FOUNTAINS Metroidvania Soulslike Review - Soulsborne Seeker

[@soulsborneseeker]

Are you planning on giving FOUNTAINS a shot?

[@MetroidvaniaGuru]

Awesome review. I’ll have to check this out. Gives me strong Hyper Light Drifter vibes, and HLD is one of my favorite games of all time.

[@soulsborneseeker]

You'll probably enjoy this one, then, though do keep in mind that HLD is a much better experience, and they do have their differences.

[@thisnameistaken]

@@soulsborneseeker What makes HLD a better experience? I really liked HLD, I actually beat it, but I found the swordplay felt pretty unresponsive.

[@soulsborneseeker]

@thisnameistaken It's been a really long time since I played it, but the thing that immediately comes to mind was the lack of a stamina bar, which allowed you to maintain momentum in combat, and the world felt more imaginative!

[@d00mnoodle24]

I finally played HLD this year and it's my favorite game i've played this year. It's awesome to hear you also love it

[@kokroucz]

I disagree HLD isn't much of a better experience. These two games only looks similar but are in fact totally different. HLD is not souls like per se and its main focus is visual narrative. Fountains is basically top down souls like with much more action rpg/m-vania elements (equipment and stat progress) with focus on challenging fights. IMO HLD is much easier and simpler with just few things you can upgrade.

[@ridleyrage5283]

Hey @Soulsbourne Seeker! Thanks for shining your lanterns on this one, I decided to find it after your review of it. I KIND of like this one? To address the elephant in the room, my biggest problem with the game are its bosses. They have way, WAY too much health, and their patterns are too sporadic and some are absurdly fast, giving you next to no time to act and/or heal, and its a big issue, and not a skill-based one, Im afraid. As is with most encounters in general. And this is another one of those "nah, we're not gonna make you feel powerful at all, you want power? Crawl, worm, crawl!" kind of games, and that just feels downright bad. Im all for finding new gear and weapons, but when the next best sword you find does +2 or...+5 more damage, considering how tanky most enemies get, at least give me a unique passive ability to negate the next-to-nothing damage increase, I dont want to be able to one-shot everything, but you really do have to work for everything, and it never feels all too rewarding, imo. That said, exploration I thought was quite fun, though I didnt find the map all that useful and instead relied on memory, since most individual areas arent overly large and some have a landmark or two, traversal feels pretty good, and I mean, I like the way the game looks and feels, but maybe a re-tuning to the weapons/armor is in order. Like, atm, I have the dull crystal sword, grappling hook, lantern, I got the master fishing rod; can't beat the kraken boss for the life of me, and same with the desert temple boss - though I came somewhat close once. It is a pretty addictive game otherwise, and I appreciate that it doesnt have a death counter or I wouldnt have thought twice to not even send a glance its way. My final thoughts are; its not bad, but begs for improvement, and maybe could recommend

[@soulsborneseeker]

I think what you're experiencing in some of the battles is the inconsistency I mentioned, which did make my life difficult with a few of the bosses! As for the fights themselves, I do recommend upgrading the dull sword with a whetstone to make things a bit more manageable, and also make sure your equipment is appropriate for the boss you are facing (for example, the Kraken largely relies on magic damage, if I recall, so make sure to use equipment that has lots of magic defense)!

[@Ar0474]

I seriously love this game! I bought it on launch and only have 3 bosses left, but damn i get lost so easy! I love the world though!!

[@soulsborneseeker]

That makes two of us!

[@josephzamer5802]

This remembers me a lot Hyperlight drifter, whether being just 60% of that one in quality, for me is already a must!

[@soulsborneseeker]

Yes, it is reminiscent of HLD, though do keep in mind they have differences, and HLD is a better game!

[@pavlotverdokhlib7627]

I remember the demo. It was quite fun. The perspective and art style is giving me good Blood omen vibes. Even though I'm grabbing loads of stuff in the Steam sale already I'll probably grab it.

[@soulsborneseeker]

I hope you have fun with it! Also, damn did you take me back with that Blood Omen reference xD

[@jayhouston7054]

Very interesting. I got this recommended to me by steam in my que because of my play of Drova:Forsaken Kin(which I loved and may play it a 3rd time now that Insane mode was added the other day). So looked for a review and enjoyed your review...now I'm really tempted, although its a souls game, not heavy in rpg elements which I prefer it seems.

[@soulsborneseeker]

I definitely enjoyed it a lot!

[@jayefe17]

I will be giving this a try soon

[@soulsborneseeker]

Hope you have fun with it!

[@pc4135]

I hope they port this to console Would love to play it on switch or successor

[@soulsborneseeker]

They'll probably do if it ends up being successful!

[@tinminator8905]

I loved the demo so much that I was super hyped. Unfortunately I found the game outside of the demo zones to have a large drop in quality. They are much more empty and less interconnected. I would have loved for this gem to have cooked a bit more. It could have been one one of the best indie games ever along games like hollow knight if they kept up the pace IMO. It is still a great game, but at the end I found myself super disappointed that the last 4 main bosses are essentially right after each other with no real new areas in between. Just empty hallways straight to the next fight. The bosses are all super great, but everything else feels so rushed.

[@soulsborneseeker]

Hmm, I didn't really get that sense, aside from one boss that felt like it had nothing in-between once you accessed its area. As for interconnectedness, I found the game to have a ton of shortcuts, including some truly obscure ones!

