Celeste

Released on January 25, 2018 for the Nintendo Switch, Celeste features hours of intense platforming action, married to an emotional, involving story of personal discovery.

I'd been waiting for that game for a long time. And then it came. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. What a game. I never thought I'd enjoy a game as much as I did the Super Nintendo greats of the mid-90's. Boy, was I wrong. I don't think I can make any fair, logical argument that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild isn't better than any game I played on Nintendo's 16-bit wonder. Apparently, a gaming miracle can still happen for aging Nintendo fans. And yet, less than a year after Breath of the Wild's release, here is another one: Celeste.

While the breadth of Breath of the Wild is stunning, Celeste's perfection lies in its simplicity. Celeste is a pixel-art, 2D platformer about a young woman climbing a mountain to find herself. It utilizes three buttons, one to jump, one to dash, and one to temporarily grab walls, along with either the left joystick or directional pad (player's choice) to move directionally. The young woman, Madeline, must overcome all matter of obstacles, from spikes, to pits, to various booby traps, in order to reach the summit of Celeste Mountain.

Each chapter (the levels here, in the spirit of the game's narrative-led nature, are called chapters) seamlessly builds in a new mechanic, like balls that launch Madeline across the screen, or sheets of mystical energy that Madeline can dash through.
As the game goes on, Madeline meets new characters, and struggles with depression and self-doubt in a story delicately interweaved into the gameplay. While this could have simply made for a pleasant gaming experience, the insane amount of thought and care the developers put into Celeste makes it an all-timer.

Celeste's perfection lies in its balance of extreme difficulty and inspiration. The game is divided into eight chapters, each taking place on a different segment of the mountain. These chapters are then divided into many, many, many screens. When the player gets to the end of one screen, the game scrolls either horizontally or vertically to the next. Each screen is essentially a death trap that requires the player to combine both puzzle-solving skills and complex timing to navigate. However, when the player dies--and they will die so many times that the developers included a running death counter for no other reason than reference--they immediately start at the beginning of the screen to try again...and again...and again. There is no limit to how many times the player can try, and because they start back on the very screen wherein they died, there's nothing to stop the player from throwing themselves at that particular screen's challenge again and again, until it is conquered. The difficulty curve of hard, to very hard, to unimaginably hard is also inspiring, as I often found myself wondering, near the end of the game, how I was clearing screens that required such pinpoint precision...Like all the greatest games, Celeste makes you better at playing it

The combination of insane challenge, Celeste's forgiving nature, and Madeline's inspirational journey of self-discovery inspire the player to never give up...or at least it inspired me to never give up. If you've dealt with any manner of mental illness, particularly depression, the story will also get you right in the feelings(I think I am too old to say "the feels")...the line, "If you're part of me, why do you want to hurt me?" particularly triggered my tear ducts.

The experience is not only rounded out, but augmented by both an incredible graphical design, and an immersive, beautiful piano/synth combo soundtrack: the pixel art's use of color and detail is artistically brilliant, and each individual chapter features a unique musical theme that builds in intensity and grandeur as the player progresses.
Celeste also features copious items to collect for bonuses. There are difficult to reach strawberries strewn across each stage, solely to challenge the player (the number collected slightly alter the game's ending...and involve pie). There are well-hidden cassette tapes which open up "b-sides" of each chapter--more difficult(!) versions that feature remixes of the chapters' original music (and then, there are c-sides...which...aren't for the feint of heart). Finally, there are crystal hearts, taking all of the player's brainpower to find, which open a bonus stage after enough are collected.

Celeste is overflowing in its own perfection. I haven't been this pleased with a game since...Breath of the Wild last year. Before that maybe Ocarina of Time? Yoshi's Island? Chrono Trigger? Super Mario Bros.?

SCORE: 10/10