Hello!

The release of Shelter 3 is just on the horizon, and in the third of our posts celebrating its predecessors, Shelter 3, were exploring the musical style thats such a huge part of the personality of Shelter games. And to share in full spirit, were giving away the full Shelter 2 soundtrack as a free gift in our Shelter newsletter. We could all use a little musical sunshine in these dark days! Take a listen to the theme song right here... [previewyoutube=_Pc3V85_ez4;full][/previewyoutube]

Scoring for Wilderness

The soundtracks for all Shelter games are composed and performed by Swedish band Retro Family, who work in close collaboration with the developers. Shelters uniquely loose and live sound began as a quest for a sound that would blend nicely with the ambience of nature says Sound Designer Josef Tuulse, I also wanted to leave space in the spectrum for the calls of the badgers. We came up with a soundtrack that was quite heavy on the low end and shimmering in the highs, where the voice of the guitar can express freely and comment on the narrative. In life and in gameplay, intuition is what being an animal is all about, and an intuitive, emotive approach also leads the musical composition. Retro Familys Ulf Wahlgren explains: Jokke is very good at creating sounds and feelings in the studio, so it's more about that then the actual instruments for Shelter. The studios philosophy is to leave the player to interpret their play experience, and sound design plays a big role in setting that tone. As Ulf says, The music for Shelter is about 25% avant-garde, I always feel that this genre lets the listener decide what it feels like. White noise will be beautiful and soothing to some, yet scary and claustrophobic to others.

Music for Elephants

Due for release in quarter two this year, Shelter 3 will see the series move from tundra to jungle and from lynx family to elephant herd. So what might we expect from a Shelter 3 soundtrack? We want to give players all the comfort of returning to the Shelter universe as well as something new, says Josef, Elephants are big and heavy but also gentle and caring. It's our aim to give these same qualities to the music

Celebrating music in our games

Retro Family are Ulf Wahlgren, Jokke Pettersson and Alfred Andersson and are also working on music for Book of Travels which weve also featured in this weeks Steam post. You can watch some studio jams at Retro Familys Youtube and Instagram. Wed love to hear what you think about the music in any of our games - what do you like about it? What does it remind you of? Let us know right here in the comments or drop us a line in the Youtube video comments box! If youre new to Shelter Games wed love to hear from you. Say hello in the comments right here and well pop in to respond! And to find out more about Shelter, Shelter 2 and more, check out this overview, or take a look at Shelter books and unlockable DLCs. Thats all for now, thank you so much for spending time with us! Best Wishes, Helen and the Shelter Team https://store.steampowered.com/app/977630/Shelter_3/