Precision Platforming Your Way Out of Debt: A Jubilee Review

By Manuel

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

Jubilee is a hardcore 2D precision platformer that has some slight Metroidvania elements. It's coming to consoles soon by way of Red Art Games, after a previous release on Steam. Tough-as-nails platformers can really be hit or miss as it takes a lot of balancing to keep a game both challenging and fun. Does Jubilee pull off this difficult task? Well, let's get into the review and find out!

An interesting number...

Shrines & checkpoints are your friend!

Coming in at just the right time to coincide with tax season, Jubilee sees you in prison for failing to pay your debts. You play as an imprisoned girl who is not going to take this offense lying down. She's going to run and jump her way out of this jail. The problem is that jails are rarely ever placed in areas that are easily accessible, and Jubilee's is no different. It will take a lot of traversing, and maybe a few hundred gems, to actually find your way to the outside world. You may be somewhat fragile and powerless when it comes to attacking or defending, but you can jump, and you apparently have an infinite stock of lives. Even if it's through sheer attrition, you're going to get out of this prison! That rather simple premise is all you really get in Jubilee, and while it does expand a bit towards the end, it never really extends beyond a simple story of escape. Story is not really the reason most players go into platformers though, so I guess all that can be forgiven. That said, who hasn't worried about debt landing one in jail? If anything this is the most real story I've seen within a video game in a long while!

Usually platformers like this have all sorts of skills to use, learn, and acquire, but Jubilee goes for a far simpler route. The only moves you have at your disposal are a jump and a double jump that is more of a jumping spin. The first one works about how you expect it to, but the double jump takes a bit of getting used to as its purpose is more to move you further horizontally instead of vertically. Your jump can be altered in all sorts of ways like getting a running start for momentum, pressing the button softly so you can do the most precise of jumps, or even using the d-pad to move alter your path when you're already in the air. It's a very simple mechanic, but one you're going to have to master if you want to get anywhere in Jubilee. There will be several times where you'll be tasked to jump through an opening that is the exact size of your character, or you'll have to jump to and from platforms that don't offer more than a pixel or two of wiggle room. You can also wall jump off of most surfaces (though not all), and can even slowly slide down a wall to get a better angle for your jump. And that's it, that's the control scheme and essentially how you play Jubilee. There's more to the game than that of course, but that's the foundation for everything else.

I will risk everything for these animals!

I love monkeys.

Your goal in Jubilee is to acquire lots of gems, rescue any animal friends you can along the way, and eventually escape the prison you're in. The world is separated into several distinct regions in a way that's similar to a Metroidvania game, but the whole world is open to you. Some areas are better tackled from one direction or another, but there is nothing stopping you from going wherever you want. It's best to always keep this in mind as you may come across some paths that require very tight platforming, and you may assume that a soon-to-be-acquired skill or item will make it easier to clear. That will never be the case though, so you either have to buckle down and get past the area by skill or luck, or just skip it and hope that it doesn't hold anything important. Scattered throughout the world are several shrines and checkpoints, they both act as save points, but the former also act as quick travel locations. These areas are also where you deposit your gems, as you lose whatever you have on you when you die. Naturally you're going to want to do this frequently, but the drawback to repeatedly using checkpoints is that all enemies will respawn. You'll be dying a lot, but thankfully checkpoints are often placed before and after a difficult platforming section. The sheer amount of checkpoints may seem like overkill at first, but they allow you to quickly get back into the action following each death, and that is much appreciated.

Some enemies act like platforms themselves.

Gee, they look friendly.

Speaking of dying, you'll be doing a lot of that in Jubilee. Just about everything is out to get you, and one hit means an instant death. Spikes line the walls, traps are everywhere, and enemies are relentless. Death also comes via the old fashioned ways of falling into pits, water, or anything else that isn't a safe platform. You are able to jump on and kill a few enemies in a Mario-esque fashion, but most of them can't be taken out this way. There are safe zones scattered throughout the world, and it's here where you'll be able to talk to NPCs and get a bit of added story details. These areas are spaces where you can catch your breath, but nothing of importance is ever really said in them. Every so often you'll come across a sign with an animal on it that points towards somewhere that looks extremely dangerous. This is where you must go if you want to rescue those animal friends I mentioned earlier. While you don't necessarily have to complete these tasks to complete the game, surely you don't want to leave an animal in harm's way, right? While these animals are often placed in the absolute worst areas of the game, they stay free if you die making your way back to where you were before. Lastly, fast travelling to a shrine essentially acts as another, so only do it if you've hit a dead end or want to continue down a path that's far away from where you're currently at.

Jubilee keeps track of everything, from the time you've played, the animals you've saved, the amount of times you've died, and how many gems you have left to collect in each area. This is important as you do need to amass a certain amount of gems in order to complete the game, but considering that they're literally scattered everywhere, there is quite a bit of leeway if you miss a few handfuls here or there. Jubilee is a very fast moving game, and you'll be moving in and out of some areas without even realizing you were in them. Even if you find yourself dying hundreds of times, you'll constantly find yourself moving forward. It's this speed of recovery that keep the rather intense difficulty from ever becoming unbearable. You barely have time to rage over a death before you find yourself in the middle of your next go. The quick loop also makes it so that you get a sense of accomplishment once you complete an area, but then find yourself in one just as bad. This means you get that sense of accomplishment at a very rapid pace, and that's a great way to reward players who are sticking with the challenge.

