Celeste

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Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 59

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Celeste is a masterpiece – an engaging, challenging platformer with a thoughtful portrayal of mental illness.

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Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 59

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 59

Celeste is a masterpiece - an engaging, challenging platformer with a thoughtful portrayal of mental illness.

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Awards & Recognition

Critic Reviews for Celeste

Critic Reviews

Score Distribution

59

Reviews

Average Score

100

Ranges

80/100

Shaun Prescott (PC Gamer)

“An engaging, vibrant and challenging platformer that adds narrative to a genre often shy of it.”

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Date Unavailable |

Full Review

“Celeste is a surprise masterpiece. Its 2D platforming is some of the best and toughest since Super Meat Boy, with levels that are as challenging to figure out as they are satisfying to complete.”

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Date Unavailable |

Full Review

10/10

Tom Marks (IGN)

Recommended

Heather Alexandra (Kotaku)

“I’ll remember Celeste for a long time to come, thinking back on its mystical ruins and wind-swept peak. It’s a joyous game brimming with hope and one of the best video game jumps ever.”

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Date Unavailable |

Full Review

Shaun Prescott (PC Gamer)

80/100 - (Read Review)

“An engaging, vibrant and challenging platformer that adds narrative to a genre often shy of it.”

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Tom Marks (IGN)

10/10 - (Read Review)

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Heather Alexandra (Kotaku)

Recommended - (Read Review)

“I’ll remember Celeste for a long time to come, thinking back on its mystical ruins and wind-swept peak. It’s a joyous game brimming with hope and one of the best video game jumps ever.”

