Celeste is peak 2D platforming art on an impossibly high standard without getting monotonous or frustrating, because of its instant respawns and dynamic and wonderfully composed soundtrack by Lena Raine.

Each room and each level is a feast; every jump, every dash is a bliss. B sides and C sides crown their original levels and require everything you’ve learned before. The Farewell DLC is the absolute climax and the best platforming level I’ve ever played. I needed more than five hours to just finish it.

However, the point that makes Celeste so special is the way how it connects gameplay and story: challenging jumping and climbing act as an analogy of coping with depression. With just a few lines of dialogue, Celeste is able to trigger more and stronger emotions than Read Dead Redemption 2 and its script of 2,000 pages. Celeste shows what the video game medium is capable of, even without becoming cinema: interactivity amplifies the simple story in a way that no written or spoken dialogue could ever do.

I need to mention Celeste’s accessibility. You can activate an assist mode if this game is too hard for you. Plus, this game got an update recently which allows you to customize your own button layout and more. More games need to try to become more accessible.