A very mechanical area.

This reminded me of Super Mario Bros. 2.

Graphically Jubilee looks amazing. Its world is colorful and filled with several unique areas and enemies. Metroidvania-styled worlds can often have a same-y feel to them since they are essentially meant to be one big connected area, but Jubilee's sub-levels all have their own personality. The backgrounds all have several layers of depth to them, and there's an attention to detail you probably wouldn't expect to find in a game like this. Obviously the characters and enemies all look great too, with even the earlier mentioned NPCs sporting mostly unique designs. Everything is presented in a retro pixel art, and it's a perfect example on how to pull of that style right. I'm sure most of this can be seen in the screens, but what can't really be conveyed in those are the animations. The animations are all fast and smooth, and lend a hand in executing the precision-based gameplay Jubilee has. This extends into performance too, as I'm happy to report that the game never hiccupped once no matter what manner of insanity was going on on-screen. I literally can't find any fault at all with the graphics, so we'll just move from here.

I tend to rave a lot about music, and that's because it can really make or break a game. If the music is bad, and the game is bad, I'm more than likely going to give up and quit. If the music is good and the game is good, I'll probably remember the experience long after I'm done playing, and be able to recall either the game or the music when simply thinking about one or the other. Jubilee definitely falls into the latter camp, as I loved everything I heard within the game. I've mentioned easily going in and out of different areas earlier, but I should mention that one of the easiest ways to differentiate one zone from the next is by the music changes. I'm not sure if each and every area had its own track, but there were enough here that I was fairly impressed by the amount of music I was hearing. Every song rocked, and even the more chill ones were pretty intense earworms. Each time I'd find myself stuck in an area, I'd let the music pump me back up until I was able to complete it. I seriously can't stress enough how amazing the soundtrack is. I guess my one slight aside to the sound design itself is that sound effects seem to fade a bit into the background, and there's no voice acting to speak of, but those aren't actual issues that matter in the grand scheme of things. If you do end up playing Jubilee, play it loud!

Just rubbing it in...

I hate bugs.

I think the next thing to talk about is how long a game like this will take to beat. Since this is a very hard game, skill will likely determine length more than anything. That said, I think most players will clear their first run in about 3-6 hours. You can definitely do faster if you're a pro, or longer if the game is absolutely beating you up, but that's more or less what I think. That's honestly not a bad game length when you compare it to other platformers or Metroidvanias, but Jubilee also has a lot of replayability under its sleeve. Since Jubilee keeps track of everything, you can easily go for challenge or speed runs on your next playthrough. More importantly you can simply get every coin, rescue every animal, and work yourself towards unlocking a certain second character. I admittedly was nowhere near that thorough in my time with the game, but I am seriously considering future runs now that I have the game mechanics down to a science. Coming in at just $9.99, with a pre-order discount at the time of this writing, Jubilee gives you a lot of content for a very bargain price. I was actually surprised this wasn't priced higher, but it definitely will make its way into more game collections with its current price point.

I hate tight jumps like these.

Don't forget why we're here!

If you're a fan of tough platformers, or just cool retro-inspired games in general, you're going to want to pick up Jubilee now. If you're a gamer looking for a challenge, but don't want it to be truly frustrating, then this is for you too. On the other hand, you might want to go elsewhere you're simply looking for a cool, chill platformer. Jubilee is anything but punishing, but its frequent deaths and tight platforming are sure to alienate some players. There's an awesome game here if you do manage to stick with it though. Grab it on whatever platform you can, and make sure to rescue all the animals!

Check Out Jubilee on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/jubilee-switch/

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Story: A (Mainly because the whole debt-based storyline feels a little too real!)
Gameplay: B
Graphics: A+
Music/Sound: A+
Value: A

Overall: A

Pros:
+ A challenging game that manages to remain fun throughout most of its runtime.
+ Quick respawns make the frequent deaths sting a little less.
+ Graphics are awesome and colorful, and are feature some amazing pixel-based designs.
+ Lots of great music that keeps everything interesting and lively.
+ The game's huge world feels surprisingly cohesive considering all its zones are rather small.
+ Saving animals is always a bonus.

+/- I'm sure this is a bug, but the in-game clock keeps running even in sleep mode on the Nintendo Switch.

Cons:
- The intense difficulty can be quite intense at times, with some obstacles feeling a bit unfair.
- For a game that requires extreme precision, the jumping mechanic feels a little bit floaty and slippery.
- While it resembles a Metroidvania in its map design, you never gain any new abilities.
- If you're not one to get caught up in the platforming challenges throughout, you'll find that this is a rather short game.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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No, no I can't. Thanks for asking.

#JubileeRAG