Celeste. Wow, where to even begin, when people say gaming is an art form, this is the game I picture first, With its beautiful yet somber music, its difficult but memorable stages, its deep but understandable dialogue, its funny yet serious cast of characters and its fantastic story of “simply climbing a mountain”. I could not rate Celeste any lower than a well deserved  9/10. 

 

A game where you are a struggling adult in search of a challenge, faced with climbing the mountain of Celeste. Needing to get away from the hustle of everyday life and of your own thoughts. Where things may not be what they see. Can you reach the summit? Can you prove to yourself that you're more than a quitter? More than just another person in the sea?? Can you work together…with yourself???

 

 Celeste is, if not one of my favorite games of all time. This being my fourth playthrough, I decided to hunt for all the collectables and all the hidden pathways, and wow is there a lot to find. With different ways of reaching certain collectibles, it's almost more fun to go for those than just rush towards the end! And this game is by no means an easy game, this is one of the more difficult games I’ve played especially when factoring whether you're going for the collectables, which is by no means required or necessary to enjoy your experience.

 

Exploration.

Usually in a platformer exploration and world building is quite limited and it's no different here in my opinion. However there's actually an abundance of hidden locations, differing pathways and tons of collectables to find along the way! With different ways of getting them all; which makes a lot of fun for the average completionist. There are also what the game calls, “B-Sides' ' to levels, where it's very similar to the stage in puzzles but it's a completely different layout with a whole new solution! 

 

Puzzles and Stages!
Through all my playthroughs which were months and even a year apart in one instance, the stages stuck, and different levels were still so memorable. Even with its differing puzzles, music and even color pallets, it felt all so united. To the level with dark blobs with eyes, or the little angry stones that would charge at you. Every stage felt as if it was in its own world, yet, it fit so cohesively that it almost felt perfect? Once again, the “B-sides” gave so much diversity to each stage, giving it that extra time to grow into its own, yet even those felt so connected with the rest of the stage, and in turn, the rest of the mountain.

 

Difficulty

 With easy to pick up yet hard to master controls, and differing puzzles every level and new areas to overcome; Celeste does not shy away from being a difficult game. It will show you your death count and the amount of collectables you were able to barely scrounge up. Yet by the end of the experience, the more deaths you had, the more you were able to fly past the old puzzles that had stumped you beforehand. However the good news, you are not penalized for losing, or in this case, dying, it gives you time to learn, adapt, and feels so rewarding when you finally beat that one jump giving you so many difficulties.Towards the final stretch, with all of those deaths, needing to put all of that knowledge you gained to use felt so extremely rewarding.

 

The Dialogue

The first word that pops into my head when thinking of the dialogue is unexpected. 

With some extremely funny lines delivered from all members of the cast, to extremely serious undertones and talks of mature topics, such as grieving a loved one, self doubt and acceptance. You don't expect to suddenly hit it off with the random character you meet on the mountain and you don't! There's gradual strides in friendships in this game, where you watch them develop, even crash and burn. 

 

The Story.

In Celeste you play as Madeline, a young adult trying to figure their sh*t out. Already the main protagonist is relatable to most and is seen as a loser, someone with a few mental illnesses, and the occasional panic attack. However they are someone who wants to succeed at something difficult, prove to themselves that they are not only worthy of fighting for, but can fight for themselves. They’re not a quitter. And they need to prove it. Not to Granny, the old woman who lives on the mountain, who tells Madeline how undoable it is, not to the nice gentlemen named Theo you meet on your travels, who you get to talk to and enjoy the company of, whom is just like you, a troubled young adult unsure of where to go in life, unsure of his own talents or direction, not even the kind ghost you find, living in this worn, once popular Hotel, where he’s so upset with the fall of it he can’t even bring himself to clean. Madeline needs to prove it to themselves. Because, Madeline just like you, the reader;

Are. Worth. It.

And can do anything you set your mind to.

This story is about climbing a mountain, whether that mountain is depression, anxiety, the feeling of being unworthy of love. Or it could be that feeling of wanting to do better, get that new job position, make new friends or even just getting out of bed today could be your mountain.

Celeste is the mountain we all have to climb one way or another. In our own way, and at our own pace.

 

My Thoughts

Celeste is by far one of the greatest games I've Had the pleasure of playing. Its funny dialogue, yet serious undertones. The literal metaphor of climbing a mountain, only to be stopped by no one other than yourself, hit home to me; and I'm sure many others. Yet Celeste captures those feelings so extremely well, and in such a way it's not beating around the bush, but showing you the shrub and you can take the time to poke and prod if you’d like, or admire it and move on. It not only handles extremely mature topics for a simple pixel art platformer, but it excels at telling the story through the eyes of a young adult searching through the vast ocean we call life. 

This isn't my first playthrough of Celeste, and I guarantee It won't be my last.