Celeste
2018
- platform
- adventure
- indie
- action
- fantasy
- single player
The story
Help Madeline survive her inner demons on her journey to the top of Celeste Mountain, in this super-tight platformer from the creators of TowerFall. Brave hundreds of hand-crafted challenges, uncover devious secrets, and piece together the mystery of the mountain.
What it’s like
Chunky pixel art in cool blues, whites and dusky purples, with snow drifting across dark rock faces and sudden bursts of neon-bright crystal and fire. The camera stays locked to the side-scroll, so the screen feels like a tight window onto a mountain at night, and the chiptune-leaning score swells and drops out with each hard-won checkpoint. The feel in the hands is razor-precise: quick dashes, wall climbs and a tight jump that responds the instant you press it, so the rhythm becomes a kind of meditative focus once the frustration softens. Its vibe is wistful and quietly warm, a stubborn hopefulness sitting beside real anxiety, and it suits a late evening alone, a focused weekend session, or a stretch of hard but rewarding practice. Pacing comes in short bursts of attempt and retry, with long gentle pauses between chapters at lamp-lit campsites; the emotional arc follows a young woman learning to face her own self-doubt, handled with honesty and tenderness. Intensity is low on gore and violence: there is no blood or combat, but deaths are frequent and the challenge can be punishing, with dread coming from falls rather than threat. It is for players who want a demanding platformer with heart, and for anyone who wants a game that treats anxiety and identity with care.
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