Every games writer across the industry is currently preparing their personal Game of the Year lists, which means that behind the scenes, many of us are furiously trying to work our way through the many games over the past 12 months that intrigued us, but we didn’t have the time for. Considering how many excellent games came out this year, that can be a time-consuming process. Quite honestly, if playing video games and writing about them wasn’t my job, I would have been quite satisfied to just play Baldur’s Gate 3 for a year straight. However, that is exactly what my job entails, which means I’m furiously pushing through every game I haven’t finished in an attempt to decide which are my favourites.
Jusant is a puzzle platformer where you climb rocks. You use the triggers to grab onto holds, you can swing on your rope, and you can even rappel down rock faces. That is the most simplistic, reductive way to describe the game. It is also the most simplistic way to describe the sport of rock climbing, and the more accessible, even more insufferable sport of bouldering. The sport has risen in popularity over the years, which means a very annoying culture has sprung up around it.
I don’t know what it is about boulderers in particular, and this might be specific to the country I live in, but I know alotof people who got really into bouldering and made it their whole personality. Open their dating profile, and it’s all pictures of them climbing fake rocks. Ask if they want to hang out, and they’ll say “Yeah, you should come climb with me!” They’ll unironically say “Allez, allez!” in conversation, and when you bring it up, they’ll smile and say they picked it up in the gym.
Note:Anybody who says allez in front of me is getting kicked in the head. I don’t make the rules.
I don’t get bouldering. I have never gotten it. I’ve tried it, and it was fine, but I have a fear of heights. I don’t like intentionally letting go of a wall and hoping I don’t break both my ankles when I land. I have friends who boulder a lot, and from what I understand about it, they love the community aspect of it. I know someone who picked up bouldering specifically because he’d moved to a new city and wanted to make friends. And people like that climbing routes are problems you can solve with your body, as long as you’re strong and flexible enough.
That latter aspect is well represented in Jusant. Every wall and every different environment is a new puzzle, solved by combining different tools at your disposal and by experimenting with interacting differently with your environment. Jusant takes all the annoying bro culture out of climbing and makes the sport meditative and thoughtful instead. Nobody screams “Allez” at me as I cling helplessly to a jug hold or whatever the hell – I’m just thinking my way slowly through puzzles, figuring out how to get from one point to the other, and climbing. Finally, I am beginning to understand what other people like so much about this sport. You’ll still never catch me in a climbing gym again, though.
