FOUNTAINS
- December 20, 2024
- JohnPywell
- 29h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on itch.io Store"FOUNTAINS is an action-RPG set in a maze-like interconnected world, where you play as a stranger escaping a tyrannical regime and seeking the Fountain of Youth. Combat is tight and skill-based, with punishing bosses and new abilities to discover. The game also features an online message system for player interaction."
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Reviews
- Engaging combat system that combines fast-paced action with strategic stamina management, making battles feel rewarding and intense.
- Intricately designed interconnected world that encourages exploration, filled with secrets, shortcuts, and a variety of biomes to discover.
- Beautiful pixel art and atmospheric music that enhance the overall experience, creating a captivating environment for players.
- Boss fights can feel overly punishing and may lack balance, leading to frustration, especially with aggressive attack patterns and limited healing opportunities.
- The map system is poorly designed, making navigation difficult and often leaving players feeling lost without clear points of interest.
- Lack of quality-of-life features such as a pause option and inventory management can detract from the overall gameplay experience.
- gameplay25 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The gameplay is generally praised for its engaging combat system, which revolves around intuitive actions like attack, dodge, and heal, reminiscent of titles like Dark Souls and Hyper Light Drifter. Players appreciate the strategic depth added by unique mechanics, such as the water healing system, and the exploration elements akin to Hollow Knight. However, some critiques highlight repetitive combat patterns and issues with healing mechanics, suggesting that while the game has strong potential, it could benefit from further refinement and balancing.
“What stands out the most is the gameplay; the combat system is very comfortable and is based mainly on three actions: attack, dodge, and heal.”
“The gameplay is snappy and responsive, with engaging, challenging combat.”
“Its vast, secret-filled map and clean combat mechanics make it a joy to explore and fight through.”
“Great presentation and world-building, but hindered by subpar combat and frustrating mechanics.”
“While enemies feature unique attack patterns, the core gameplay loop of baiting attacks, counterattacking once or twice, and repeating becomes repetitive very quickly.”
“The healing mechanic, tied to water, is nearly useless in boss fights due to its slow cast time and minimal healing output, which doesn’t scale with increased health.”
- graphics13 mentions
- 46 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their gorgeous pixel art style, which effectively combines retro aesthetics with modern animation techniques. Players appreciate the beautifully crafted visuals that enhance the immersive world-building and combat experience, although some note that certain areas could benefit from more detail. Overall, the art direction is seen as a significant strength, contributing to the game's charm and engagement.
“Epic fights, gorgeous visuals, and a world that pulls you right in—what more could you want?”
“It's challenging, rewarding, and intriguing with a perfectly crafted pixelated art style; what's not to like?”
“The art style is gorgeous - with equally beautiful and horrifying enemy design, badass skills, and a massive amount of unlockables to keep you engaged until the very end.”
“The character movements and aesthetics?”
“Also, I don't mind the art style, but it felt like some areas could use more objects; you have a ton of generic tunnels with nothing in them.”
“Graphics: retro”
- story12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game's story is engaging and encourages exploration of its lore, though it follows familiar narrative conventions typical of the genre. Much of the story is conveyed through NPC dialogue and item descriptions, leaving players eager for deeper analysis from the community. Overall, while the narrative may be predictable, it is well-integrated into the gameplay and enhances the experience of exploring its intricately designed world.
“The game is fun, dynamic, and it invites you to explore the lore and story of the world.”
“Extremely clever level design in a classic, but refreshing metroidvania style map where I don’t find myself bored while exploring, finding items/gear or unlocking new secrets about an interesting, well thought out story.”
“- interesting story and lore, though fairly familiar and predictable for those well-versed in the genre’s narrative conventions.”
“Quite compact combat and exploration game with a sufficiently abstract story driving the game forward.”
“The story is hidden behind certain NPC text and item descriptions, and I really hope we can get a YouTuber one day to dig deep into the story and give us all the information, because I like what I've read thus far!”
“The story?”
- atmosphere8 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its distinct and evocative qualities, featuring oppressive dark areas contrasted with a calm, welcoming town. The moody ambient music and impressive pixel art further enhance the immersive experience, making it a compelling environment for exploration. Overall, the atmosphere is described as beautiful and reminiscent of classic titles, earning a perfect score from users.
“Fountains excels in creating a beautiful, atmospheric world that encourages exploration.”
“Very moody ambient songs enhance the atmosphere perfectly.”
“The world’s ambiance is distinct and evocative: dark areas feel oppressive and foreboding, while the town exudes a calm, welcoming atmosphere.”
“The atmosphere definitely reminds me of Dark Souls 1, but in my opinion, that's the only similarity to Dark Souls there is.”
“Very tight atmosphere.”
- music7 mentions
- 86 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and ability to enhance the atmosphere, perfectly complementing the exploration-heavy design. Reviewers highlight the moody ambient tracks as stellar, contributing significantly to the overall experience.
“The music ties everything together.”
“Both the art and music are stellar, perfectly complementing the game’s exploration-heavy design.”
“Very moody ambient songs enhance the atmosphere perfectly.”
- humor5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's humor is characterized by a mix of dark comedy and quirky, out-of-the-box ideas, with NPCs and enemy vocals delivering intentionally hilarious moments. Players appreciate the goofy characters and funny gimmicks, contributing to an enjoyable experience, though some feel the overall depth in combat and location detail is lacking.
“Some do it with lots of dark humor, funny ideas, out-of-the-box concepts, etc.”
“Enemy and NPC vocals are perfect and sometimes (intentionally) hilarious.”
“I thought it was a simple but enjoyable game, with very goofy characters that often made me laugh.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game somewhat tedious, particularly due to bosses frequently running out of range, which prolongs encounters and can lead to frustration. While these issues are not deemed critical, addressing them through patches could enhance the overall experience and reduce the feeling of wasted time.
“After going around the block a couple of times and doing some grinding, neither of these is truly an issue, but a small headache and/or waste of time could be avoided if these issues were addressed via patch.”
“Many bosses constantly run out of range, dragging fights out unnecessarily and making them feel tedious.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game has received high praise for its optimization, with users reporting flawless performance and no issues, highlighting the developers' commitment to delivering a polished experience from the outset.
“It's definitely a breath of fresh air to play a game with zero performance issues, and I applaud the dev for taking the time to get it right the first time.”
“Finishing on a positive note, I've really enjoyed the artwork and the performance has been flawless.”
