Survival: Fountain of Youth

Very fun at the beginning. By mid game it gets extremely tedious and grindy. Very buggy when trying to connect building sections.

I've played a lot of survival+crafting games, like The Long Dark, The Forest, Valheim, Vintage Story and some more. Survival: Fountain of Youth is somehow hard to judge for me and I am not sure why it is. My first impression was not the best, as I saw the quite basic survival mechanics and the pretty linear storyline. Only later I realized that this was part of a quite well-made "tutorial" introduction into the game. What felt simplyfied and restricting at first (need to climb specific trees to chart the environment - then you see resources, spawn points etc. on the map) later turned out as being flexible and helpful enough to be accepted. The UI is not the worst, but still has issues, like inventory scrolling away if you remove the last item in a stack or showing helpful details in some cases, but not in others. Simulation is also simplified, e.g. you get wet and get a cold and still overheat in the sun, without the two effects cancelling out each other. Food parameters are quite random, e.g. Bananas give nutrition [i]and[/i] hydration, but tomatoes only give nutrition. So, why would I recommend the game? Well, in the end it turned out, that the game kept me entertained enough to continue playing: Crafting mechanics made me wanting to craft more items which I never crafted before. Repair system is nice to be motivated to throw away old items and recraft them. Upgrading your vessel is rewarding. Resource gathering is not too annoying. Perks and skills add some more motivation. The Story is a nice background for progressing further and unlocking new areas doesn't feel too artificial. So long story short: For every aspect of the game, there is surely another game doing it better or more detailed (need to go to Valheim soon to chop some trees^^), but they all also have aspects where they fall short compared to SFoY. So additionally given the low price, it's a clear recommendation!