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Read the Reviews (59 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
Areajugones	Víctor Rodríguez	10 / 10	01-28-2018	Celeste is a true masterpiece of the genre and an excellent example of what a perfect level design is. Exquisite gameplay and a beautiful story make this game one of the best surprises of the modern era.	Read review
Ars Technica	Sam Machkovech	Recommended	01-25-2018	Buy. Celeste is the first must-own single-player game of 2018.	Read review
Atomix	Aureliano Carvajal	93 / 100	02-08-2018	Celeste is probably the greatest surprise in 2018 so far. Its marvelous platforming, great mechanics, lovely visuals and lovely soundtrack simply make this a must have for anyone who loves 2D platformers.	Read review
Attack of the Fanboy	Allen Reynolds	4.5 / 5 stars	05-06-2018	Celeste blends old gameplay ideas with progressive story telling and the results are nothing short of amazing.	Read review
CGMagazine	Chris Carter	8.5 / 10	01-25-2018	Matt Thorson succeeds once again in crafting a tight, beautiful retro experience.	Read review
Chicas Gamers	Unknown	Recommended	07-24-2018	If you like demanding platforms, which demand more from the player than good reflexes and mashing buttons, and are willing to spend time fitting the little details and clues that Celeste hides behind tremendously solid and satisfying mechanics, the mountain will reward you handsomely. Essential.	Read review
COGconnected	Anthony Bacchus	93 / 100	10-08-2018	Quote not yet available	Read review
DarkZero	Ian Howarth	10 / 10	06-12-2018	Even from an objective standpoint, I honestly can’t think of a part of Celeste I didn’t like.	Read review
Destructoid	Kevin Mersereau	10 / 10	01-25-2018	For the first time in ages, I have absolutely nothing to complain about. Celeste was everything I’d hoped for and then some. I’m not saying this is the best video game I’ve ever played. It’s much too early to start declaring things like that. What I am saying is that this is an essential gaming experience. Everything this team set out to do they accomplished. If you have any love for indie games, you’re about to fall head over heels. These people have created something very close to perfection.	Read review
Digiato	Mehran Khatami	95 / 100	02-12-2018	Celeste is such a beautiful masterpiece that although we’ve only been two months into 2018, it could very well be a game of the year nominee.	Read review
DualShockers	Tomas Franzese	9 / 10	01-25-2018	On top of that, there is a great story that addresses themes of depression, self-discovery, and ultimately perseverance, which can be applied to both one’s personal life and the experience one has in general when playing a difficult game. You may get mad at a few points, but that peak is always there waiting for you, within reach, and is something we should all strive for, whether it is in-game or not.	Read review
Eurogamer	Christian Donlan	Recommended	01-25-2018	A platformer aimed at speedrunners is also an adventure for the rest of us to savour.	Read review
Everyeye.it	Marco Mottura	8.5 / 10	02-05-2018	Celeste is not only a brilliant platformer, one that will surely entertain you with its unusual difficulty and its astonishing level design. Celeste is a touching story about depression, a metaphor of life and ultimately a video game that will teach you a valuable lesson: never give in, no matter if you’re dealing with a Gargantuan montain, a series of seemingly impossible jumps or anxiety. It might not be the next indie apocalypse, but it’s still a product that’s well worth of your time and money.	Read review
Game Informer	Ben Reeves	9 / 10	02-06-2018	A solid story and rewarding platforming sequences makes for a highly gratifying climb	Read review
Gameblog	Thomas Pillon	9 / 10	02-01-2018	Celeste is an amazing game in every aspect. This hardcore platformer combines a solid gameplay, a strong psychological plot, staged by a brilliant pixel art direction and a fantastic soundtrack. The game is so generous and challenging, but still manages to gives newcomers a chance, even though you might miss the entire point by skipping some parts with the assist mode. You have every reason to play Celeste. Period.	Read review
GameCrate	David Sanchez	8.5 / 10	03-14-2018	Celeste is one of the most entertaining 2D platformers in recent years. It’ll defeat you from time to time, but its inviting controls, level design, and presentation will keep you coming back until you persevere and overcome every challenge thrown your way.	Read review
GameMAG	ACE	9 / 10	04-09-2018	Celeste is an unexpectedly great combination of genres and touching story about finding yourself, a true 2D masterpiece. Both Super Meat Boy lovers and Metroidvania fans will enjoy it.	Read review
GamePro	Daniel Ziegener	90 / 100	02-01-2018	Celeste is not only an outstanding platformer, but also a soulful adventure full of intimate moments.	Read review
Gamersky	楚楠	8.9 / 10	02-05-2018	Obviously, Celeste is a wonderful game, with a strong storyline which you barely can see in platform games. Fantastic level design and puzzle settings keep players a feeling of freshness from the beginning to the end, and the large number of levels makes this game worth the price.	Read review
GameSkinny	Greyson Ditzler	10 / 10	02-01-2018	Unique, beautiful, highly challenging, and emotional, Celeste is an excellent game, and a must-play for even non-platformer fans.	Read review
GameSpot	Oscar Dayus	9 / 10	01-25-2018	Celeste is a difficult, powerful, rewarding adventure.	Read review
GameXplain	Jordan Van Glish	Recommended	01-25-2018	Video Review	Read review
GamingBolt	Ravi Sinha	10 / 10	02-06-2018	In an industry with so many passionate titles, Celeste stands tall as one of the best. Its vision is flawlessly executed with excellent gameplay and presentation from top to bottom.	Read review
GearNuke	Khurram Imtiaz	9 / 10	04-18-2018	A poignant tale that tackles a sensitive subject matter. Celeste is not only a challenging platformer, it is also an emotionally powerful story about dealing with the struggles of mental illness.	Read review
