videogameblog

Jusant

Fundamentally, to climb is to solve a puzzle using your body. You need to know where to balance your feet, where to put your hands next. The position of each of your limbs must be considered. In order to conquer a challenging ascent it needs to be studied; deconstructed to a pattern that you can then attempt to execute.

Despite the fact that the act of climbing is so aligned with the act of puzzle solving, it's an action that's often overlooked in video games. If present, climbing is typically a chore. Games like God of War (2018), Jedi: Fallen Order and (most notably) the Uncharted franchise use climbing as padding, only acting as a way to give the player a brief break between combat sequences. It's unfortunate that climbing has become so devoid of gamification in modern experiences, being closer to watching a loading screen than solving a puzzle.

Jusant understands the parallels between climbing and puzzle-solving. The player controls the grip of each hand seperately with the left and right triggers, having to reach out for each hold individually. You're also provided with a rope and 3 pitons to assist your ascent. Despite the fact that this set of tools seems limited, it allows for the game to create an extremely engaging gameplay system. At one point, I needed to get to a hold that was far out of my reach, and I had used all of my pitons. In order to clear this gap I climbed down to the last piton I had placed, took it out of the wall and placed it in a higher location. I then rappelled down from the piton, gained some momentum by swinging and leapt to the hold. Just like an actual climb, this sequence was reminiscent of a puzzle. Sequences like this highlight the major difference between Jusant and games like Uncharted 4 (which also provides the player with a rope and pitons). The difference is the amount of control the player has over their climbing. The piton in Uncharted 4 can only be used on specific walls, and can only be used as an additional hold to reach higher locations. The piton in Jusant can be placed on any surface. It can act as a security net, a location for the player to descend, swing or wallrun from. To capture the essence of climbing, it's vital that a set of holds should be treated as a sort of sandbox puzzle for the player to solve on their own terms; not a sequence where the player jumps from hold to hold with no thought like Uncharted.

Uncharted's solution to keeping it's bland climbing sequences engaging is by emphasising the danger of Nathan Drake's position. A rooftop tile may come loose as Nathan hangs from it, causing him to fall and grab something else. Jusant omits sequences like this completely, keeping things methodical and pretty calming. I think Jusant shows alot of restraint to not include sequences like this, and it only further emphasises it's understanding of the process of climbing. The way the player can 'lose' is by failing to maintain their stamina or not keeping their hands on a hold. It would have been easy to try and increase the difficulty of the game by creating a sense of danger, but to only allow failure through the player's own faults is both calming and similar to real-life bouldering. (I fell off of a climbing wall in the summer and sprained my ankle :( because I ran out of stamina by the time I reached the final hold).

This game also has a really nice creature in it. Kind of looks like a frog? Small blue thing. You can hug it and play with it by pressing left on the D-pad. very cool. I would play with him alot. You can also let it sit on your head and sing. I think its supposed to point you in the right direction or something? I would just let it sit up there because I liked it. It can also make vines grow for you to climb. Each chapter introduces some kind of new mechanic like this, whether it be vines, heat or wind, it keeps gameplay engaging. The sound design is also extremely calming. You can pick up these shells that kind of remind me of the 'shivers' perk from Disco Elysium. The shells allow you to hear the actions of previous inhabitants. The scrawling of pencil on paper, the creaking of a chair. The soundtrack in this one also rocks.

My problems with this game are pretty minor. I didn't really like consuming the narrative through notes scattered around the levels, and had trouble remembering all the names mentioned. Wish they'd utilised environmental storytelling more as there was certain parts where you could construct a narrative through what was around you that were way cooler than the notes. At one point you can find what looks like a water transport system where tanks are being transported from higher on the ascent to the lower areas. One of these tanks is open, and you can see it's just full of sandbags. Really liked how this hinted at something more going on. I also got stuck on geometry pretty frequently but it wasn't that annoying. Some of the level design was also kind of weird? I would come across areas that definitely seemed like the right place to be only to find out after 20 minutes of aimlessly walking around that I actually needed to go back on myself and swing around a corner.

Games would be so much better if they approached climbing in the same way this does. Once triple-a games figure out they can put gameplay in the sequences that don't have fighting in them maybe we'll finally see something like this in God of War.

8/10 need a plush of the blue creature