Celeste subverts the punishing platformer genre
Precision platformers are one of the most punishing genres of games there is. It requires careful movement and pixel-perfect accuracy. This is also why I never attempted to play a lot of them. However, Celeste changed my mind on this genre and helped me develop a healthy relationship with difficulty and struggle, both in-game and real life.
With its tight platformer mechanics and compelling story, Celeste is one of the best games I've played all time. It's rare to find a gem that marries mechanic and narrative. I resonated with the character's struggles, especially during the height of the pandemic. If you're a friend and you want to know me better, play Celeste. Who says games aren't art?
Celeste is a story of Madeline climbing the titular mountain. We can jump, climb, and dash as we navigate through its difficulties. Madeline's dash is the most iconic mechanic in the game. By combining it with different actions, one can perform its more complicated versions (some of which are even reliable strats for speedrunning). Climbing allows you to snap to walls, but it has a stamina meter so that using it becomes more intentional. Madeline's movements are quite simple in isolation. Still, the nuance of how you use them allows for individual creativity and expression.
The levels take advantage of these mechanics. For example, in the early levels, a platform moves whenever you're on it. It sounds straightforward until you come across a screen where the floor is at a greater distance from the reach of your jump. Then you realize that you can use the platform's momentum to propel Madeline away and extend her reach. Celeste builds upon this knowledge and introduces more and more environmental mechanics as you go along. Aside from the controls, the game uses tutorials sparingly, opting to teach you how it works through level design than through exposition. In the end, chaining these movements and environmental mechanics allows for satisfying gameplay that makes the controller hard to put down.
As you go through the levels, you are accompanied by the ambient soundtrack composed by Lena Raine. The blend of synth and 8-bit tunes loop perfectly, making the music seamless. I personally liked First Steps for its hopeful and motivating theme and Reach for the Summit as the absolute banger in the last level. Honorable mentions to Starjump, Confronting Myself, and My Dearest Friends.
But what ties everything together is the story. As Madeline climbs the mountain, she encounters her shadow, Badeline, goading her to quit. There's a fourth-wall-breaking moment here: it's as if we are the ones Badeline is talking to. As we press on, the levels become more punishing as Badeline herself chases us all throughout. In one chapter, we even face her in a pseudo-boss fight. I ask myself why I continue, "it's just a game!" Perhaps, Madeline's conviction has become our own.
The game is difficult. There's a point where after entering a new screen, I ask myself: "how am I going to solve this?" Then after exiting, I say: "how the hell did I do that?" However, I think what separates Celeste from other equally challenging games like Super Meat Boy or Dark Souls is how it cheers you on to succeed. Each death is unceremonial: you simply go back to the same screen at remarkable speed. There's no "YOU DIED" message or a lengthy cutscene; Madeline just poofs away, and you're back. It allows for trial and error and alleviates failure's frustration. Some games lean into the difficulty with smugness, but Celeste leans into it with care.
I'm no hiker, but I first played this game in 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic. It's a time of uncertainty and difficulty that also aggravated my anxiety. Although Mt. Celeste is an actual mountain, the game shows that it could be any metaphorical mountain we have in our lives. The game allowed me to project myself into Madeline and my real-life struggles in the act of ascending the mountain. I think this makes video games interesting as a medium; it allows different experiences because of their interactivity. We play as if we are the character in the story. It's a different experience than reading novels or watching movies.
In the end, Celeste brought the punishing pixel platformer genre into something uplifting and hopeful. A powerful subversion that makes it one of the greatest games of the current generation.
Rating (Excellent): 🍚🍚🍚🍚🍚 (Playtime: 28.2 hours, PC)