Jusant

Climbing to the peak in Jusant may sound like a boring gameplay loop, but for those looking for a meditative and genuinely enjoyable experience, it's anything but.

Jusant is a beautiful adventure videogame, in which climbing is the only way to reach the top and complete a story of relaxing sounds and dynamic gameplay, in which coordination will be your greatest ally.

Jusant is a delightful joy of a game, and one I’ll use as a standard for indie games from this point on. Not only was it visually striking, but the developers had something to say and they expressed it flawlessly. It finds the perfect balance of being light-hearted while respectfully diving into some darker themes, and the game functions as a dichotomy between the failings of the past and what they can teach the future. That in and of itself is beautiful, but to then seamlessly combine those themes with the blissful experience of climbing makes for an experience that I won’t forget.

Jusant marks a departure from Don’t Nod’s typical narrative-driven adventures, and it comes together brilliantly. As you ascend the towering landscapes, this journey reveals a mysterious world through intriguing hidden texts and captivating environments. Jusant strikes a harmonious balance between challenging gameplay and serene moments, allowing players to immerse themselves at their own pace. Despite occasional navigation challenges, the game’s overall design, ambient soundscapes, and subtle storytelling foster an experience that sparks conversation and contemplation. Jusant not only fuels your curiosity but also keeps you spellbound throughout its journey.

A subtle and intriguing story encourages you to climb ever higher in this melancholy adventure.

Jusant is a game that promotes a message full of emotion, trying to show it interestingly through a visual and sound environment full of clarity and detail. Jusant generates a melancholic experience but is also brilliant. Despite the stellar and dynamic narrative around which the videogame revolves, the mechanics propose a delightful experience at all levels since they are simple and clean. Playing this title is like watching an autumn sunset, with a compact misty but burning melancholy.

Jusant is one of the most charismatic games of the year. It offers a quiet but increasingly interesting experience. It's ideal to escape from the noise of big budget productions and letting yourself be surprised with every step.

An absolute recommendation for genre fans. With a great setting and an emotional soundtrack, Jusant climbs to the top.

Justant is a testament to letting environments speak for themselves instead of relying on dialogue. Don’t Nod trusts its ability as developers to create a game that relies on experience, not words and it trusts its players to understand narrative subtleties. Jusant may be simple, but its layered vision of a world is timeless.

Jusant is wonderful and never fails to impress. It’s at its best when it’s offering you the quiet, contemplative moments, teasing passed on civilisations with its very apt environmental storytelling. Offering climbing gameplay that is more focused on fluidity and responsiveness than gruelling or trivial makes for a smoother and more enjoyable experience, bolstering the cinematic and picturesque world painted. Basking in the glow of the sunlight, reaching a peak and in turn being greeted with beautiful pieces of music that feel almost like they’re cheering you on… they entirely more than make up for the brief moments the game overshares in its otherwise mystique nature. At the end of it all, Jusant is worth the climb, remaining all peaks and no valleys.

Jusant’s melancholic world may be built on the absence of life but through its methodically refined climbing mechanics and richly rewarding thematic work, it carves a path that rarely ever leaves you looking down.

Jusant is a fantastic adventure, with a satisfying and challenging control system, great ideas and a beautiful art direction.

Jusant mixes adventure, exploration, a cryptic and mysterious storyline and lots of climbing sections with good results. It's not a genre for everyone, but if you've always dreamed of a mix of Grow Home, Journey and The Climb, here it is.

Jusant is a very unassuming and cute ecology-themed game with simple mechanics and a non-trivial plot. If it weren't for the self-repeaters and bugs, it would be much more enjoyable.

A genuinely unique escape into another world, challenging players to experience the world around them. If you loved ABZU, Journey, and Season: A Letter to the future then this gorgeous escape is worth your time.

Jusant remains continuously fun thanks to varied climbing puzzles and an impressive game world. Based on that world, Just also tells a moving story with an emotional ending. This is one of those games that you probably want to skip at the tail end of an incredibly busy gaming year, but Gamer.nl recommends otherwise.

