Celeste

2023-09-04
It's basically Super Meat Boy with a cute girl as the main character. Lol no that's selling it short. While it is a balls hard platformer requiring repetition to master its controls it has a huge amount of character that takes it far beyond Super Meat Boy. The main character and her internal struggle with herself along with the colorful cast of characters really paints a heartwarming tapestry. Which is comically contrasted by the fact that 99% of the game is spent watching this little girl get absolutely eviscerated on rocks and spikes and monsters on a mountain.

As with all of these platformers, what makes and breaks it is the controls and this game really earned its praise from critics because it's incredibly tight. While I died thousands of times there were very few times where I felt the design of the level or controls was unfair. And you really do get better as you play. Adding to the tight design is the fact that the developers added accessibility options which basically allow you to cheat at the game. And they don't even turn off achievements. That is SO wonderful. I would play with all of them off but if I hit a point where I almost got the jump and didn't want to do it another 20 times to get it again, I'd just whack on invincibility and go prance through the level ignoring all the hazards. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

If I had to complain I'd say some of the challenges are bit long in tooth. You'll have proven you can do X then Y then Z challenge and then they'll give you 3 more XYZ challenges. Like ok dude I get it. And while I did love the story, art, and music I wouldn't put it up there in the same quality depart as an Ori game. That's not a knock against it as a game made by a couple people but just trying to be clear where it stands.

But yeah I was kind of suprised how much I enjoyed the game. It is very cute.