Celeste Review
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Developers: Matt Makes Games Inc.
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Publishers: Matt Makes Games Inc.
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Genres: Adventure, 2D Platformer
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Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
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Release date: January 25th 2018
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Playtime: 8 hours
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Reviewed on the Nintendo Switch
After a long time, I have finally got around to playing Celeste. It is definitely one of the best 2D platformers to be released in a while but, as a complete package, it left something to be desired.
Wait, wait, wait, but what is Celeste? Well, Celeste is a game about a teenage girl called Madeline trying to climb a mountain. At first, this seems like something the protagonist is doing just for the sake of it, but, as the game goes on and conversations develop between her and the supporting cast of characters, it becomes clear that she has to this for herself. Achieving this goal will bring back some fulfillment and the mental and physical toll of climbing a mountain will put her face to face with her own demons, with no other choice but to come out on the other side.
Regarding the gameplay, it’s a traditional 2D platformer. Each of the eight chapters represents a different section of the mountain and with it comes a unique gimmick. For example, in one chapter the gimmick is moving platforms that can transfer a lot of momentum to Madeline’s jumps, while on another she can fly for a brief moment after picking up a feather. Plus, Madeline herself is quite agile, being able to hold on to and climb walls, dash in mid-air and, from the perspective of the player, she controls well. Even in the toughest of scenarios, I always felt like I had perfect control over her movement.
But there’s more than meets the eye to the level design of Celeste. The developers made each chapter interesting because of a) the aforementioned diversity of gimmicks, b) the tough but fair level design and c) how well every element of the gameplay combines together so well. For example, the tough level design is something that fascinated me. At the end of each chapter there’s a death count and, well, let’s just say my numbers always had three digits… But, the important part is that I never felt discouraged, angry or even blamed the game. Sure, it’s easy to blame the game after failing the exact same jump fifty times in a row, but in Celeste I just couldn’t do that. I had perfect control of Madeline at all times and the game did a good job of teaching me how each level works up to the point I was in. In other words, the game had given me all the tools needed to surpass a challenging section, so failing was my fault. And to be clear, I am referring to the critical path of levels, not the optional sections for collectibles (I will get to those in a moment).
And there’s also the combination of elements in the game. The great level design, the pixel-art presentation, the animation and movement of Madeline and the soundtrack, combined, provided an excellent moment to moment gameplay experience that left me engaged and wanting to find out what would the developers throw at me next.
Going back to the collectibles, that’s the part of levels where developers pushed the envelope on the difficulty. As the name implies, collectibles are extras to the main experience, and well, they truly embody that in this case. In Celeste, they come in the form of strawberries and cassette tapes. Both are acquired by completing challenging optional sections in chapters, where your reflexes and mastery of Madeline’s movement are put to the test. As there are plenty of strawberries to collect, some are quite easy to collect, while others are simply not worth the effort. The cassette tapes though, they are a bit different. They can be collected just like strawberries, but there’s only one of them per chapter and they have an impact in the game: they unlock the B-side of the respective chapter (B-side, just like in the physical sense of cassette tape, that is, the other side, the one that has not been played yet). These B-sides are just way harder than the normal version of chapters and it’s like a whole new game. Unfortunately, my best efforts only got me to the first checkpoint in one of these B-sides, that is, I can’t really talk about them much more than this, without mentioning the assist mode (which I will leave for before the conclusion).
And now that I’ve talked about all the good parts, I need to talk about what was less positive in my perspective and made it just another game with great 2D platforming, instead of a game that I will remember for a long time. Celeste has a nice story, one that actually dabbles with some real-life problems, with quirky dialogues that make plenty of references to what real people would say in the place of those characters. But, to be perfectly honest, it was all so predictable. For all its good intent and deep and caring dialogue, it fell flat due to its predictability. It was obvious how the discussion between Madeline and her inner self would play out, it was obvious that Madeline would push through even though people were telling her to stop. The only parts that actually made it through to me were two conversations between Madeline and a fellow climber Theo, one during a panic attack of hers and the other when the pair had a more open discussion about themselves. Those two moments made them feel like actual people and stop thinking about what would happen next. It was obvious what would happen next nonetheless, but they were still nice moments. However, the consequence of all this predictability was me ignoring the story and just asking for the next chapter.
One last thing that really needs to be mentioned is the assist mode. As I’ve said throughout the review, Celeste is a tough game. Even if I do feel when I failed it was my fault and not the game’s, it’s still a hard game and I feel happy that I did not need to use the assist mode to finish the story. But, the assist mode is always there for you if need be. Just activate it in the menu and you have access to changing the game speed, stamina (hanging on to walls), air dashes and invincibility. You can tinker with these four options as needed and, put simply, you can activate “god mode”. Personally, as a reward for myself for completing the story without the assist mode, I have activated “god mode”, that is, infinite stamina, infinite air dashes and invincibility to complete those hard B-side chapters.
To conclude this review, I think Celeste is a really good game in big part due to its impeccable gameplay. However, I am a person that likes to have a good story to accompany the gameplay and, specially in cases where everything is easy to see through from the beginning, it truly frustrates me because it leaves no space for surprises. Yes, those two moments I mentioned about Theo and Madeline were interesting, but they were too short in this eight-hour campaign. And, since the gameplay was challenging anyway, I had even more reason to forget about everything else and focus on that high-quality 2D platforming. Thus, while I highly enjoyed playing through Celeste, as it is now a reference for me, both for its excellent platforming gameplay and its accessibility options, it is not one of those games that I love for the gameplay but the complete package leaves a bad taste in my mouth for the story not living up to the rest.