I am a sucker for anything that tells a really good story. I love diving into the details of what is happening in the narrative and how the themes interweave with method of story telling. The cherry on top of any story is when I can relate to the story in a personal way, directly connecting elements of my own life to the events of the tale. Celeste checked off every single box for me.
In Celeste, both you and the protagonist are there to accomplish one task: to beat the game and climb the mountain, respectively. You are not going to let things get you down or get in your way. The game tells you from the first screen after creating the a new “You can do this.” Everything in the game is built around helping you learn the the room, fail rapidly, and learn the skills quickly.
As the rooms of each level progressively get harder and harder, the story unfolds more. The game discusses themes of anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and overcoming the darker parts of your psyche. All of this is shown and felt through the gameplay mechanics, the game’s art, and the music. Chase sequences build anxiety as you struggle to run away from your own problems. Mini-games encourage you to take a mindful moment which game me the chance to recognize tension in my body. Eventually you see yourself pushing further and further past more and more difficult rooms, and moving past more devastating loses.
And just in case the difficulty proves too much the game provides an “assist mode” which allows you to modify the game and interact with what you feel is the most important parts of the games. Things infinite climb can give you the space to limb as far as needed without stressing about about the timing; Infinite dash acting as a cheat code, or a safety measure in case you mistimed or misaimed; Turning off death on spikes, because spikes are always fucking hard. You get to select what you feel best helps your (or your child’s) play style and skill.
This game makes me cry to engage with the story. I was alone for a couple weeks on a work trip when I picked up. I was sick in the middle of this work trip, and played the game from start to credits in one 8 hour run. My thumbs hurt bad, but the story and mechanics sucked me in so deep, and has impacted me so profoundly that I will tell everyone that they should play this game. Even if you don’t finish it, the encouragement and story is worth hearing. This applies to your kids. While difficult, it is the perfect low stakes method to encurage them to keep trying, to review what is going wrong, or to walk away when they get too frustrated.
Play this game. Have your kids play this game. Help them learn and push their limits. For $20, there’s no excuse.
