Jusant (PC/XBX|S/PS5/Game Pass) - Action-puzzle climbing game. MC 83%.

I also finished it last night! I hadn't missed much so jumped back through a few of the chapters to get the platinum - but I think the collectibles are the biggest issue with the game. I'd have enjoyed the game more with no collectibles whatsoever and just having that singular focus of "climb up". The collectibles, and most notably (pun intended) the notes, are very pace interrupting and flow breaking. Obviously that's in the stopping dead of gameplay to give you time to read, but frequently I'd also find the route forward only to turn around and go back down (and eventually doubling back and repeating myself) because I hadn't checked everywhere else first, and looking for notes especially encourages an edge-tracing style of exploration that ensures you'll see all of the rough edges of the game world rather than smoothly climbing through it in an unbroken illusion of being in a larger place. It's a frustrating completionist compulsion to add to a game that doesn't need it and would be better without.

I found the final chapter disappointing, split as it is into a walking simulator for the first half and the most boring, vanilla and abstracted climbing challenge for the second. Rather than a final test pulling together all of the game's mechanics it actually takes one away while ignoring most others! The penultimate chapter is much better and I liked the wind mechanic, which I felt wasn't fully explored, but it still didn't hit the "finale" feeling I felt it should have. There's a moment at the end of the chapter that features this suitably climactic leap from the tower... and it happens in a cutscene! Surely that would have been better played out by the player.

Still, a good penultimate chapter, but the chapter before that (the one that is inside) I also found weak and disappointing, in both its chapter mechanic (the sparks) and lack of climbing spectacle without the vista and sense of height reached up the tower. All in all then I found the second half of the game to be not as good as the first, and certainly not reaching the heights (pun again intended) I thought the first half was leading towards.

Which all sounds very negative, but really I did enjoy the game, for all the reasons I gave earlier! I just finished it disappointed as it deserved to be better. There's another version of the game without collectibles and a different second half that I want to play instead. As for the approach to climbing-platforming - more like this please!

Reads like a 4/10.

It's definitely better than that

OrangeRKN wrote:I also finished it last night! I hadn't missed much so jumped back through a few of the chapters to get the platinum - but I think the collectibles are the biggest issue with the game. I'd have enjoyed the game more with no collectibles whatsoever and just having that singular focus of "climb up". The collectibles, and most notably (pun intended) the notes, are very pace interrupting and flow breaking. Obviously that's in the stopping dead of gameplay to give you time to read, but frequently I'd also find the route forward only to turn around and go back down (and eventually doubling back and repeating myself) because I hadn't checked everywhere else first, and looking for notes especially encourages an edge-tracing style of exploration that ensures you'll see all of the rough edges of the game world rather than smoothly climbing through it in an unbroken illusion of being in a larger place. It's a frustrating completionist compulsion to add to a game that doesn't need it and would be better without.

I found the final chapter disappointing, split as it is into a walking simulator for the first half and the most boring, vanilla and abstracted climbing challenge for the second. Rather than a final test pulling together all of the game's mechanics it actually takes one away while ignoring most others! The penultimate chapter is much better and I liked the wind mechanic, which I felt wasn't fully explored, but it still didn't hit the "finale" feeling I felt it should have. There's a moment at the end of the chapter that features this suitably climactic leap from the tower... and it happens in a cutscene! Surely that would have been better played out by the player.

Still, a good penultimate chapter, but the chapter before that (the one that is inside) I also found weak and disappointing, in both its chapter mechanic (the sparks) and lack of climbing spectacle without the vista and sense of height reached up the tower. All in all then I found the second half of the game to be not as good as the first, and certainly not reaching the heights (pun again intended) I thought the first half was leading towards.

Which all sounds very negative, but really I did enjoy the game, for all the reasons I gave earlier! I just finished it disappointed as it deserved to be better. There's another version of the game without collectibles and a different second half that I want to play instead. As for the approach to climbing-platforming - more like this please!

Agree with a lot of this!

Luckily I tried not to be too completionist about things so probably benefitted from a better through line. And I barely read the notes so they barely broke the pace!

