On the occasion of Gamescom 2023, we met Kevin Poupard and Mathieu Beaudelin, Creative Co-Directors of Jusant, the new nugget of Don’t Nod, in order to learn a little more.The game having passed through our hands a few weeks earlier, we were eager to participate in this interview.
Xboxygen: Hello, first of all, I want to say that I finished the preview twice, that is almost four hours of play, and that I liked it.
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Kevin Poupard: Hello and thank you very much, it’s nice to have positive feedback.
Xboxygen: So my first question: is the character we play a man or a woman?
Mathieu Beaudelin: (laughs) We asked ourselves the question, and finally opted for it to be the player who chooses, through his eyes, the gender of the character.
Xboxygen: We noticed some small graphical issues, especially when transitioning between climbing and returning to a horizontal plane.The character crosses the ledge, which is not very pretty.
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Kevin Poupard: Indeed, we still have some work to do on a few bugs.But these will be fixed before the official release.
Xboxygen: A cute little creature is with us, Ballast.Why did you choose to integrate it into the game?
Mathieu Beaudelin: To create a link with nature.It is a water creature, which uses its powers to grow plants, interact with wildlife and incidentally tell us about hidden objects and the direction of the objective.We wanted our character, through Ballast, to have an interconnectivity with the little flora and fauna that was still there.
Xboxygen: Speaking of hidden objects, we found some murals and of course, letters scattered all over the place.Why did you choose this option?
Mathieu Beaudelin: So that the player makes his own story.Every player is different, and we think some will go straight for the goal by climbing as fast as possible, while others will choose the path of exploration, to discover the story of the game there. important for us, that the player has the choice, as for the gender of the character, to create his own story, guiding him with a red thread, ie to climb always higher to reach the objectives and to change level.
Xboxygen: Great, you talk about level changes, so we can jump to the next question.How many levels?And so biomes?Because we hadn’t seen enough of it, it was too short as a preview!
Kevin Poupard: (laughs) I can understand.The ebb is made up of five levels, and therefore five biomes.We wanted the player to feel and see noticeable differences as they progress through the game.
Xboxygen: And the number of hours to finish it?
Kevin Poupard: Between eight and ten o’clock.Everything will depend on whether the players want to climb as quickly as possible, or on the contrary look everywhere to find clues to the story.
Xboxygen: Very good, and for the story, without spoilers please, what did you want to tell through Jusant, because it is still a particularity at Don’t Nod, to send a message to through their games?
Mathieu Beaudelin: We wanted to explain, without pointing the finger at anyone, that actions necessarily have consequences.In the case of Jusant, the signs showed that the water was disappearing, and that unfortunately nothing had been done to stop this progression, hence the fact that there is no longer a drop of water.The relationship with nature is essential, and a balance must be found for everything to work well.
Xboxygen: Will there be the possibility to improve the equipment?For example, we have three pitons at the start of the game, can we have more later?Or can the range of Ballast’s powers be improved?
Kevin Poupard: No.We didn’t want to go in the direction of an RPG.The player starts the game the same way he ends it.Also, adding upgrades wasn’t in our sights, as a few minutes of learning the mechanics at the start is enough for later.
Xboxygen: Jusant has puzzles, and during the ascent we got stuck for a few minutes.It was at the level of a windmill.Impossible to know where to go.Honestly we struggled…
Kevin Poupard: Yes, it’s true.At first it was the goal, that the player finds the right path by himself.Then after discussing internally, we opted to slightly modify the angle of the camera, in order to indicate the path to follow.It’s a little boost so as not to break this whole progression phase.
Xboxygen: Indeed, it will surely help the players.We wanted to tell you that during our game session, we came across seashells, and our character, wearing them in his ear, heard memories.
Mathieu Beaudelin: Yes indeed.We found it cool to be inspired by Life is Strange, when you sit down to listen to music and the images scroll by.It’s quite relaxing and fun.We wanted to use the same concept, introducing the shell which, when held in the ear, makes us hear the sea. In Jusant, the shell has recorded sounds from the past that our character can listen to.
Xboxygen: Speaking of music, we loved the soundtrack, which fits perfectly into the game. Great job on that!
Mathieu Beaudelin: Thank you, but it’s not us who should be thanked, but Guillaume Ferran.It’s the first time he’s worked on a game, and it’s remarkable.We are really very happy with the result.Besides, if you could point out that it was he who made the music, that would be really cool!
Xboxygen: We won’t miss it, the music was really great.One last question, have you ever thought about making a sequel?
Kevin Poupard: Not at all.We are focused on getting Jusant out and all the little details we have yet to sort out.So far, it hasn’t even crossed our minds.
Xboxygen: Ok and thank you for all gentlemen.I can’t wait to discover the rest of the game. Good Gamescom and good luck for the rest.
Mathieu Beaudelin and Kevin Poupard: Thank you, I hope you enjoy the rest of the game.Happy Gamescom to you too.
As a reminder, the release of Jusant is scheduled for October 31 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series XIS the title will be integrated as soon as it is released in the Xbox Game Pass.