I bought Celeste in 2018, but for some insane reason I never finished it. I played up to the Mr Oshiro escape and then life* “got in the way” I guess?
*Actually it might have been Assassin’s Creed Origins.
My 2023 gaming resolution is to focus on playing games through to completion a bit more, without getting too distracted. (Playing much less Sea of Thieves is helping with this…)
So here we are. I started a new save on Celeste last week and embarked on a full play through.
Everyone has obviously said everything that needs to be said about Celeste, but a few thoughts of my own:
- The controls and platforming are top notch.
- I hugely appreciated the optional aspect of Strawberries and B-Sides during your runs.
- I’ve been paying a lot of attention to pacing in games lately, and aside from a jarring change in pace with the long conversation between Madeline and Theo, the flow from chapter to chapter feels great.
- I deeply enjoyed the way the narrative and gameplay mechanics combined, like the double dash, and the feather.
- The final climb was brilliantly tuned, with just enough challenge to engage your learned skills during each section, but with enough joy and freedom to push through all 30 flags to the summit.
If I revisit Celeste to grab some more strawberries or play the B-Sides, it won’t be for a while – but I’m glad I revisited Celeste Mountain.
And I’m looking forward to watching the continued development of Earthblade.