Fountains, the soulslike action RPG published by Crunching Koalas, has added a Gauntlet mode on Xbox, the publisher announced on Xbox Wire on October 20, 2026. The mode was first made for the PC version and arrives on Xbox shortly after the game’s console launch. The update is live now.

Fountains came to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and Switch on September 17, alongside the Shattered Shape expansion, after first launching on PC through Steam on December 20, 2024, according to Gematsu. The developer is John Pywell.

How the Gauntlet works

The Gauntlet is a boss rush for players who have finished the story. After you beat the final boss, a new character shaped like a medieval gauntlet offers the challenge.

  • Fountains has ten boss fights, and the Gauntlet sends all of them at you one after another
  • If you own Shattered Shape, a separate Gauntlet variant adds the expansion’s bosses
  • Every win teleports you straight to the next arena
  • After the third, sixth and ninth fights you reach a rest area to refill healing flasks and change gear
  • The tenth fight is the game’s final boss
  • Consumables used during a run are returned to you when it ends

The team’s own tips are simple: treat each run as practice, bring more than one loadout because each boss needs a different approach, and use your consumables instead of saving them.

Sale prices on Xbox

To mark the update, Fountains: Extended Edition, which bundles the base game with Shattered Shape, is 20% off on the Xbox store, where it was shown at $19.99. Crunching Koalas also put its other Xbox Play Anywhere titles at 50% off: Heading Out, Kamikaze Lassplanes and Once Upon a Jester. The post does not give an end date for the sale.

What it means for players

If you already finished Fountains, the Gauntlet gives you a reason to return and test new builds without the risk of losing items, since consumables come back after each run. If you have not played it, the Extended Edition sale is the cheaper way in, as it includes the expansion.

Gematsu describes the game as a soulslike with a seamless, interconnected world, Metroidvania style exploration and adjustable difficulty settings, which helps if you are new to the genre.