A masterclass in action design, Jusant delivers an unforgettable experience from start to finish.
90
Verdict
93%
Steam
86
IGDB
Verdict score based on confidence-adjusted Steam reviews?
Very Positive on Steam (93% positive from 6.4K reviews)
Critically acclaimed (86/100 critic average)
Rich open world to explore
Outstanding soundtrack
No significant drawbacks reported
Jusant is a 2023 puzzle platform game developed and published by Don't Nod. The player controls a lone wanderer as they climb a desolate tower, filled with the artifacts of civilizations long past. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 31 October 2023. It received positive reviews from critics, but was a commercial disappointment for Don't Nod.
Runs well on modern hardware.
Last updated 9d ago
It's a climbing game with a squishy baby in your backpack. It's easy to miss the story and lore if you don't explore and read the letters and frescos scattered throughout the tower. I really enjoyed learning about this strange stone tower, its critters, and the people that once lived there. The game leaves much to the imagination. You don't learn much about the character you play, where they came from, or how they met the little guy. I would have liked to see a bit of what happens after the end of the game, even just some concept artworks during the credits. After all that climbing, I want to know what happens next!
Quick, solid experience. It didn't totally grab me, but the music is good, the visuals are for the most part pretty appealing. The climbing mechanics are somewhere between your typical AAA hold-down-a-direction swill and something like Cairn. There's a little bit of flexibility in how you move through the world, but there are very limited chances for player expression through the mechanics. It's safe to say that while the climbing is decent, you shouldn't go into this expecting it as a focus like you might with Cairn. As for what it actually is, it's probably best described as an atmospheric almost-walking-sim. As mentioned, the climbing can be puzzly in parts but is never particularly difficult. The main focus is on the environments and story telling, which are all at least adequate. The different areas are distinct enough to stay interesting, though the collectible notes and art didn't maintain my interest very long. Overall, I can't say it's a strong recommend, and I think the price is a little steep. On sale, though, if this is your kind of thing, the quality is pretty solid.
I feel like the main things that this game has is just fairly pretty environments and some sort of interesting mechanics, but in just about every other way it seems to lack in my opinion. The basic worldbuilding makes sense, but the story leaves a LOT of holes as to why certain things the way they are and never really explicitly states very much information to the player, like why the character does what they do in the first place or just any motivations or goals of the character you play as along with quite a bit of other things And I was just never able to get very into the story either or I just never really found it super captivating For some people, it might make the game more relaxing to them if they have a lot of anxiety, but I just find it a little mundane and boring that it is quite literally impossible for the character to die, there's either invisible barriers or you are required to belay when starting to climb anything at all Its a very short game, and I don't think it earned it either, especially with how much money the game is to buy not on sale, so unless its on a BIG sale, I can't say the price makes it worth buying The level design is kind of interesting in a traversal and vertical sense, and the people who did the level design definitely know what they're doing, but you can pretty much just turn your brain off in most sections and have the level design lead you to where you need to go without much thought or critical thinking involved which I don't find to be very engaging, but I feel like that's more of a game design issue rather than specifically level design its just all around a little meh to me and feels a little more like a tech demo rather than an actual game 6/10
Reviews sourced from Steam. All reviews belong to their respective authors.
Data sourced from RAWG, Steam, IGDB, CheapShark, Wikipedia, HLTB, and GX Corner. Sources: rawg, steam, cheapshark, igdb, wikipedia.
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