Video games and climbing have been a pairing for the longest time.
As games have moved on we’ve tended to find most games that have three-dimensional climbing as a core mechanic have all narrowed their design down to “the right way” - homogeneity is another way to look at if, like me, you appreciate new ideas more than just the greatest polish.
Don’t get me wrong, in many ways games homogenize and that does for the most part make things more accessible, it takes confusion out of acts in games you’ve performed countless times before and allows you to concentrate on whatever else the game is trying to deliver.
But what if the game was all about climbing?
Overall this is where Jusant lands. Don’t Nod has used it’s (quite divisive) narrative chops to litter Jusant’s world with lore in the form of letters and interesting soundscapes that let you imagine a world that existed before you started to climb there but overall this is all secondary to doing a lot of climbing with a little blue lad (Ballast?) in your rucksack.
For the most part the climbing in Jusant does feel good, you are not just tapping a single button to climb, nor are you just pushing your protagonist in one direction.
You are reaching, grasping for handholds. You are using your ropes to allow yourself to lower into positions, wall run along gaps or even take courageous swings.
Each grasp is done with a trigger to represent a hand and one of the most enjoyable things is the simplest of climbs, scurrying up a wall or even a ladder feels great as your rhythm increases and you see our hero speed up.
As the game progresses a few new tricks are added, your little blue pal helps create some additional paths as well as give you a general direction in which to go but sadly even in the short space of time you’ll spend with this game it never feels like it adds anything to new or game changing to how you started.
Jusant has a very pleasant art style and one of the more impressive things it manages to do, considering the theme and its relatively short runtime is give you some beautiful and diverse locations to see. It could simply be broken down as chapters being much like different Zones in Sonic games but they tie together in a much smoother and less jarring way.
Sadly because you’re spending most of your time looking up sheer cliffs with your face in a wall it is hard to fully appreciate the decorations and typically when you are walking around it’s not all that exciting.
It is hard to ever get truly lost for a long time but some areas do feel like exploration is encouraged but the rewards of things like a letter don’t particularly entice. This means when you do just want to get back to that lovely climbing, frustration can quickly build if you aren’t sure where to go, if you should loopback or if you’ve missed something.
The guidance you get via the wee guy using the d-pad also doesn’t help, it just shows a genuine direction which more often than not is obviously “up” and only appears within certain ranges anyway.
The other part about running about outside of the climbing that is disappointing is this is where more often I found it felt a little janky, the character will never leap of edges to their death but it also means they suddenly stop at edges of terrain that isn’t dangerous, temporarily getting stuck on geometry more often than I’d like.
Also, areas have things that look almost identical to handholds you have used are nothing. I’m glad Jusant doesn’t paint every climbable surface in a completely obvious manner but to do the opposite, make non-climbable things look as if they were, is just irritating.
I posed the question “but what if the game was all about climbing?” and I think my answer is quite simple, if a little vague. It would be fine - and to me that is what Jusant is.
Good climbing mechanics but little else, some decent graphics and nice sound design alongside forgettable music and a story that if it is any good is delivered in such an unexciting way it too will also not stick in the mind for long.
Jusant took me just a little over four hours to finish and I look at that as a nice thing. I appreciate these light and tight experiences, however the honest truth is this was not done in one sitting, nor two, because I had to take breaks.
These breaks were not due to life getting in the way but due to tedium.
I don’t need to be committing acts of violence or sitting to watch extended FMV sequences between my climbing but I do see why most games put at least something here and what Jusant does to break up your time, keep you on board is more like nothing and however highly you can rate the climbing mechanics in this game (which are great not perfect) they are not diverse enough to spend all your time doing.
TLDR: Jusant more like PooPant(s) am I right?
As games have moved on we’ve tended to find most games that have three-dimensional climbing as a core mechanic have all narrowed their design down to “the right way” - homogeneity is another way to look at if, like me, you appreciate new ideas more than just the greatest polish.
Don’t get me wrong, in many ways games homogenize and that does for the most part make things more accessible, it takes confusion out of acts in games you’ve performed countless times before and allows you to concentrate on whatever else the game is trying to deliver.
But what if the game was all about climbing?
Overall this is where Jusant lands. Don’t Nod has used it’s (quite divisive) narrative chops to litter Jusant’s world with lore in the form of letters and interesting soundscapes that let you imagine a world that existed before you started to climb there but overall this is all secondary to doing a lot of climbing with a little blue lad (Ballast?) in your rucksack.
For the most part the climbing in Jusant does feel good, you are not just tapping a single button to climb, nor are you just pushing your protagonist in one direction.
You are reaching, grasping for handholds. You are using your ropes to allow yourself to lower into positions, wall run along gaps or even take courageous swings.
Each grasp is done with a trigger to represent a hand and one of the most enjoyable things is the simplest of climbs, scurrying up a wall or even a ladder feels great as your rhythm increases and you see our hero speed up.
As the game progresses a few new tricks are added, your little blue pal helps create some additional paths as well as give you a general direction in which to go but sadly even in the short space of time you’ll spend with this game it never feels like it adds anything to new or game changing to how you started.
Jusant has a very pleasant art style and one of the more impressive things it manages to do, considering the theme and its relatively short runtime is give you some beautiful and diverse locations to see. It could simply be broken down as chapters being much like different Zones in Sonic games but they tie together in a much smoother and less jarring way.
Sadly because you’re spending most of your time looking up sheer cliffs with your face in a wall it is hard to fully appreciate the decorations and typically when you are walking around it’s not all that exciting.
It is hard to ever get truly lost for a long time but some areas do feel like exploration is encouraged but the rewards of things like a letter don’t particularly entice. This means when you do just want to get back to that lovely climbing, frustration can quickly build if you aren’t sure where to go, if you should loopback or if you’ve missed something.
The guidance you get via the wee guy using the d-pad also doesn’t help, it just shows a genuine direction which more often than not is obviously “up” and only appears within certain ranges anyway.
The other part about running about outside of the climbing that is disappointing is this is where more often I found it felt a little janky, the character will never leap of edges to their death but it also means they suddenly stop at edges of terrain that isn’t dangerous, temporarily getting stuck on geometry more often than I’d like.
Also, areas have things that look almost identical to handholds you have used are nothing. I’m glad Jusant doesn’t paint every climbable surface in a completely obvious manner but to do the opposite, make non-climbable things look as if they were, is just irritating.
I posed the question “but what if the game was all about climbing?” and I think my answer is quite simple, if a little vague. It would be fine - and to me that is what Jusant is.
Good climbing mechanics but little else, some decent graphics and nice sound design alongside forgettable music and a story that if it is any good is delivered in such an unexciting way it too will also not stick in the mind for long.
Jusant took me just a little over four hours to finish and I look at that as a nice thing. I appreciate these light and tight experiences, however the honest truth is this was not done in one sitting, nor two, because I had to take breaks.
These breaks were not due to life getting in the way but due to tedium.
I don’t need to be committing acts of violence or sitting to watch extended FMV sequences between my climbing but I do see why most games put at least something here and what Jusant does to break up your time, keep you on board is more like nothing and however highly you can rate the climbing mechanics in this game (which are great not perfect) they are not diverse enough to spend all your time doing.
TLDR: Jusant more like PooPant(s) am I right?