Celeste: Meaning, Name, Clothing Brand, Pronunciation, Wiki

Celeste is a popular platform game released in 2018 by indie studio Matt Makes Games. The game follows the character Madeline as she attempts to climb Celeste Mountain while dealing with anxiety and depression.

The game’s development began as a game jam project in 2015 and was expanded into a full release with minimal gameplay inspired by the developer’s experiences with bouldering.

Celeste was designed to be accessible, featuring game mechanics intended to make the game more forgiving and an “Assist Mode” offering options to make the game less challenging.

The game received universal acclaim from critics, with its narrative and gameplay praised for their complimentary nature. A DLC expansion called Farewell was released in 2019, and a sequel for PICO-8 titled Celeste 2: Lani’s Trek was released in 2021.

Game Play

Celeste is a 2D platform game where the player controls Madeline, who has abilities such as running, jumping, climbing walls, and dashing mid-air.

There are green gems that refill Madeline’s dash ability and other objects like dream blocks and moving blocks. The game has an “Assist Mode” to lower the difficulty, including reduced game speed, unlimited dash ability, or invincibility.

The base game has eight chapters divided into single-screen challenges with checkpoints between screens, optional challenges, and hidden collectibles.

The game has B-side levels that reuse mechanics from the primary and C-side levels with increased difficulty. The Farewell expansion adds a new chapter with grabbable jellyfish and exploding pufferfish.

Plot

Celeste Mountain is the setting of the game Celeste and is haunted and full of strange occurrences. Madeline, the protagonist, decides to climb the mountain to regain her self-esteem and stubbornly persists until she reaches the summit.

Along the way, she meets several characters, including Granny, Theo, and Oshiro, and faces her anxiety and depression personified as “Badeline.”

After overcoming many challenges and reconciling with Badeline, Madeline pursues a bird that she believes is a reincarnation of Granny. Eventually, Madeline frees the bird as a tribute to Granny and reconnects with Theo.

Development

In August 2015, Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry created a minimalistic game during a four-day game jam using the PICO-8 fantasy console. They wanted to make a simple yet complex game and settled on a character who had to climb a mountain. They decided to make it a single-player adventure based on their previous experience with TowerFall.

After completing the PICO-8 version, named Celeste Classic, the team decided to expand the game with fewer restrictions and more development time.

Celeste Classic was included as a hidden minigame in the final version of Celeste, produced by Thorson, with Berry as the lead programmer. The development team worked long hours during the last few months of development.

Music

Lena Raine composed most of the soundtrack for Celeste, with additional composers contributing remixes for B-side levels. Raine’s score was used to inform the visual design of some levels.

Sound designer Kevin Regamey integrated sound effects into the music to complement gameplay, while Raine added “musical ambience.”

Raine designed specific sounds in the music to match certain themes, such as the “cosmic horrors” experienced by Madeline in “In The Mirror” and the lucid dream sequence in “Resurrections.”

Each character in Celeste is represented by a different instrument, with Madeline by a piano and Badeline by a synthesizer.

The theme for Badeline is written entirely in a minor key, in contrast to Madeline’s primarily cheery music, and the song “Anxiety” attempts to capture the feeling of a panic attack.

Tracks

• Prologue
• First Steps
• Resurrections
• Awake
• Postcard from Celeste Mountain
• Checking In
• Spirit of Hospitality
• Scattered and Lost
• Golden
• Quiet and Falling
• In the Mirror
• Madeline and Theo
• Starjump
• Reflection
• Confronting Myself
• Little Goth
• Reach for the Summit
• Exhale
• My Dearest Friends