"Celeste" Review - Strawberry Feels Forever

Available for: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Mac, Windows, Linux

Reviewed for: Nintendo Switch

I've coined many phrases in my lifetime. One is "Old People Farm Time," which refers to a time you have to wake up at in the morning that is earlier that you'd like. Another is "5 minute syndrome," which refers to when you have to leave to go somewhere in 5 minutes, so it's too close to time to leave to get anything done and too early to actually leave, so you're trapped in this awkward inbetween period for what feels like an eternity. One that pertains to video games is more of an adjective than a phrase: "Bleep-Bloop." This is usually used in reference to a game with an intentionally pixellated retro aesthetic (usually a platformer or a roguelike). Here is that term used in a sentence: "Yeah, Celeste is a little bleep-bloop, but it's absolutely fantastic." In case that incredibly tortured opening wasn't indication enough, I'm here today to tell all you lovely people about a retro-style platformer called Celeste, and about why you should absolutely go out and spend your hard-earned money on it. Let's get started.

Celeste puts you in the shoes of a young woman named Madeline (what, were you expecting our protagonist to have a different name, one starting with a "C," perhaps?). Needing an escape from the pressures of modern life, Madeline travels to Canada in hopes of climbing to the summit of Celeste mountain. In terms of plot, Madeline's climb is basically what we have, but when it comes to the story, there's a lot to think about. In what may very well be a first for the bleep-bloop genre, Celeste is really about mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, as well as caring for those who live with such conditions. Though the game as a whole is pretty cute from an aesthetic standpoint, the game uses this cuteness to discuss topics such as self-loathing, feelings of inadequacy, thoughts of suicide (though it isn't described as such, more as just "giving up" in general), and healthy coping versus unhealthy coping in a way that an outsider to these concepts might be able to easily understand. Developer Matt Makes Games manages to realistically depict these conditions in a way that someone like Mr. Rogers might explain them, in other words. Perhaps climbing an infamously difficult to climb mountain that teaches its climbers about themselves is an obvious choice for a narrative metaphor, but it works. As Madeline makes her way up the mountain, she comes to learn more about the role that her depression and anxiety play in her life and how to keep on going with the knowledge that they're here to stay. Long-term readers who haven't heard about this game yet are likely rolling their eyes and saying "Oh, there he goes again, reading way between the lines to find some kind of pretentious meaning in this bleep-bloop platformer," but there's legitimately an entire dialogue section wherein Madeline and another character, Theo, discuss what living with depression is like. I may be a pretentious little termite, but I'm not being one in this case.
But all the important storytelling in the world wouldn't matter if the characters weren't likable, and they very easily could have been anything but. Our two major characters: Madeline and Theo, are written to be distinctly millennial, but they're only portrayed as such in ways that directly relate to the topics this game discusses. Here's the thing, when characters are specifically written as millennials (a-la Night in the Woods or Life is Strange), I usually find them to be insufferably annoying. They're either knee-deep in "hip" speech ("Are you for cereal?!") or the writers structure the entire story around aspects of the characters that make them unlikable, meaning I can't root for them. Celeste, on the other hand, does millennial characters well. Let me provide an example. Here's a brief bit of an exchange between Theo and Madeline:

Theo: So, how do you normally cope when you get depressed?
Madeline: ...Drink, normally...and get angry at strangers on the internet.

