Celeste

The beauty of Celeste
I'm glad I picked this game up into my mid 20's compared to if I had played this as a teenager. Having matured a lot, this game will certainly test your patience and it allows you to go at your own pace to complete each level.
This game is really a masterpiece on so many levels and having been released back in 2018, is definitely a game that can stand the test of time for many years to come. The soundtrack is beautiful and really compliments and creates a form of suspense along your playthrough, even with great background piano music.
Indie games are typically showing out over the past number of years and Celeste is no different. The difficulty can be immense but is extremely rewarding to complete the levels you spend so much time stuck on. They have difficulty options implemented to help you at the start when you're new and figuring out the controls. You can keep these on, or turn them off as you gain a better understanding of the movement, which is what I did.
Each location you go to has a unique theme and then begins to add more gimmicks which keeps the game fresh over the course of ascending the mountaintops. With a relatively concise, but impactful story on the nature of anxiety and depression and how it affects a person. Memorable characters and hours of additional content indistinguishable in quality from the main game, Celeste is one of the best platformers you can get your hands on.
I can't recommend this game enough, so please give it a try!

Celeste
A game about a girl who is depressed
Trying to climb a mountain due to unrest
This platformer game is very finessed
The myriad mechanics all coalesced
To put your skills to the ultimate test
The design is great, I do not jest
Secrets within add a lot of zest
All while you climb and push toward the crest
Although the peak is your true quest
You'll want to explore all the rest
The fruit, the tapes, at your behest
So I leave you with one request
Buy this game and you will be blessed
With a grand game, the very best
One more point to be addressed
If you want more you can invest
Many hours into mods, who could have guessed
Their ingenuity leaves many impressed
So many new things inside the chest
Known as the mod manager, Everest

Celeste sat in my backlog for what felt like forever. It wasn't until my kindred spirit convinced me to finally give it a shot that I dove in. And wow, I really wish I had listened earlier. This game is an absolute gem in the platformer genre. It actually surprised me both with its gameplay and emotional weight. Even though it's been out for years, for me, this game stands out as one of the best platformers I've ever played, and for this reason, I'm taking some time to write this review to make sure this game gets the recognition it deserves (even though that most likely it won't be read by anyone after being released for so many years).
Let me start by saying this: if you're into platformers, Celeste is going to feel like a gift. The controls are tight and responsive, making every jump, dash, and climb feel precise. Each level introduces new mechanics that keep the experience fresh and the game definitely knows how to challenge you, but it never feels unfair. In fact, I've never blinked twice after dying, actually enjoying every moment of it. I think that what's so remarkable about Celeste, is that it makes failure feel like part of the process. Every time you fall, you learn something new about the terrain, the enemies, or the timing, and when you finally succeed, it's deeply satisfying (and I apparently also make squeaking grunting sounds during these moments). The game encourages persistence, and the quick respawn times make retries virtually seamless.
But here's what really surprised me: Celeste isn't just a tough platformer, it's also an incredibly heartfelt story. You follow Madeline as she climbs Celeste Mountain, a journey that mirrors her internal struggles with anxiety and self-doubt. The character interactions are brief but impactful, especially between Madeline and her darker self, 'Badeline'. These moments hit hard, and by the time the story wrapped up, I found myself genuinely moved! ♡ And honestly, it's rare for a platformer to make you think as much as it makes you sweat, but Celeste does both effortlessly. Then there's Lena Raine's incredible soundtrack. The way it shifts from upbeat and energetic during intense sections to serene and emotional during quieter moments is nothing short of brilliant.
All in all, I can't believe I waited this long to play Celeste, but now that I have, I get the hype. If it's been sitting in your backlog, let me be your cherished confidant to tell you: go climb that mountain. You won't regret it.
Absolutely recommended ♡

genuinely my favorite game of all time, endless replayability and great fan-made content. platforming feels tight and is made by a great group of people. I originally pirated this game many years ago, but I ended up buying it out of respect for the team who made it. I felt so bad about pirating that I actually ended up buying it 13 other times for people, across multiple platforms. this game has helped me discover so much about myself, and has helped me get through many tough times in my life, such as breakups and losses of loved ones. if you are reading this, go buy the funny trans jumpy game! (also 69 hours nice)

The base game is barely an introduction to what this games engine has to offer. The amount of tech this game leaves out is insane. Play the base game then try any mod that has come out in recent memory. 10/10 game would waste my life on again

This may just be another positive review in a sea of positive reviews, but Celeste is my favourite game and I feel compelled to say a few words about it.
The game is excellently designed as a precision platformer with just about the cleanest gameplay of any platformer I've ever played or likely will play. It is difficult, but the difficulty builds slowly, and the game teaches you in forgiving ways as you go. It was also made to be accessible to everyone, with an assist mode, if needed, to help everyone enjoy the game at the difficulty they are most comfortable with.
The story is fantastic as well. Its a story that is easy to relate to and unlike most games, one that I find myself thinking about in my day to day life on occasion.
There are so many ways to enjoy the game and challenge yourself as well, if that's something you're into.
I have a hard time thinking of anything negative to mention. This game is a must play game in my opinion if you're even remotely into this type of game.

