Survival: Fountain of Youth Review — A Journey Through a Timeless Legend

The tale of the fountain of youth is one passed down through the generations. Magical water that can stop and even reverse aging, allowing one to live forever. This is the foundational narrative for Survival: Fountain of Youth. Mixing the story of Juan Ponce de Leon with exploration focused quests and survival mechanics has produced an entertaining indie title. 

Take to the Seas in Survival: Fountain of Youth 

Washed ashore a small island after the destruction of your ship, you find yourself without any recent memory. Your aim is to travel throughout the four regions and reach the Bimini Belt where the fountain of youth is rumored to be hidden while tracking down the crews of the other two ships and Ponce de Leon.

Travelling throughout the regions you'll be managing hunger and thirst. This means finding fresh water and building ways to cook food. You'll also need to craft vessels capable of navigating between the islands and ultimately make it through the turbulent waters of the Bimini Belt.

The hardest part of surviving the islands is not dying to the creatures, especially if you don't focus on acquiring large amounts of ore to craft advanced weapons. Perfecting blocking helps, but ranged weapons are the way to prevent taking damage. Melee against crocodiles or bosses can quickly rack up the death count. With limited Living Water to remove max help debuffs, not dying in the first place is a priority. 

Quest Driven Narrative

While there are survival and crafting mechanics in Survival: Fountain of Youth, they aren't the strongest part of the game. The quests and the lore they impart on the player are. Each quest reveals a part of Ponce de Leon's journey through the area in his quest for the fountain. They expand to the fates of your fellow sailors and launch a nefarious plot that you must unravel. 

In addition to the quests are the Chronicles hidden in each region. When found, each Chronicle details the history of the Bimini tribes and their fate. You even get to meet one member of the Snake Tribe towards the end of the game. These pieces of lore solidify the world you playing in. 

Unfortunately, since it is so quest-driven, additional playthroughs are heavily discounted. I couldn't see myself playing through the title a second time as the story has a definite ending, and any surprise the plot threw at you are no longer impactful. 

Base building in Survival: Fountain of Youth is sparse, with decor primarily centered on hunting trophies and some nautical items. Personally, it doesn't provide enough of a draw for repeated playthroughs. What kept me going through the game to reach the end was the want to find out who you're actually playing as and if the fountain is real. 

Along with the lack of creative base mechanics, there's really no innovation when it comes to crafting. You have a smoker and a campfire, a tanner, and farms. While there are game-specific crafters, such as the saltpeter, there's nothing unique about the implementation. 

Overall, Survival: Fountain of Youth presents a compelling narrative, it's a standard survival crafting game that borders on an RPG. The story is well executed and entertaining, but many of the title's mechanics offer nothing new to the genre. After an initial playthrough, while being provided many hours of entertainment, I wouldn't be amenable to a second save. 

Disclaimer: Survival: Fountain of Youth was reviewed on PC with a copy provided by OdinSoft Inc. All screenshots were taken during the process of review with over 50 hours of gameplay.