Jusant is a meditative action-puzzle climbing game by DON’T NOD. Take your time and reach the summit. Read our review to see the good, the bad, and if it's worth your money.
Jusant Review Overview
Jusant Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Stunning Artstyle Vast Freedom To Explore and Problem Solve |
Awkward Terrain Bugs |
Jusant Overall - 80/100
Jusant has great unique rock climbing puzzle solving gameplay and dazzlingly rich art and visuals. However, the story lacks much more depth, and the alluring music was very sparsely utilized throughout. It’s a very great game, but falls shy of becoming all around excellent due to its shortcomings.
Jusant Story - 7/10
Jusant’s story is entirely told through the densely decorated environments, exploration, and optional collectibles. Not a single line of dialogue is uttered, but the narrative is laid out as you venture through wide and gigantic sceneries, or strewn across small countless nooks and crannies. The story itself however, being used as decorations or additions alongside the gameplay, is a bit simple and lacks more depth and substance.
Jusant Gameplay - 9/10
The rock climbing, puzzle solving, and exploration are the best aspects of Jusant, and they’re undeniably fun. The puzzles are usually solved in straightforward ways, but the process of understanding and utilizing all your different techniques at your disposal to achieve their solutions is fulfilling and satisfying. The liberated level designs allow so much exploration that progress can be made with whichever method you choose, at whichever pace you wish, from whichever direction you go.
Jusant Visuals - 10/10
Every inch of environment in Jusant is filled to the brim with meticulous care that lends itself to have so much visual flair. The grand sense of scale and exploration is sold through the various level designs and decorations that decorate and shape out area after area. Whether indoors or outdoors, any direction you take you’ll be able to find something spectacular.
Jusant Audio - 7/10
With not a single line of dialogue, Jusant focuses on its sound design and music to carry the auditory experience. The SFXs(sound effects) are plentiful and well-polished by taking into consideration every bit of gameplay and exploration there is. The music is great as well, but is unfortunately present only in certain situations, perhaps to enhance or give gravitas to cutscenes and discoveries instead.
Jusant Value for Money - 7/10
Being priced at $24.99, Jusant has a lot of great style but not as much substance. Though it has very creatively fulfilling exploration and environmental storytelling, it doesn’t have further depth with the actual narrative itself, and lacks replayability besides gathering all collectibles.
Jusant Review : Reaches High Heights But Lacks Depth
Jusant is a cozy rock climbing game with puzzles galore and a remarkable art direction. As another title from DON’T NOD, I knew I was going to be in safe hands with the story, visuals, and music departments. So as expected, the art is stylized at every point, and the results are exceptional. Surprisingly however, with Jusant, what really stood out among the rest was the gameplay, while their usual strong suits of story and music felt a bit lacking.
The story, told entirely with no dialogue and relying on environmental storytelling and optional collectibles, somewhat fell flat for me. That’s not to say it was horrible or atrocious, but rather, too straightforward, seeing as the only characters that exist are the boy and the creature made out of water. Though at the end, I can’t really give fault nor complain too much. It was the perfect choice to keep the story simple for a game that emphasizes its rock climbing gameplay.
I talk more about the gameplay in the pros section, but I need to acknowledge the sense of adventure that was being instilled in me as I gradually learned the game’s mechanics one by one. It felt like for each technique I learned, the world was opening up wider and wider. By the time the tutorial section was over and I had complete freedom with no handholding whatsoever, I couldn’t wait to try everything out on every possible path I saw. Instilling that feeling onto players is a great achievement, and Jusant nails it with its exploration.
Now, while the SFXs were great, accurate, informative for gameplay, the music felt a bit barren and empty, with large chunks of climbing, exploring, and puzzle solving being done with nothing but the ambience of the winds. I would assume this was a stylistic choice, as to present the situation of barrenness of the giant Tower, as well as to highlight the special events when the music does kick in. However, this decision doesn’t prove to only raise the highlights, but it also lowers the lowlights.
I do want to point out the brilliant mechanic of finding seashells littered around that, when interacted and listened to, will recreate the sounds of the past and clue the players in on the activities that used to happen around that area. That’s a great concept as a means to show a glimpse of the past, through not the usual visual way, but audibly.
All in all, Jusant is a brilliant game with appreciable gameplay, graphics, and sound design, but falls a bit too short with its story and music. It’s a relaxing, challenging, and fruitful time to be had, and is worth all your time, effort, and money.
Pros of Jusant
| Things Jusant Got Right |
|---|
|
Stunning Artstyle Vast Freedom To Explore and Problem Solve |
Stunning Artstyle
DON’T NOD has history with its stylistic flair in their video games, as seen from "Life is Strange" and "Tell Me Why." Jusant is a perfect fit for their signature artstyle, and it absolutely flourishes. Captivating terrains, rich environments, and excellent lighting all combine together and compel you to stare in awe before your journey through them.
