HHW Gaming Review: DON’T NOD’s ‘Jusant’ Delivers A Beautiful, Challenging & Relaxing Experience

In a year full of games deserving of Game of The Year nominees, Jusant is a small game that seeks to scale those giant mountains and grab some of that attention, and deservingly so, this is a little game that could.

Jusant (pronounced “Jusahn”) is a French maritime term for ebb or low tide and is now the title of the game from DON’T NOD, an independent game developer based out of Paris and Montreal.

Described as an action-puzzle climbing game, Jusant takes players on a meditative journey where you take on the role of a curious climber who is on a mission to find out what happened to a civilization long gone that inhabited the mysterious tower.

The game’s protagonist has no weapons but is armed with climbing gear and his secret weapon, an adorable companion made of water called a Ballast, who will help guide you along your journey to the top.

Along the way, you will master your climbing skills while using the nature around you to make it to the top of the tower and solve the game’s mystery.

Impressive Climbing Mechanics

Climbing is brilliantly handled by using the left and right triggers in combination with the left analog stick…

In Jusant, there are no enemies. Your primary “foe,” if you want to call it that, is the tower you must scale and, eventually, the elements you must brave. While many will compare Jusant’s climbing mechanics to Ubisoft Reflections Grow Home, Jusant delivers one of the most unique takes on the activity in a video game.

As you begin your ascent, you quickly learn how to use your climbing tools, which consist of just a rope and pitons that you can place with the press of a button to use as a place marker in case you fall to reset yourself.

Climbing is brilliantly handled by using the left and right triggers in combination with the left analog stick. As you climb, you have to keep a close eye on your stamina meter and press down on the L3 button to refill it, which will cause the character to take a deep breath and shake their wrist.

During my playthrough, I used an Xbox Series X, but I also wondered how the game would feel like using the PS5’s DualSense controller.

Eventually, you will meet your secret adorable weapon, the little Ballast that is your companion.

The Ballast will eventually gain abilities like pointing you toward collectibles, which are letters and notes left by long gone occupants slowly telling the story of what happened to them, and other artifacts like cairns and wall paintings.

It’s the perfect way to tell a story in a game without dialogue.

The wall paintings will glow when you use your companion’s ability to send out a pulse that also revives things around you, like plants and other creatures that will aid you in your climb to the top of the tower.

Soak It All In

Each biome is quiet but also sites to behold, with only the sounds coming from your mini Ballast and the game’s relaxing soundtrack as the background.

During your climb, you will encounter different biomes void of human life but plenty of fauna and flora that will also help you in your journey.

Each biome is quiet but also sites to behold, with only the sounds coming from your mini Ballast and the game’s relaxing soundtrack as the background.

One biome will see you in an area of the tower beautifully lit by plants and creatures using bioluminescence. Other sites are full of remnants of past civilizations that took the skies as the waters around them dried them.

Another biome that took my breath away lives in the game’s final chapter. I won’t spoil it for you, but while it’s beautiful to look at, it was also the game’s most challenging, forcing you to use all of the skills you have mastered along the way.

As you progress on your relaxing but sometimes stressful journey, as you try to figure out how you will make it from point A to point B, you can’t help but take in the surroundings and marvel at them.

Final Verdict

Clocking in at 5 hours, Jusant is a short but wonderful adventure that, like a good book, you will find hard to put down. It’s also a game with some replay value because there is no one direct route to get to the top, and you will want to go back and discover the collectibles and artifacts you may have missed along the way.

With massive triple-A titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and, most recently, Alan Wake II garnering all of the attention at the moment,  and deservingly so, Jusant sneaks in as one of those darlings, a hidden Indie gem, so to speak.

It’s a game that will also add to the growing narrative that 2023 is indeed one of the most significant years on record for video games and deserves to be on the list with all the fantastic titles to come out this year.

From beginning to end, Jusant is a beautiful game. It has an excellent soundtrack, stunning visuals, and a fun, simple-to-learn, but challenging at times experience combined with an engaging story.

It’s a relaxing title to pick up after you’re done with those $70 epics that will have you marveling and wondering how in the world DON’T NOD’s developers squeeze all of this epicness into a $25 game.

Jusant is available now on Steam, Xbox Series X, Xbox Game Pass, and PS5.

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Photo: DON’T NOD / Jusant

*Steam key provided for review by the game’s developer and publisher.*