JETT: The Far Shore + Given Time

This was awful. The back seat dude never shuts up, and after 30 minutes, got about 5 minutes of flying in. Sat through 25 minutes of extremely slow paced cut scenes which gave weird cult vibes. All around weird.

'The Far Shore' (chapter 1) and 'Given Time' (chapter 2) feel like they were designed with wildly different philosophies in mind. The Far Shore sets the stage, building drama and these heavy existential stakes, delivering spectacular set-pieces and moments while you get to know the characters. There’s momentum and an almost overbearing sense of urgency (not helped by the constant chatter from your team and co-pilots). Throughout it you’ll catch glimpses of a rich mechanical game but rarely get the chance to indulge in it. The Far Shore builds and builds... then ends. I can't imagine playing this at launch without chapter 2 to follow. Given Time is more open, relaxed and play-oriented so you get more ‘game’; more discovery, more exploration and experimentation, more puzzling out solutions, but at the expense of the story beats that gave The Far Shore its breakneck rhythm. On that front the narrative didn’t quite hold me like it did before. However, it was a joy to finally be able to indulge in the game that The Far Shore flirted with. There’s a surprisingly expressive set of elements, systems/mechanics here, and Given Time tries to capitalise on most of them (I wish there had been a segment on vapour sauma luring/baiting). It's very satisfying when all this clicks into place and you're able to 'read' the world and respond accordingly. That feeling of mastery is never really present in The Far Shore. The jett, too, while fiddly and unwieldy at first, is such a fast and graceful thing to pilot once you've properly got to grips with it. Against the game’s striking backdrops it's just gorgeous to behold. You can totally see how games like MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Flower, Metroid: Prime and Waking Mars influenced this. My only word of warning is that The Far Shore expects you to read (a lot of) subtitles while piloting and juggling various high pressure (and alien) situations which is brutal and overwhelming. There is a dialogue log which you can dip into at any time but that's not exactly an elegant solution. It was enough for me to consider a refund but I'm glad I adapted and persevered with it. Given Time is a lot quieter and welcoming on this front. If you’ve got a lot of patience, love beautiful 'big picture' sci-fi and games that are trying to do something different then Jett: The Far Shore + Given Time is worth checking out.

It's an artbook... would have been better as one. The controls and dialog are frustrating. Great artistic vision, poor gameplay.

[i]JETT: The Far Shore + Given Time[/i] is a flawed flower -- utterly beautiful and emotionally moving, but unfortunately not without its frustrations. The original game ([i]The Far Shore[/i]) and its subsequent update ([i]Given Time[/i]) are intrinsically tied together -- two sides of the same game, where the latter feels like a reward for the former. Everything about [i]The Far Shore[/i] is setting you up to be let loose into the alien world of [i]JETT[/i] in [i]Given Time[/i]. Because of this, your first experience with the game will feel...guided, and it took me awhile to realize that wasn't a bad thing. [i]The Far Shore[/i] will make you feel connected, almost smothered by the collective stride of the scouts, whereas [i]Given Time[/i] will let you mind wander in isolation and discovery. When treated as one experience, [i]JETT[/i] delivers. Musical hints from Superbrothers' previous title ([url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/204060/Superbrothers_Sword__Sworcery_EP/]Sword & Sworcery[/url]) are like warm, nostalgic, hugs -- fleeting yet comforting. Otherwise the game is exceedingly unique, and requires the patience that obtuse art might; so be warned when going on that there will be a learning curve. Unfortunately, [i]JETT[/i] continues to suffer from (minor) technical issues, years after its release. Any first-person gameplay is capped at 30hz despite FPS counters rendering the game at higher values. Occasionally, though not often, you may find yourself clipped through the world at the mercy of blind button-mashing and a bit of luck to get out. While this wasn't game-breaking for me, I could see a situation where restarting the game or respawning doesn't help. Nonetheless, despite these issues, I still wholeheartedly believe that [i]JETT[/i] is worth playing -- both [i]The Far Shore[/i] and [i]Given Time[/i], especially if you enjoy similar music-focused, atmospheric, indie games!

I really wanted to like it, but playing is just too frustrating. The mood and pacing of cutscenes, dialogue, and first person segments seem to want to be a slow, contemplative journey with layers of meaning. Gameplay seems to want to be fast, snappy, full of stunts. Dialogue is text, not spoken, so when I'm flying my jett I have to look away to read, potentially taking damage from collisions or hazards. When I'm exploring and in the middle of a task, I keep getting interrupted and control taken away and settings changed to focus on something other than what I was doing. I keep finding that I understand and play faster than I'm expected to, and the game keeps pausing to tell me things I've already learned or seen. It's a shame because the themes and art direction and story seem so interesting, and yet it seems I'm only allowed to experience them in an extremely specific way that doesn't mesh with how I'm actually playing. It's an exploration game that either won't let me explore, or when I've already done all the exploring, won't let me move on until the hidden timer runs out. Got so frustrated I gave up before finishing.

I think there's a general feeling of people liking the game and the world, but not loving the delivery of said game and world (Refer to other's in depth reviews). I don't think I could recommend this game, but I also enjoyed my time with it enough to give it a positive review.