Geeks Under Grace	LJ Lowery	10 / 10	07-11-2018	Celeste is the complete package with well crafted gameplay, a unique presentation, and a touching story—one of the best games of 2018	Read review
God is a Geek	Adam Cook	10 / 10	01-28-2018	A sensational platformer with an important story at its heart. Celeste is engaging, rewarding, and reminds us that the reward is worth the hard journey.	Read review
Hardcore Gamer	Kyle LeClair	5 / 5 stars	02-01-2018	Simply put, Celeste is a tour de force.	Read review
Hobby Consolas	Álvaro Alonso	93 / 100	02-05-2018	A story about overcoming grief and accepting ourselves under the guise of an impeccable platformer. Celeste is the kind of game that no one, not even those who despise jumping games, should miss.	Read review
IBTimes UK	Ben Skipper	4.5 / 5 stars	03-18-2018	Celeste is an beautiful, optimistic game about how triumph can outweigh any number of failures . It’s about reconciling your pain, frustrations and defeats. It’s about getting better, in every sense.	Read review
IGN	Tom Marks	10 / 10	01-25-2018	Celeste is a surprise masterpiece. Its 2D platforming is some of the best and toughest since Super Meat Boy, with levels that are as challenging to figure out as they are satisfying to complete.	Read review
IGN Italy	Mattia Ravanelli	8.6 / 10	01-29-2018	Celeste is an excellent platform game with excellent level design, lovable cast and an intriguing atmosphere.	Read review
IGN Spain	Miguel Ángel Escudero	9.2 / 10	02-01-2018	An excellent platormer that is as interesting as well done. There’s a lot to love here, with very few problems on it.	Read review
KeenGamer	Stephen M Morin	9.3 / 10	02-03-2018	Celeste is a fantastic 2D platformer that pushes the boundaries of the genre. The trip up the mountain feels deeply immersive and personal and is loaded with beautiful moments and challenges that fit the tone of Madeline’s personal struggles and trying to reach the peak of a mountain–whether real or figurative. The challenge can be downright frustrating at times, but due to frequent checkpoints, it’s manageable to break down and triumph over even the most difficult rooms. It’s fun and fluid to move Madeline around the screen, and the beautiful visuals and soundtrack are almost unmatched by modern 2D platformers.	Read review
Kinglink Reviews	Frank Reese	5 / 5 stars	05-03-2019	A new entry but also one of the best platformers of all time. Celeste is special, it presents hard challenges, great story, but also has the ability for anyone to beat it. Definitely worth playing.	Read review
Kotaku	Heather Alexandra	Recommended	01-25-2018	I’ll remember Celeste for a long time to come, thinking back on its mystical ruins and wind-swept peak. It’s a joyous game brimming with hope and one of the best video game jumps ever.	Read review
Metro GameCentral	GameCentral	9 / 10	01-31-2018	The best indie platformer since Super Meat Boy, but also one of the best storytelling experiences of recent years – with an incisive and thoughtful portrayal of mental illness.	Read review
New Game Network	Josh Hinke	80 / 100	02-26-2018	Celeste has a couple of hiccups in its aesthetics and tech, but the core of what Matt Thorson and his team have made contains a wonderful story of endurance and resilience for both the characters and the player, that begs not to be missed.	Read review
Nintendo Life	Jon Cousins	10 / 10	01-26-2018	Celeste is an exemplary amalgamation of style, mechanics and character. A devilishly brilliant action platformer with enough skill required to excite genre purists and the speed running community, while at the same time featuring a breakdown of gameplay elements to customize and cater for all audiences. While the game mechanically is great, if familiar, the art style and narrative are truly special, showing both a visual and emotional range and depth that will resonate and inspire. Celeste is the absolute peak of personal exploration and discovery on Nintendo Switch.	Read review
Nintendo Wire	Matthew Weidner	10 / 10	02-01-2018	From start to summit, Celeste is a joyous journey brimming with heartfelt moments that will sink their heel hooks in you long after the closing credits roll. Strong storytelling and a firm grasp of platformers past slowly snowball into an emotional avalanche worth riding, cementing its place as one of the most compelling video games to ever grace the medium.	Read review
NintendoWorldReport	Neal Ronaghan	10 / 10	01-25-2018	What separates it from the pack and makes it more of a platformer pinnacle are the other parts of the whole: the layers of accessibility, the engaging story, and the charming presentation. All of those pieces gelled together in a spectacular way, in a way that led to me adoring this game much more than I thought. Celeste is magical and beautiful, mostly thanks to its brilliantly designed levels, but it becomes transcendent thanks to everything else.	Read review
Pardis Game	Ali Ghorbani	9.5 / 10	02-25-2018	Celeste provides a deep adventure in the heart of a mysterious mountain. It’s brightest moments are not of its platforming elements but the interactivity with its other aspects. Overcoming any challenges along the way affects the story one way or the other and as we get close to the end, the final picture tells the story of a strange and excellent adventure. To sum it all up, Celeste is the proof that simplicity encourages beauty	Read review
Paste Magazine	Garrett Martin	8.5 / 10	01-30-2018	The vibrant use of color and warm, stylistically varied score elevate the retro aesthetic beyond mere homage. Although the game’s story feels slightly hampered by the practical necessities of its play, it’s still a touching and occasionally insightful depiction of what it’s like to live with anxiety and depression. And the mountain, as in every work of art that has ever featured a mountain throughout the history of human expression, remains a metaphor.	Read review
PC Gamer	Shaun Prescott	80 / 100	01-25-2018	An engaging, vibrant and challenging platformer that adds narrative to a genre often shy of it.	Read review
PCWorld	Hayden Dingman	5 / 5 stars	02-03-2018	Celeste is the best precision platformer in years, but it’s also a game about the figurative mountains we all struggle with, and that’s what makes it truly special.	Read review