Jusant is certainly not the most ambitious work of Don't Nod in purely production terms, but with few well-used playful and narrative solutions it hits the mark. Anyone looking for an experience with a relaxed pace but capable of offering valid food for thought should certainly give it a chance.

As melancholic as the mood of Jusant is, the game itself is a blessing. I've been wondering for a long time how climbing in video games could be made a little less trivial, and here Don't nods Jusant comes along, with a patent-ready solution. The result is a sleek, elegant explorational adventure, its gaze fixed on the clouds. Jusant should make a strong impression on fans of Ico or Journey. A short experience, but as impressive as the first glance up the stone pillar whose unseen roof represents this journey's uncertain destination.

Jusant is not a game for everyone, but if you expect it to be one you’ll appreciate, it probably will be. Its noteworthy climbing mechanics are kept fresh throughout the adventure by asking you to utilize them in different ways, its ponderous atmosphere is top notch, and the environmental storytelling within its detailed world really gets your imagination going to a degree I hadn’t remotely expected. But it isn’t perfect. It’s more traditional storytelling elements are weaker, it doesn’t challenge the player very much, and it runs short at about six or so hours long. These detractions end up being minor disappointments in the face of a very successful adventure game, but they’re still there all the same, and it’s a shame Jusant doesn’t eschew them to become something even more special than it already is.

Jusant mixes rock climbing and platforming with a calm atmosphere and an interesting story.

Jusant is a puzzle game about climbing that offers the player a variety of beautiful scenarios, a wonderful soundtrack, and a captivating narrative while addressing important topics with grace and sensitivity.

What a climb! Without saying a word, Jusant manages to make us feel many things and that makes it a very good contemplative and poetic game. But you still have to not let yourself be disturbed by the few inaccuracies in gameplay and the lack of pressure... Despite some flashes and a welcome relaxing aspect, it doesn't mean that the climb of Jusant pleases everyone. But we quickly forgive its faults when the trip is worth the detour. Whether you want to gain height, reconnect with nature or relax in an exotic world, Jusant may be the game for you.

What I was asking for was a way to control the world, but Jusant just wanted me to enjoy moving through it. Jusant did give me most of what I wanted in the end, but the real turning was just learning to accept what the game is. It’s about moving through a society that’s had to change or disappear, enjoying the bits of the past left for you and lamenting what was lost. When I learned to appreciate the poignancy of cracked tiles on the bottom of a fountain with no water running its carved mouth, I started to love Jusant.

Jusant is an engrossing epic adventure that captures climbing’s heart-racing thrills and serene meditations. There’s immense satisfaction in navigating Don't Nod’s vertical puzzle, and the dizzying views are guaranteed to take your breath away.

The concept of “flow” was first outlined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and it describes a state of mind when you’re completely immersed in what you’re doing. Time disappears and it feels like you’re in the zone. The common example often given to describe this mental state is the climber who doesn’t need to think about what he does next — he simply moves. You can capture that feeling in Jusant if you allow yourself to get lost in the flow of gameplay. Before you know it, you’ll be at the peak, and all the sweat and setbacks will feel worth it.

The game promotes a harmonious sense of working with the world.

Transforming environments and climbing mechanics keeps Jusant from sagging in the middle of the adventure and the ending had me hurling urgent encouragement at my screen as I frantically scaled the final heights. The meditatively-paced action throughout the rest of the game didn’t quite prepare me for the finale’s surging stakes, but I’m glad I stayed the course long enough to see it.

Jusant is a peculiar and not unpleasant experience, but it mostly feels like a wasted opportunity. The climbing system, with all its little systems of interaction, generates a smooth, very simple gaming experience, but one that wears out quickly and without ever a real peak of playful intensity. The tower is a beautiful place to discover, both visually and narratively, but you have to be careful: losing a handful of collectables risks making for a very limited experience, as you don't discover anything by simply moving forward.

When Jusant works as intended, it’s a calming, peaceful experience that’s occasionally let down by some somewhat underwhelming functionality.

Though it doesn’t quite reach the heights it aspires to, Jusant is a lovely mountaineering adventure that makes for a refreshing change from the norm in both axis and pace.