Whether the vast mountainous landscape outdoors, or the densely-packed abandoned settlements indoors, all are carefully handcrafted by the art team, and they deserve every bit of praise they can get.
Besides having rich and well-crafted topographies, it makes use of camera tricks to showcase special points of interest, further instilling a sense of grand adventure or discovery.
Vast Freedom To Explore and Problem Solve
Jusant’s rock free-running and parkour is very unique and interesting, as it allows creative ways to solve puzzles with the inclusion of the anchoring pitons and the rope physics. When compared to other notable free-running games such as Assassin’s Creed, Jusant leads to more emergent solutions and gameplay due to having more freedom to use its mechanics. On the other hand, Assassin’s Creed’s levels are all laid out and have preset solutions on how to proceed with the climbing and "puzzle solving."
Take for example the video above. It’s a great showcase of Jusant’s mechanics in action. You must run along the wall, place a piton at the apex of your swing to acquire another anchor point, and then run along the wall once more with more space in order to get to the other side. The ability to freely place a piton on any wall to create an anchor point, and the option to run along the wall and create your own momentum is great. Figuring out these kinds of solutions for the game’s numerous puzzles is fun and engaging, and for each completion, I couldn’t wait to solve the next.
The mechanics don’t always have to be utilized with exploration, as they’re a great way to goof around and take in the view. The video above shows the freedom you have with the pitons and ropes, being able to hang and swing around a large monument at your own leisure to view the scenery and to have playful fun.
Cons of Jusant
| Things Jusant Can Improve |
|---|
|
Awkward Terrain Bugs |
Awkward Terrain Bugs
It’s unfortunate, but expected for a physics-based game to have some bugs lurking here and there, and Jusant is no exception. As the protagonist adheres to the game’s physics with regards to jumping and falling, there are times where you can get stuck in the weirdest of places. Mind you, I don’t go out of my way to try and break the game, but there are so many possible points of interest that it’s impossible to not stray from the path and get stuck in a niche area with weird collisions and clipping.
Nevertheless, there ARE still some spots where you can get stuck along the main path. Once stuck, you just have to resort to mashing any and all buttons in hopes of getting out, and the panic consequently ruins the relaxing flow of the game.
Besides near-game-breaking bugs, there are also tiny misplaced clippings that prevent movement such as the ledges shown in the video above. They aren’t that frequent in the game, but their presence is rather annoying, especially since all I wanted to do was drop down a few feet.
Is Jusant Worth It?
Yes. Pack Your Bags, We’re Going Hiking
Jusant is a great game with great gameplay and great visuals. Sure, there are a few downsides, but as a whole it succeeds at being what it wants to be, and that’s being a cozy rock-climbing puzzle game. The mechanics are sound, and they’re given a lot of utilization from all the puzzles found throughout. The graphical department is no slouch, as every turn is something breathtakingly beautiful.
To be able to go at your own pace and skillfully explore and solve puzzles is the core of Jusant, and it knocks it out of the park.
Jusant Overview & Premise
The game follows a boy and his companion made out of water, Ballast, as they solve puzzles and climb up an immeasurably gigantic tower. They will discover barren settlements located along the smallest of crevices or the largest of caves, which all offer clues as to what might have happened before their abandonment. The game’s story will feature no dialogue, relying on more of a "Show, don't tell" approach of storytelling.
Jusant will have rock climbing, puzzle solving, and animal petting. The climbing mechanics could be likened to the Assassin’s Creed series in their mechanics, but appears like Uncharted in their cinematic aspects. The puzzle solving makes use of the boy and Ballast to work together and utilize the water-companion’s abilities to get through.
Jusant FAQ
How Many Chapters Does Jusant Have?
Jusant has a total of 6 chapters. Each chapter can take up to half an hour to an hour and a half to complete, depending on how fast you solve the puzzles or how fast you find the path to move forward.
How Long to Beat Jusant
With a total of six chapters of varying length and difficulties, it could take at most 6-7 hours to finish the game. More skilled players can complete the game in at least 3 hours, but that’s only if they already know how to proceed and know what they’re doing.
What Game Engine Does Jusant Use?
Jusant, developed by DON’T NOD, uses the Unreal Engine 5 game engine. DON’T NOD has utilized the Unreal Engine in their past games, and their expertise with utilizing the game engine has produced Jusant.
Game8 Reviews
Jusant Product Information
 | |
| Title | JUSANT |
|---|---|
| Release Date | October 31, 2023 |
| Developer | DON’T NOD |
| Publisher | DON’T NOD |
| Supported Platforms | PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S |
| Genre | Platforming, Puzzle |
| Number of Players | Single Player |
| ESRB Rating | E for Everyone |
| Official Website | Jusant Official Website |
