Survival: Fountain of Youth

85%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,126 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
Survival: Fountain of Youth Game Cover
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"Survival: Fountain of Youth" is a single-player open-world survival game set in the Caribbean during the Age of Discovery. As a member of Juan Ponce de Leon's expedition, you must craft your way through the struggles of survival on an uninhabited island, while uncovering the secrets of an ancient civilization and your own fate. Brave dangerous animals, harsh weather, and other challenges to ultimately discover the Fountain of Youth.

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Reviews

85%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,126 reviews
story137 positive mentions
grinding72 negative mentions
  • Engaging survival mechanics that require careful planning and resource management.
  • Beautiful graphics and immersive environments that enhance the exploration experience.
  • A compelling storyline that adds depth to the survival gameplay.
  • Resource gathering is overly tedious, relying on a menu-based system that detracts from immersion.
  • Combat mechanics feel clunky and unresponsive, making encounters frustrating.
  • The game can be grindy, with long respawn times for essential resources, leading to repetitive gameplay.
  • story356 mentions

    The game's story is generally well-received, with many players appreciating its engaging narrative and the way it intertwines with survival mechanics, providing a sense of purpose to exploration and crafting. However, some critiques highlight that the story can be predictable and lacks depth, with calls for more side quests and narrative variety. Overall, while the story may not be groundbreaking, it adds a significant layer to the gameplay experience, making it a standout feature among survival games.

    • “This game is not multiplayer, but if you are looking for a single-player game with challenging gameplay and amazing storytelling, this is the game for you.”
    • “The story is interesting, engaging, and ends with a twist I absolutely did not see coming.”
    • “A wonderful survival game with a unique and interesting story and setting.”
    • “The story is poor, but the fact it has one at all gives it a leg up over many survival/crafter games.”
    • “The storyline is mediocre (but also why most players won't be playing the game).”
    • “The story was so-so; it might as well not exist, and the game itself offers enjoyable gameplay.”
  • gameplay238 mentions

    The gameplay of the game is a mixed bag, featuring solid core mechanics and a unique time management system that enhances survival and crafting experiences. While many players appreciate the depth and challenge of resource gathering and base building, others criticize the clunky crafting interface and combat mechanics, which can detract from the overall enjoyment. Despite some frustrations, the game offers an engaging single-player experience with beautiful graphics and a compelling atmosphere, making it a worthwhile endeavor for fans of the survival genre.

    • “The gameplay loop, the crafting, resource gathering, hunting, exploration, RPG elements, and a bit of story all combined and done well make this a ton of fun.”
    • “I have enjoyed many survival games in the past, but none have gripped me so hard with their gameplay before.”
    • “The mechanics implemented so far are mostly smooth and polished.”
    • “Extremely boring, harvesting involved endless menus and right clicking, hated the initial island 'hope', just boring survival mechanics then random mountain climbing... same enemies on the first two islands... just a boring game.”
    • “The gameplay and movement mechanics are complete garbage.”
    • “The mechanic of there being no animations for gathering or doing any action but instead a slider bar loading screen is atrocious.”
  • graphics100 mentions

    Overall, the graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players praising the beautiful visuals and immersive environments, particularly in terms of landscape and lighting. However, some criticize certain aspects, such as outdated cutscenes and performance issues on lower-end hardware. While the graphics are generally considered good, there are mentions of inconsistencies and areas needing improvement, particularly in optimization and detail.

    • “The graphics are beautiful.”
    • “The visuals are a treat, with a beautiful world begging to be explored.”
    • “The graphics are sublime, especially the ocean and its waves, and qualify this game for purchase by themselves.”
    • “Very basic game, graphics are very poor.”
    • “The graphics are out of date.”
    • “The bad- convoluted crafting system, way too many commands to do anything, cannot fully bind keys for left handed, graphics are mediocre, hints for crafting are poor.”
  • grinding77 mentions

    The reviews indicate a mixed perception of grinding in the game, with some players finding it overly tedious and detracting from enjoyment, particularly in the early stages and during resource collection. Others appreciate the grind as a necessary aspect of survival gameplay, noting that it becomes more manageable with progression and skill improvements. Overall, while some players enjoy the challenge and depth of crafting, many feel that the grind can be excessive and tedious at times.

    • “It was fair and not tedious as in some other games.”
    • “The shelter/house building system is absolutely great and not grindy.”
    • “Really enjoyable survival game, that is challenging but not too grindy.”
    • “The start of the game feels overly grindy and I was generally not motivated to continue forward.”
    • “This is one of the most tedious survival games I've ever played.”
    • “I get that the developer wants to make survival challenging, but when you make picking up sticks, stones, and leaves a tedious process with a lot of running around, the fun gets lost along the way.”
  • optimization24 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while some players report smooth performance and good graphics on lower-end systems, many others experience significant frame drops, stuttering, and poor performance even on high-end hardware. Issues such as bouncy movement, problematic hitboxes, and specific areas with heavy foliage contribute to the perception that further optimization is needed. Many users suggest waiting for improvements before fully committing to the game.

