FOUNTAINS

About

"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."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

93%

Audience ScoreBased on 191 reviews

gameplay18 positive mentions

grinding4 negative mentions

The game features impressive level design that is complex yet navigable, encouraging exploration without causing frustration.
Combat is fast-paced and responsive, providing a satisfying challenge with a variety of enemy types and engaging boss fights.
The art style and music create a captivating atmosphere, enhancing the overall experience and immersing players in the game's world.

The map design is lacking, making it difficult to navigate and often leading to confusion about where to go next.
Some bosses can feel overpowered, leading to frustrating encounters that may require excessive grinding or backtracking.
The combat mechanics can feel repetitive and simplistic, lacking the depth found in other games within the genre.

gameplay
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
58%
6%
The gameplay is generally praised for its snappy responsiveness, polished combat mechanics, and engaging exploration, with a unique water system that adds strategic depth. However, some players find the core combat loop repetitive and criticize the healing mechanic's effectiveness, particularly in boss fights. Overall, while the game has strong mechanics and enjoyable elements, there are calls for improvements in certain areas to enhance the overall experience.
- “The gameplay is snappy and responsive, with engaging, challenging combat.”
- “+ polished gameplay with clean combat mechanics and smooth movement.”
- “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.”
graphics
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
42%
12%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their gorgeous pixel art style, which effectively captures the atmosphere and enhances the gameplay experience. Reviewers highlight the beautiful and intricate enemy designs, as well as the fluid animations that contribute to the overall charm. However, some criticism is directed at certain areas feeling sparse or generic, suggesting a need for more environmental detail.
- “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.”
- “It's challenging, rewarding and intriguing with a perfectly crafted pixelated art style, what's not to like?”
- “Graphics: simple yet impressive pixel art that beautifully captures the game’s atmosphere.”
- “Graphics: retro”
- “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.”
- “The character movements and aesthetics?”
story
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
58%
13%
The game's story is described as interesting and well-crafted, though familiar and somewhat predictable for genre veterans. It is intricately woven into the gameplay, with lore revealed through NPC dialogues and item descriptions, encouraging exploration and discovery. While some players appreciate the depth and interconnectedness of the narrative, others note that it may require external resources to fully understand its nuances.
- “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.”
- “The game is fun, dynamic, and it invites you to explore the lore and story of the world.”
- “- Interesting story and lore, though fairly familiar and predictable for those well-versed in the genre’s narrative conventions.”
- “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!”
- “Quite compact combat and exploration game with a sufficiently abstract story driving the game forward.”
- “The story?”
atmosphere
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
65%
18%
18%
The atmosphere in "Fountains" is highly praised for its impressive variety, combining dark, oppressive areas with calm, welcoming towns, creating a distinct and evocative ambiance. The moody ambient music and simple yet striking pixel art further enhance the game's immersive environment, making it a standout feature that encourages exploration. Overall, reviewers rate the atmosphere a perfect 10/10, highlighting its beauty and depth.
- “The music suits the impressively varied environments, and the overall dark and dingy atmosphere is perfect.”
- “Fountains excels in creating a beautiful, atmospheric world that encourages exploration.”
- “The atmosphere definitely reminds me of Dark Souls 1, but in my opinion, that's the only similarity to Dark Souls there is.”
- “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.”
music
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
93%
7%
The music in the game is widely praised for its ability to enhance the dark and immersive atmosphere, with many describing it as beautiful and moody. Reviewers note that the ambient tracks perfectly complement the varied environments and the exploration-heavy design, making it a standout aspect of the overall experience.
- “The music suits the impressively varied environments and the overall dark and dingy atmosphere is perfect.”
- “Very moody ambient songs enhance the atmosphere perfectly.”
- “Both the art and music are stellar, perfectly complementing the game’s exploration-heavy design.”
humor
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its humor, featuring a mix of dark comedy and quirky, out-of-the-box ideas that often elicit laughter. Players appreciate the hilarious enemy and NPC vocals, as well as the goofy characters that enhance the overall enjoyment, despite some criticisms regarding combat and location detail.
- “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. The exploration was great, the movement is smooth, but it also does not have the same amount of nuance in combat or detail in locations.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game is praised for its flawless performance and lack of any optimization issues, highlighting the developers' commitment to delivering a polished experience from the outset. Players appreciate the smooth gameplay, which enhances their overall enjoyment.
- “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.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to bosses frequently running out of range, which prolongs fights unnecessarily. While some feel that repeated grinding can mitigate these frustrations, they believe that addressing these issues through patches could significantly enhance the experience.
- “Many bosses constantly run out of range, dragging fights out unnecessarily and making them feel tedious.”
- “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.”