One of the things I didn’t like about Uncharted 4 was how often Nathan Drake, the international thief and wealth hunter, had to rise. Most of the climbing “puzzles” were not very interesting or hard.
Some didn’t agree. But I got tired of climbing after a while. I think the best parts of the game weren’t the puzzles—even the dungeon problems were pretty easy—but the story, the characters, and the journey itself. In Uncharted, the puzzles didn’t feel like much more than boring speed bumps, and the climbing got old quickly.
If only climbing in Uncharted was as fun and interesting as it is in Jusant. The new shooter from the French studio DON’T NOD has some of the best ways to climb rocks I’ve seen in a video game. The people who will like Jusant will, of course, be different from those who like Naughty Dog’s more violent games.
This is not a game where you shoot, fight, or run away at high speeds. It’s also not a game about people, at least not in the two hours I spent with the game’s main character, who never spoke a word. This game is lonely. Lonely and quiet.
The world of Jusant is very peaceful. The land is quiet. It is clear that this strange rock you are climbing was once underwater. Things that used to be in the ocean are all over the place. But like the sea, any people who used to live in these rock views are gone. The only things left of this hardscrabble society are little notes and notebooks that are strewn around long-empty rooms.
Jusant is a platform puzzle game and a story at the same time. In a lot of ways, it’s a “chill” game where you can just enjoy the scenery, solve the climbing tasks, and go at your own pace, even though you’ll fall and get frustrated. Your strange-looking hero will climb, swing, and clamber, and you’ll start to learn, piece by piece, what happened to this once-watery world that is now dry, empty, and without people.
Early on, you’ll meet a friend named Ballast. Ballast is a strange spirit made of water, which is the strangest element. Ballast will open up new paths along the way by turning on the desert plants and giving you new footholds on heights that you couldn’t reach before. (A ballast in a ship is a part at the bottom that fills with water to help balance the ship as it moves).
Aside from the world itself, what makes Jusant really stand out is how thorough the climbing techniques are. To grab and let go of handholds, you have to press and let go of the left and right buttons as you climb. You also have all the gear you need for climbing, and before each rise, you tie a rope to an anchor. You can add new anchor points to any climb, which can be helpful if you need to change direction, swing on a rope to reach a far wall, or abseil in a different direction.
As you climb up surfaces, your energy bar slowly goes down, but it’s easy to fill it up again by just stopping and taking a breather. Again, this is a very chill game. There are questions and tasks that will make you think, but it’s not hard.
This is one of the most dramatic platform games I’ve played in recent years. It has a lot of mood, with a mix of old shipwrecks and desert mountains, and the climbing is tight. There are many secret paths you can take through the desert to find clues, which adds to the mystery.
There is something haunting and sparse about Jusant. A minimalist style that makes you feel dizzy and hints at a world destroyed by a terrible climate change. It’s beautiful, quiet, and as sad as any game I’ve played all year.
Jusant comes out on Halloween for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. If you have Game Pass, you can play it for free on day one. I really think you should take it for a walk.
