Celeste (Switch) Review - Heavenly platformer

Why would you want to climb Mount Celeste? That is a question that you will ask yourself when you play this eponymous game sooner or later. The mountain is inexcusable, a guaranteed death for every mountain climber. If it is not the extreme conditions that cost you the head, then the mysterious phenomena in this area will be fatal. Why should Madeline still reach the top if necessary? She is not even a mountaineer, but she still has it in her head to overcome the mountains.

At first glance, Celeste may seem like the umpteenth tricky platformer with cozy pixel graphics, but there is more to it than that looks. There is Madeline, the red-haired protagonist who wants to come upstairs at any cost. How she gets into trouble with herself and how that manifests itself on Celeste is the red thread of the story. Between the platform sections there are also short conversations between Madeline and the other figures on the mountain. It is not a story that awakens you days later, but the game has a nice sweet undertone.

Optional strawberries

In the meantime this seems to be quite at odds with the particularly challenging gameplay, but the combination actually works surprisingly well. In Celeste you cross one after another screen full of complex obstacles, until the story forms a short resting point. The jumps you have to make require perfect timing, the walljumps precision and the dashes require nothing less than lightning-fast reflexes.

In eight chapters you climb ever higher and the levels start to ask more and more of you. Celeste, however, plays so insanely that no screen is as impossible as it seems at first glance. Moreover, the strawberries to be collected, of which there are dozens hanging around in every level, are completely optional so that you can simply skip some tricky pieces. Celeste is absolutely demanding and at times quite frustrating, but once it succeeds, that is also a great feeling.

Super Madeline Girl

With this, Celeste is quite a bit reminiscent of that one other well-known, super-heavy indie platformer: Super Meat Boy. In contrast to that classic, Celeste has a much friendlier approach without losing anything of his challenging edge. There is a special assist mode in which you can slow down the game a bit to make the action just a little clearer. You can also choose to go through life as an immortal platform hero. Whether you really use these options is up to you. In any case, you will not be penalized if you use this to move forward.

Anyone who fears that this alternative way of playing gets in the way of the hardcore gameplay does not have to worry. Who really wants to get the most out of Celeste just plays without these options and then there is more than enough challenging. Going through the main story may cost you 1000 lives and about five hours, but those who go through the levels well will find cassette tapes next to a lot of well-hidden strawberries. These contain much more challenging remixes of existing levels in which all the brakes are released, combined with the previously introduced gameplay elements of the eight worlds.

Never again away from Celeste

Only in these B-sides and in the possibly even more difficult C-sides Celeste really starts to shine. The platform gameplay may not be gigantic or complicated, but it does so with so many variations that it is nothing less than very impressive. Sometimes you have to use bubbles that launch Madeline, the next level revolves around piggyback on moving blocks. The variation is huge and it is almost amazing how much is done in a world with obstacles.

Where the fun story told you might lure up the mountain it is ultimately the very tight gameplay that ensures that you do not want to leave until you have uncovered all the secrets. Celeste is absolutely frustrating and difficult. The second after you have made the leap, you can try again, however, so that there never really stays too long in that frustration. The end of Celeste always seems within reach, but even better than the top is the unprecedented sense of victory when you finally managed to master a randomly difficult screen.

For this review Celeste was played on the Nintendo Switch. The game is also available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam.

Conclusion

Celeste is an excellent platformer who knows how to handle staggering gameplay, a fun storyline and lots of dazzlingly challenging levels. The high level of difficulty does not interfere with the fun of playing because Celeste gives you all sorts of tools to get the gameplay more and more under control. A nice gesture to anyone who prefers not to hit hundreds of times to reach a level, but for those who enjoy it, Celeste is simply an absolute must.

➕ Nice storyline
➕ Particularly tight platform gameplay
➕ Assist mode

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