Alright guys, we’ve talked A LOT about rage
games and challenging platformers lately, I think it’s time we take a break, ya know? I mean it’s not like a nearly perfect one
has come out recently or anything... ...Aw crap. Jokes aside, Celeste has quickly become a
force to be reckoned with and easily one of the most recommended titles to be covered
here on Good Game Design. I’ll admit that at first, I was having a
hard time loving it, the controls seemed a bit inconsistent and I wasn’t too sure
about the combination of art styles going on. But as I persevered through each chapter,
something elegant started to form. I gained an understanding of every technique
as well as the charming tale it was trying to tell. Today on Good Game Design, let’s talk about
how Celeste presents such a beefy amount of gameplay and manages to nail every aspect. Like all great platformers, Celeste isn’t
complicated. There’s only 3 core abilities, jumping,
dashing and climbing walls - that’s all you need to conquer the ominous mountain that
lies before you. But the way it manages to stay fresh from
start to finish is due to the sheer amount of varying gimmicks. Every single chapter has at least 3 new elements
that switch up the gameplay, but often even more than that. From fluid space blocks that you can glide
through to grumpy stone-face guys that can be moved with a dash, to the freeflowing feather
that allows you to move in any direction for a short time. Just when you think you have a particular
skill mastered, it’ll throw in more curve balls and build on top of the previous mechanics
to test you even further. What surprised me, however, was how wonderfully
the story fit right into the gameplay. Of course climbing Celeste Mountain won’t
be easy, so along the way your doubts and fears manifest themselves into what I can
only describe as your dark side. And this demon-like version of yourself will
tease and torment as you try to complete chapters, eventually leading to a full confrontation
of an epic boss battle. As you become more adept at tackling the obstacles
in your way, the protagonist, Madeline, overcomes her own fears and leads to a phenomenal final
chapter where not only do you reach the summit, but learn to believe in yourself and trust
that you can defeat anything that stands in your way. It’ll still be extremely tough, and believe
me there is a lot more waiting for you when you finish the base experience, but in a lot
of ways, we have to vanquish our own doubts in our ability to finish these types of games. Probably the coolest example of this is Madeline
thinking about keeping a feather afloat to calm herself down, and then implementing that
concept as an actual system later on - a clever way to tell the PLAYER to keep their cool
as well. While we may not be able outrun these negative
thoughts, we can learn from our mistakes and become a stronger person because of them. It’s a powerful message, and done in a tastefully
captivating way. But now, after finishing everything this game
has to offer, from collecting all the strawberries, to the B Side and even C Side challenges,
what I appreciate more than anything else from a game design perspective, is how flawlessly
Celeste teaches you about its massive arsenal of mechanics. Let’s break it down a little bit. Right from the first stage, your shown the
basic features of springs, spikes, and diamonds that replenish your dash, but it also has
these moving traffic lights that fit the city theme aesthetically, but conveniently also
teach you about momentum, which becomes a primary focus of traversal later on. Straight into world 2 it introduces those
goopy space blocks I mentioned earlier to get around, but before you can feel comfortable
with that, your shadow starts following behind you so you have to complete increasingly difficult
rooms along with the looming threat of moving too slowly or retracing your steps and meeting
your demise. Chapter 3 might be one of the most cohesive
stories in itself as you journey through Mr. Oshiro’s hotel, cleaning up junk to clear
pathways and realizing it’s Oshiro’s own insecurities that are causing the chaos around
you. More and more of these black fuzzy blobs start
appearing the deeper you get into the resort, and it caps off with a final chase sequence
where you have to avoid Oshiro himself while going through a gauntlet of what that stage
has taught you. The Golden Ridge is also quite cohesive - beginning
with clouds to bounce on, green bubbles that give you a boost, pesky wind to throw off
your sense of speed, and these arrow blocks that have adjustable trajectories as you cling
on for dear life. But by the end, it will expand your knowledge
of how they operate - pink clouds disappear after one bounce, wind can be used as an advantage
just as much as a disadvantage, and sometimes you’ll have to move obstacles out of the
way to keep those necessary platforms alive. And then, of course, it melds them all together. You see this is the recurring theme I started
to notice with Celeste - each chapter will propose new pieces to the puzzle, but they’re
taught individually at first, and then built upon as you progress, so eventually you’re
flying through insane tests of endurance like it’s nothing because it prepared you for
the journey every step of the way. Chapter 5 and 6 continue the trend - red bubbles
are similar to their green counterparts but they continue the current path until they
hit a wall. These gem-covered outcroppings move on a track
every time you dash, expanding on the momentum taught in world 1, but this time you control
when the platforms move, leading to some mind-bending puzzles. The finale involves spooky beholder monsters
that’ll swallow you whole, making it start to feel similar to the Oshiro chase scene,
but now they home in on you in any direction. The next area, entitled “Reflection”,
starts in a serene garden while presenting the aforementioned feather and grumpy blocks,
