While Telltale Games spent most of the 2010s establishing themselves as the prominent force in adventure titles, similar to Lucasarts’ heydey in the 1990s, DONTNOD made themselves known immediately when Life is Strange came to fruition in 2015. The captivating storytelling blended with magnificent visuals led to a strong sequel, Tell Me Why/Twin Mirror, and other great games, still a presence to be felt. So, how can the storytelling studio fare in a game without dialogue? That’s the name of the game in Jusant, as you climb a mountain for about 5 hours – how does this premise fare for this stellar studio?

The most important thing for a game about mountain climbing has to be its controls, as traversing upwards needs to feel perfect to truly sell the appeal. In Jusant, it’s one hell of a learning curve to figure this out – so much so, that I had to restart my playthrough after a break of a few days to re-tutorialize myself. After about 30 minutes of stumbling around, missing jumps, and using what felt like 100% of my brain, it clicked and the risk-vs.-reward heave-ho felt right. You can’t exactly “fall off the mountain,” thankfully, so take all the time you need in getting used to Jusant.

Jusant‘s tale is expressed in a show-don’t-tell manner, save for its collectibles which intersperse some stories through notes left behind. I didn’t find this particularly engaging or immersive, but it did serve as a fine break from the action as these were located within the game’s gorgeous locales that never felt barren or lacking.

In many ways, it’s the tried-and-true “journey, not the destination.” The kind of marvel that massively benefits from the small, fleeting moments that stick in the player’s head long after the end credits roll and make the frustration of the climbing failures worth it’s learning curve, where some may call it quits and miss out on the rest.

The true scope of the mountain in Jusant is overwhelming; if you look straight up in the first few hours of the title, all you’ll see is an endless climb and it may seem pointless. However, for those that persist, the experience as a whole is something truly unique and is less monotony than it is a feat of perseverance. It’s certainly not the conventional way of storytelling for DONTNOD, but instead is akin to greats like Journey or Gris that captivate the player without a normal means of communication. It’s hard to tell a great story with words, but even harder to tell a great one without them.

The reward of conquering Jusant is equally, if not more, satisfying than climbing a hill in real life. It’s almost hard to put into words, as it evokes emotions in ways games in this genre regularly struggle to. If you can grasp the challenge that climbing poses and set your sights on achieving the end goal, the credits roll will leave you awestruck and exceptionally satisfied, something that can’t be said for every narrative adventure game nowadays.

A PC review copy of Jusant was provided by DONTNOD for the purposes of this review.

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Jusant

$24.99

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Truly Unique Climbing Mechanics
• Wondrous Landscapes
• Captivating Soundtrack
• Magical Moments

Cons

• Serious Learning Curve
• Middling Lore