That line from Madeline isn't delivered with the usual "cool beans finger guns" (I think I've coined a new phrase) self-deprecation that a millennial character would normally deliver such a line with. It's delivered as a statement of fact (with admittedly a slight amount of cool beans finger guns on the internet part). Of course, the voices of these characters are just "adults in Charlie Brown"-esque mumbles with varying tones to reflect different emotions, so you can put on your "He's being pretentious" visors now if you want, but the faces Madeline makes in this line seem to back my theory up. In any case, I'd like to compare this treatment of "I drink because I'm depressed" with Night in the Woods' treatment of the same concept. With the bean-cat protagonist of NitW, the framing of the concept starts with her getting smashed at a party and causing a scene completely out of nowhere because she has a chip on her shoulder. The depression aspect comes in later, but with cool beans finger guns and no sense of wanting to feel better. How are we supposed to root for a character to live a happier life if they don't want it themselves? Furthermore, even if bean-cat didn't cool beans finger guns her way out of seriously addressing her mental state, because our first exposure to the concept of "I drink because I'm depressed" was an event that rendered her completely unlikable, and because this event happened without the concept of depression there to give it context, it would be harder to root for her. On the flip side, what Celeste chooses to do is present us with the reasoning first: severe depression (so that we start off this concept with knowledge of this character's suffering), then show us the coping mechanism: drinking and picking fights, then finally give us a sense of how Madeline herself feels about it: not an ounce of self-depracating pride, nor any defensiveness, just a plain statement of fact. Madeline copes with her condition in an unhealthy way, but the result of the game's framing choices makes it so that you want to root for her to reach the summit, to live a better life. It's entirely possible that off-camera, Madeline is the most unlikable human being imaginable, but what we're shown makes us want her to succeed even with the knowledge that her being unlikable outside of this story is a possibility. Of course, likability shouldn't determine whether or not you want someone to feel better, but imagine you're an outsider to the topics this game covers. Are you more likely to get invested and perhaps learn something about caring for people with depression or anxiety if a character shows signs of wanting to improve or if all they do is cool beans finger guns you and reply with "literally injecting heroin rn lol" when you ask them if you can do anything for them? Matt Makes Games was incredibly smart in how they chose to frame Madeline's character, given the purpose of this game. Who knows? It's entirely possible that there's someone who played this game who can now care for people with much darker and more harmful dispositions than Madeline, all because they were compelled to stay and listen. Probably not, because I don't think people lacking empathy would play a bleep-bloop game in the first place, but I like to think it's possible.
On the other side of the millennial character spectrum we have Theo, who takes selfies and lives for his Instagram-esque internet presence. That right there is a recipe for the Life is Strange brand of unlikablity. However, like Madeline, Theo is handled in a way that makes him a joy to speak to. There's far greater depth to his character than you might initially guess (unfortunately, I would count any examples as a spoiler), and the same is true of all the smaller characters that pop up as the story progresses. The result is a story that is as impactful as it is important. As somebody who lives with a lot of the topics this game covers, there were moments in this story that legitimately hurt to watch, but there were also moments that have stuck with me as being helpful for use in my own experience. Because of the expert way that Celeste handles its content and because of the likability (and relatability) of its characters, this story is better than it has any right to be, given its status as a bleep-bloop game.

That's quite a coincidence, considering that the gameplay is also better than it has any right to be in a bleep-bloop game. Essentially, Madeline's only moves are running, climbing, jumping, and dashing, with the dashing being the focal point of gameplay. You'll use combinations of all of these moves to avoid spikes and holes in the ground, as well as other threats that come with different levels. Every level requires you to use Madeline's dash in a different way, which ensures that you're consistently being challenged and that you don't get too used to doing things a certain way. This is a platformer that I've heard likened to Super Meat Boy. I only played a little bit of SMB back in the day, but the likening is accurate from a sheer difficulty perspective. Oh, you thought because this game is cute and because Madeline is portrayed in equally as cute a manner that the gameplay would be a walk in the park? Think again! This game is tough as freaking nails. Every level has a death counter that is revealed after you've finished it, and my final death count across the whole game was 1594. I nearly died 1600 times over the course of my 8 hours with this game. Make no mistake: this is the kind of game where you'll enter a room, start to groan, and say to yourself: "oh nooooooo how am I gonna get past this?" more times than you can count. However, it's always rewarding once you figure it out. Celeste's difficulty is exceptionally crafted, as it's hard enough to kill you hundreds of times, but you'll end up learning enough with each death that you won't be stuck in a particular area for hours on end. In spite of my exceedingly high death count, it never took me more than around an hour to an hour and a half to complete a level. This means that even the hardest of conundrums only took a matter of minutes to solve. It's what I like to call a "healthy" challenge in that it'll really get to you, but it'll only get to you for a little bit before you learn how to overcome. Of course, if things are too difficult, there's also the assist mode. I never used it because I have more pride than common sense, so I can't say how much easier it makes things, but it's worth noting that this game at least attempts to be accessible in spite of its difficulty (which I think is really great, given the topics this game covers).
Occasionally you'll take a break from the normal platforming day-to-day and engage in something resembling a boss encounter. What this essentially amounts to is doing the normal platforming day-to-day, but with the added challenge of a boss trying to kill you as you do so. That probably sounds like a negative, but on the contrary, these encounters are by far the most exciting parts of the game. Sure, they're the stretches that had me uttering enough profanities to make my late Grandfather ask "isn't that a little excessive?" but their breakneck pace is absolutely invigorating. These boss encounters last far longer than you'd think they would, but it's just long enough to both avoid getting old and make the payoff when it's finally over all the more satisfying.