Oft do I reminiscence upon the days of vaulting upon the very edge of the cusp of life, scrambling over snow streaked blocks and being torn to shreds by jagged, ichor stained stalactites. On many an occasion I gazed in anguish, as the life essence of Madeline flittered away, ebbing and waning afore the cosmic tide of spikes, spectral apparitions and whirring blades of potent steel, that unleashed an ominous cacophony of doom and gloom. Yet irrespective of the turmoil I endured, it was the premise of apprehending those elusive, wing bearing strawberries that spurred me on. Thus, with nary a flutter of sense to my mind, except for gorging myself on delectable crimson berried fruit, I compelled this vermillion haired lass to saunter forth. And that she did, until the tendrils of tedium sapped my inclination to persist.
For after several hours, when I first played Celeste back in 2019, my enthusiasm dwindled and gradually I sought more scintillating projects, such as accosting English vagrants, who had the audacity to linger and sully the soil of my hamlet. Yet frequently did my mind drift to the pretence of this game. I verily appreciated the fact that Celeste bore a genuine woman as the protagonist, for there was something peculiarly captivating about the concept of holding a digital caricature of a live woman under duress, coercing her into hopping and bobbing in a ludicrous carousel of perpetual peril. The mere notion of urging a woman to pirouette about the precipice of life snuffing agony and calamity invoked a fire that is oft left unkindled.
Albeit, as of 2021, my starry eyed, giddily grandiose ruminations of inflicting a stringent series of trials and tribulations onto a woman, and a scarlet haired sorceress at that, were promptly erased. For it was in this year that an announcement was bellowed by the herald in the town square, proclaiming that Madeline, otherwise known by his genuine alias of ‘Matt’, as bewrayed by his birth certificate, was not a bona fide woman, but was in sooth a male! A conniving, leering perverse male, who after years of deceit had finally deemed it time to whisk away the curtains, dangling the sobering, unadulterated truth afore our very eyes.
Forsooth, such treachery is unfathomable! I have waded through distorted labyrinths of dreams and memories, attempted to re anoint the scattered remnants of my visions onto parchment with a quill and ink, and it was all for nought. The mirage of engaging in sanguine, Machiavellian schemes to further propel what I initially presumed was a comely woman, onto a path of lashings with the knout, battering with gauntlet wearing fists, strikes with a hot poker, partial asphyxiation rituals involving fetters, wet rags, sponges and soaps, alongside raining down fire and brimstone upon what I perceived would be a wench’s weary backside, have been sundered. The flame has been robbed, left to flicker and diminish afore a downpour of rain. These delightful, fanciful dreams I once bore, snuffed out of existence, with nary an apology, nor hint of remorse. And all because the disconsolate gremlin Matt, with a wanton passion for self indulgence and narcissism, fancied himself adept in the art of transmutation, deeming himself capable of abating the whims of fate, masquerading as a woman and engaging in a twisted mockery of life as we ken it!
When I was blissfully unaware of Matt’s treachery, Celeste enlivened my joy, propelling it onto further heights, that would eternally soar forth, as the summit ne'er veered into sight. Yet now my joy has burrowed away, underneath a mound of disdain for the blight that this lecherous wastrel, Matt, has incurred upon the masses. Despite sullying Celeste’s honour, let this review be a testament to the unbridled passion it once bestowed upon all, while simultaneously depicting the necessity to remain vigilant, lest we prove susceptible to a motley band of subversive Saesneg apparitions, that wish to seek to sink their gaping, jagged edged maws into our unwary backsides.
An ode to Celeste:
Males who morph into maidens, illusionists of devilry incarnate.
They will reap the comeuppance of their foul magicks and wanton trickery.
A light veneer of cosmetics, a subtle garnish won’t obscure their English lily livered lies.
For gazing down, a phallus they will incredulously espy.
A mirror may shatter, lipstick may chaff, yet for all the succour they shriek, the Norns will persist in lingering by.
Hot coals at their feet, blistering agony within the braies, basking in curling flame, while smoke proliferates over the horizon, signalling a solemn goodbye.
A contingency evinced by all, there is little to prognosticate.
If you deem yourself a lecherous rogue, a faux woman, male inside, then there will be no rebate.
Instead you will be plunged into the depths of misery, a masquer's just and righteously self anointed fate.