Shelter 2 – Normal and Survival mode guide

How to activate Survival

You can either play the game normally or play with Survival mode, if you want to activate Survival, go into settings from the main screen and it will have some fur patterns. Press the text that says "survival mode" and the game will ask you if you want to play in survival ok you already know where this is going if you want to then say yeah 
 
 
 

Normal mode Walkthrough

I will get into threats and prey later but what you’ll want to do in normal and have all your cubs survive is just to stay in the main area. You can venture into other places if you’d like, which is what I like to do. Anyways, when hunting to feed your cubs, you should always get two rabbits, and if you only catch one, wait until another group spawns so you can catch another or just eat it yourself for energy, mother lynx doesn’t have to eat though. This should guarantee all of your cubs surviving. 
 
 
 

Survival mode Walkthrough

Survival has basically the same advice as Normal, but there isn’t as much prey in Survival mode. You now have to press Ctrl to crouch. Scent view takes away stamina, and prey are harder to catch. When in Survival, the Mountains is the place to avoid, in autumn and winter, there is absolutely nothing there, you wont find any prey in the Mountains. 
 
 
 
This may sound incredibly stupid, but I’ve only played Survival one time. But because I was so paranoid about something happening, I turned off the DLC. I managed to have all of my cubs survive though. I don’t have much experience on where prey is in Survival, but I know to not go into the Tundra when your cubs are small. In winter, it’s best to be near the dry forest close to the entrance to the Tundra in the main area, rabbits will usually spawn there. I may add a picture later but I don’t have one at the moment. Another tip is to catch as much food as you can for your cubs, which is obvious but it does help a lot when you suddenly can’t find any food. 
 
 
 

Threats

You will encounter at least one threat throughout a gameplay session. And there are a lot of threats. I’ll explain them all: 
 
The Lonesome Fog 
 
The Lonesome Fog looks like this big brown blob that creeps over the landscape. It appears in the main area, the Lake, and possibly the Mountains, though an encounter is super rare in the Mountains. A cub will get scared and will not follow you until you pick it up, wait for it to get back up once you’ve dropped it back down. For some reason, if you have the Mountains DLC on, the Lonesome Fog will not spawn unless you’re in the Lake region. When dealing with the Fog, stay near your den or the entrance to another area, if you want to venture into the Fog, DO NOT RUN. Running will leave a cub behind, and a creature will take it. The Lonesome Fog will only appear once during a session. I think I have once experienced The Lonesome Fog in the Mountains, right as it became summer when I entered them. The sky went purple, the intense music playing, it could’ve been a glitch but I’m not sure. Leave a comment telling me if you’ve had an experience with The Lonesome Fog in the Mountains. 
 
Wolves 
 
Wolves only appear in the Tundra, from what I’ve heard 5-15 minutes after you enter. Like The Lonesome Fog, they only appear once per session. After that they will not come back unless you reload the game. Ways to tell wolves are coming is music changing, wolves howling, and the sky darkening. You can outrun wolves, but they won’t stop chasing you. If you are in Normal mode, there are two ways of getting rid of them. One is by climbing on one of the ledges near you, they should look like little plateaus. 
 
 
Another way of getting rid of them is to offer prey, leave a rabbit for them. Do not go near them when they’re close to you, stay on the opposite side of them and do not go near your offer. Let them eat the rabbit and they’ll leave. In Survival, cubs cannot jump onto a ledge until they’re bigger, so you’ll have to resort to offering prey if they are small. 
 
Bears 
 
(MOUNTAINS DLC) Bears appear in the Tundra, and in the Mountains. In the Tundra, bears will be white. In the Tundra, bears will spawn near the Sabertooth Skull cave, and sometimes in the other section of the Tundra during autumn and winter. In the Mountains, bears spawn in the forest near the entrance from the main area, near the snake skeleton, and in the middle section on the other side of the river near the Tundra entrance. One way you can tell if a bear is near is a change in music, and if you hear a bear growling and then roaring, it has started the chase. The screen also shakes, which not only scares the ♥♥♥♥ out of me every time, but.. nevermind. Ways of avoiding the bear is just staying far from it obviously, jumping onto ledges, or running until the bear gives up. You can outrun the bear. If the bear catches you, there is a chance that one of the cubs will be dead, there is also a chance that nothing will happen. Most of the time, though, one of your cubs will be starved. So grab food right after a bear catches you, if you have cubs. And from what I’ve heard, bears detect you faster if you are carrying food. So it’s best to stay away from bears. 
 
Fire 
 
(MOUNTAINS DLC) Fire is pretty avoidable, it appears in the main area, the Lake, and the Mountains. In the main area, they spawn in the forested pond near the entrance to the Lake. In the Lake, it spawns in the deeper forest to your right when you enter the Lake. In the Mountains, they spawn in the area over the swamp, in the left highland area on the other side of the river, and in the region where the seashell is located, I am unsure of any other places for fires, if you know any other places that fire spawns in, please let me know. 
 
