Rate top gamesThis is only the second platformer that I finished and It feels so satisfying to finish finally ( after 17 hours). The story made it feel a bit more than levels stuck together and that is amazing. playing on a controller is a bit wonky as it is hard to always go cross dash or horizontal dash. Everything else about the game was exceptional.
«Blew my mind»
«Can’t stop playing»
Concise Review:
A well made platformer with very challenging and creative puzzles that somehow managed to not be frustrating even though I died hundred of times on every level. The story was way more insightful than it had any business being.
Journal Style Review:
I never play 2D platformers but I’m going to give this one a shot. First 30 minutes were alright.
Just finished chapter 3. I heard that this game was somehow related to some type of mental health and I can see what they are talking about. The short interactions with characters are well written and pretty on point a lot of the time. Not necessarily saying anything that’s ground breaking, but its talking about depression and self hate and the negative ways we can often think about life and people. The symbolism is right in your face a lot of the time but so far I’ve found it very effective.
The challenges themselves have been reasonably entertaining, again I don’t typically play these types of games. The question will be how often am I frustrated Vs how often I feel that sense of accomplishment from sticking a series of moves. So far the frustration has been minimal even though I died 183 times during chapter 3. The checkpoints have been frequent enough to limit the frustration. I also often feel the deaths are my mistakes.
I don’t think this will be a sit down and play for a long time game. I think 30 mins to an hour and that’s all I would need per session.
Chapter 4 was difficult but quite fun. That ending with the feather breathing was actually pretty cool.
This game has surpassed my early expectations. I wasn’t sure I was going to like this game. Especially since I disliked braid so much. This is much better.
I got stuck in chapter 5 which was frustrating because I didn’t know where to go. I had to google it eventually and the answer made me feel a bit dumb. Still, it’s always a bummer when you have to google where to go in a game.
I’m impressed by the platforming gameplay. I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would. This isn’t saying a ton since I had very low expectations. But it has surpassed them. This is a fun little game to play 30 mins here and there.
I just finished chapter 6. It was my favourite so far. Wow these platforming challenges are getting difficult but incredibly satisfying. I’m really quite impressed. Somehow they (for the most part) havnt made me frustrated yet even though I die a bunch. The game has a great feel as well. The story is touching. It actually is a beautiful game if you listen to what it has to say. I didn’t think I’d feel that way.
Beat the game. It’s the greatest 2D platformer I’ve ever played. I think it’s the only 2D platformer I’ve played (not counting Braid, only played for like 40 mins and didn’t like it), but I can still see why it got such great reviews. Surpassed my expectations for sure. The B+ score is because platformers are low on my favourite genre list. This game was exceptional and I would recommend to anyone who actually plays a lot of platformers.
Final Score: B+
A well made platformer with very challenging and creative puzzles that somehow managed to not be frustrating even though I died hundred of times on every level. The story was way more insightful than it had any business being.
Journal Style Review:
I never play 2D platformers but I’m going to give this one a shot. First 30 minutes were alright.
Just finished chapter 3. I heard that this game was somehow related to some type of mental health and I can see what they are talking about. The short interactions with characters are well written and pretty on point a lot of the time. Not necessarily saying anything that’s ground breaking, but its talking about depression and self hate and the negative ways we can often think about life and people. The symbolism is right in your face a lot of the time but so far I’ve found it very effective.
The challenges themselves have been reasonably entertaining, again I don’t typically play these types of games. The question will be how often am I frustrated Vs how often I feel that sense of accomplishment from sticking a series of moves. So far the frustration has been minimal even though I died 183 times during chapter 3. The checkpoints have been frequent enough to limit the frustration. I also often feel the deaths are my mistakes.
I don’t think this will be a sit down and play for a long time game. I think 30 mins to an hour and that’s all I would need per session.
Chapter 4 was difficult but quite fun. That ending with the feather breathing was actually pretty cool.
This game has surpassed my early expectations. I wasn’t sure I was going to like this game. Especially since I disliked braid so much. This is much better.
I got stuck in chapter 5 which was frustrating because I didn’t know where to go. I had to google it eventually and the answer made me feel a bit dumb. Still, it’s always a bummer when you have to google where to go in a game.
I’m impressed by the platforming gameplay. I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would. This isn’t saying a ton since I had very low expectations. But it has surpassed them. This is a fun little game to play 30 mins here and there.
I just finished chapter 6. It was my favourite so far. Wow these platforming challenges are getting difficult but incredibly satisfying. I’m really quite impressed. Somehow they (for the most part) havnt made me frustrated yet even though I die a bunch. The game has a great feel as well. The story is touching. It actually is a beautiful game if you listen to what it has to say. I didn’t think I’d feel that way.
Beat the game. It’s the greatest 2D platformer I’ve ever played. I think it’s the only 2D platformer I’ve played (not counting Braid, only played for like 40 mins and didn’t like it), but I can still see why it got such great reviews. Surpassed my expectations for sure. The B+ score is because platformers are low on my favourite genre list. This game was exceptional and I would recommend to anyone who actually plays a lot of platformers.
