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Survival : Fountain of Youth lie somewhere between account and fiction , assign players in the shoes of a 16th - century Spanish IE looking for ancient and fabulous treasure of the New World . More specifically , it insure you dally the part of a extremity of Ponce De Leon ’s crew during his legendary hunting for the Fountain of Youth ( an military expedition that historians now believe never actually happened ) when a shipwreck strand you on the so - called Isle of Hope . With the remnants of your lost crew scattered throughout the archipelago alongside the inscrutable ruins of a lost civilization , Survival : Fountain of Youth hop to severalise a compelling story through hardcore , realistic survival of the fittest gameplay , and you could certainly feel the developer ’s love for the task as you encounter through it .
natural selection : Fountain of Youth is a biz about which I struggled to form an opinion . There were sure aspects I enjoyed and periods in my playthrough when I really felt the channel of the secret plan . At clock time , I felt frustrated or uninspired by certain automobile mechanic that were annoyingly implemented . These mechanics will undoubtedly be covered in this review .
If there ’s one thing that wo n’t get me interested in a natural selection crafting secret plan , it ’s an uninspired or “ realistic ” aesthetic . I translate that Survival : Fountain of Youth is locomote for a scope ground in realness , but the visuals in the secret plan simply did not strike me . It could have certainly run short for a more stylized , interesting look than it did and still would have conveyed the same tactile sensation it wanted to impart , perhaps even better .
The game does n’t attend bad , but it does n’t look amazing , either . A heavy role of green from the game ’s fauna match with a yellow kindling pallet can make areas seem amazing in noontide and then more and more worse as the sun goes down . The biz also does n’t count like it was made in 2024 ; I got major 2016 RUST vibraharp from the environments and textures present in the game .
That does n’t intend it seem terrible , mind you . Despite having an older feel , the biz certainly manages to beguile some scenic views here and there .
A plot does n’t have to calculate with child to be fun , and as I aver before , there are certainly a fairish number of mechanics I really savor in Survival : Fountain of Youth .
Albeit , it took me a while to start enjoying myself . Initially kind of boring and thwarting , the game really started to open up after about an minute or two of play it once I got a handle on the survival of the fittest mechanics . understand how hunger and thirst body of work and getting on top of your supplies early can significantly palliate a lot of early - game annoyances you might face in Survival : Fountain of Youth .
When you ’re not in a death loop , the game ’s more interesting mechanics really reflect .
You get an idea of the game ’s originative direction right at the start . In the game ’s opening cutscene , your ship is catch in an attack , and you ’re forced to flee the cut wreckage through the captain ’s quarters ’ window . Before doing so , you get the chance to loot a chest containing valuable tools , but you may only take two .
These two tools drastically help oneself with your endurance and extend the player a really cool choice early on : will you take the rations to feed yourself , the pistol to oppose yourself , or the hatchet to foregather provision better ? After a few tries , I found that my preferred mixture was the clothing and the leather backpack to protect me from the elements and bear more weight .
Yes , I said protect me from the elements . Survival : Fountain of Youth is heavy focused on the more realistic aspects of survival . picture and disease are just as present and pestilent as evaporation and starving , and if you do n’t properly worry for yourself , you will die .
This focus on Platonism is also evident in several unexpected places . Your mathematical function is utterly white , requiring you to manually take out your surround with oxford grey to figure out your uncovering . Luckily , you’re able to regain several mammoth trees that look straight out of Tarzan , which you’re able to wax to get better mapmaking . Spiders or scorpions might leap onto your hand when harvesting a industrial plant or crawling through a cave , giving you a harmful sting or sting for interrupt their household .
In stark contrast , there are areas in the biz where that aid to item is annoyingly absent . Need stick for a fire ? Unfortunately , the one C of nearby bushes can not be harvested . Are you thirst to death ? That rattler on the level does n’t drop meat , only an uneatable rattle . Snake are famously edible in survival situations . We have a whole game called Snake Eater proving that to us .
The game has a riding habit of using its animals as roadblocks or else of be creatures to hunt and harvest . This is o.k. ; it ’s a television plot , after all , but it can be a small immersion - breaking when every creature of the timberland kick at you on flock or when you walk up to a mission positioning only to find about six rattlesnakes dead put down out to slow you down .
There are uninterrupted minor nitpicks that I could rattle off for a while . Rope , a highly used resourcefulness , is fairly rarefied on the island . The secret plan ’s gravity physics is jank , so when you fox a spear and escape , it can vanish away , or a small animal can chock up into you and send off you flying back six feet . The plot uses both one-armed bandit - based and weight - based inventory management , include for storage box . There are a great deal of things in Survival : Fountain of Youth that you ’re either going to dislike or have no impression on , depending on what sort of survival game instrumentalist you are .
The mechanic that I had the most mixed feelings about was the assembly and crafting . You do n’t physically interact with anything in the plot earth . All gathering is done through bill of fare . On the one deal , this take into account you to select which resource you want to take from an target and allows you to revisit the resources multiple time as they regrow without physically despawning from the world . On the other , it make everything feel kind of impersonal and mechanical , and I do n’t bang having to go through so many menu when I ’m trying to immerse myself in the jungle survival game .
craft , eating , gathering wood , etc . , also take a time limit point . This is to give your resources some drainage and to make you recall carefully about what you ’re go to do next . It can be pretty ridiculous , though ; it does not take two hours to light a torch , despite what the plot may say . you’re able to easily lose a whole day working on simple chore , making the food and body of water economy pretty hard to get by . particularly when it takes four minute to tap a cocoa palm down from a tree , you are probable just go to hunger .
natural selection : Fountain of Youth is belike going to be factious . You probably are n’t going to revel it in the first thirty minute to an hr of playacting . However , if you may get past some of the foiling and outlandishness , it ’s a truly interesting game with some really good ideas for the survival craft genre . I can see this plot being more popular with genre warhorse , specially those looking for a moment more of a challenge than some other games provide .
The Final Word
Survival : Fountain of Youth is full of interesting musical theme and great moments , but also some polarizing mechanics and jank . If you’re able to tough it through the game ’s dull start and learnedness curve , it will surely pull you in and give you a memorable experience despite its defect .
Try Hard Guides receive a microcomputer revue code for this game . line up more detailed expression at popular and upcoming titles on ourGame Reviewspage ! Survival : Fountain of Youth is usable onSteam .