Your objective in each level is basically to get to the next level, but if you choose to go off the beaten path (which isn't always clearly defined), there are several collectible strawberries and one crystal heart in each level, hidden behind additional platforming challenges. None of these serve gameplay purposes, but once the end comes, the purpose of your strawberry collecting is revealed, and it made me legitimately want to go back through the game and collect as many of the strawberries as I possible could. And as far as the crystal hearts go, you need them to unlock progress in a post-credits 8th level, meaning that you can get additional content by going through and getting all of them. Like the strawberries, I felt compelled to find the hearts so I could see what else this game had to offer. In addition to the strawberries and the hearts, each level also contains a "B-side," which is an unlockable harder version of the level that you can choose to play. Beyond that, there also appear to be "C-sides." I would guess that you'd unlock those by finding them in the B-side, but the point is that you have the ability to unlock two additional variations of each level if your hunger for this game hasn't been sated. Despite this game's humble appearance, it's packed to the brim with content and additional challenges. The point of this somewhat awkward paragraph is to mention that the value proposition Celeste boasts is unheard of.

That brings us to the technical side of things. Sure, being a bleep-bloop game, Celeste doesn't have to work very hard in the graphics department, but every level is different, and the variety of color palettes and the like makes a noticeable difference when compared to other bleep-bloop games. The framerate remains silky-smooth throughout, and there is no loading upon death. Once you die, you're back in the action instantly, making death less of a hassle than it would be elsewhere. And even though you'll probably get sick of the death noise, it's worth noting that the sound effects and design of this game are incredible. Each sample is crisp, clear, and distinct, and you wouldn't think that makes a difference, but it does. Combine that with an effective soundtrack with as much variety as the levels, and you've got a strong sound side of a technical package. Another somewhat odd, not-too-often-discussed technical aspect that Celeste does well is its sense of control. Whenever you die, it's always 100% your fault. Madeline does exactly what you say when you say it. That's how tight the controls are, and in a game this hard, that's a must have. However frustrated you get, you'll have nobody to blame but yourself for not acting quickly enough or for losing your focus at the last minute.

Folks, Celeste is an absolute gem, far more of one than it needed to be. If you don't care about story or characters, then the game's tight controls and hard-as-nails gameplay is sure to keep you sated. If you want to learn a little bit about coping with depression and anxiety or how to care for those who live with them, the story and characters are sure to teach you something. If you aren't good at games but want to experience this story, there's a mode that can help you do just that. If you're an absolute sadist and gameplay can never get too hard, then you have not one, but two additional levels of difficulty for each area that you can unlock. If you're concerned about the game's 8-hour length and require a longer runtime than that, there's plenty of additional content you can sate your appetite with. This is a game with stellar gameplay, an important and well-told story, well fleshed-out characters that you want to root for, and technical strength unheard of in the game industry these days. I've tried to be vague in this review because so much of Celeste's fun relies on the moment-to-moment tension and coming up against unexpected challenges, so you owe it to yourself to purchase this relatively cheap game, otherwise you'll never truly understand why I love Celeste so much. Developer Matt Makes Games should be exceedingly proud of itself not just for having created a phenomenal game, but for the reason I'm about to list as well. You may notice that I haven't yet said anything negative about the game. That's because there are no negatives. I can't take off a point on account of the difficulty perhaps being a roadblock for some players because the game takes that into account with its assist mode. I can't take off a point for the fact that in the last level I got so mad that my face turned red, because every death is a player error and every challenge is solvable as long as you don't screw up. I adopted my new scoring system in 2016, and since then there's one score in particular that I've never been able to give. My granting of this score isn't an indication that a game will be GOTY, but it does mean that it'll have to be a hell of a year to unseat it from at least the top 5.
Normally this is where I say "let us review," and I go down the list of negatives and indicate how much was taken off for each. However, since there are no negatives to speak of, I'm proud to report that Celeste is the first game since 2016 to earn the highest score I can give.

The final score for Celeste is...

10/10

Masterful work, Matt Makes Games, masterful work.