The game we’re going to be exploring today is one of my favorite genres of all: free. Well, it’s not free per se, but a viewer was kind enough to gift it to me. But I’m not averse to the actual genre either, namely the 2D platformers. That’s why we took a look at Celeste on two afternoons and climbed a mountain – you can read here how it went.

If you’ve been watching my streams for a while, Celeste is actually very easy to describe. Graphically it reminded me a lot of games like “Broforce”, mechanically it reminded me of “Hollow Knight” (we streamed both). The story, on the other hand, is also very interesting, but not quite as “historical” as, for example, in “Hollow Knight” – that is to say, it is quite profound, but does not refer to the history of a people or even a world. In fact, it is actually quite simple: it relates only to us.

“We” in particular are Madeline. A young woman who has made it her mission to climb “Celeste Mountain” – hence the name of the game. At first it just seems like a personal challenge, she wants to prove something to herself. That’s basically correct, but we won’t find out more about why until later. But I don’t want to go into that any further in order to keep the article as spoiler-free as possible.

During our ascent we meet several other characters. First and foremost Theo, who joins us and encourages us in some places when we lose the strength to continue climbing. From time to time we help each other out of trouble – no further details here either.

I particularly liked the imaginative and sometimes very profound dialogues. The story as a whole makes you think, and the choice of NPCs is excellent support – or loosens it up at one point or another. I wasn’t expecting a lot of content before playing and I was pleasantly surprised here.

What I did expect (because I’ve seen it on other streams before) were the challenging levels. At first, just jumping and climbing will get you very far, but soon you’ll need to navigate around various obstacles using various combinations of carefully counted dashes and precise directional changes – while staying careful not to get too close to certain spikey surfaces or rocks that want to crush you. Overall, I found the mix of challenge and frustration from unnecessary deaths very balanced and satisfying.

One thing I definitely neglected was the “side quests” – you can collect various objects in the game and explore rooms that aren’t necessary for progressing the main story. With these you can unlock more levels or just improve your high score – anyone who knows me knows that I don’t like doing that. Unfortunately, we’re probably missing a few more elements of the game. Nevertheless, the interesting and thought-provoking main story alone made it worth it. I found it very positive that there was never a moment when you had to collect – it was always optional and there was no obligation to grind.

Last but not least, the technical stuff: I have nothing to complain about here. Since the game comes with very pixelated graphics, there were no performance problems whatsoever. We had no bugs, no crashes and no other problems. Controlling with the controller took some getting used to at first (and the pros probably play with a keyboard), but I found my way around quickly and was never frustrated by inadequacies on their part.

Regarding the graphics, it should also be said that high-resolution images of the characters were used in the cutscenes. There were also “selfies” at certain points, which also looked correspondingly better. Here the beautiful drawing style caught my eye, which enhances the game again.

Finally, what can I say? I definitely recommend the game to anyone who likes challenges. I’ve never felt real frustration, and have happily tried spots where I’m stuck over and over again. I love the game’s humor and the more thoughtful parts – so I don’t want to give any spoilers. It definitely kept me entertained for two streams and I hope we find more games like this one!

What do you all mean? Did you like the game too or is the genre not for you? Would you like to play it yourself? Discuss it with me on Discord!