Polygon	Russ Frushtick	8 / 10	01-25-2018	Celeste reaches beyond, showing that tricky, well-designed platforming challenges are really just the tip of the iceberg. There’s far more underneath the surface. And maybe that’s worth dying for.	Read review
Press Start	Brodie Gibbons	9 / 10	02-12-2018	Celeste not only joins a long list of phenomenal platforming royalty, but it stands as a mighty pillar among the very best of them. Its message is clear albeit clumsy, though that doesn’t detract from its very real and relatable cast of flawed characters. It’s challenging in ways many games aren’t while managing to maintain an endless supply of magic.	Read review
Push Square	Stephen Tailby	8 / 10	01-27-2018	Celeste is a wonderful precision platformer that does far more than simply challenge your dexterity. While there’s plenty of intense screen-hopping to enjoy, it’s offset by a well-told, personal story that softens the hard edged gameplay with some great slower moments. What’s more, you can enjoy the story even if you’re struggling with the platforming using the Assist Mode to bend the game’s difficulty to your liking. The action is super smooth (though we did have to battle with the dash on occasion), there are lots of secrets to uncover, and it looks and sounds great. Even with some rare bugs, fans of both a steep challenge and a heartfelt narrative will find a lot to like about Celeste.	Read review
Rock, Paper, Shotgun	Adam Smith	Recommended	01-25-2018	Celeste is a difficult game about overcoming difficulties. Come for the challenge, stay for the joy of Madeline’s company and the generosity of this wonderful game.	Read review
Shacknews	Ozzie Mejia	8 / 10	01-25-2018	Those who are looking for one of the year’s first true single-player challenges should look no further than Celeste. The team at Matt Makes Games has crafted a tough, yet not entirely unfair platformer, one wrapped in a touching narrative with some memorable characters. It’s clear that a lot of heart went into writing the story, while it’s also clear that Matt Thorson put his best level design foot forward. Some of the areas in Celeste were very reminiscent of some of his Super Mario Maker work, in terms of gimmicks, precision jumping, tricks, and difficulty.	Read review
Slant Magazine	Aaron Riccio	4.5 / 5 stars	02-03-2018	What separates Celeste from masochistic games like The End Is Nigh is that it’s not bleak or unyielding.	Read review
SwitchWatch	Juan Romero	9.5 / 10	01-26-2018	Celeste is one of those gems of a game which doesn’t come around very often and is one of those games I talk about which will be remembered in years to come. Everything this game does, it does well, every decision the developer has made I cannot argue with or criticise. The story we can all relate too and identify with, which will make you feel more for the characters. The music is outstanding at creating an atmosphere which makes you believe you are up there on the mountain. It’s beautifully composed. Many will say that these type of visuals don’t belong in 2018, I would strongly disagree. This game showcases that you can still make a game beautiful without huge budgets. In any case, it’s easy to overlook when the gameplay is this mesmerising and fun. This is a game everyone on Switch should own. It’s absolutely essential and is the new standard to which 2D platformers should aspire too.	Read review
TrueAchievements	Sam Quirke	5 / 5 stars	02-07-2018	Fans of tricky platformers will find much to love in the game’s design, but it’s also a perfect starting point for anyone new to the genre — perhaps even those actively averse to it. In short, it’s a bit of a masterpiece.	Read review
TrueGaming	رهوان الفاضل	9.5 / 10	02-11-2018	Celeste is a balanced blend of a thrilling story and super fun gameplay that easily have you lose track of time. A jewel not easily found in Platformers nowadays.	Read review
USgamer	Caty McCarthy	4.5 / 5 stars	01-25-2018	Platformers, especially those with a retro flair, come along often. But so rarely do they work as well as Celeste does. Celeste is an exercise of excellence in the well-trodden platforming genre. Whether it’s the score that kicks up just as busily just as heroine Madeleine does, the mechanics that build and build with each new room you uncover, or its lushly pixelated landscapes: there’s a lot to love in Celeste. It’s the sort of game that makes you feel strong while playing it; if you can dash-jump through impossible holes between narrow icy spikes to climb that goddamn mountain, you can probably do anything.	Read review
VGChartz	Ben Dye	9 / 10	02-16-2018	An incredible game; one you’re unlikely to forget thanks to its heavy hitting tones and the absolute resolve of its protagonist who never gives in to the temptation of apathy and despair.	Read review
Video Chums	A.J. Maciejewski	8 / 10	08-24-2018	As most indie-keen gamers already know, Celeste is a phenomenal 2D platformer.	Read review
VideoGamer	Colm Ahern	9 / 10	01-31-2018	The challenging platforming and touching narrative of Celeste shape a surprise hit.	Read review
We Got This Covered	Dylan Chaundy	4 / 5 stars	01-25-2018	It may take a certain type of patience to really get hooked into Celeste’s laboriously challenging masochism, but it’s undeniably a well-crafted and thoughtfully designed experience that’s equally satisfying as it is unyielding.	Read review

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About Celeste

Game Description / Storyline:

Celeste is a platformer about climbing a mountain, from the creators of TowerFall. Unravel the secrets of the mountain and overcome your limitations to reach the summit in over 300 levels! If she has the stamina, Madeline can climb any surface on Celeste Mountain. There she’ll journey across many dangerous environments using her mid-air dash to explore strange places and meet peculiar characters. Don’t get spooked – playing in Assist Mode lets you tweak the difficulty – from a slower pace to full on invincibility – whatever sounds fun! Or if you really want to white-knuckle it, take on the challenging B-Side chapters.

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