Climbing is a constant in video games.Unchartedhas you clambering up ancient relics while avoiding hails of gunfire, whileSpider-Man’seponymous webhead sprints up skyscrapers and swings throughout the streets of Manhattan. It’s a manner of traversal we are so used to, but rarely is this mechanic used to tell stories or flesh out characters all on its own. Jusant is a game that seeks to change this, featuring no combat, dialogue, or context of any kind in its tight yet engrossing narrative. This is an intimate yarn of a lost civilization trying desperately to bring life back to its long dead world.
There’s little context as an androgynous protagonist walks across the sandy remains of a once thriving seabed, ignoring the decaying remnants of boats and rotting seaweed as they stare up at the towing obelisk before them. I have no idea what this thing is or where I’ll end up going on this adventure; my only objective is to climb. So climb I did, slowly but surely piecing together a tragic story of loss and companionship as I learned how to survive on the craggy faces of cliffsides where handholds proved precious and fleeting. There is a sense of place to Jusant that is immediately mesmerising, and one I won’t soon forget.
Jusant wouldn’t be very engaging if the act of climbing was nothing but holding the stick in a certain direction until reaching your destination. Thankfully, the game transforms the act into a nuanced mechanic where each ascent is a challenge. Grip is made possible by holding the shoulder buttons, alternating between them to keep climbing or determine the direction your character is facing. Let go of them without securing yourself in place first, and you’ll soon fall to your death. You’re attached to a single rope, but your place in the environment can be secured using a belay so you have a point to return to, but even this fails to stop your rope from going slack or running out of wiggle room if you aren’t cautious. Having to remain constantly aware of my remaining stamina meant climbs never felt boring or static, hammering the risk of failure into me until I eventually succeeded.
Climbs are jazzed up depending on the weather conditions or fauna you happen to be dealing with. Some rocks will move across mountains thanks to curious bugs, meaning you will need to follow in their footsteps while hopping between more static parts of the map. Winds also pick up in certain stages, pushing you up, down, and side to side depending on the momentum. Sunshine comes into play too, bringing certain plants to life, and causing fauna to grow into temporary means of traversal before the light gradually fizzles them away.
Unfortunately, there are no upgrades to speak of, nor a gradual increase in difficulty that has the game remaining mechanically interesting for its brief campaign. You’ll eventually use a checkpoint system which restores your stamina and provides a respite of safety, while there are some collectibles to be found off the beaten path if you’re willing to - quite literally - take a leap into the unknown. But given how short Jusant is, coming in at a handful of hours, it is more than varied enough in the scenery you conquer and the stories you uncover to never outstay its welcome.
Your mission is to reach the top of the world where the root cause of its demise awaits: a supernatural force that has drained water away for reasons which are supposed to remain ambiguous. Lush cave paintings and hastily written diary entries provide essential context, and I found myself growing close to a few of their writers as generations of climbers try and piece together what brought this land to its knees. There is a loneliness and melancholy to everything Jusant does, instilling atmospheric curiosity into every action that is well worth seeing through. Its world might be empty and devoid of life, but not once did I feel it wasn’t a living, breathing place with centuries of ingrained history.
We aren’tcompletelyalone on our journey, joined by an adorable creature known only as a Ballast, who can use their nature-infused powers to bring flora to life or emit a pulse which reveals the location of objectives and collectibles. It’s wonderful to cling onto a dying branch only for my pet to bring it to life with a cutesy shriek, pushing me up into the air as it grows in my grasp. Jusant’s world is dying, but its themes and mechanics are all designed in a way to champion how important nature is, and what we must do to maintain it. The way Ballast naps in your hood only to emerge when you need his help is eye-wateringly cute thanks to a wide set of eyes and almost pudgy form. He is my best friend, and I will protect him with my life.
Jusant is a lovely surprise. A short and sweet narrative adventure with a spellbinding tone of natural melancholy that kept me climbing upward in search of new discoveries. Even with its lack of dialogue amidst a world I’d never seen before, it still pulled me in, weaving together a hopeful story of perseverance and forgiveness that grew more and more pertinent the higher I ascended. This is the best game Don’t Nod has made since Life is Strange, but also unlike anything the developer has ever produced before.
