Port Of Jumanah Review – The Improvements Of Oxygen

Diving underwater can be a dangerous activity without proper preparation, and that’s even if it’s for peaceful intentions. Throw in combat along with treasure hunting and you realize your life is on a timer. Port of Jumanah brings the challenge with an action roguelike where your adventure is dependent on the amount of oxygen you have. Developed and published by Agate & Red Dunes Games, you must carefully consider your next priorities.

You are Mansour, a young diver who accidentally frees six black pearls. This has big ramifications for the nearby seas, creating aggressive sea life and distorting the area. Along with several allies, Mansour aims to restore the seas to protect the local community. By slowly strengthening his arsenal, Mansour fights against villains who have various designs on the seas he visits.

If you’ve played any action roguelike, you’ve seen many variations of this story. In my view, what makes Port of Jumanah stand out is its unique charm. Mansour and the inhabitants you meet are silly in a cute way. The character designs are simple, but they often say outrageous things that I couldn’t help but laugh at. Despite the stakes, it’s a funny setting where everyone is skating just outside the norm.

Mansour must choose a sea to investigate, then the weapons and crew he wants to bring along. Each sea has various paths and rooms to explore, some filled with enemies. Various powerups give you benefits that help you survive fights. Clear enough rooms and reach the end to fight a boss, then repeat the process. Various side quests are also available to help unlock crew members or gain access to upgrades.

The most notable part of gameplay is the oxygen system that replaces your health. Every dive has a certain amount of oxygen. Staying underwater gradually depletes oxygen, while getting hurt consumes a decent amount of it. It may not seem like a big deal early on, but as you travel to more difficult locations, you must be smart about your oxygen usage. Do you remain underwater and go through every room or make a beeline for the exit?

What makes the decision hard is that each room you encounter has various materials hidden in breakable objects. Those materials are used in upgrades and are worth collecting. Sometimes, you might even find oxygen canisters to replenish your supply. However, there’s no guarantee and you might waste valuable time. I had to make quick decisions about my progression to ensure I wouldn’t waste oxygen.

Another unique gameplay aspect is the crew system, where Mansour can bring up to three allies onto his ship. While these allies don’t participate in battles, they provide various benefits like increasing resource drops. Configuring your crew provides an additional level of customization that makes each run different. Some runs I would focus on gathering resources while others would utilize a risky power boost to defeat a boss.

While these unique gameplay aspects can be fun, they are sometimes let down by the low difficulty. I never found it hard to progress through the levels even when more difficult opponents appeared. It is rare to find a negative situation that is truly debilitating instead of a minor inconvenience. That’s not to say I didn’t like breezing through levels, but there weren’t many big challenges that would stump me for hours.

If you do fail a run, the consequences can significantly set you back. Unlike other roguelikes where you dust yourself off and try again, Port of Jumanah takes a percentage of your resources. These percentages are significant and would often delay upgrades for several runs. Even though failure is rare, I thought the penalty for failing was quite harsh. Suppose you made a mistake by accident and wanted to restart. You’d lose a good chunk of your resources in the process. It made me wonder why failing was penalized this much, since it’s already discouraging when you fail.

Port of Jumanah modifies the action roguelike genre to provide a fun experience. Working with oxygen as a limitation makes you balance speed with completion. The level of customization allows you to pursue different strategies. Even if it’s not the hardest game to play, failing has harsh consequences. While it doesn’t make big changes to the formula, Port of Jumanah is a solid choice for any roguelike fans.

Victor reviewed Port of Jumanah on PC with a provided review code. This review is based on the version of the game available at the time of writing and our score will not be changed.