Celeste
Last updated: 2025-12-31
- Challenging yet fair difficulty curve
- Emotionally resonant storytelling experience
- Masterful level and puzzle design
- Extreme difficulty spikes frustrate players
- Frustrating mechanics design choices
- Technical instability and crashes reported
Emotions
The primary causes of frustration stem from the game's extreme difficulty, particularly in later chapters (e.g., Chapter 9, C-sides, and B-sides) and specific mechanics like wind sections or precise platforming. Players also report repeated deaths, perceived unfair level design, and mentally exhausting gameplay, which amplify the emotional strain. Technical issues like suboptimal controls, crashes, and input recognition problems further contribute to the frustration.
Players experience satisfaction from overcoming the game's challenging but fair difficulty, mastering controls, and completing difficult levels or collectibles. The rewarding gameplay loop, meaningful story, and personal growth from persevering through tough sections (e.g., beating Chapter 9 or earning achievements) also contribute to this emotion. The sense of accomplishment from completing milestones or 100% completion is a recurring theme.
Admiration arises from the game's holistic design, including its beautiful art, immersive soundtrack, and seamless integration of mechanics with narrative. Players praise the depth of the story, emotional impact, and the care put into every aspect of the game, from level design to character development. The modding community and the game's status as a 'masterpiece' in platformers are also frequently highlighted.
Joy is derived from overcoming challenges, mastering complex movement mechanics, and experiencing the game's engaging story and aesthetics. Players also express joy in discovering secrets, completing difficult screens, and revisiting the game for its replayability. The emotional storytelling and personal connection to the game's themes amplify this positive emotion.
Pride stems from personal accomplishments, such as completing the game, achieving 100% completion, or overcoming seemingly impossible challenges (e.g., 7C, Farewell, or deathless runs). Players also feel pride in improving their skills, persevering through high death counts, and mastering advanced movement techniques. The game's representation of transgender identity is another source of pride for some players.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 94% · Negative 6%. Score: 6 / 100
Positives:
- The game is widely praised for its well-balanced difficulty, offering a rewarding experience for both casual and skilled players. The difficulty curve is progressive, ensuring accessibility while providing optional harder content (e.g., B/C sides).
- The narrative tackles themes like mental health, self-growth, and perseverance with depth and relatability. Players connect deeply with the characters and story, which enhances the gameplay experience.
- Levels are meticulously crafted with smart puzzles, varied mechanics, and hidden secrets. The design avoids frustration despite high difficulty, ensuring engagement and replayability through creative gimmicks and progression.
- The music dynamically layers to match gameplay and emotional moments, enhancing immersion. Composed by Lena Raine, the soundtrack is memorable and often praised as one of the best in gaming.
- Controls are tight, intuitive, and responsive, with simple mechanics (jump, dash, grab) that allow for deep mastery. Players praise the smooth movement and precise platforming feel.
Negatives:
- Later levels, particularly Chapter 9 and C-sides, feature abrupt difficulty increases that frustrate players, often requiring hundreds of attempts to progress. This creates emotional and physical strain, with some describing it as 'painful' or 'unfair'.
- Certain mechanics (e.g., wind, dust bunnies, or precision platforming) are criticized for feeling unfair, tedious, or poorly explained. Players report these elements detract from enjoyment, especially in Chapters 3, 4, and 8.
- New mechanics are introduced with minimal guidance, and hidden transitions (e.g., screen changes) confuse players. This lack of clarity contributes to frustration, especially in later levels.
- Golden strawberries and other collectibles are criticized for requiring excessive effort without meaningful rewards (e.g., no achievements). This demotivates players from pursuing 100% completion.
- Frequent crashes (e.g., on startup, windowed mode, or minimizing) disrupt gameplay, particularly for PC players. These bugs undermine the experience despite fixes like OpenGL.
Gameplay:
- The game features tight, skill-based platforming with core mechanics like jumping, climbing, and dashing. Players highlight the high difficulty but fair design, emphasizing precision and mastery of movement.
- Dashing is a central ability, enabling advanced movement (e.g., diagonal jumps, wall bounces). Later chapters introduce mechanics like super dashes or golden feathers to expand possibilities.
- The game offers structured difficulty progression through A-sides (base levels), B-sides (harder remixed levels), and C-sides (extreme challenges). Optional content like the Farewell chapter extends replayability for advanced players.
- Each chapter introduces new mechanics, themes, or environmental challenges (e.g., wind, pursuit). The narrative-driven structure ties difficulty to storytelling, with themes like grief and perseverance.
- Collectibles like strawberries, golden strawberries, and crystal hearts add layers of challenge. These are optional but encourage mastery, with some requiring no-death runs or advanced techniques.
Performance:
- Multiple users reported crashes on startup, in windowed mode, or when minimized. Some resolved the issue by adjusting OpenGL versions, but instability remains a common problem.
- The game runs smoothly on low-end PCs and is lightweight, making it accessible to players with older or less powerful hardware.
- Users highlighted excellent performance compared to modern AAA games, with smooth gameplay and zero input lag reported in some cases.
- Some players opted to use the Steam Deck due to issues with their primary computers, suggesting the game is playable on handheld devices.
- A specific controller (EasySMX X20) was reported to have recognition problems, indicating potential compatibility issues with certain peripherals.
Recommendations:
- Reviewers praise the game’s strong storytelling, character development, and emotional resonance. It is frequently described as an artistic or deeply personal experience, with themes of perseverance, mental health, and self-discovery that resonate beyond gameplay.
- Despite its difficulty, the game is recommended to a broad audience, including non-platformer fans, due to its emotional impact, storytelling, and design. Many describe it as a life-changing or must-experience title.
- The game is overwhelmingly recommended for fans of challenging platformers, precision jumping, and side-scrolling games. Many reviews highlight it as a gold standard or best-in-class for the genre, emphasizing its appeal to both casual and hardcore platformer enthusiasts.
- The game balances difficulty with accessibility options (e.g., assist mode), making it suitable for both new and experienced players. Reviews emphasize its fair but demanding platforming, which encourages perseverance without frustration.
- The game is consistently described as a must-buy at full price, with many noting it’s frequently discounted (e.g., $5 sales). Even budget-conscious players find it worth purchasing due to its depth and replayability.
Miscellaneous:
- The game's narrative explores mental health, personal growth, and confronting inner demons, resonating deeply with players. Many reviewers relate it to their own struggles, making it a meaningful experience.
- Many players view the game as a memorial or coping tool for personal struggles, often reflecting on how it arrived at a meaningful moment in their lives.
- Reviewers consistently mention the game's playtime, with the story taking ~8 hours and 100% completion requiring ~30-40 hours. This helps players gauge their commitment.
- Several players mention purchasing the game during sales, such as the Steam Summer Sale 2024 or for a discounted price of $4.99, highlighting its accessibility.
- Some reviewers warn about loud music causing temporary deafness and advise taking regular breaks to avoid fatigue or discomfort.
