Celeste

 Release: 2018

Developer: Maddy Thorson (Matt Makes Games)

Publisher: Extremely Okay Games

Gameplay Stats: 11 hours, All Strawberries, Chapter 1-8 A sides, 8 crystal hearts

Visuals: Lovely pixel art! The game looks like something reminiscent of the SNES era, but I'm pretty sure this game wouldn't run on an SNES. There are some little flourishes and particle effects to keep this game looking gorgeous. I actually have no notes here, everything looks and communicates really well.

Audio: Some beautiful music! I have definitely been jamming out to it in between play times. The mirror temple theme in particular is really strong. The sound effects here are nice, also pretty sparse. The game mainly communicates through visuals but that really gives the soundtrack time to show off. There is no VA work here, but the characters talk in gibberish like Animal Crossing characters do. It's cute.

Gameplay: THE MEAT. Well, the meat in any platformer. This game plays really really well. I died a lot and when I did I really felt like it was my fault for dying. The dash feels good and the rest of the controls are really tight. I kinda wish that you could wall cling a little longer, but I suspect that's an option in the accessibility that I just didn't mess with. I was able to get all the things in the first playthrough of the game, so I guess I didn't really need any extra wall cling. Very tightly tuned game!

Plot: Surprisingly heartfelt plot in this game! This game is about our character Madeline coming to terms with her mental health struggles. I wasn't quite sure if it was a depression/anxiety thing or a trans thing (the develop is a trans woman) but either way it was a delight to play. A lot of times in games like these I kind of roll my eyes at the cutscenes, but not here. It took me by surprise. The game play and the plot are reflective of each other in a neat way. As the difficulty ramps up for you it does for Madeline as well. Once she overcomes her proverbial mountain you are able to overcome the literal one. It's really, really cool.

I hear about this game as it released by watching a GDC talk from the developer where she talked about how her love of bouldering inspired the platforming in the game. Having multiple solutions to any given problem depending on the player strengths/technique. I also boulder a lot so I've been excited to check this one out for a while! And it didn't disappoint! I would definitely recommend this game.