It ties up everything the world of Celeste has to offer while giving the hardest challenge to its players. While the difficulty for the chapter is much higher, the levels and crystal hearts required to reach this chapter ends up preparing the player for the mechanical hurtles of difficulty required. The story for this chapter is perfect and the ost perfectly captures the mood of every scene.
i would argue that, as a DLC, this would be better called "epilogue" rather than "chapter 9". i started to play celeste about a month ago and, by then, i didn't know chapter 9 was a DLC. after finishing the A-sides i immediately got into chapter 9, unaware of its crushing difficulty and the advanced movement (taught in the B and C-sides of the game). it made me feel so frustrated i couldn't do it because it left me feeling really incomplete. story wise i also think it would make more sense if this was an epilogue. other than that, i think it's a spectacular (and very long and difficult) chapter of this magnificent game.
I think Farewell on its own would already be fantastic. it has my favorite Lena Raine songs to date, the level design is great, and honestly it took me longer than the entire rest of the game to beat
but as the culmination of the entirety of Celeste, it's immaculate. beating it is honestly one of the hardest things I've ever done in a game, but it was so so so worth it. it was one of the first games to make me absolutely sob on the final cutscene (altho that might also have something to do with having started hrt not long before playing it lol). it's really really hard, and if you don't wanna spend the time to overcome that it's completely valid, but getting through it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. if you can do it, you absolutely absolutely should
but as the culmination of the entirety of Celeste, it's immaculate. beating it is honestly one of the hardest things I've ever done in a game, but it was so so so worth it. it was one of the first games to make me absolutely sob on the final cutscene (altho that might also have something to do with having started hrt not long before playing it lol). it's really really hard, and if you don't wanna spend the time to overcome that it's completely valid, but getting through it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. if you can do it, you absolutely absolutely should