Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines

yaonam rated The Fountain: Prelude

yaonam rated a furry visual novel 150 days ago
A browser furry visual novel made in HTML5.

The art was very well done. Very cool UI. The closeup portraits and the huge number of shadowy rooms/hallways did a great job at giving that retro, horror feel. The world and setting were also quite intriguing, leaving both the characters and the readers with lots of worries and unknowns.


[Spoilers below...]


Now for the more nitpicky stuff.

The text scrolling sound effect was a cool idea but not properly implemented. Sometimes it would still be playing long after the text had stopped moving. Thankfully, I was able to turn it off.

At the very start, we're introduced to way too many characters. Even with the rotating face shots, it was hard to keep track of who was who. I couldn't even remember who the MC was until like midway through the game.

The dream sequence was a little too unbelievable. Reading through it, my initial thought was that this was a horrible way to escalate. Then it was revealed that it was actually just a (prophetic?) dream. I think it's fine for dreams to be obviously not real, but that doesn't mean it should be done without a care for flow/pacing. Needs to be somewhat believable.

My last two points relate to how the story seems to demonize the "other" (other being as defined from the perspective of the general furry audience). Like why is the hetero relationship so overly cringe and in your face? If there was a message there, I completely missed it, being genuinely too confused about what the intention was creating a character like Jenn. Seems like they were friends at the start, so why did everything turn to shit halfway like it was the most normal thing in the world? Some descent into madness thing, that only applies to straight people?...

Then there's the bit with the Harvard thing. It's not so much an issue storywise, just a fact-checking peeve of mine (like when movies have bogus science or fake musicians). Harvard, like most top unis, have insanely generous financial aid packages, so there's no way MC would not be able to afford it. Also, business majors do much more than just trade stocks, so when someone who's "nerdy enough to get into Harvard" says that, it reads as very diminutive. [Disclaimer: I did NOT attend Harvard]

But with that out of the way, the Jenn/Trent and Harvard bits felt like MC is trying to push down/reject things mainstream society idolizes. I don't see how it adds to the plot, other than establishing a "woe is me and it's your fault" personality for the MC.

Overall, while the story could use some work, the way everything came together formed quite an interesting experience. You could tell the dev put a lot of work into this, so good job!