 
If you are trapped by fire with cubs, do not go near the fire, and do not try to jump into the fire. If you jump into the fire, it will make you pass out and one of your cubs will be gone once you wake up. When a fire starts, the sky will become tinted orange, you will hear THUNDER, not lightning, and then lightning will strike in your area. When you hear thunder or see the sky tint, run out of the area as quickly as possible so you will have more time to escape if you were/are in the middle of the fire. When fire starts forming, DO NOT RUN. If you run, one of your cubs will cry out and will be lost. I’ve had this experience before and I felt horrible when I lost one of my cubs. Once a cub dies, the fire will stop. You can also avoid fires by getting onto ledges, and staying near water if water is near, but trying to escape is the best option if you are in Survival with young cubs. And a little fact, the music that plays is from the original Shelter game during the fire section 
 
Eagles/Hawks 
 
(MOUNTAINS DLC) I’ll just call them eagles I don’t even care. Eagles spawn randomly, and spawn anywhere. Eagles are pretty easy to deal with, from what I’ve heard, standing still sometimes works, it has a 1/3 chance of working. If you encounter an eagle, it will screech and intense music will play. Then it’ll swoop after your cub, when this happens, you have to grab the eagle, and it gives you plenty of time to save your cub. Jump at the eagle to kill it, then boom you good now. Multiple eagles can spawn in a single session. 
 
Fox 
 
(MOUNTAINS DLC) Foxes spawn anywhere, and like eagles, they also spawn randomly and multiple can spawn during a session. They are white in the Tundra. When a fox spawns, it will make noise, it can make a stick breaking noise, or make rustling sounds. You can either scare it away 3 times to get rid of it, wait until it gets close enough for you to kill it when you look away, or wait until it grabs a cub so it’s easier to kill. When a fox grabs a cub, it slows down a lot, giving you time to save the cub. You can also leave a rabbit down and walk away, unless your greedy cubs go for it. The fox will go after it, and will be distracted and give you the chance to kill it while it’s eating. 
 
 
 

Prey

There is a lot of prey in the game, and I’ll try to get them all: 
 
Rabbits 
 
Rabbits are the main prey you will go after, because of their frequency. When your cubs are first born, you have to catch three for them. They will juke you out a lot, usually going in the direction of the opposite of you. Some people say to corner them, like birds, but for me it only makes things harder and frustrating. 
 
Colors: brown, white, brown and white 
Feeds: 4 cubs at start, then 2 cubs 
 
Pheasants, Grouses 
 
Pheasants and grouses can spawn in any area, but they both rarely spawn together. Grouses are a part of the Mountains DLC. They are both very similar though. Grouses and pheasants are better at detecting you, so sneaking up from behind is better. Once your target starts running, you’ll have to catch up to it as quick as possible, if it flies and you were close enough to catch it, jump and you’ll catch it midair. I believe the game takes place in Russia, so I will use their real names for their colors. 
 
Colors/types: Ring-necked pheasant, Black grouse, Hazel grouse (I think, Hazel grouse has the closest resemblance) 
Feeds: 3 cubs 
 
Frogs 
 
Frogs are kind of rare, not really they just don’t spawn everywhere. They spawn at the waterfall in the Mountains, the swamp section of the Lake, and in the swamp at the main area. Frogs don’t show up as red in scent view. 
 
Colors: green 
Feeds: 1 cub 
 
Voles 
 
Voles are probably the easiest prey to catch, their detection range is small, and they don’t move very fast and slide around a lot. Sometimes they just run into your mouth. Voles are funny haha 
 
Colors: brown 
Feeds: 1 cub 
 
Deer 
 
Deer are annoying, they’re faster than all prey and sometimes they freak out and spin in a circle before running in a random direction. It’s best to approach them from behind and when they’re grazing. Sometimes they won’t even notice you’re there until you pounce at them. There are three types of deer. Siberian musk deer, which spawn in the Lake region, Red deer, which spawn in the Tundra and Mountains, and Chamois, which spawn in the northern region of the Tundra, and in the highland area where the seashell is located. Chamois are not a deer, but a goat. 
 
Feeds: 4 cubs 
 
Foxes and Eagles/Hawks 
 
Foxes and Eagles/hawks are threats, but when killed are food. Refer to threats for information on this prey. 
 
Feeds: 4 cubs 
 
 
 

Other

Do not drink the water with the bones in the swamp that’s in the main area. 
 
In the main area, there is a waterfall you can get behind. 
 
In the Lake, there is a dry, dead grass fence you can get behind, there is something about it in the Complete Collectible Hoarder Guide that someone else made. 
 
In the Tundra, there is a way to get onto the mountains and onto the glaciers, I have tried to get over the second glacier but I just ended up falling through the map. There are videos on this. 
 

 
In the Lake and Tundra, there are catnip fields, if you use scent in one of these, your game will have a great time. 
 
You can communicate with your cubs by pressing left click, this can gauge cub hunger. If a cub makes a weak meow, that means it’s close to starving. 
 
If you make a starving cub drink, it can help hunger for a while and give you time to catch something for the cub. 
 
Starving cubs will NOT eat from deer carcasses. 
 
well uh yeah I might add more to this later lmao 
 

Hope you enjoy the Guide about Shelter 2 – Normal and Survival mode guide, if you think we should add extra information or forget something, please let us know via comment below, and we will do our best to fix or update as soon as possible!