2018 video game

Celeste is a 2018 platform video game developed and published by indie studio Maddy Makes Games. The player controls the player character Madeline, a young woman with anxiety and depression, who endeavors to climb Celeste Mountain, a fictional version of Mount Celeste. During her climb, she encounters several characters, including a personification of her self-doubt nicknamed "Badeline", who attempts to stop her from reaching the mountain's summit.

Development of Celeste began in August 2015, when game developers Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry created a version of Celeste for the PICO-8 during the course of a weekend; Thorson, who served as producer, and Berry, who served as the lead programmer, wanted to expand the PICO-8 version into a full game. Inspired in part by Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) and Thorson's own TowerFall (2013), the gameplay was designed to be minimal and to mirror the feeling of bouldering. Celeste was designed to be accessible, featuring game mechanics and an "Assist Mode" that make the game more forgiving and less challenging. To create a more "introspective" game, the developers added themes of self-forgiveness into the narrative, which grew to become intertwined with the gameplay. Celeste's soundtrack was composed by Lena Raine.

Celeste released on January 25, 2018, for Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Windows, releasing for Xbox One the following day. It was also released for Google Stadia in July 2020. Upon release, the game received widespread acclaim from critics. Reviewers praised the interplay of its narrative and gameplay, and lauded its player movement and controls. Critics also appreciated its approach to difficulty and accessibility, and its depictions of depression and anxiety. Celeste's music and its pixel art style was also praised.

Since its release, Celeste has been considered by some video game journalists to be among the greatest video games of all time, and it has garnered a dedicated fandom and active speedrunning and modding communities. On September 9, 2019, a free downloadable content (DLC) expansion named Farewell was released, introducing a new chapter to the game. The game's developers have rejected the possibility of a sequel to Celeste, though they have created small-scale spin-offs: Celeste 2: Lani's Trek, a sequel to the original PICO-8 version, was released for Celeste's third anniversary in 2021; Celeste 64: Fragments of the Mountain, a short sequel with three-dimensional gameplay, was released for its sixth anniversary in 2024.

Source: Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA.