Threads
- Celeste’s difficulty is a core design choice that enhances player engagement and mirrors the protagonist’s struggles, making the narrative more impactful.
- The game balances its challenging gameplay with fairness through systems like Assist Mode, ensuring accessibility for all players.
- The seamless, fast-paced gameplay loop encourages perseverance, making each victory feel hard-earned and deeply rewarding.
Celeste is one of the most beloved indie platformers of the last decade, and for good reason. It combines excellent gameplay with a gripping story, but its difficulty is one of the game’s most notorious features. Stay with us as we explore why this difficulty is justified and elevates Celeste’s gameplay experience!
Development
Maddy Thorson, the visionary behind the story of Celeste, has admitted outright that making the game challenging was a core part of the development:
“In Celeste, we try to gently push the player to do things that they thought was impossible for them” -From Vice
However, along with difficulty, fairness was also a key part of the development. The game developers recognized that every player’s capability is different, which is why they have many systems like the Assist Mode that help players play the game.
Why It Works
The subsequent sections will explore how Celeste integrates its difficulty well into its gameplay to garner engagement and make the narrative more realistic.
Narrative
Celeste’s narrative is straightforward: Madeline, driven by a need for change, aims to climb Celeste Mountain. Throughout her journey, she battles self-doubt, with a part of her insisting she’s not capable of achieving her goal.
Climbing Celeste Mountain is also supposed to be an extraordinary feat in the game’s story, which is why it is filled with tricky platforming.
The game wants to translate these hardships from Madeline to you, the player. It wants you to feel the struggle that she’s feeling, where sometimes it feels like the task at hand is unsurmountable, but sooner or later, you have to do it.
The game dealing with the anxiety and borderline depression of Madeline and the hardships that come with it translates well to the gameplay.
Engagement
Celeste’s fast-paced gameplay is complimented by its difficulty. You need to always be on the move to avoid platforms collapsing or colliding with something you don’t want to touch, and most people have to lose a couple of times at each level to know what’s next.
The gameplay loop of traversing half a level, losing because of something unexpected, and starting over with the knowledge is very entertaining, especially with how small each level is.
It is also important to notice how Celeste has no loading screens; as soon as you die, you’re almost instantaneously placed at the start of the level, which allows you to try again instantly instead of being deterred by a loading screen that takes a few seconds.
As an enjoyer of hard games like the Souls series, I’m often frustrated with how discouraging the games feel at times, with a load screen followed by an elevator followed by a long walk to reach the boss again, but Celeste’s approach makes me want to jump in again immediately.
Encouragement
One of the best moments in the game is right at the start when Madeline is traversing a bridge that is falling from under her feet. No matter how fast you go, the end of the bridge collapses, leaving you falling to your doom.
When you think you’ve lost, a character comes and tells you how to dash, allowing you to get to safety. After this encounter, both you and Madeline are shaking, but the game pans to the sky at that moment and tells you:
“You Can Do This.“
If the game was easy and the challenges were achievable, the game’s encouragement would feel worthless, but it doesn’t. The encouragement drives you forward to overcome these challenges, and that feeling, compounded by the story, drives home how this game is so special.
Celeste Wants You To Win
Celeste encourages players to win, with the developers and characters supporting you throughout. Despite its difficulty, Celeste’s story of triumph over adversity is uniquely powerful. The fairness of the difficulty drove me to an experience like no other, and I would recommend everyone playing it to give it a try.
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Moiz Banoori, with a decade of experience in gaming and tech journalism and a degree in journalism, is a notable figure in the industry. He has contributed to various esteemed platforms, showcasing his expertise in both reporting and opinion writing.
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