Final Score: B+
The mountain climbing adventure of Celeste is magical and perfectly addresses really intimate topics. Madeline's trip is accompanied by beautiful music and extremely difficult platforming. The base game isn't too challenging, but post-game content is brutal and spikes in difficulty to the nth degree.
Celeste could have been better. It's a classic example of how level design can go terribly wrong, preventing a good game from becoming a great game.
For what it's worth, I'm a veteran to the genre of platformers, and I completed all b-sides, c-sides, and Chapter 9 (Farewell).
I'll start by saying that Celeste has a fantastic movement kit. It's a very good example of "easy to pick up and difficult to master." The Dash feels great, and on the Switch, it has great haptic feedback. The developers put a lot of time and effort into tweaking the timing of the dash to make it really shine. It's what makes this game good. The technical tricks like "wavedashing", perfectly timed jumps out of bubbles, and dashing into wall jumps feel great to use and add some much needed depth to the basic platforming. These also allow for some pretty cool tricks when getting through levels in a quick way. There is "hyperdashing", however, that feels horribly inconsistent and more like a glitch than an actual intended mechanic.
The controls are the first major issue. The developers decided that using "raw input" for the joystick would be best, forgoing the usual Quality of Life additions that other platformers use to make sure you go left when you press left and right when you press right. This resulted in a frustrating experience on some levels where I accidentally dash diagonally when I want to dash left/right. It took a very long time for me to train up the precision necessary to avoid doing this, and I still do it from time to time. The most confusing part is they acknowledge this issue in interviews and in design, even making the downward dash have a smaller input on the joystick than the diagonals, but refuse to actually implement any sort of fix.
The controls I could mark up to the Nintendo Switch. Perhaps it was a quirk of the joy-cons and would be better with the Pro Controller (it is) or with the joy-con d-pad (which has its own issues with diagonal inputs). The level design, however, is what turns Celeste from a fun, technical experience into a frustrating one.
The levels in the base game are appropriate level of difficulty. A few screens are really tough to pass with all the Strawberries (Celeste's optional collectible item). The level design does a great job of teaching the player how to play the game. Many b-sides are even appropriately difficult, teaching the player the more technical, "hidden" mechanics very well. However, a vast majority of the content in the game after the credits role will be an exercise in frustration. Levels begin to require insanely precise movements, with spikes and obstacles that only serve to make the timing required even more precise. In Farewell (the final Chapter added to the game as DLC), almost every single screen will take tens, if not hundreds of tries to pass. Some particularly egregious examples include 3 to 4 minute long levels that restart if you fail anyone on the way, or a level that requires 6 wavedashes in succession, one of which requires almost frame perfect inputs to execute. I could go on and on with examples of frustratingly difficult level design, with spikes and hazards added everywhere. Just know that most of the really challenging levels will be exercises in muscle memory, not your platforming ability.
To address all these issues, this is what I'll say: not every platformer needs to be Super Meat Boy level of difficulty. Meat Boy was a novelty. It wasn't "good" design by any stretch of the imagination. It was just difficult for difficulty's sake. Take a step back and realize that, while difficulty and speedrunning have their place, it's not a good idea to make that mandatory. While I realize that Celeste's difficulty lies in its "post-game" content, the game is simply too short to call that optional. This is good for those who like the challenge (like me), but bad for basically everyone else. It makes Celeste a great "spectator sport", but not a great game.
There are enough puzzles in this game to make the puzzle design worth mentioning. To acquire each Crystal Heart (another rare collectible, one per level) you must solve a riddle of sorts. By and large, the puzzles are done well. There are a couple really well done puzzles, but also a couple really poorly done puzzles. One of the worst offenders is a puzzle that requires knowledge of Super Mario Bros 3 eastereggs/speedrun strategies to solve.
The art, music, and animations are all great: great pixel art, very varied and interesting environments, some solid tracks (and some not so solid tracks), and smooth animations. The story, on the other hand, is elementary, but likes to pretend it's more insightful than it is. Madeline, the protagonist, suffers from depression. Celeste Mountain gives form to her dark inner self (dubbed "Badeline" by the community) that hampers her progress. Madeline must make amends with herself in order to climb the mountain. There's another character, Theo, that is a caricature of modern social-media obsessed youth. This is portrayed as a positive thing, so I'm not sure if it was intended to be a caricature or if the writers are just that bad. The story, if it were written in another medium, would be appropriate for young children. Here, it simply feels out of place. At the very least, it does its job of pushing the game forward well.
Overall, Celeste was enjoyable to complete the first time. When going back and completing the challenges, I had to take it in short bursts to avoid both the frustration and the hand cramps that resulted from the difficulty and precision required. I would recommend Celeste to two different demographics. Firstly, people who want a simple, short, platforming experience. The base game is short, but appropriately challenging, and the challenges can even be fun if you are picky about which ones you play. Secondly, to veterans of the genre who want a challenging, if frustrating, experience. There's not much room in between these two extremes, unfortunately.
For what it's worth, I'm a veteran to the genre of platformers, and I completed all b-sides, c-sides, and Chapter 9 (Farewell).
