



Celeste was one of those games that was briefly on my radar when it was announced, and then completely disappeared from my brain once it was released. It looked alright; just another sprite based puzzle/platformer to throw onto the pile. It wasn’t until good old Dunkey made a video on it that I became intrigued. In his video he raves about the creativity and fluidity of the platforming, and strongly recommends it citing a robust experience with a satisfying challenge. This intrigued me enough to check it out, after all I hadn’t used my Switch in around a month or so. What Dunkey failed to mention, and what completely blindsided me, was how incredible the game’s story turned out to be.


Fair warning, I’m going to need to spoil pretty much every part of Celeste’s story to make my points, so if you want to have a fresh experience with it I encourage you to buy it, beat it, and come back. It really is worth your time.

First, a summary of the pertinent moments of the story. Celeste is about a girl named Madeline, who decides to climb a mountain for no reason in particular. Her motivations aren’t even clear to her, all that can be gathered is that she has something to prove to herself. She meets some eccentric characters along the way, but the focus is on Madeline’s struggle with herself both metaphorically AND literally. See, Celeste Mountain, the mountain Madeline has chosen to climb, has supernatural powers. It forces you to deal with your inner demons by physically manifesting them into forms it deems appropriate. In Madeline’s case, it creates a gothy doppelganger of her that explains to Madeline that she is “Part of Her.” This Part of Madeline starts out as the primary antagonist of the game and impedes Madeline’s progress while mocking her for climbing a dangerous mountain without any experience. However, she slowly becomes more sympathetic the more we learn about Madeline’s life and how she perceives herself.


The spooky girl in question

We don’t get much information, but from Madeline’s interactions with the other characters we can gather that she is the mess that results from mixing a driven individual and crippling anxiety. She obviously wants more from her life and has no problem putting in the work, but can’t help holding herself back with fear and self-doubt. This combination has turned her into an anxious wreck, and it has caused her to push away her loved ones and possibly resort to alcoholism. The more Madeline explains about herself, it becomes increasingly clear to both her and us that her doppelganger represents the parts of her that she isn’t proud of. She represents the shame, doubt, and reluctance that have plagued Madeline for her entire life. Initially, Madeline responds by rejecting this Part of Her, explaining that they would be much happier if they were separate. The Part of Her lashes out in response, and both girls topple down the mountain.


Madeline is then faced with a harsh reality: if she simply tries to ignore or eliminate the parts of herself that she doesn’t like, she will just end up in a deeper hole than the one she started in. She realizes that the Part of Her isn’t trying to hold her back, she is simply exercising caution when Madeline becomes too ambitious. Madeline then elects to reconcile with the Part of Her, telling her that the two of them will never get anywhere if they are always at odds with each other. Having this interaction grants Madeline the resolve to continue her climb, and the two finally make it to the summit.

Heartwarming.


There is a lot that can be taken away from Madeline’s metaphorical journey, but what resonated with me most is the importance of self-acceptance. Madeline is able to make it part of the way up the mountain while literally fighting with herself, but she is only able to go so far before she self-destructs. She is forced to realize that she can’t change fundamental parts of her personality, but she can accept them and make them work for her instead of against her. This epiphany allows her to accomplish something incredible that she never could have done before.

I find myself relating to Madeline quite a bit. Part of it is the excellent writing on behalf of the developers, Celeste is full of very human dialogue and relatable characters. But Madeline’s problems seem to mirror my own to an almost unnerving degree. Like her I have a job that I don’t mind and I am generally a driven person, but I find myself terrified that I will never accomplish any of my dreams. When I try to work toward them, I end up quitting halfway through due to the terror of my work being negatively received. This has caused me to have some problems with anxiety, and has hurt some of my relationships with those closest to me. This is where Celeste really left an impression for me. If Madeline, someone who thinks like me and has similar problems, can climb her mountain, maybe I can climb mine. The most chilling line in the game for me was from Madeline at the start of her climb: “I’m done breaking promises to myself.” Well so am I Madeline. Her successful journey has inspired me to try to start mine. So here I am, writing a critical analysis of a video game like I’ve wanted to for years.


You don’t have to have the same kind of problems as me or Madeline for Celeste to be meaningful to you. There are plenty of different angles of interpretation of the game’s story, and the core message remains the same for everyone. So, if you haven’t played it, give it a shot. If you’re skeptical on the gameplay give Dunkey’s video a watch, but the story really is one for the ages. If it helped me get out of my rut, maybe it could help you too. And once you’re up on the mountain, you might as well keep climbing.