A gateway to a long-awaited VRMMO game-world has opened for those who have a key. This includes Dan Harvester, a guy who lives in a run-down apartment with his cat and runs a gaming channel. He's almost through playing and testing VR games, but is this his one last chance to – really – level-up? What can it promise to him, and its first 'Beta-pioneers'?
'Fountellion' is a nature-world full of artificial life that mimics the laws of 'the Source', our own nature with its force of evolution. It promises to be more than an 'adventure survival experience', for there are six 'Insights' scattered within its 'super-fabric' and every player can find their own path to them. How much will Dan be changed?
There is only one way to find out, and that's to tune into and experience his 'avalogs'. For only by completing them, together with fragments from its ambitious development, can you too discover the vision and legacy of 'Fountellion'.
The Spiral series unfolds with the mystery of Progression One... What is the nature of the game, both for its developers and for its players?
My Opinion: 236 pages, $1.75, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Ok. Brutal truth. I don’t like this novel. I first came across the novel early in the year and it was almost impossible to read. The way the novel was written was almost like free form poetry in it’s format. It also had no RPG stuff in it. There was stuff about a game but it was more like floating without a body VR exploration and the story was about experiencing different existences. Not a big deal, it didn’t say anything in the description at the time about being LitRPG, I’d just picked it up because it mentioned a game and VR.
Then the author contacted me and said that he’d published that as an experimental version of the story but that he’d heavily modified it and wanted to get a review. So, I try to re-read it and while it’s more understandable, it’s still difficult to read. I’ve picked it up off and on for 6 months trying to get through it.
There are RPGish game mechanics but from what I remember from the 1st addition it feels like they were inserted into the story. The actual descriptions of the main character are more in line with platforming mechanics. For example, he gets a super jump and the ability to transform into other creatures. The transformation aspects of the story are meant to be used to explore different ways of existing. But it’s pretty clear that the ability has been gamified, explanations for it as a game mechanic have been added in.
The story is technically LitRPG. In its current form it has clearly defined game mechanics that progress but it feels like the story was heavily adapted to try to make it more appealing to the LitRPG audience. That’s not bad in itself but the story feels like something that was adapted instead of being written specifically for the LitRPG audience which ruins the originality that may have been part of the original version.
Score: 4 out of 10
Fountellion in The Spiral: The Nature of the Game & Progression One (GameLit)