Welcome back to campus! While brainstorming ideas for this article, I thought back to the first article I published on Her Campus. It was about a video game that was really important to me called Stardew Valley. I want to start this school year off by writing about a game that has, similarly to Stardew Valley, become my comfort game over the past few months: Celeste, a platforming game that was released early last year by an independent team of developers.
If you’re not familiar with game genres, a platforming game is just any game where you jump and climb across a level to reach a goal— so, think Mario. In Celeste, you play as a girl called Madeline with the goal of climbing Celeste mountain to reach the summit. Each level is beautifully designed, including secrets and special challenges for the most motivated players to seek out. But Celeste’s incredibly satisfying and tight gameplay is only part of the reason it almost won Game of the Year in 2018.
Celeste’s story is what makes it special. Madeline is a twenty-something who struggles with depression and anxiety. She is determined to climb the mountain for reasons not even she can understand. Near the beginning of Madeline’s journey, the strange magic of Celeste mountain causes the things she hates most about herself to manifest as a purple-haired doppelgänger, fondly referred to by fans as “Badeline.”
Sigh. I wish my anxiety would pop out of me as a cute goth girl.
The story of Celeste deals largely with the relationship between the two. Badeline actively tries to prevent Madeline from making progress up the mountain, while Madeline does her best to grit her teeth and ignore her as she continues on. Eventually, she realizes that she can’t just leave Badeline behind, and sets out to actively confront this part of her she’s spent so long avoiding.
It’s a game about climbing a mountain in more ways than one. Celeste gave me a feeling of hope that I don’t typically feel from stories, and I think it can for almost anyone who has ever struggled with something. Play celeste!
Good luck with the semester going forward! Remember, just breathe. You got this.