The strengths are Jusant are the climbing mechanics and the world itself, which tickles all the wonder sensors in the brain while feeling like a lived-in place. The game simply gives you a very cool structure to clamber around for a while and doesn’t try to do much more than that. Which was probably smart, because what little else there is to this game is noticeably less good. Pretty much every time the map opened up, I got stuck not knowing which way to go. As little exploration as there is, I kind of wish the whole thing had just been on rails to reduce this frustration, since it is ultimately a linear game.

Finally, the story is maybe a little too enigmatic for its own good. I understand that they were going for an open-ended minimalist mystical kind of vibe, in the vein of games like Journey, but idk how well that works with a premise and setting that feel more like hard science fiction. There are a few scattered clues here and there as to what is up with the planet and its ecosystem, but they are easy to miss and take a lot of work to piece together, which is a shame because they make the game way more interesting.