Clear eyes, full Crystal Hearts, can’t lose.
Warning: Spoilers for Celeste lay ahead.
Upon beating the main story of Celeste I decided to watch a speedrun of the game from Awesome Games Done Quick 2019, so I could gawk at the insane skills on display. As the runner zipped through screens in seconds that took me minutes to crawl past, a person remarked that Celeste is the hardest game anyone can beat. It was a sentiment that really rang true for me, and I began to wonder why that was the case.
Yes, Celeste is hard, with it hailing from the school of demanding 2D platformers that have become a staple of the indie market. You will die a lot, especially if you decide to tackle the B-Side levels which are remixed versions of the already difficult normal ones, and then the C-Side levels which prove to be even more fearsome. Celeste also keeps track of all those deaths, totting up every one in front of you at the end like a teacher attacking your work with a bombardment of crosses. This might seem rather cruel, as if Celeste is rubbing your failures in your face, but the game makes it clear that you should be proud of your deaths. Thinking of it in a positive way, a high death count could be seen as a sign of determination. While some might have finished with far fewer mistakes, you took those setbacks, learned from them and kept moving forward.
The reason why I’m completing levels with death counts numbering in the hundreds and still up for playing more, is because Celeste is excellent at keeping you in the action. Respawns are almost instant, plus, the development team have been very careful about where to place you after a death, as to eliminate down time as much as possible. In this respect, Celeste is tough but not punishing, as your next checkpoint is merely seconds away, which really helps encourage a give-it-another-shot attitude. And encouraging you is Celeste’s main deal, with even the line “You can do this” appearing at the start of the game. Celeste isn’t beating its chest screaming at you that you’ll never finish it, it in fact wants you to finish it
And Assist Mode proves to be the developer’s trump card when it comes to making sure everyone gets to the summit – and eventually beyond. Assist Mode lets you tailor the difficultly in some interesting ways, allowing for increased dashes, infinite climbing, invincibility and even changing the speed of the game. What I like most about this feature is that it gives you a chance to try the game normally before deciding. Picking a difficulty level can be tricky, with no set standard on how challenging something like Normal or Hard should be. It allows you to adjust the challenge on the fly, tweaking the settings on the go to get something manageable. I’m not saying that we should abandon difficulty levels in favour of our Assist Mode overlords, but I do enjoy it when a game lets you design your own difficulty, much like Dishonored 2. Strangely, Celeste doesn't have a colourblind mode, which does feel out of character for a game all about accessibility, especially when the colour of the protagonist's hair dictates if she can dash or not.
The Assist Mode might be needed as I go on further, but for now I’ve held off. It’s rare that I’ve felt so determined to beat something, as I’ve battled through the B-Sides and are ready to face off against those dreaded C-Sides, with the Farewell DLC patiently waiting at the end. I'm even playing on Switch, meaning I have to deal with those crappy Joy-Con control...nubs and I'm still managing to get through. To think that I was only going to complete the main story and be done with this game, saying to myself “No way I’m good enough to do those B-Sides.” And Celeste needs to be hard, because its about fighting past the doubt, with a great victory coming with great struggle. The game assaults you with screen after screen of platforming perils that can leave you mentally exhausted – if like me you stubbornly push through all the failed attempts. It’s a game that tells you that you will lose many, many times, but perseverance (along with a little planning) is the key to success.
This attitude is reflected in the story, which is all about a young girl climbing a mountain to prove her strength. But this isn’t a game simply about the joys of avoiding certain death in a harsh environment, because Madeline’s true journey is confronting her self-doubt. Represented by a purple-haired twin named Badeline, Madeline's insecurity shows up to constantly belittle and discourage her from climbing all the way to the top. I think we all have that little voice inside our heads, warning us when something is beyond our abilities, but sometimes that voice can grow into a monster and end up influencing everything we do. And that is certainly the case with Badeline, whose constant dismissal of Madeline’s ambitions is the root cause of her anxiety and depression.
During her talk with fellow mountaineer Theo, Madeline decides that the best thing to do is to separate completely from Badeline…which doesn’t go well. After Badeline’s freak out about being abandoned, ending with Madeline falling all the way back down the mountain, the realisation comes to Madeline that she should be embracing that part of her, not rejecting it. Badeline could be best described as Madeline’s defence mechanism gone haywire. Obviously defence mechanisms are necessary in our day-to-day lives, so we don’t just decide that it’s a good idea to cross a busy motorway because we think we can make it across. Badeline is what happens when we demonise that mechanism, but Celeste puts forward the message that we should console that voice, not hate it.
The reason why Celeste is so welcoming is because it shows us that achieving something truly difficult doesn’t have to be intimidating. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the people who have fully completed Celeste have given up on easier games, which is mainly down to the development team being so good at nurturing the player's confidence – and the numerous checkpoints don’t hurt either. The team wants you to make peace with the doubt inside and push yourself further than you think you ever could. And for me, that's what Celeste excels at.
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