as well as these bumpers that can launch you great distances or into a wall of spikes if
you’re not careful. And yup, you guessed it, this leads to combinations
of all 3, bumpers into feathers into moving blocks, all while tackling a climactic boss
sequence against your darker self. Now Chapter 7 and 8 decide to switch things
up by adjusting your core abilities in addition to new features. You gain a 2nd dash maneuver for the final
ascent as you go back through harder versions of all the previous levels, but using this
newfound freedom to reach even higher heights along the way, ending with wind that moves
up and down instead of left and right for a final test of everything you’ve learned
up until this point. Then, if your resourceful enough to collect
4 colored hearts by either completing B Side challenges or scouring the areas for cryptic
secrets, it unlocks The Core which is my favorite level in the entire game. Yet again it changes your default capabilities
by not recharging a dash when you touch the ground. So now the only way to get those dashes back
is by collecting a replenish diamond. But that’s simply the tip of the iceberg,
as it hurls you through a cavern of fire and ice, swapping the temperatures with the flick
of a switch and changing everything about the rooms constantly. Fireballs that should be avoided become stepping
stones of ice, bouncy platforms that launch you high into the air now are brittle and
shatter upon impact, and track pads that formerly lifted you up slip under your fingertips. It’s everything I wanted out of a final
stage and had some incredibly tense moments near the end. But little did I know, that there was so much
more waiting under the surface. I mentioned B Sides, which can be unlocked
by finding cassette tapes in the regular levels, and these show off slick remixes of the music
tracks (which are FIRE by the way), as well as more challenging forms of the stages you’ve
completed. However, unlike most games, Celeste CONTINUES
to teach you new mechanics and abilities that were previously untouched here, such as being
able to jump out the end of the space blocks to gain more distance, or that you can attain
a boost from a beholder by jumping near it when it respawns, or my personal favorite,
an upward wall dash that is utterly hard to pull off, but can give you exceptionally more
height if you time it right. What’s so cool about this is that they’ve
always been available in the game, you just didn’t know about them. So now if you go through the original stages,
you have even more mastery over the obstacles and can find new or faster ways to best them. But indeed, it doesn’t end there. After an incredible Core B Side level that
utilizes all previous mechanics at once, it unlocks C Sides, and while these are the true
final challenges, they unbelievably continue to teach new techniques. Most notably, this downward dash boost that
without the knowledge of how to execute would make this area’s puzzles seem impossible
to complete. What I love about Celeste is all of the hidden
capabilities just begging to be discovered, like how you regain a dash by exiting and
re-entering a screen transition, or that you move faster in the air by holding down. These are remarkably useful for speedrunning,
which I have to assume is the final goal the devs want the player to do after finishing
all of its trials. But unlike most speedruns, these tools for
mobility are not only intentionally left in the game, but explicitly taught to you by
the game itself. So why does all of this matter? Certainly Celeste isn’t the first game to
show new elements and then build on them, in fact it’s very reminiscent of other platforming
giants like Super Meat Boy, which also seemed to have a never-ending supply of pain. But because of how much Celeste keeps going,
long past anyone would expect it to, and reuses old methods in newer ways, it feels like it
leaves no stone unturned and that everything at your disposal had been used to its full
potential. I never said to myself “oh man, I wish I
saw more of THAT!” or “It would’ve been cool to see this thing COMBINED with that
thing” because it actually DID all of it. Plus, Celeste gets rewards right, by giving
you more game to play when you best the tasks it places in front of you. And while I never used it, it has a robust
assist mode that can turn off hazards or slow down game time, which I think is important,
so everyone can experience the amount of game they want to. And the way it’s presented fully encompasses
the narrative it’s trying to tell. If the goal from the very start is to conquer
our mountains, both physical and mental, the game needs to show you that you’re capable
of doing it, by encouraging you every step of the way, and making sure you’re fully
equipped to tackle the road that lies ahead - which is exactly what Celeste achieves so
perfectly. If you’ve played Celeste, tell me why you’ve
enjoyed it so much. Like I said, I’ve gotten a lot of requests
to see an episode covering it, so I’m curious, what were the parts that stuck out to you
the most? Tell me in the comments below and let’s
talk about it. I don’t think I’ve ever had another game
give me literal blisters on my thumbs, and yet I’m a little sad that now there isn’t
more to experience - and I think that’s a surefire sign of a truly memorable adventure. Thanks for watching another episode of Good
Game Design. I’ll see you guys next time, stay frosty
my friends! Hey guys, I just wanted to remind you
that if you ever want to help support the channel and get some cool merch in the process, you
can check out the Snoman Gaming Store! We have shirts, phone cases, mugs,
stickers, all kinds of stuff, and if you ever want to rep your favorite snowman, hey this is a great
way to do so. Thanks to everyone for their continued support,
I’ve officially gotten our 100k plaque here, which blows my mind, it’s been a wild and crazy ride. Here’s to 100k more and even more in store for
2018. I’ll see you guys later! Buh-bye!