    • “The game runs smoothly, without too much lag, and no crashes (for me at least).”
    • “Really nicely polished as well, and seems well-optimized for my somewhat-going-on-potato gaming laptop.”
    • “Must say I am also incredibly impressed with the physics system with just how much you can hoard and pile up on the ground with no noticeable performance drops or wacky physics explosions.”
    • “Needs some optimization... mainly movement (very bouncy), hit boxes on ships, AI animals yeeting themselves into orbit if they jump over anything.”
    • “Besides that, it's very poorly optimized and only runs with 20-30fps on the lowest settings on a high-performance system, that's why I've refunded it recently.”
    • “Terrible performance/optimization, but that's to be expected from an EA survival.”
  • music17 mentions

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate its immersive and atmospheric qualities, particularly in relation to the survival genre, others find it repetitive and lacking in variety. The ambient sounds and unique wildlife cues enhance the experience, but there are calls for improvements to the music to better capture the game's atmosphere. Overall, the soundtrack is generally considered pleasant and fitting, contributing positively to the gameplay experience.

    • “It has a relaxed music score, and it’s nice to have this pace in a survival genre packed with fraught shocks and horror.”
    • “The music is pleasant and fitting.”
    • “Great music and ambience so far!”
    • “The ambient noise is decent, but the music feels repetitive and doesn't quite capture the atmosphere.”
    • “Graphically the game is average, and so is its music/sound.”
    • “I hope there is an improvement or addition to music.”
  • stability15 mentions

    The stability of the game is mixed, with some players experiencing frequent glitches, freezes, and combat-related bugs, while others report a smooth experience with no issues. Many users find the build options menu clunky and unorganized, contributing to a frustrating gameplay experience. Overall, while some players enjoy the game despite its bugs, others find it too unstable and low-budget, leading to refunds.

    • “There have been no glitches, lag, or errors.”
    • “It has depth, is bug-free as far as I can tell, and is challenging.”
    • “For those who like survival, it has so far been worth the money spent, and I applaud the developers for it; so far, no glitches or bugs that I've encountered.”
    • “Game freezes up often.”
    • “I was excited for Stranded Deep, but it felt too low budget and buggy as well.”
    • “Cannot recommend such a buggy game.”
  • atmosphere15 mentions

    The atmosphere in the game is generally praised for being immersive and captivating, with beautiful landscapes and evocative music that enhance the experience. While some players find the ambient noise decent, others note that the music can become repetitive. Overall, the atmosphere is a key highlight, encouraging exploration and adding depth to the gameplay, despite some criticisms regarding the visuals and certain gameplay mechanics.

    • “Love how the atmosphere is mostly chilled until you make a dumb mistake and then suddenly everything goes to hell in a handbasket.”
    • “Beautiful, atmospheric landscapes, an evocative score, and good story all make for a winning game!”
    • “The atmosphere is immersive, the story unique, and there is a ton to discover in early access.”
    • “The ambient noise is decent, but the music feels repetitive and doesn't quite capture the atmosphere.”
    • “- no real sense of atmosphere”
    • “The atmosphere of the new world: climbing some trees, building your base, constructing boats and the opportunity to swim underwater - this alone is fascinating, not stunning, but not bad, in a modest-sized world.”
  • replayability5 mentions

    Replayability in the game is viewed as mixed; some players feel there is little incentive to replay after completing the story, especially with limited future content updates, while others appreciate the adjustable difficulty settings, crafting system, and flexible pacing that enhance replay value. Overall, opinions vary significantly, making replayability a subjective aspect of the game experience.

    • “In my opinion, there is high replayability despite it being a set story because there are lots of adjustable difficulty settings, and you can approach the story as fast or as slow as you want.”
    • “When you throw in the developing crafting system, meticulous environment, and a flowing story that doesn't feel like the usual plot on rails you can't avoid in other games of this type, you get a product that has plenty of replay value.”
    • “I don't see any replay value after the story is over, which is why I am holding off on finishing it, hoping for some DLC in the future. However, it does not look like that'll happen based on the comments I've seen from the developers, but maybe that'll change, though it's unlikely.”
    • “Replay value: too subjective to score it.”
  • humor3 mentions

    The humor in the game is characterized by a deliberately forced and poorly executed narration, which some players find amusing. While the single-player experience may lack engaging storytelling, the potential for comedic moments in multiplayer scenarios is noted, particularly in the absurdity of environmental changes during crafting. Overall, the game's humor seems to resonate more through its quirks and the amusing context of negative reviews.

    • “The narration is hilariously forced and bad, adding an unexpected layer of humor to the story.”
    • “It's unfortunate you can't get this in multiplayer, but it would be hilarious to see the sky rapidly turning dark or day when someone crafts.”
    • “I bought the game because of the funny negative reviews about a badger.”
  • monetization2 mentions

    The monetization aspect of the game has been criticized as feeling like a cash grab, despite the developers' apparent intention to create a quality experience. Users express disappointment that the game was not more polished at launch, suggesting that financial motives may have overshadowed the development process.

    • “You would think with the EA time that they would have worked out a lot of the issues to make it more polished before a full release, but this seems mainly like a cash grab in my opinion.”
    • “It's not difficult to see that the dev set out to make a good game and not a good cash grab.”
  • character development1 mentions

    The game features a robust character development system that allows players to learn over 100 recipes and technologies, upgrade various gear and equipment, and enhance their skills through a 'learn by doing' approach. This depth of progression contributes to a rich and engaging gameplay experience.

    • “There is a good amount (over 100) of recipes and techs to learn, along with upgrading gear, clothes, ships, and workbenches as you progress, thanks to the 'learn by doing' character development system.”
    • “The character development system is incredibly engaging, allowing players to grow and evolve their characters through hands-on experience and a wide variety of skills to master.”
    • “I love how the game encourages character growth through practical experience, with numerous recipes and technologies to discover and upgrade.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

43hMedian play time
44hAverage play time
25-60hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 21 analyzed playthroughs

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