It's difficult to put the emotions this game gave me into words. Starting with an intro that hooked me immediately, i was presented with a strong art direction and a mesmerizing atmosphere filled with wonder, curiosity, determination and, surprisingly, hope. Good soundtrack too! While not a high-skill demanding game, the jett controls felt a bit clumsy at first but once i took my time and learned how to deal with them everything clicked. This didn't affect my overall positive experience as i still enjoyed the gameplay and felt very immersed in the narrative. The main campaign is more story-driven, maybe a bit too afraid to let the player explore at their own peace, however in Given Time you are Given all the Time (ahah) (sorry) you wish to enjoy the free-roaming nature of the map. Some people felt there was too much dialogue but personally i liked it and it made me feel part of the scouts. In the end the characters really grew on me. So there is nothing i don't like about this game. Gameplay with enviromental interaction, the story, the characters and their strong beliefs, reverence for nature, the world building of an alien planet and its peculiar biosphere and symbiosis. More than once I found myself stopping by a refuge to admire the Dreadware event instead of sleeping and skipping to the next day. I would highly recommend this title to all my fellow indie connoisseur out there, as it easily became on of my favorites ever.

Really wish I could enjoy the story as delivered by the alleged protagonist, not their constantly mansplaining copilot. Didn't make it past an hour due to this design decision. AI instruction, notes left behind by other crew, or even *GASP* the protagonist herself - but no, we are doomed to be silent for some reason while our copilot natters on and on and on about the wonders of this new world. If there's a reason for this weird disparity in representation, I didn't make it far enough to find out.

The gameplay is clunky and the controls (Xbone controller) are finnicky, but totally worth playing for a sci-fi story that eschews the usual Western Colonial perspective and allows itself to be strange.

[b]This review does not contain any spoilers.[/b] [h3][i]An oasis of consciousness, in a lonely cosmos. A people reborn, in Ghoke's dim glow. To this, we are all consecrated.[/i][/h3] JETT is an unconventional, religious sci-fi game about a group of people paving the path to ensure the future of their species. I recommend this game with caution as I understand that some of what it does may put people off: [list] [*]The tutorial is overly long and in retrospect, knowing what both the base game and the Given Time expansion requires you to do, I believe it could teach a lot more. [*]It's a very slowburn game. Inbetween you completing an objective and getting the next one, there's a pause that sometimes feels too long. This is an overarching theme in the game, sometimes after a cutscene ends, the camera fades to black slowly. [*]The vehicle you control has two modes and the controls take some time getting used to. There are some things that the game won't explicitly teach you, and you might only figure them out in Given Time (more on this below) because of the challenges it puts you against. [*]I read that a lot of people are irritated by your co-pilot talking too much, and it is true, he does talk a lot. Once I spent a few hours with him and got to know him, I was able to differentiate between important information (ie new task) and commentative chatter (ie talking about what's happening or giving hints), which helped me decide when to divert my attention away from my main focus to reading his subtitles. [*]The game's spoken audio is in a made up language. Personally I am super impressed with it; having spent ~24 hours with the game, I developed some grasp of its grammar and some of its vocabulary (it's well constructed, and not just some voice actor saying random habla babla) but I also understand that some people would prefer if the voiceover was in a language they can understand. [*]There are some bugs. Thankfully I haven't encountered anything actually game-breaking, but I managed to get under the terrain a few times and I had to restart the game once towards the end of Given Time where the FPS dropped below 10 (I had stable 60 during the rest of the game). [/list] [hr][/hr] [h1]What's Given Time?[/h1] I probably spent an hour trying to find out myself. Apparently the base game is called JETT: The Far Shore, and Given Time is an expansion. They're both 12 hours long each. [b]Far Shore[/b] is a very authored, story-focused experience, where you'll go from objective to objective, and have a lot of interactions with other characters. It's a rather laid back campaign, where you are not likely to face big challenges. Time seems to pass based on objectives (or it's so lenient that it feels like it). [b]Given Time[/b] is a more free-roaming experience - you'll travel alone and will face several challenges and puzzles, some of which will force you to master some of the movement mechanics. You will rarely talk to characters. No co-pilot commentary. Time passes real-time and some entities will only be active or will have different behaviours depending on daytime. You can easily skip to these times of day by sleeping in any shelter. [i](I'd say the base game is a complete experience on its own, if anyone is wondering.)[/i] [hr][/hr] [h1]Conclusion[/h1] The steppe mysticism and religious aspects of the game were very fresh in a space travel sci-fi game. In some way, it reminded me of [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/505230/Pathologic_2/][u]Pathologic[/u][/url], [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1063310/Vane/][u]Vane[/u][/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/753640/Outer_Wilds/][u]Outer Wilds[/u][/url]. The music is often dreamy, the voice actors are wonderful and the singing is otherworldly. The game made me feel a sense of adventure, homesickness, belonging, duty, sorrow for loved ones, a wonder and awe over alien landscapes and creatures. If you're able to put yourself past the negatives, can enjoy a slowburn game, and are willing to give your time to an unconventional, ever so slightly clunky game, this is for you, and is definitely worthwhile to play.