Celeste!

I've told numerous people that while the plot of Celeste is very important to me, and the soundtrack is incredible, I am never ever going to play it because I am comically bad at platforming games, but maybe I'll buy it someday to support the developers.

But what's the point of owning a game you never play? And it has an assist mode, so maybe I could actually get through it?

Anyway, so Celeste is 40% off on Steam right now, so if you want to join me in precision platforming hell, you can!

Current mood: Accidentally walking Madeline repeatedly off a ledge because I didn't press jump in time.

Edit: Steam has introduced streaming to friends, so if anybody wants to become Steam buddies and watch me comically jumping directly into spikes, just let me know!

Another gratuitous icon post.

Featuring a screenshot from Celeste, with text that is both a quote from the game and also how I feel while playing it.

Thoughts after 6 hours of Celeste (Chapters 1-3)

I came into this game with good knowledge of what to expect - an extremely difficult precision platforming game (with a really great story and soundtrack that I already know by heart). I figured while I could probably handle the first two chapters with some struggling - I know the routes and the intended solution for most rooms in chapters one and two very well due to my compulsive Twitch viewing*. However, I thought the third chapter would be completely beyond me. My plan was to get as far as I could on my own, then turn on assist mode (probably starting with slowing the game down, then exploring other options as necessary).

I managed to get through chapters 1 and 2 fine. It took a long time to get the hang of the movement. Some rooms I basically got through by luck and button mashing. The long room towards the end of chapter 2 got me stuck for quite some time. I collected all the collectibles.

And then, chapter 3. This is the chapter that introduces cycles, that requires timing skills and twitch responses. And you know what? Almost three hours and 975 deaths later, I proved myself wrong. I got through it. I decided pretty quickly that I wasn't going to be able to collect all the strawberries on my first run. And in the end I got 14/25, so over 50%! I'm too scared to go back for the rest.

And the thing that made me keep going, even when it was hard (SO HARD), was that it didn't feel insurmountable. I was dashing when I wanted to jump, jumping when I wanted to grab, going too early, going too late, missing cycles left and right, dying in the final seconds and having to start over. But it always seemed like I could fix those errors, and even a room that seemed impossible on the first attempt slowly but surely became do-able.

Will this last through chapter four? Who knows. But so far, I'm proud of myself.


* I am so thoroughly spoiled for everything in this game. I feel a little bad about it, but who could have predicted I'd ever actually play it?

PS: If you're thinking "didn't you only post about buying this game 12 hours ago?", all I can say is that I didn't go outside or talk to another human with my voice today.