Yes I was quite surprised at the simplicity of the ending climb, and though pleased it didn't overstay its welcome I didn't feel exhausted/relieved/replete by the journey (seriously the way the sky whale just whizzes you up half the mountain was hilarious! It's like the opposite of that mountain effect where you always think you're there when you're not). I hate walking simulator stuff in general but actually/mistakenly enjoyed that part of the game simply because I completely misunderstood it at first, missing the first climb-on for the tower, and spent a while thinking I had to go around signalling-out to the whales(who actually echo back if you ping close to them). It made me scour and hang about in the snow area longer so screen-burned more of an impression on me (before I actually realised the onboarding bit for the final climb!).

Thinking off the top of my head, I actually think the Windmill bit (?Ico homage) might be my single favourite bit, I think just because it involved a few different techniques and also looped back on itself in a way that didn't feel too linear-upwards. And maybe just because of the interesting architecture of the windmill complicating the nature-swathes. And maybe because climbing the spokes felt opportunistic and thrifty with regards to the apparatus. Not sure really!

What else stood out? I actually liked the indoor bit with the multiple tunnel-paths leading to the same two chambers, just because it felt nicely involved and linking back on itself and so on (even if like you said the sparks were a bit of non-power, with a pretty underpowered effect!).

I'd probably still give it 4/5 overall for general pleasing-ness.

deathofcows wrote:I hate walking simulator stuff in general but actually/mistakenly enjoyed that part of the game simply because I completely misunderstood it at first, missing the first climb-on for the tower, and spent a while thinking I had to go around signalling-out to the whales(who actually echo back if you ping close to them). It made me scour and hang about in the snow area longer so screen-burned more of an impression on me (before I actually realised the onboarding bit for the final climb!).

Ah I also missed the climb the tower trigger! I actually found it really frustrating as I got stuck running in circles and had to look up a guide just to find out I hadn't walked up to that specific spot I needed to. What I'd done instead was walk into the building, because that seemed the obvious thing to do, and while I gathered I would need to climb up the tower I didn't then walk up to that specific start of the climb point because I had the companion in my arms so knew I couldn't climb... it did not help with my opinion of the final chapter! The signposting there could have been a lot better and it's a shame that the one point I got frustrated enough to need to look up the solution for came in the middle of the finale.

deathofcows wrote:Thinking off the top of my head, I actually think the Windmill bit (?Ico homage) might be my single favourite bit, I think just because it involved a few different techniques and also looped back on itself in a way that didn't feel too linear-upwards. And maybe just because of the interesting architecture of the windmill complicating the nature-swathes. And maybe because climbing the spokes felt opportunistic and thrifty with regards to the apparatus. Not sure really!

Yes, definitely! I loved that part and also think it was the game highlight (although I never wondered if it's an Ico homage, but maybe!). The complexity of the climbing steadily increases from the start of the game right through that chapter which is why I was excited to see where it went next, but I think that ended up being the pinnacle of it, which led to my later disappointment. That windmill loop strings together pretty much every mechanic you've come across up to that point, is genuinely a bit challenging, and is really satisfying in how you end up coming back on yourself in what is a linear path but doesn't really feel like one (like you say). A little before it in the same chapter is I think the best example of the climb up, place piton, lower yourself down and wall run chain of inputs, and a little after it there's that broken bridge where you take a huge swing across before climbing up and I found that really satisfying also.

I think that chapter with the hot sun is the only time blooming the flowers really makes sense as a mechanic too, as they are then a timed surface you have to contend with. I thought it was strange that didn't come back and for the rest of the game you just permanently bloom them so they might as well just be permanent handholds like any other.

Surprised we both most liked that specific bit amongst the many! So we must be right about it being the best B)

Didn't mind the blooming thing as it at least added something, although agreed a bit superficial. But even talking about it I can hear the ping out and crinkley growth sound so that must count for something! But yeah the heat bit felt pleasingly gamey.

Sometimes people seem to revere when games throw lots of one-shot new mechanics at you (see: Mario Wonder) and the 'confidence' to not use them again, but really I'd rather you revisit the mechanics and fully exploit them in surprising ways thanks!

That looks like my cup of tea, shame I won't be able to play it.

I restarted this a couple of days ago, and it’s made me realise how badly affected I must have been by that knock to the head. When I first played the game, I couldn’t make any sense of it - couldn’t tell where to go, couldn’t get the coordination of the climbing right. So it’s probably best not to play games when concussion is suspected.

Loving the game now, though.

Just started playing this (Steam Deck) I love the vibe, very chill, looks great as well. Only played through the first chapter but will crack on with more throughout the week.