Celeste is a challenging platformer with a surprisingly strong story. As Madeline, you're trying to climb to the top of Celeste Mountain, but the journey is treacherous. There's far more than just rugged terrain to contend with, as it seems that both the mountain and Madeline are haunted.
Along the way, you'll discover a handful of well-written characters with struggles of their own. By offering to help, these encounters seem to bring out the best in Madeline, who is sometimes troubled by her own doubt... and perhaps by something else. I was quite surprised by the quality and amount of dialogue during these sections, and they end up being a welcome break in between challenging platform segments.
Each chapter holds a number of paths, along with collectible fruits scattered about its various screens. Exploring each area and getting the fruits are optional, but unlock extra content and challenges. The average player will likely find the game challenging enough without going out of the way for all the collectibles, but Celeste (both mechanically and narratively) is about perseverance and rising to meet a daunting task.
You're taught early on about the basics of your move set - jumping, dashing and climbing - but you'll quickly find sets of obstacles that require trial and error until you get a handle on them. What I'm trying to say is that you're likely going to die... a lot. However, by respawning you at the room's entrance and providing you with infinite lives, Celeste uses failure to teach rather than punish. You can try navigating the obstacles over and over until you learn what works (and what doesn't). Sure, there's bound to be segments you find frustrating, but you'll improve with practice and eventually overcome them.
Speaking of frustrating, my biggest complaint while playing Celeste wasn't due to the game itself, but my own controller. I have this super-cheap third party Xbox-compatible controller, and for some reason its d-pad doesn't seem to like the game very well. I discovered this as soon as I had to perform jump-dashes, as poor Madeline would spike herself downward into the floor (or a pit), despite carefully pushing up + right during the move. Surprisingly, the analog stick worked much better for directional accuracy and overall agility. As I vastly prefer the d-pad for games like this, playing Celeste with the analog stick took some getting used to. Again, I don't fault the game here - it's likely just due to the cheap controller - but I felt it worth mentioning in case someone else had the same issue.
Poor controller aside, Celeste is an excellent title with solid design on every screen. I can see myself coming back to this one off and on just to sharpen my platforming techniques, with the story and other surprises making for quite the additional incentive!
Speaking of frustrating, my biggest complaint while playing Celeste wasn't due to the game itself, but my own controller. I have this super-cheap third party Xbox-compatible controller, and for some reason its d-pad doesn't seem to like the game very well. I discovered this as soon as I had to perform jump-dashes, as poor Madeline would spike herself downward into the floor (or a pit), despite carefully pushing up + right during the move. Surprisingly, the analog stick worked much better for directional accuracy and overall agility. As I vastly prefer the d-pad for games like this, playing Celeste with the analog stick took some getting used to. Again, I don't fault the game here - it's likely just due to the cheap controller - but I felt it worth mentioning in case someone else had the same issue.
Poor controller aside, Celeste is an excellent title with solid design on every screen. I can see myself coming back to this one off and on just to sharpen my platforming techniques, with the story and other surprises making for quite the additional incentive!
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