Game of the Month #62 (March 2020) - Celeste

Celeste is a platformer about climbing a mountain, from the creators of TowerFall. Uncover the mystery of the mountain's power and outrun your reflection on your journey to reach the top.

I've recreated this thread for archiving purpose. If people want to still use it then please do

Completion: March 08, 2020
Main+Extras: 7h 07m 38s
Notes: 56 strawberries 1706 deaths

+Simple and easy to pick up gameplay
+Story beats work well in the story and has a good story about excepting yourself worts and all
+Challenging level design with quick respawn sections
-Chase sections are infuriating to play through
-Controls can be sometimes unresponsive
-Certain sections go on for way too long
Overview: Celeste is a simple platformer with a high difficulty which when you get into the flow can be really fun. Unfortunately chase sections of the game are more then often an annoyance to deal and can go on too long which holds the game massive back.

6/10

I've recreated this thread for archiving purpose. If people want to still use it then please do

We've got 3 days left this month. There's still time!

tl;dr of my lost posts:

Why isn't this fun, oh god.

MY THUMBS HURT

Didn't like it overall but the soundtrack was great.

Play Drill Dozer and The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories instead of this overhyped game.

Celeste is my game of the year 2018. It's best game I have played from it's release till current day (March 29 / 2020). I loved soundtrack and story of it and platforming is some of the best genre can offer. Pixel art is great too here. Probably the best thing is fact how emotionally attached I was playing this game. That doesn't happen often.

Completed in 7h 51m 31s; 125/175 Strawberries; 1652 Deaths

I can't bring myself to write another essay, so here are my thoughts in bullet point form:

-Controls feel tight and responsive
-...but there's some wonky hit detection in places
-Level design is mostly solid, with a well-pitched difficulty curve
-...But the chase/enemy sequences are hot garbage
-The story oscillates between profound and piss-poor. I fucking hated Oshiri, and I always will.
-I dig the art style and music
-The strawberries posed a healthy challenge; based on other people's death and strawberry counts I expended 5-10 more deaths per extra strawberry I collected

Ultimately the niggles really, really bring this down. Never has a game I rated 8/10 been so agonisingly close to being a 10/10.

Unfortunately, I never found the time to complete this game before the month ended. However, just to pitch in my own thoughts, from the 15 hours I've played thus far it's been an incredible experience. Despite enjoying the genre, I'm not all that great at 2D platformers. And while it may turn some others off to the game, I've been loving how, for me at least, the game's been more of me trying to figure out what the game wants me to do rather than mindlessly attempting some pixel-perfect jump. I'm surprised by how fun finding all the strawberries and completing the B-sides have been thus far, and, even though it'll take me an extreme amount of time, I'm excited to do so for the rest of the levels in the game. Also, of course, the soundtrack is just perfect as well.

Finished it yesterday as my first attempt to (kind of) speedrun through a game.
I know I did not play the way it is meant to be played, as I used the assist options but I enjoyed the game nonetheless. I love that this game lets you choose your "poison" as in, how you play, although a standard easy/normal/hard mode wouldn't have hurt either.
As it is, I can't say much about the gameplay, as I tried to play it without any assistance but after a chapter I gave in to temptation, cause I felt it was too difficult for me. Yes, that is the point, but, we all enjoy our games differently. The crystal hearts for chapter 9 were big pain tho hahah.
I loved the level designs, they were beautiful, and the small snippets of art when taking selfies and at the end of chapters were nice as well. The music was also top notch. My favorite was the one where we fought goth Madeleine.
The story was short and sweet, it had some pretty deep themes such as mental health, and the characters were loveable, although I may have liked to get to know them better.
All in all, it is a good and pleasant game, I would believe. If you dont mind tweaking settings a bit, it is accessible to everyone to play.

Celeste is a great game for sure. I haven't played too many 2D platformers, but this is definitely one of the best. The controls are rock solid, and the level design is impeccable. One thing to keep in mind is the game can be stressful. Not to say that's a downside, but my hands were getting very sweaty towards the end of the game. It's not what you call a "chill" gaming experience.

Probably the best 2D platformer I have ever played (I have played a good share) and potentially my favorite game of 2018.
Pros:
-A great story (not groundbreaking but great)
-Low consequence deaths (only sets you back to the beginning of the screen)
-Free DLC released in late 2019 that challenges hardcore fans
-Great soundtrack (like wow is it good)
-The platforming itself at its core is flawless
-Progression is great and every time you get past something hard you feel like you earned it by getting genuinely better (there is no better feeling than struggling at the beginning of the screen but then figuring it out and becoming a master of it)

I could go on and on but I think there is one think Celeste did for me that no other game really did. It made me a better gamer overall. Often in Celeste I entered a screen that looks impossible but I would get past it and look back surprised at how good I had gotten. Celeste pushed me to start LASO run of the Halo trilogy (something I never would have tried, Legendary alone smacked me all by itself) But I finished Halo: CE on LASO a few days ago. I still have to go back and finish off the DLC for Celeste but I don't even feel super driven to as the game has already given me so much.
-Note: I have heard similar things about this game from some friends and I know BDG from polygon has a good video about how it pushes you.

