Finished Fountains and still reluctant to put that save away? The Xbox version now has another use for it. In an October 20 post, publisher Crunching Koalas laid out the Gauntlet: ten bosses, one after another, with a rest area after the third, sixth and ninth fights.
Each victory sends you to the next arena. The breaks let you refill healing flasks and change equipment. If you own Shattered Shape, you can select a version of the challenge that includes the expansion's bosses as well.
Your consumables come back
Here is the rule we'd read twice before going in: consumables used in a run are returned when it ends. You still have to make them last through that attempt. You just don't lose the stockpile permanently because an experiment went badly.
That is a welcome excuse to use the item you've been saving for a better moment. In an RPG, that better moment has a way of remaining just around the corner until the credits. A repeatable boss challenge gives it an address.
The gaps between rest stops leave room for planning. A loadout that suits one boss may be awkward against the next two. Carrying a few alternatives sounds more useful here than carrying a bag full of things you will never risk using. That is our reading of the rules, rather than advice from a completed run.
Already on PC, now on Xbox
This isn't the mode's first release. Fountains' Steam listing dates the original Gauntlet update to September 10, followed by Shattered Shape on September 17. The October announcement brings the challenge to Xbox players after the console edition's arrival.
The main game is an action RPG with an interconnected world to explore. The Gauntlet cuts down the travel and puts the fights together. It won't replace the campaign for a newcomer, since entry requires beating the final boss first.
For someone coming back, the attraction is simpler. The equipment is already there. The bosses are already waiting. Now there is a place to find out whether that carefully assembled character can deal with more than one favourite matchup in a row.