I’ll admit that there are times when I wonder quite why I use my Reward points to keep my subscription to Gamepass Ultimate ticking over… I say ticking over… at time of writing I have 30 months left on my subscription.
Generally, it has been used for Indie titles that, although they look good, seem over-priced… Ravenlok was a great game… but not £21 worth of game, Bramble was a wonderful variant of the Little Nightmares formula… but I wouldn’t have paid £25 for it… Coffee Talk 2 is something I’d have grabbed in a sale rather than paid £12.49 for the privilege of playing.
And here we have Jusant… a cartoon graphic adventure of a young boy, and a weird sky-blue blob, climbing a huge structure in the middle of a desert that was clearly once an Ocean… graphically it reminds me a little of the game Submerged that I played at the end of 2015 where the world was flooded rather than parched… a gentle distraction of a game… but not one I’d be willing to pay £22.49 for.
Chapter One
Full disclosure here… I am using a collectable guide, having found one that doesn’t ruin the story… so between collectables the exploration and progress to the next area is all down to me and the usual trial/error process.
Very much a tutorial level as the climbing mechanic is explained… this may well prove to be a pain, using the left and right triggers to grip so you’re constantly alternating pressing (and keeping them pressed) to progress along ledges, upside so buildings, up ladders and such like… stamina is limited so you have to rest repeatedly on long climbs… for a barely adequate player like me, this may be a problem later.
You can jump to higher ledges, double jumping if needed, swing your rope to reach other climbing points and so on, collectables along the way give a little back story and seem to work well… I complete the chapter and call it a day… I’m in one of those rare instances of playing multiple games at once, but I’ll come back to this for sure.
Chapter Two
It seems the game switches between 2 modes when it comes to progress… the first is where there is a very obvious path to take to the next area, and the second where it seems almost impossible to work out where you’re supposed to go.
A new mechanic is introduced, where your blob friend will make a noise and the local, oddly coloured, plant life springs into action to provide something for you to climb onto.
Two new collectables appear in Altars to spin around, and Frescos to light up, using the same manner as activating the wildlife… but after around an hour of exploration a cutscene kicks in and Chapter Three appears on screen which is my cue to call it a night.
Having looked at the Achievement list part of that hour was spent working through some of the easier, cumulative, Achievements… resting 50 times in a climb, chasing 10 creatures back to their nest (you can chase the same one back multiple times) and placing a piton at the top of a wall run (can be done anywhere) and, even though it will come naturally, I spend a few minutes double jumping whilst climbing just to speed that one up a little.
Chapter Three
It’s at this stage that the games true nature comes to light… for all it’s cartoony graphic styling and cutesy appeal… it is rather dull to play.
The collectible guide has been binned off in favour of a full walkthrough to save time, and I’m 1 hour 37 minutes into a near 3 hour video… it’s slow going because, well, the game is slow going… it also commits a cardinal sin of indie games… slow release Achievements.
There are 21 Achievements in all and, with 80 minutes left of a 180-minute guide, I have unlocked 12… but from the video description the next one to unlock is not until deep into Chapter 5 maybe an hour away… were this being included in Indie Fest it would be heavily docked points here… how about an Achievement for completing each Chapter or finding all collectibles in each Chapter?
To me it smacks of bad design, especially in a game as slow as this one is playing out.
End Game
Chapter 4 was just Chapter 3 with different graphics and a new mechanic… and that seems to be the problem here… the two opening Chapters were interesting, not overly complicated and enjoyable… the two final Chapters were highly enjoyable… the two middle Chapters, the two biggest and most drawn-out Chapters, were dull as hell.
And there we have the whole problem with the game… it’s dull… climbing a tower maybe okay for a single level, but to pad it out through 6 levels is too much.
Chapter 5 does at least add in an environmental challenge with strong winds, so you have to time your jumps with the gusts at times, and Chapter 6 is a short, obviously very climatic, affair with the end game being very much in site from the moment your whale crash lands into the ground… hardly a spoiler… if you’ve not played it that won’t make any sense… if you have played some, it still won’t make any sense.
Taking into account the sheer repetitive nature of the game, it’s a solid 6/10 games… I’m glad I didn’t have to pay for it.