Quick Look: Celeste

Yesssss, I was waiting for this!

I am pretty blown away by Celeste. Making an early call that this will be very high on my year end list.

It is hitting me powerfully in just about every way I appreciate video games, and I'm so happy it's here.

The game has been nothing short of magical for me. I really hope it's not forgotten come GOTY time.

Finished it yesterday with a 6:30 runtime and 2/3 of the collectibles. It’s great, one of the best masocore platformer out there.

@danryckert For the puzzle at the end, you hold right and hit the jump button as you're exiting the blob thingy. It gives you a boost, which allows you to make it far enough to dash through the second blob thingy.

Highly recommend continuing to talk to characters in the the game until there isnt an icon above their head any more. They have a lot more to say than just that first little bit. I think Dan is missing most of the story without doing that.

Absolutely adore this game, working on the B-sides now. Hopefully it is not forgotten come GOTY time.

I’m surprised the story and characters aren’t resonating with Dan, especially as someone who admittedly suffers from anxiety. Maybe he just isn’t paying attention to the story. Even Vinny picked up on the fact that Madeleine is clearly dealing with some shit.

This game would simply be amazing from a mechanical and level design aspect, but the fact that it has a well written narrative and characters just takes it to the next level.

Listen to the bird Dan! It tells you everything you need to know!

Celeste is a real surprise! I was expecting a solid yet difficult platformer, but I did not expect such a polished one with a very engaging story. Dan really needs to pay better attention to the dialogue because it real tells a lot about Madeline and her anxiety issues. There's even a mini game where she tries to recover from a panic attack by envisioning a feather floating up and down in order to calm down.

The plot seems to be resonating with Ben big time, but I think Dan should focus on it more. I can see this as a good Alex game too, but I don't know if he's into precision platformers. There's always assist mode to make the game more accessible.

Can't say I haven't had my difficulty on the levels themselves, but there's a lot of great "Ah Ha!" moments in the game where you finally figure out how to solve a puzzle or collect a strawberry (which do effect the ending in some way). I know its too early to make these statements, but I hope the crew gives Celeste some love around GOTY too. Celeste is wonderful.

So you're saying he should press right and jump?

I might get this, I really like splatformers.

THERE ARE OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE

Clever Gunslinger reference there, Vinny.

Vinny's love of good fantasy and scifi needs to be more front and center, IMHO.

That Dark Tower reference went right over Dan's head, didn't it?

I see that Dark Tower refrence Vinny

Vinny: "Maybe you should press right and jump."

Dan: "No......"

Everyone who's watching who has played that level: "YES YOU SHOULD DAN."

Fun to watch these two play what has been my favorite game in a long time! It's an absolute DELIGHT and gets way crazier and goes way deeper than you expect it too. And the story is lovely too.

Die-retry plaformer thank you very much.

I love splatformers almost as much as I like spectacle fighters and pathfinder games!

You don't make up new words for genres that already have words cause nobody knows what you're talking about anymore, dudes.

Splatformer, from the creator of abilitease (TM).

I do not buy with sweat in them. Very icky.

That B-Side mechanic is woefully underexplained but once you figure it out it's a game changer. You don't even need to be holding right, you just hit jump right before you exit the blob and it will shoot you.

Splatformer! perfect name.

terrible quicklook of a decent looking game.

I finished the third area last night and I'm really digging this thus far. Relatable story with cute characters and well-written dialog, fun platforming, cool mechanics to discover in each area, and it rewards exploration well.

And don't forget to follow Theo on Instagram!

Can't believe Dan can't read instructions.

it's a shame you ended the quicklook with 4 minutes of that. it's telling you to press jump right after you leave the dash.

The dark part is rude? Who just up and tells someone they look creepy to their face?

Anyway, this game looks good. Still not sure why Ben hyped it so much on twitter but I guess I'll find out, this looks like my jam. My jam in this case being three different versions of N, Super Meat Boy, IWBTG, VVVVVV, etc.

Edit: Goddammit, Dan. Your weird selfie hate makes no sense. Also, that's what this is:

And seeing how you seem to have a problem with the narcissism thing, HOLY SHIT, you are so much worse than just simple selfies:

Theo seems like the kinda dude I'd like to Scar off the mountainside.

#hadtobethere #likethemovies #hidingfromtheworld

I wouldn't say this is masocore as it isn't actively trying to fuck with you. It is just a hard platformer.

Hmm, getting some old Dan vibes in this video. Lots of hate over inconsequential things.

Missed opportunity to show off the Assist Mode options after accusing the game of being 'masocore'

What separates this splatformer from other splatformers in the splatformer genre?

I haven't played it so I'm genuinely curious why this got 10's, while something like The End Is Nigh gets such a meh reception.

I should pick up this splatformer.

probably should have waited for Ben on this one; seems like he’s picking up a little more if what this game’s putting down

Overall this game looks really pretty and the gameplay fun but the one thing that really bugs me is using high res elements on top of pixel art. Why would anyone commit such a crime? A unified artstyle is important to me but I will try to ignore it the best I can once I pick this up.

Well, to be fair, if I had glowing red eyes, just got out from inside a mirror, and was found sitting beside a skeleton, I would be fine with being called creepy.

Dan and I play this game completely differently. I always try to get all of the collectibles on my first try, and it looks like Dan just mainlines it. Seeing that he had 5/18 strawberries on the 2nd level physically hurt me.

Even though the game explicitly says "yo these strawberries are pointless," I STILL NEED THEM.

I'm not a fan of the way text, character portraits and icons are high-res and hand-drawn when the rest of the game is rocking the pixel art look.

That ending really confuses me. It's not even a damn puzzle? Just hit the jump button as soon as you get out of the blob thing.

Anyway I'm in love with this game. I'm in the last chapter now, having cleared all B-Sides and gotten maybe 90% of the strawberries. Some really neat stuff going on in those later levels too.

I'd really like a Breaking Brad with Brad trying to clear all B-Sides. Seems like a game that would be just up Brad's alley.

Splatformer is perfect.

I used to also hate selfies, but if someone is feeling good about themselves and they want to share that feeling, than more power to them. I wish I liked how I looked to myself most days, let alone enough to broadcast.

@csl316: I haven't played the End is Nigh, but I think people are falling in love with this because it generally succeeds in everything it tries to do. Great story, good characters, interesting mechanics, good music, and lots of replayability.

Splatformer is a perfect name. Hopefully that catches on.

The story in this is amazing and actually made me cry. But that probably says more about me than about the game...

Makes sense. It's my style of game so I'll probably pick it up soon enough.

To be fair it took me ages to get that B-side as well. It was a weird way to introduce a new mechanic.

This is a Brad ass game

Reassuring is the word I would use to describe Celeste's design philosophy. Even after racking up hundreds of deaths in a chapter, I never felt that completing it was out of reach.

I love the way the collectibles are designed, at the end of some of the most challenging screens yet totally optional. The only incentive for collecting them being a need to challenge oneself to overcome what might seem impossible at first glance. The way this feeling is mirrored in Madeline's quest to climb the mountain in order to prove herself really lends the game a sense of harmony.

The way it expertly drip feeds its various mechanics had me confidently tackling challenges that I would have balked at in other precision platformers. Celeste made me feel a sense of mastery in a way I haven't felt since Ori although Celeste manages to really merge its story and it's game design so beautifully I think it might be my new favourite splatformer.

Here's the part they were stuck on (I linked to that screen directly).

A lot of Steam reviews are saying the story is this game is great.