Survival: Fountain of Youth Delivers a Refreshing Change of Tempo
I’ve previewed and reviewed a bunch of survival video games through the years. Every one tries to do one thing slightly completely different to face out from the gang, and Survival: Fountain of Youth isn’t any exception. The distinctive options of this recreation definitely intrigued me once I performed it in the course of the Subsequent Fest in Summer time 2022 and I used to be anxious to dive right into a extra full model of the sport.
Survival: Fountain of Youth is ready someday within the early 1500s. You’re a anonymous crew member who has joined Ponce de Leon’s expedition to the Caribbean and Florida searching for the titular magical fountain. Sadly, issues go awry and your ship shatters to items, depositing you on the seaside
A Legendary Journey
Your journey begins on the doomed ship that is carrying you over the ocean. A hearth breaks out and also you’re trapped — the one approach to security is thru a damaged window. Earlier than you dive out, although, you will have to decide on your beginning gear.
There are a complete of 10 objects to select from, and every one among them is beneficial. You could possibly take the Leather-based Backpack and improve your stock measurement. Maybe you possibly can play it protected and take the Bag of Drugs in case you get sick. Or, as an alternative, you possibly can play it actually protected and take the Pistol with ammo.
You possibly can solely decide two objects to take with you — or three, in case you’re taking part in on Straightforward issue — and that is the primary problem that you will have to face. I think about that the restricted choice represents grabbing a number of issues in a rush earlier than the fireplace consumes the ship. I made my typical alternative of the Iron Axe and Iron Flint and dove into the water.
Taking Your Time
With the intro over, the sport itself begins correct. You awake on a seaside of an unknown island, surrounded by crabs and coconuts. It isn’t instantly apparent, however you might be undoubtedly on the clock in Survival: Fountain of Youth.
Illness and damage are one of many challenges on this recreation, considerably akin to what you see in Inexperienced Hell. You may get a fever, the flu, indigestion, and a bunch of different maladies in case you make a nasty alternative or are merely unfortunate. What’s slightly extra distinctive about this recreation, nevertheless, is the addition of environmental components. The new Caribbean solar is thrashing down on you, and which means you will get a sunburn with out safety. Proceed to remain within the solar and your damage will worsen, penalizing your stats to a larger diploma.
I am going to fortunately concede that some individuals won’t like how Survival: Fountain of Youth forces you to handle your time, however I believe it is a refreshing change from the established order of survival video games.
This gentle time strain isn’t probably the most attention-grabbing means that the sport makes use of time, although. Motion and fight happen in real-time, however harvesting sources (and performing sure different actions) brings up a dialogue menu. Work together with a tree, harvest some sources, and time will soar ahead. You will lose some software sturdiness, your stats will go down barely (representing the passage of time), and the sources you need are on the bottom.
I am going to fortunately concede that some individuals won’t like how Survival: Fountain of Youth forces you to handle your time, however I believe it is a refreshing change from the established order of survival video games. I have never seen very many video games that do one thing like this, and I believe that this one characteristic would make it a recreation value exploring — if just for the sheer novelty of it.
Unraveling the Thriller
There’s extra to Survival: Fountain of Youth than, effectively, survival. There’s additionally a narrative to discover — one other welcome respite from the years of storyless survival video games. The island you land on (and the opposite islands within the instant space) is house to an historical civilization referred to as the Bimini. They’ve left behind “chronicles” which depict their mythology, deserted temples, and seemingly magical potions.
The core hook of the story is your try to meet up with Ponce de Leon and work out what occurred to the remainder of the crew. This narrative enhances the survival side, supplying you with a objective and all the time pushing you ahead.
Survival: Fountain of Youth provides you a beneficiant quantity of flexibility to find out the way you wish to play the sport.
That very same ahead momentum additionally applies to your motion between the islands. After you are completed with the islands within the Chicken Area, you will take a ship on a journey to the Buffalo Area. This second zone has a harsher local weather, harder enemies, and extra highly effective sources so that you can exploit.
Survival: Fountain of Youth would not power you to take this path, although. You could possibly, for instance, decide to construct a most important base on the Island of Hope the place you start the sport and quick journey house anytime you have to do some crafting. Alternatively, you possibly can purpose for a extra nomadic really feel, constructing a brand new base camp for every new area you discover. Survival: Fountain of Youth provides you a beneficiant quantity of flexibility to find out the way you wish to play it.
Survival: Fountain of Youth Preview – Closing Ideas
I progressed to the present endpoint of Survival: Fountain of Youth’s story in only a few hours, although I warning that you simply will not have the identical expertise — I had the advantage of a number of dozen hours of exploring the sport to find what I may about its mechanics. I might estimate that it could take 10 to twenty hours so that you can attain the top of the presently obtainable content material.
A complete of 5 areas are deliberate, every of which has a number of smaller islands to discover (and some puzzles to resolve, too). The Early Entry launch model ends its story on the third of 4 main islands within the second area, however the whole area is nonetheless open to discover. It is a tantalizing style of what is to come back.
Survival: Fountain of Youth might not make any groundbreaking modifications to the survival style, nevertheless it’s a reasonably strong survival recreation as it’s proper now. The time mechanics, illness system, and different distinctive touches make it stand out just a bit greater than the competitors. In the event you’re a fan of the survival style, I believe that Survival: Fountain of Youth is effectively value trying out.
TechRaptor previewed Survival: Fountain of Youth on PC by way of Steam utilizing a duplicate offered by the writer.
