I didn’t really know what to expect going into Jusant. From a distance, it’s a pretty-looking, indie climbing simulator. But after tirelessly climbing a mythical mountain, it soon became clear that there’s so much more to Jusant than meets the eye.
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Story and World
Jusant is poetic in a way. A mysterious traveller from a presumed faraway land arrives to unravel the mystery of the mountain drought, but it’s also a tale that lacks a bit of substance. As for who your character is, where you are, and what you need to do… There’s not a whole lot of explanation. It’s left to the player to divulge the mystery and storyline ahead and it can be easily missed.
If you don’t search every nook and cranny, you could miss a letter or note that explains what’s happened here. Powering through Jusant without reading any of the world’s lore will leave you scratching your head.
There’s too much reliance on people caring enough to read every letter, and after reading the first few, I wasn’t hooked.
To put the story simply, you’re visiting a mountain once inhabited by humans, who fled after drought took hold of their cliffside and caveness village.
There are hints at magical creatures and reasons for the drought throughout, but it takes time to discover the truth.
The notes tell tales of disaster, hope, and love. These letters have been written by its previous inhabitants, many offering warnings to neighbours about packing up and leaving.
There is no voice acting. The occasional grunt from a jump or little squeak from your (adorable) companion is as good as it gets.
If played it the right way, Jusant is an emotional and captivating journey.
Gameplay and Exploration
Climbing feels great; the left and right triggers control each of your hands and you use a thumbstick to reach out and grab rock placements.
As you scale the mountainside, you’ll need to keep across the length of your rope and place pitons to save yourself from climbing back to that point if you fall.
You do have stamina. If your stamina runs out you’ll fall, but not to your demise.
It started as a terrifying and stressful experience, at least until I worked out that there was no fall damage. There’s no real consequence for missing a jump or falling from a cliff; the game’s difficulty is set to permanent easy mode.
I rarely found the need to manage my stamina until very late in the game.
In fact, there’s no real danger at all.
You have no health bar, there are no enemies – no threats, other than a slightly frustrating and fiddly climb at times.
Weather elements come into play in a few areas, with heat drying out the cliffside flora and wind to factor in as you climb higher.
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Joining you is a cute little companion that has the ability to highlight the direction of the next objective, as well as bring parts of the world to life.
There are several collectibles to discover along the way. Rock piles (or cairns), mysterious murals, giant bells, letters and shells. The shells offer the most development, putting your ear to them uncovers memories – echoes of the past.
Coming across rock cairns and approaching them allows you to place another rock on top of the pile. There’s an achievement to find them all, but they don’t seem to add anything to the story.
Overall, I found little drive to find them all. After you finish the game, you can go back to specific chapters to collect all of them if you need to.
Graphics and Performance
Visually, Jusant is an absolute delight, with consistent models and textures. But the standout is the game’s lighting. Damn, Unreal Engine 5 is good.
Squeezing through a crack in a cavern and emerging into a bright open room with glowing plant life cascading across the walls was a treat.
While scaling cliffsides and exploring abandoned homes, I experienced frequent camera glitches and a recurring bug that saw me unable to move until I jumped and wriggled free. But they weren’t game-breaking by any means.
Do we recommend Jusant on Xbox?
It’s a beautifully mysterious world with a sparse narrative that requires exploration to uncover its emotional depth. Climbing is mostly smooth, but the absence of danger and an easy exploration system may not appeal to everyone. If you’re looking for a heartfelt game that’s beatable in a night, Jusant will do the job.
Quest Daily scores Jusant:
7.5/10
Quest Daily was granted early access to Jusant with thanks to the publisher.
