Celeste (the video game)

I haven't played many video games, and out of those that I have there are only a few I really like:

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean

Commander Pixman

Minecraft

And now,

Celeste

Like Commander Pixman, Celeste is a platformer where you aim to get to the end of the level while avoiding obstacles. However the two games have very different feels and Celeste is done so much better. I've only got halfway through chapter 4 (it's very hard), but I know I can add it the list even before finishing it.

The Story

I don't know the whole story because I haven't finished, but I don't want to spoil anything anyway. In short, you play a young woman who is trying to climb the dangerous and surprising Celeste Mountain to help with some mental health issues. The story is slowly revealed at intervals and I think it is going to be very strong. Along the way you can collect strawberries and other items and have brief interactions with a couple of recurring characters. The collectibles are very easy to miss if you're not careful (and sometimes even if you are careful), so looking at maps of the levels online is a big help if you don't mind cheating slightly :-)

The Music

The music is by Lena Raine and it is amazing - in my opinion it's better than Minecraft. Having a story probably helps, but even if I'd come across the soundtrack separate from the game I would have loved it. It's so skillfully done, particularly the choice of synth sounds, the building of the texture and the variations on recurring themes.

It fits the game so well with the balance of darkness and optimism, the automatic transitions (e.g. moving to a more tense section) are seamless, and it is full of emotion. Go listen to it. My favourite track so far is Resurrections.

Celeste Original Soundtrack on Bandcamp

The Mechanics

I like them, but they're tricky to get the hang of. Of course that's part of the challenge along with the problem solving, which can also get very tricky.

You've got a standard jump and the ability to hang on to walls, but the best and most interesting thing is the dash. Dashing is kind of like a very fast straight line jump which you can start even while in mid-air, but needs to be replenished after use by standing on solid ground. The way in which the game introduces you to this is amazing and I'm not even going to attempt to describe it. Another idea I think is genius is the wind.

Quite a lot of the time new mechanics are taught quite naturally, but occasionally there's something that would've taken me an age to work out without looking it up. For example the controllable sliding blocks in level 4 which are really cool and also not very obvious.

Other

It's available for Linux :-)

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Callum Brown, 2021-02-09

Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

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