Celeste is a 2-D retro-styled platforming indie game that I had the pleasure of purchasing on sale on the Nintendo Switch. I had all the time in the world during the COVID-19 lock-down, so I dove right into playing this title immediately. Celeste has all of the makings of a sensational platforming game with the added depth of a journey exploring one's mental health. First, I am going to talk about the gameplay itself, and then I will talk about the mental health angle of the game.
Celeste nails all of the aspects for what I consider the perfect platforming game. The first aspect of a perfect platforming game is the controls. The controls feel incredibly tight, and the player feels like they have perfect control of their character. Therefore, the player cannot blame their deaths on bad controls or bad game mechanics, as the death is truly their fault. The controls are also quite simple, and the player can effortlessly traverse through the screens with their move-set.
The second aspect of a perfect platforming game is the level design and the variety of obstacles that a player encounters. Celeste has a number of obstacles throughout the game's different levels that will keep the player's attention, but not too much to overwhelm the player as well. The game also complements the obstacles with objects and power-ups to help the player, and to discover new ways to overcome the obstacles.
The final aspect of a perfect platforming game is that the difficulty must be satisfying. Celeste is a truly difficult platforming game, but the game never felt so difficult that a player would want to give up completely. The player will die a lot in Celeste, but the game encourages trial and error. With every death, the player will learn something about the obstacles they face, and that newfound knowledge will enable them to progress further and further through the screens. In addition to the main story, there are a number of collectibles to obtain to further challenge the player's skills.
I now want to talk about Celeste's storytelling and connections to mental health. You can distill the story down to "A woman climbs a mountain", but the story is obviously more than that. Celeste is about a woman named Madeline who attempts to climb Celeste Mountain in order to achieve something in her life. Celeste makes clear that Madeline is suffering from various mental illnesses, including anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and a general lack of self-esteem.
Throughout her climb, Madeline encounters various characters who will either help her mental well-being, or further stomp on it. With the external battle of climbing the mountain, Madeline is also fighting an internal battle with her mental illnesses, which manifests itself into an evil doppelganger of herself. This shadow is taunting and berating Madeline as she continues her ascent (similar to negative self-talk), but Madeline is also learning to cope with her illnesses (with help from Theo, her companion). In the end, Madeline does not banish her shadow consisting of all her negative feelings, but rather, makes peace with it.
Celeste is a story of perseverance. No matter what people tell you and no matter what you tell yourself, you can achieve anything that you set yourself to do. Celeste is also a story of coming to terms with your mental well-being. It is unnatural to go through life not feeling mentally ill at some point, but you can recognize those symptoms, and retrain your thoughts to become more positive. Celeste also teaches you to seek out help from those who are willing to help you, as this is the case with Theo's place in the game. If you take the story out of Celeste, you still have an excellent platforming game. However, when you take that gameplay, and combine it with the teachable mental health undertones, then you have a creation of art that is deserving of its place in video game history.
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again"
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