I'll start by saying that Celeste has a fantastic movement kit. It's a very good example of "easy to pick up and difficult to master." The Dash feels great, and on the Switch, it has great haptic feedback. The developers put a lot of time and effort into tweaking the timing of the dash to make it really shine. It's what makes this game good. The technical tricks like "wavedashing", perfectly timed jumps out of bubbles, and dashing into wall jumps feel great to use and add some much needed depth to the basic platforming. These also allow for some pretty cool tricks when getting through levels in a quick way. There is "hyperdashing", however, that feels horribly inconsistent and more like a glitch than an actual intended mechanic.
The controls are the first major issue. The developers decided that using "raw input" for the joystick would be best, forgoing the usual Quality of Life additions that other platformers use to make sure you go left when you press left and right when you press right. This resulted in a frustrating experience on some levels where I accidentally dash diagonally when I want to dash left/right. It took a very long time for me to train up the precision necessary to avoid doing this, and I still do it from time to time. The most confusing part is they acknowledge this issue in interviews and in design, even making the downward dash have a smaller input on the joystick than the diagonals, but refuse to actually implement any sort of fix.
The controls I could mark up to the Nintendo Switch. Perhaps it was a quirk of the joy-cons and would be better with the Pro Controller (it is) or with the joy-con d-pad (which has its own issues with diagonal inputs). The level design, however, is what turns Celeste from a fun, technical experience into a frustrating one.
The levels in the base game are appropriate level of difficulty. A few screens are really tough to pass with all the Strawberries (Celeste's optional collectible item). The level design does a great job of teaching the player how to play the game. Many b-sides are even appropriately difficult, teaching the player the more technical, "hidden" mechanics very well. However, a vast majority of the content in the game after the credits role will be an exercise in frustration. Levels begin to require insanely precise movements, with spikes and obstacles that only serve to make the timing required even more precise. In Farewell (the final Chapter added to the game as DLC), almost every single screen will take tens, if not hundreds of tries to pass. Some particularly egregious examples include 3 to 4 minute long levels that restart if you fail anyone on the way, or a level that requires 6 wavedashes in succession, one of which requires almost frame perfect inputs to execute. I could go on and on with examples of frustratingly difficult level design, with spikes and hazards added everywhere. Just know that most of the really challenging levels will be exercises in muscle memory, not your platforming ability.
To address all these issues, this is what I'll say: not every platformer needs to be Super Meat Boy level of difficulty. Meat Boy was a novelty. It wasn't "good" design by any stretch of the imagination. It was just difficult for difficulty's sake. Take a step back and realize that, while difficulty and speedrunning have their place, it's not a good idea to make that mandatory. While I realize that Celeste's difficulty lies in its "post-game" content, the game is simply too short to call that optional. This is good for those who like the challenge (like me), but bad for basically everyone else. It makes Celeste a great "spectator sport", but not a great game.
There are enough puzzles in this game to make the puzzle design worth mentioning. To acquire each Crystal Heart (another rare collectible, one per level) you must solve a riddle of sorts. By and large, the puzzles are done well. There are a couple really well done puzzles, but also a couple really poorly done puzzles. One of the worst offenders is a puzzle that requires knowledge of Super Mario Bros 3 eastereggs/speedrun strategies to solve.
The art, music, and animations are all great: great pixel art, very varied and interesting environments, some solid tracks (and some not so solid tracks), and smooth animations. The story, on the other hand, is elementary, but likes to pretend it's more insightful than it is. Madeline, the protagonist, suffers from depression. Celeste Mountain gives form to her dark inner self (dubbed "Badeline" by the community) that hampers her progress. Madeline must make amends with herself in order to climb the mountain. There's another character, Theo, that is a caricature of modern social-media obsessed youth. This is portrayed as a positive thing, so I'm not sure if it was intended to be a caricature or if the writers are just that bad. The story, if it were written in another medium, would be appropriate for young children. Here, it simply feels out of place. At the very least, it does its job of pushing the game forward well.
Overall, Celeste was enjoyable to complete the first time. When going back and completing the challenges, I had to take it in short bursts to avoid both the frustration and the hand cramps that resulted from the difficulty and precision required. I would recommend Celeste to two different demographics. Firstly, people who want a simple, short, platforming experience. The base game is short, but appropriately challenging, and the challenges can even be fun if you are picky about which ones you play. Secondly, to veterans of the genre who want a challenging, if frustrating, experience. There's not much room in between these two extremes, unfortunately.
There is no denying the beauty and charm of Celeste, visually and audibility stunning all around. And while the platforming is solid it leaves a lot to be desired personally. Thankfully the developers included resources needed to see the story through to the end no matter your skill level.
3/5
«OST on repeat»
One of the hardest games I've ever played. And at the same time, one of the most addictive and fun.
When I first bought it, I was afraid it would have the same effect in me that Hollow Knight had (which I completely gave up on, because it was way too hard and rage-inducing) But I was completely wrong.
Where Hollow knight fails for me, is the fact that the risk of dying is overwhelmingly huge and frustrating. And Celeste, while still super challenging and hard, everytime you die, it's just an "oopsie" and you go back to the beginning of the current screen.
Not to mention all the characters, dialogue, and interactions are super charming, fun, and cute.