It is never a bad time to pick up Celeste. Widely heralded as one of the best platformers ever, and one of the best games of the 2010s, this title set the gaming world on fire when it was released in 2018. Celeste has always been a beloved game, whether that’s for its tough-but-fair difficulty, its trans protagonist, or its approach to subject matter such as mental illness, but regardless of what exactly pulls you in, it’s difficult to deny Celeste’s magnetism. I suggest you let it pull you in, too.
Currently, Celeste is on sale on Steam for all of about $5, and yes it is perfect for your Steam Deck. It’s also available on Game Pass and the PlayStation Plus catalog depending on your tier, if that’s more to your liking, but I genuinely don’t think I can emphasize enough how much of a steal this is for just five bucks. Many people who play Celeste cite it as a life-changing, or life-affirming, event. It is cathartic to reach the end of this game and have been able to experience Madeline’s hardships and helped her through it. You can have that experience for the cost of a breakfast sandwich near me. Don’t skip out on a breakfast sandwich, but maybe pick this game up and get a snack.
Celeste takes place on the titular mountain, and follows Madeline, a young woman who has come to reach Celeste’s peak. Madeline wants to ascend the mountain to challenge herself in a bid to get over her anxiety, which frequently manifests in panic attacks and the recurring appearance of an alternate persona, Badeline, who throws events into chaos throughout the game.
As Madeline helps people on her mountain climb, such as the social media influencer Theo and the abandoned resort owner Mr. Oshiro, Badeline appears (almost like that doubtful voice in the back of your head) to knock Madeline down. In one case, Badeline actually does hurl Madeline down the mountain, and though the game seems to play it as a metaphor, it looks pretty damn real to me. How did she survive that?
The point of the game is much like Dark Souls, where both turn the metaphorical hurdles of life into literal demons to slay and mountains to climb. You will fail a lot, but by overcoming the tasks before her, Madeline hopes to prove to herself that the voice in the back of her head that chastises her isn’t always right. But in order to do so, she has to first do the toughest thing she’s ever committed to: climbing that mountain.
Celeste is a gorgeous and grueling 2D platformer with some of the wildest movement tech I’ve ever seen. Early on, Madeline gains a dash ability that helps her navigate the mountain’s treacherous obstacles and environments, including a haunted resort and an ancient temple. This dash is the only mainstay mechanic that Madeline actually unlocks, and the rest of them are temporary power-ups that mostly appear as extensions of the themes and aesthetics of the stage they’re found in.
Some appear as bubbles that send Madeline flying and refresh her dash skill, while others look like a golden feather that transforms her into a ball of light that you must tightly control around jagged crystal walls arranged into a maze-like structure. Other times you must simply contend with the wind, and in the most exciting moments of the game, Madeline goes toe-to-toe with Badeline herself.
If it sounds epic, it’s because it is! For a game that appears bite-sized, Celeste packs a whole hell of a lot of challenges, including B-side (and C-side!) levels that are even more difficult than the main content, and make use of techniques that are all but hidden from players, such as the hyper dash. An epilogue that was added years later functions as the ultimate gauntlet from the developers at Extremely Ok Games and it is as tough-as-nails and simultaneously heartfelt as you might expect.
However, Celeste has also attracted a sizable following over the years, and they’re a super dedicated, incredibly welcoming, and very queer bunch for whom Celeste—and the reveal that Madeline was trans the whole time—is a pretty significant deal. The community that’s formed around Celeste has gone on to speedrun the game at charity events like Summer Games Done Quick, and have even developed and run their own mods, which sometimes rival the content of the main game. You can only get those mods if you pick it up on PC, so if that sounds like something you’d like, best pick it up there right away!
Basically, getting Celeste on sale is a one-way ticket to one of the most devoted and sincere communities in games, while piggybacking off of one of the most challenging and satisfying platformers ever. For the incredibly low price it’s at right now, I don’t see why you shouldn’t take the plunge.
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