Everybody enjoys a nice relaxing game of climbing, even if it turns out to be a little frustrating, and falling ends up ruining the whole session as you are forced to restart. Well, at least falling won’t be a concern for those who play Jusant from DONTNOD Entertainment. This game has a peaceful atmosphere within a fantasy setting as, for whatever reason, players are tasked with climbing a giant rock that slowly reveals some history of a past civilization that seemed to live within the different crevices of this enormous structure.

Gameplay

As pretty straightforward as it is, you are climbing a rock. Luckily, you do have some climbing gear as you can use a rope to hold yourself to a certain checkpoint. The rope can only stretch so far, so making sure to update your checkpoint locations is vital. But to actually climb, it is practically free handed and you will have to manually control one hand at a time to make progress up the rock.

When you reach platforms that you can plant your feet on, this is where you will want to retract your rope because the next stretch of climbing will be using the new checkpoint location that can be found here. Of course, while climbing you can put in a checkpoint spot for maintaining height and location purposes, but it doesn’t affect the length of rope you have left by much.

There will be times that you need to use the rope length in order to maneuver though, so don’t be worried about hanging low on the rope. Sometimes, that is what you need to do in order to swing across. You’ll see a thinly marked path on the rock wall to indicate you are supposed to do so, most of the time at least.

Other than actually climbing, you will find notes and have little areas to explore to get a feel for the lore behind the game. There are also these large structures that you will be able to activate - given you do so at least once in the demo. Once you do this the first time, you will meet a little friend who is accompanying you on this journey. With this little guy’s ability, you will be able to make plant life rapidly grow, which quickly becomes essential to the continued progress of the climb.

Expectations

This game seems like all the fundamentals of what they are going for are in place. I look forward to seeing how they further expand the lore and what other abilities the player will get to use, be it through a structure, the little friend, or even the character themself. I can’t really imagine what else they will bring to the game, but I can see them adding a few surprises for players on this journey and I look forward to seeing how they keep the progress interesting.

Verdict

Jusant is a solid game with a very promising start. Sure, the gameplay is straightforward, but with a fantasy-filled lore that also seems to be down-to-earth, they have captured the attention of this lore-loving gamer. The gameplay is something that might end up feeling repetitive, but perhaps they have some special stuff in store later on to keep it interesting. Either way, I recommend checking out the free demo on Steam while it is available!