Celeste (2018)

I was told Celeste was about a girl with anxiety. Depression. Inner demons. It was one of those feel-good stories that is supposed to inspire you to keep trying. I can respect the storyline, but I wasn't interested in seeing it for a video game. I'm usually into something more crazy with an action-packed story and big endings. The reason I played it anyway was because the movement looked like a ton of fun. And I was right.

It's immediately fun trying to figure out how the movement works, and what exactly the level wants you to do. It's like a puzzle in every room. Not hard to figure out, but hard to execute. By the end of the game the jumping and dashing and climbing was so fast paced I felt like a God gamer at work. You die a lot in this game so I very much appreciate that you respawn in the same room. Backtracking is one of my least favorite things in video games so this was a must for me to keep playing.

There are strawberries and B-Sides to collect, but to be honest, I felt no motivation to find them. I just passed right by them if they weren't easy to collect. Call me lame but I don't really care. Not the kind of game I was looking to be difficult.

I'm writing a review but I'm fully aware I did not see everything this game has to offer. Nearly the minimum regarding all the collectibles and things like that. But I got to the end of the story, I saw how it ended, and I liked it. Plain and simple. If you like platformers, play Celeste.

Beautiful pixel art, beautiful music, and a beautiful story filled with memorable characters and a powerful message about self-doubt, anxiety, and learning to accept yourself.

All of that wraps around one of the most hellishly difficult games I’ve ever played. My fingers hurt, and this game genuinely made me hate platformers at times. Still, it’s such a tight and carefully designed experience that it’s impossible not to respect it. Even if the challenge isn’t for you, it’s absolutely worth experiencing for its message, music, and art style alone.

The true standout in this game for me is the story. Incredibly written and honestly such a relatable message and topic matter. I really connected to how Madeline was feeling and I think that is something that is truly difficult to accomplish in games and storytelling in general.

The gameplay and movement/controls felt really good and smooth. The level design was unique to each chapter and the art style really worked for this type of game and I loved living in the world that was created. I think the length of each chapter and the overall game was perfect. It didn't overstay its welcome and spent just the right amount of time to get you feeling invested in how the story would progress. The side characters were also fun and added to the tone and feel of the game.

I was really appreciative of the assist mode as well. There is nothing I love more than developers understanding that some players value to story of difficulty and it was fantastic to be able to experience this story without getting roadblocked by something being too difficult for my personal skillset to achieve. I could totally see myself going back in and trying the levels with different difficulty settings.

Overall, the emotional impact the story of this game has is truly remarkable. I had heard so much praise for this game before I played it and I think it delivers everything it sets out to and the love for this game is very well deserved!

NOTE: this includes the Farewell DLC chapter.

Celeste is a game that keeps sharpening its teeth till the bittersweet end with challenge that simultaneously enthralls people who need that extra help to succeed and people that can and will overcome anything.

The player is a young woman (Madeline) who is looking to overcome an immense challenge by climbing Celeste Mountain. While making her way through area by area, she confronts her fears, anxieties, and makes some heartwarming friends along the way.

This theme of overcoming struggle and coming to terms with mental health complements a very challenging game. The player can jump, dash, climb for a limited time, and wall jump to avoid one-hit kill obstacles. While that seems like plenty to keep in mind, the game uses a mind boggling amount of creativity to constantly introduce new mechanics - recharging dash crystals, platforms that dash when you do, lifting clouds, two mid air dashes, etc. It's all quite difficult stuff past the main game, and by the time we hit wavedashing and other advanced movement mechanics precision can become nearly impossible.

Luckily the game does plenty to help the player move foward. Apart from a "die as many times as you need" mentality, the game separates into manageable chunks for stages and has fun hidden collectibles to help spice up the more linear challenges. On top of that, there are various B-Sides, C-Sides, and a ridiculously unforgiving DLC chapter that will stop at nothing to punish players who have a good grasp on precise movements. For me, however, this wasn't always the case, with my controls that would input diagonals when I meant for horizontals and just not getting that precise, repeatable movement I needed to succeed.

