In Jusant, there’s a species of palm-sized creatures called pebbles that don what appears to be hard, gray carapaces, and you’ll first find – or hear — them scuttering along its plunging cliff faces.
$25 for a ~4 hour or so experience might not be most people's cup of tea if they solely base things off of "dollar per hour" ratios (which I think is an insane way to judge a game's worthiness)
However, Jusant was a great game. The varied locations, the music, the little twists on the climbing gameplay, spelunking into little hidden caverns to find shrines and story tidbits of the people's lives before. It was absolutely worth my time. If people stopped worrying about dollar per hour ratiols or graphics or other random arbitrary things that don't really mean anything in terms of a game's quality, games like this would probably score a lot more recognition in the industry
interesting point. i think my comfort level with this kind of game would be maybe $15, unless there were multiple reviewers calling this their game of the year. however, i think that says more about my personal tastes - the climbing gameplay is a gamble because it is unlike other games i've played, and good writing alone is not enough to sell me on a game.
It's definitely not going to be a game for everyone, but I'm one of those weird people who still sees games as art, so I really appreciate games that just do different things and provide experiences you can't really get in other games. Even if they don't 100% stick the landing, I can enjoy and appreciate them for adding some variety and trying something different.
Jusant is on Gamepass by the way, which could be a very good way to give it a try