“Manages to capture a rhythm that feels like it might mimic real climbing”
JUSANT’s focus on the fundamentals of climbing is peak design
I DON’T THINK THE REAL DISSATISFACTION THERE WAS WITH VISUAL CUES THOUGH
Jusant commits to the bit on a single system in a way that reminds me of 2000’s console launch titles meant to sell a peripheral control device, and I’m totally into that peak focus from a climbing game. It’s about scaling cliff faces at the bottom of a long-dry ocean with a mix of free climbing and line climbing.
There’s no special kit required here though, unlike rock climbing, though Jusant does recommend a gamepad, which I second. Most often, Jusant plants me in front of a cliff face studded with barnacles and natural rock features. I attach my line to a designated point at the bottom and begin my climb, squeezing my left or right trigger to grip a handhold while steering my other hand towards the next hold with the analog stick.
The tactile back and forth of squeezing left and right triggers for each handhold really makes the experience. Even as Jusant layers in additional abilities like double jumps and magical plants that serve as handholds, the fundamentals are a constant left right left right vertical march upwards. On longer stretches I’m encouraged to plant another piton into the rock to secure my line so I can’t fall all the way to the bottom. Occasionally the puzzle of it gets trickier, challenging me to find alternate routes around sections without handholds or plant a piton and use my line as a swing to cross horizontal space.
A RHYTHMIC BEAT
The physicality of it, the way that Jusant manages to capture a rhythm that feels like it might mimic real climbing, is the big win. It reminds me of the very satisfying mortar, pestle and cauldron of Potion Craft. Both put the joy back into systems that too many other games have made a bit boring.
There was a minor social media scuffle earlier this year about action games all using yellow paint to mark climbable ledges. I don’t think the real dissatisfaction there was with visual cues though. Jusant has its own smatterings of painted wood boards and interactive holds, even. It’s more that the concept of climbing has so often been quicktime-ified, shoved into a mindless ‘hold joystick forward and press A’ affair.
Jusant doubles down on just the manual actions of climbing, and there’s a real satisfaction in it. In some sections I scramble with frantic trigger pulls up a section of wall while the plant nodes I’m holding are burning in the sun and about to crumble beneath me. It was quite unexpected to see a climbing game from the studio behind the narrative adventure Life Is Strange series but they sure have pulled off the trick. Jusant was a lovely five-hour trek that kept me coming back several evenings in a row.