander, which the fact that it felt more like a book at that point probably helped with.
Now, enough about Burry and on to Luke. Luke's definitely the best character in Shelter.
We get to follow Luke, and in the story somehow all the options the player gets to pick somehow feels like choices Luke would make. There's no "wrong" or weird choice. We still get to make them, and they make a difference in outcome, but they're all choices I can see Luke making.
Luke feels clumsy when relating himself to his friends, and relates it to being human and not canine. For a human however, he's not clumsy at all. Instead he's athletic and agile. But he still feels opposite, it leads into philosophical questions which the story touches on about if it's the environment he's in, or just birth, or if it's all bullshit and unlucky. I loved it, but it's a stark contrast to expectations going into the story with aforementioned goofy and horny actions.
It's one of many things we see Luke internalize as we play what I'd describe as the build up (before Skies Ablaze). We get to know how he feels, and then finally why. Eventually it all breaks down and he becomes more "human". He's right and wrong at the same time, he throws blame and he's angry. He's sad, he's jealous and confused. He's relatable.
All in all, a great character with flaws and strengths, with just a dash of perspective when we get to see how the other characters view him. The outburst at the bath is definitely my favourite part of the story.
For some final notes aside from the worldbuilding and story, the writing itself encompasses a lot of humour and references such as Chekov's gun/bomb, which managed to keep my attention. It also makes me think that this story has been in the authors head for much longer than it's been "on paper."
So, to finally try and summarize a little.
Shelter's strength lies in it's storytelling and world building, which ties into character building. It capitalizes well on the VN media form with flags and choices that matter.
There is however no denying the overall atmosphere of horniness and the fact that it is an adult game. This is as much a strength as it is detriment. The downside being that it can be off-putting to some people who would probably enjoy the game as much as I did, if they made it past that part.
While there are ways to avoid these segments, it's not always super clear and with how in your face it gets at times, it might be difficult to ever get past it. Still, I'd highly recommend anyone to try it even if they're not into that, as the other parts are top notch as well.
On the flip side, it might also be a detriment to those who want to focus on that, as they might skip past the story to get into the explicit content. While in reality, it's best viewed when enjoying both. It is weird, as the part that would be the easiest to "cut" or not enjoy is the horny part, but it's still a very base part. It's like softcore porn in a way, the hidden details are somehow more enticing than getting al the hardcore stuff.
I truly enjoy all the teasing and shafts and whatnot, and while I also enjoyed the explicit scenes, it splits the experience into two while keeping it together. Perhaps in the future, there'll be a mode where you can just get all the teasing and softcore enjoyment, letting you focus more on the world and story instead.
Finally, the above notes make it easy to miss how individual and enjoyable all the characters are. I only have great things to say about it. They're all individual and have wide personalities and backstories.
Either way, regardless if you're looking for NSFW content or a great fantasy story with good world building, you'll enjoy Shelter. Just don't get hung up on it being one or the other, because it's best enjoyed as both.