For those of you who played Celeste, during the book club or otherwise, I thought this essay from the game's designer might be of interest:

https://maddythorson.medium.com/is-madeline-canonically-trans-4277ece02e40

If you're eagle-eyed, queer, or both, this might not be a shock, but Maddy's perspective is fascinating and insightful. If nothing else, it makes me feel bad I didn't like the game more. :S

For those of you who played Celeste, during the book club or otherwise, I thought this essay from the game's designer might be of interest:

https://maddythorson.medium.com/is-madeline-canonically-trans-4277ece02e40

If you're eagle-eyed, queer, or both, this might not be a shock, but Maddy's perspective is fascinating and insightful. If nothing else, it makes me feel bad I didn't like the game more. :S

I was honestly expecting another "Dumbledore is gay" thing. I should actually read stuff before starting to write angry comments.

We didn’t want it to be like Samus removing her helmet at the end of Metroid to reveal that — surprise! — you were a trans woman all along.

Unless she removed more then her helmet you wouldn´t know that she was trans so I take issues with this statement and now I´m confused.
Samus is trans? Wasn´t that just fan fiction?

I was honestly expecting another "Dumbledore is gay" thing. I should actually read stuff before starting to write angry comments.

We didn’t want it to be like Samus removing her helmet at the end of Metroid to reveal that — surprise! — you were a trans woman all along.

Unless she removed more then her helmet you wouldn´t know that she was trans so I take issues with this statement and now I´m confused.
Samus is trans? Wasn´t that just fan fiction?

In the original Metroid, Samus was not obviously female. Her gender reveal was a surprise for most players at the time.

In the original Metroid, Samus was not obviously female. Her gender reveal was a surprise for most players at the time.

I never played Metroid, but I have heard about the gender reveal at the end. But I don´t think it was ever officially stated that she was trans.

I never played Metroid, but I have heard about the gender reveal at the end. But I don´t think it was ever officially stated that she was trans.

No...Samus isn't trans. The quote is saying that the team didn't want to have a Metroid-esque reveal in Celeste, where the Celeste girl overtly comes out as trans aka Metroid's gender reveal. They seemingly wanted a more nuanced non-reveal, rather than have her say "hey look at me, I'm trans!"

IDK if you like games with LGBT themes, but Tell Me Why did it well. (Except for Micheal, who is kinda weird about it.)

No...Samus isn't trans. The quote is saying that the team didn't want to have a Metroid-esque reveal in Celeste, where the Celeste girl overtly comes out as trans aka Metroid's gender reveal. They seemingly wanted a more nuanced non-reveal, rather than have her say "hey look at me, I'm trans!"

IDK if you like games with LGBT themes, but Tell Me Why did it well. (Except for Micheal, who is kinda weird about it.)

That explains a lot. It seems like I just misunderstood what they were trying to say.

I liked Tell me why a lot and I loved Tyler. He was such a great character. The fact that he was trans was important to the story, but he wasn´t just the trans guy.
There aren´t many games like that unfortunately.

I was interested in Celeste because of its portrayal of mental health issues, but everything else about that game from the art to the gameplay is unappealing to me.

I hope they make another game with a similar story that isn´t a old school 2d platformer.

That explains a lot. It seems like I just misunderstood what they were trying to say.

I liked Tell me why a lot and I loved Tyler. He was such a great character. The fact that he was trans was important to the story, but he wasn´t just the trans guy.
There aren´t many games like that unfortunately.

I was interested in Celeste because of its portrayal of mental health issues, but everything else about that game from the art to the gameplay is unappealing to me.

I hope they make another game with a similar story that isn´t a old school 2d platformer.

*cough cough* Play The Missing *cough cough*

That explains a lot. It seems like I just misunderstood what they were trying to say.

I liked Tell me why a lot and I loved Tyler. He was such a great character. The fact that he was trans was important to the story, but he wasn´t just the trans guy.
There aren´t many games like that unfortunately.

I was interested in Celeste because of its portrayal of mental health issues, but everything else about that game from the art to the gameplay is unappealing to me.

I hope they make another game with a similar story that isn´t a old school 2d platformer.

I was interested in Celeste because of its portrayal of mental health issues, but everything else about that game from the art to the gameplay is unappealing to me.

Same. Tiamat will sing its praises til the end of time, but...uegh.

Also agreed on Tyler (<3), but that's off-topic.

Reviving this old ass thread because I just finished this game. lol

I played a couple precision platformers recently, starting with Super Meat Boy and Mr. Run and Jump, and I figured I could tick off another one from the list.
Had heard a ton about Celeste over the years, tons of praise, and I was cautiously optimistic to get a decent game here.
I have some gripes with the controls, mainly the limited degrees of movement during the dashes, which felt a bit clunky to me all the way through. But the game mostly made up with its stellar presentation, charming writing, and the whole lighthearted vibe it carried. I appreciate a difficult game that cheers you own and is very upfront about any optional stuff only being for bragging rights and not something one should feel obligated to do. And I did finish the main campaign with more collected strawberries than I expected to going in.
Unfortunately, I didn't find any of the required collectables to play either of the post-credits chapter and I don't feel like going back through levels to grab them. So there's that.
But then again, I rarely even feel inclined to play optional stuff in these precision platformers. Most of the time I take the credit roll and run. lol

Anyway, it's never gonna be my favorite platformer but I see why it got so much praise (though I also get the couple critical voices I have heard) and I had a very decent time with it.

81/175 Strawberries, 0 Crystal Hearts, 1 B-Side Tape, 1.792 deaths.

- Matt

I played this game recently, It is a very satisfying good game, very enjoyable, including PICO-8 game

Regards!