[@tinminator8905]

@ The Church of Shape is empty. It is a bunch of rooms and hallways with enemies, but no environmental detail whatsoever. Same with the palace. Same with the temple of vela. Same with the area up to the fountain of youth. These are the last 4 bosses. Everything builds up for this to be the last half of the game, but it is done in just 20 minutes, when you don’t count the time it takes for the bosses. The dried basin is the only area aside from the demo that feels fleshed out (demo ended at the lake after you beat the hook boss).

[@soulsborneseeker]

@@tinminator8905 From those, only the Temple of Vela felt empty to me. I think the Church of Shape is meant to evoke a sense of empty, bland geometry that is slightly unsettling but hides immense possibility, given the one that owns it is also a creature of meaningless shape that can pretty much become anything he wants (also, it is home to one of the more interesting puzzles of the game, which hides phenomenal equipment). I liked the palace for what it was (it had several enemies, the "worthy" secret which gave a small piece of lore though, to be honest, it wasn't that impressive if that was all it was, and some nice equipment for the early game). As for the Fountain of Youth, I'd say the lack of enemies and snippets of dialogue given from the last boss was what made that area impressive in my humble opinion, in that it slowly built a sense of unease and dread as you kept walking and seeing the different reflections of the ones that made the mistake in the past while the creature kept reminding you of said mistake, up until you got to the battle (which was a living nightmare for me, to be honest. I found it very hard in its second phase, which I felt was inconsistent in terms of attack patterns and reaction times). All in all, I guess we had a different experience in terms of those places!

[@d00mnoodle24]

As soon as you mentioned the death penalties and difficulty i decided this game wasn't for me. A shame since it gives of abit of HLD vibes but in a fantasy setting instead of scifi. Like i mentioned a few times i finally played hyper light drifter this year and it's my favorite game i played so far in 2024. It's a game known for being hard but i found it to be incredibly easy to pick up. I went from being destroyed in seconds to clearing whole rooms without taking damage. And from bosses killing me in one combo to feeling like i could do them hitless within an hour of practice. What's most appealing about HLD though was the fact that there was no real death penalty. And because of that i LOVED HLD, it wanted me to get better and persevere. These soulslike mechanics that are ever present nowadays feel like they want to beat you down and punish you for trying. I like a challenging game but only if it's fair and not overly punishing. Blasphemous for example had a form of death penalty but never one that felt like it was painful. Or death's gambit, same deal. Anyways i'm not picking this up but i'll add it to my playlist of playthroughs to watchon my morning commute. Nice review seeker, as informative as always!

[@soulsborneseeker]

Glad you enjoyed the review! Indeed, the game can feel quite punishing at times, mostly when it comes to boss-fights, which truly feel very much Dark Souls. I would have preferred a corpse-run mechanic, but the coin-pouch system they implemented was also alright, once I figured out the mentality.

[@budfug8691]

the blob boss (rhamos I think) is by far the worst *imo* He has an attack in blob form where he jabs a spear at you which is telegraphed by a slight shake before he does it. sometimes it just shoots out and theres absolutely no sign, taking half my health and then giving me a false chance to heal because he immediately launches into his attack "pattern", it doesn't help that he has a huge health pool AND heals itself. I also find it strange the things that are tied to magic and things that are tied to stamina. I feel like the dash ring should obviously be stamina as its a physical attack and movement. just my opinion. I really like the game, but like you said, it has inconsistency to combat that leaves a sour taste in my mouth because I feel like im only going beat it by sheer luck or a gamebreaking item (flaming halo *cough*)

[@soulsborneseeker]

That was a truly tough boss for sure. You can sort of predict most of his attacks if you pay very close attention, especially in his human form, though the cube is a bit more tricky for sure.

[@kimmoon8896]

hi, do you no secret code in setting ?

[@soulsborneseeker]

@@kimmoon8896 Hello there! Which secret code are you referring to? Are you talking about the piano sequence?

[@LiorDerei]

How do you talk so much without taking a break to breath, that's insane lol

[@soulsborneseeker]

I do have good lung capacity, though, to be honest, several of those parts are just decent editing :D

[@LiorDerei]

@soulsborneseeker great lungs, editing and review! You did a great job and the game looks really interesting

[@soulsborneseeker]

@@LiorDerei Thank you, I appreciate it!

[@enutrofdude]

@@soulsborneseeker Some of the "creators" out there seem to edit every 0.3 seconds of silence out of their videos -- and to my ears, it comes out very choppy, jarring, and unnatural. Thank you for taking a softer approach to editing, and thanks for the review.

[@soulsborneseeker]

@enutrofdude I do my best to make the flow sound as fluid and natural as possible! Glad you enjoy it!

[@MattRandomnumber]

Reminds me of Morbid: The Seven Acolytes which I thought was gonna be really cool but kind of sucked ass. Maybe this is better.

[@soulsborneseeker]

I haven't played that one, so I can't compare, unfortunately 😕

[@endrgar]

I didn't like the game, an attempt to make Dark Souls in isometric view. For some reason, stamina was added. Hyper Light Drifter was without stamina and was played pleasantly. The interface is simply not pleasant, the design of the interface interface didn't bother. The world turned out not bad, there are some vibes when you can climb somewhere and find a secret place. The combat system lacks variety. They worked hard on the mini map. It looks nice. The game is not bad, not what I expected, but there is interest, I plan to play it in the future.

[@soulsborneseeker]

It has an immense sense of discovery for sure, that was one of its best aspects! I didn't mind the lack of melee combat variety, to be honest, though they could have been a bit more generous with stamina.