With the Assist Mode (and later some fun Variants) this made the impossible possible (but still fun!) With players who have completely reached a wall or just needed a little push to succeed, the mode allows infinite dashing, climbing stamina, and invincibility if the going gets tough. While the game encourages only using this if necessary, it's a great way to practice, help beginners into the game, and serve as an option for people who just aren't able to do what the game demands.

The music and visuals help immensely as well, with gentle and chiptune-infused tracks (with boppin' B-Side remixes) and a dazzling amount of colorful pixel art. The characters are rendered in adorable portraits and there's a great amount of visual variety across the eight main (plus ninth DLC) chapter. For people who might get bored dying constantly in a duller-looking game Celeste has some great visuals to take in while you practice.

Celeste has a lot to say at its core about challenge, the anxieties and fears at the core of that challenge, and knowing that you don't have to give up in order to have fun. This creates an incredibly relatable story and an engaging loop that can challenge players of every skill level.

It's like the worst episode from Hollow Knight, White Palace, made into an entire game, and with some horrendous pixelated graphics to hide the fact that authors can't actually do pixelart. And with a cheap chiptune music instead of really good ambient from Hollow Knight.

I understand that there are some SMB fans that like this kind of stuff. I'm clearly not one of them. I just like good games. This isn't one.

Short Version: A fun, fluent 2D platformer with the perfect amount of difficulty, great music, nice visuals, and a story that’s simple to follow but has a deep meaning. Short enough to beat in 2-3 days, but has extra content for those who want more. If you like platformers, you’ll love Celeste.

Worth the Money - Definitely worth playing on Xbox Game Pass. I think $20 (full price) is a little steep, but definitely worth it on sale if you aren’t on Xbox.

Full Version: A great indie 2D platformer with a relatively simple but interesting story. It was a perfect level of difficulty for me. Definitely was a challenge and stumped me from time to time, but nothing that felt like it was unfair or dragged on. Controls and movement were extremely easy to grasp and nail down, except for those cloud things you jump off of (those annoyed me).

Not super long, took me about 9 hours and most people beat it in a lot less. Lots of collectibles in the form of strawberries throughout the world. They don’t do anything at all, so there’s not much incentive to get them but they don’t hold you back either which I like.

If you finish the main game and want more, there’s post-game levels and of course the strawberries to go back and get. I didn’t do either, I felt satisfied for now with 9 hours.

Overall, great game, and recommended to everybody (especially platformer fans).

Celeste is an extremely challenging platformer with a heartwarming story about mental health and living with your anxiety and depression. Admittedly it wasn't until after the third chapter that I started really enjoying myself, but that's just because I felt like the the first two chapters were just difficult platforming and that's it. It felt a lot more balanced once I got invested in the story and the gamplay started introducing more puzzle elements.

One thing I'll say about the platforming is that it requires extremely precise controls, which means the controller you use will be important. After trying out a couple different controllers, I actually found it best to use the joy-cons, moving with the left stick instead of the directional buttons. My two pro controllers just weren't cutting it for me.

I have never been this in love with a character or story in a 2D platformer, and I'm so excited that a developer decided to make a game about mental health. It's a really lovely game, and I would love everyone to experience it. If you're finding the platforming too challenging, just turn on assist mode. I didn't try it myself, but it looks like there are several options to make the game easier. On the other hand, if you're a pro at platformers, there are plenty of extra challenges to keep you entertained for more than the 6 hours the main story will take you to complete.

Fully recommend.

Tight controls, satisfying and intuitive gameplay, and an awesome atmosphere and music combine to make one of the most enjoyable challenges since Super Meat Boy.

As for the story... honestly, I was extremely disappointed after all the breathless raving about its brilliance . "Ham-fisted" would be an understatement (though is it really ham-fisted if the gaame straight up tells you "THIS IS ALL A METAPHOR"?). It's not a huge surprise that a story about depression and anxiety resonates with the target audience, given how prevalent those issues are, but that doesn't make it Citizen Kane.

The game itself, though, is simply brilliant. The first run was 5 hours very well spent, and I will likely come back for speed runs and additional exploring.