During the Xbox Games Showcase, DON’T NOD, the developers of the Life is Strange series among others, revealed their latest project. Simply named Jusant, the trailer shows a boy and a creature companion climbing for two minutes.
Jusant – The relaxing, at-your-own-pace action-puzzle climbing game
Screenshot via Xbox YouTube
The trailer for the game ultimately doesn’t show much. We see a boy with a creature in his backpack climb past a broken-down, ruined vehicle of some sort. He emerges to a cliffside village. Many shots of climbing are then shown before the trailer ends.
Screenshot via Xbox YouTube
The developer page for the game describes it as a relaxing nature game you can play at your own pace. There’s no hint of any story besides discovering the secrets of an ancient civilization. Your creature companion is made of water and is called Ballast. That’s about all there is to gauge, though the ruined, airplane-like vehicle suggests a lot more. If it is an airplane, is the ruined civilization society as we know it and the setting post-apocalyptic? Or perhaps there’s even a lot more to it than that.
Screenshot via Xbox YouTube
DON’T NOD has quite the range in its games since its founding in 2008. The one thing most of them share is a focus on narrative, whether they’re full-blown choice games like Life is Strange or Tell Me Why. In contrast, Jusant‘s trailer presents a much more environmental-based and minimalistic story. Is DON’T NOD branching out and trying a much more purely environmental-based story? It’s absolutely something they can pull off. The sheer amount of narrative details and hints included in any one of their games is no less than admirable and, therefore, already the bread and butter. But maybe Jusant is only meant to be a relaxing climbing game without a heavy and serious story this time. Given the developer history, either is likely.
Jusant is scheduled for a Fall 2023 release date. It will be available on Steam, Xbox, and Gamepass, and PS5.
