If you had asked me weeks ago, I doubted that I’d be presenting a review for JETT: The Far Shore without seeing the end credits. Although unfortunately, mere days before the game was released, my save data corrupted during an update and I lost all progress. With that said though, I did see A LOT of this game. It was an experience considerably lengthier than I expected. But what I found most unbelievable is the feeling of relief when I decided I was not going to start from the beginning and my experience with JETT was now over. At one point I was very intrigued by what JETT had to offer, but sadly the title falls short of the fantasies their trailers concocted.

JETT: The Far Shore tells the tale of a small crew who blast off their homeworld to a distant planet in a bid to find the “hymnwave”, a central tenant of their religion. As they travel the world, they must contend with the plants and the creatures that already call it home. It’s an exploration game that takes place by ship and by foot, with many a trial and tribulation to be had. This may seem like an alarmingly brief summary, but there is a good reason. For in so many ways, the mission this crew sets out on feels as though it was cut from whole cloth. There isn’t a lot of work that is being done in establishing relationships or drama that feels like anything beyond trivial office politics. In fact, there’s a lot of this game that is perplexing in its unwillingness to engage with the player.

The choice to combine a space flight sim and a walking sim seemed like an inspired choice. However, it indicates a problem with the gameplay overall. The developers seemed to have tried to have a little bit of everything. This does not come across as the buffet that may have been planned. Rather, everything feels like a compromise. There is not enough walking for a walking sim. The fast flights are often interrupted. Even the investigation, ostensibly the main draw of the game, is a waste of time on a planet I don’t care about. But hey, at least it looks pretty.

Starry-eyed – JETT: The Far Shore is beautiful

It’s a fact that aesthetics are the most marketable part of any game. JETT: The Far Shore is no exception. The scintillating style has made the transfer from showcase to end-product. I love how warped the scale feels. When you’re flying, the camera zooms way out. You’re a turbo-charged dust mite, buzzing around beautiful, alien vistas. On foot, plants and hills balloon in proportion. It creates a sense of wonder that the developers seem to be angling for. You’re made to feel off-guard and curious about the world.

On to this uncharted planet land our characters, explorers from a distant world. There’s this feeling of the characters being foreign that shines through. They speak in a non-human dialect and a lot of the plot revolves around Astrolatry, a religion based on stars and astrological forces. The characters are stark and minimalistic and the design cuts angular shapes across the models, though we still see enough differences between these people to separate them. This is very different from how character design is commonly used. Often, the design will bring across personality traits. However, in JETT, I’m drawn to how similar the characters appear. It speaks volumes about these people.

Jett-setting – Cruising through a new planet

Most of JETT’s runtime is spent in the titular spaceship. The Jett flies and steers with no issue, but the verticality throws things off. A rocket ship, one may expect, should travel in all 3 dimensions. Instead, the Jett skates along low to the planet’s surface. To raise the altitude, you must slide up a smooth incline or “hop” up with a well-timed thrust. It works well in the tutorial, but bringing these manoeuvres to the open-world immediately starts to irritate. The cutoff between an incline and a wall is vague and so the best way to determine the difference is flying directly at the incline and hoping you don’t slam into it. I appreciate the attempt to add skill to the mix, but this alone doesn’t make the game enjoyable on a challenge level. Instead, JETT: The Far Shore seems intent on making exploration the main gameplay tenant.

Whilst flying around, the game has decent mechanics to let you investigate. Point the resonator at something to analyse or use as a compass to pull you to other points of interest. Grappling objects, such as plants, opens up in-flight actions, like evading predators. Both mechanics seek to get players invested in the investigation of the planet. However, this is where “tuning out the white noise” starts to have consequences.

One small step for man – Is JETT a Walking Simulator? What is it?

We do have to talk about the walking simulation. Watching the trailers, the game appeared to be half flight sim and half walking sim. That’s not the reality of the final product. Instances of walking around are minimal. A character will get out, walk a few metres, talk, then double back to the ship. You barely leave the ship post-prologue. If you’re not in the Jett, you’re meandering in a home base, another spaceship. You aren’t among the wonder of the world. We see a design catered to the pilot, not the hiker. It’s designed to be pretty from afar, with alcoves few and far between to get your shoes dirty upon.

Gameplay seems to be pulled in all directions. I speculate that be it time, money, employees, or creative scope, resources were lacking. The title floats some cool ideas but without the proper execution. Everything feels fast, but slams on the brakes for waffling dialogue. A slower walking simulator would be possible if there was space or time to increase the step count. The cataloguing and wonder factor are nice, yet the tone and environment feel locked in stasis for the whole campaign. The mechanics are a pain to wrestle with, rather than a challenge.

End of the world as we know it – In which the game’s save data explodes

In ways, JETT: The Far Shore seemed to be turning a corner when my save corrupted. We started to see how wildlife can have utility in missions and there became a greater understanding of the relationship between us and the world. Yet there is an element of speculation that loomed over this part of the game. I can’t even fathom a guess at the remaining runtime. Usually, I would guess based on story progression or worthwhile menu information, both of which this game lacks. It does beg the question though, can a bad game be saved by a good ending? For JETT: The Far Shore, I cannot fathom it becoming a genuinely good game. I sunk 7 hours into it before it finally started to turn a corner. Rest assured, I am under no illusion that at the end of that turned corner, there would not be a game worthy of 7 hours of dull labour.