Adventure gamers will go ga-ga over Mumbo Jumbo’s Samantha Swift and the Fountains of Fate — particularly if you enjoy scavenger hunts, though the game offers quite a bit more than that. And at $9.99 (pretty pricy for an iOS game), it had better.
Fortunately, you’ll find that your ten bucks is well spent, with an engaging story, high-quality puzzles and hunts, and hours upon hours of play time. Fountains of Fate finds the Indiana Jones-like treasure hunter Samantha Swift searching the world for the infamous Fountain of Youth. The game is split into a map, where Samantha stops to follow the clues at famous spots all over the world. Each location features several scavenger hunts and other logic puzzles to reason out. Each scavenger hunt has items you need a tool to uncover, and there’s no time limit on any of the puzzles, so you can play at your leisure.
The game comes outfitted with plenty of thoughtful extras that make the experience all the more enjoyable. Samantha has a PDA device that can be accessed at any time during the game, which offers immediate access to a museum of collected items, a list of contacts that serves as a guide to the game’s characters, and customization options for fine-tuning the game to your own settings. Hints are available throughout the scavenger hunts, and if you find tiny lightning bolts in those hunts, you gain more hints. And unlike other scavenger games, which re-use the same game screens again and again, every hunt in this title takes place on a brand new screen.
There’s also a wide assortment of unlockables, including a Strategy Guide, an Exclusive Mission, and bonus puzzles. An in-game store lets you buy additional items like an illustrated walkthrough, easter eggs, extra hints, and more. Animated cutscenes play at the end of every section of the game, propelling the story forward.
There’s really nothing bad to be said about this one. Mumbo Jumbo really put a ton of thought and care into Samantha Swift and the Fountains of Fate, and it shows. For scavenger fans, it’s a must-have.
