If you were to ask a random person in the street which is the best 2D platformer they played in the past years, they will ask you what the fuck are you even talking about, but if you asked the same question to someone that knows a bit about videogames, most people now-a-days will probably point to Celeste, and how not to.

Celeste is so well designed it's scary, every single part of the levels, whether main or secret, is tuned to absolute perfection; everything new is introduced and taught at a perfect pace, you first encounter a cool new mechanic and you think ''Oh, this is cool'' and then BOOM you find yourself flying across the levels, thinking ''Oh wait I may be able to do this'' and you do it and you can, it's a game that makes you be creative and think about the ways you can defeat the level, and that's thanks to the fact that Madeline's base move-set is everything you need: jump, climbing, and a dash, with this three things, the game goes ballistic without never forgetting that core gameplay, which is something that cannot be said about a lot of other games.

And yes, Celeste is hard, VERY hard, in my first playthrough I died about 4,000 times, far more than with other games, so why then while playing, for example, Super Meat Boy I was as rabid as hell, but with Celeste I barely had any stressful moments?

The answer is in how the games presents itself, which is, for a lack of a better word, ''chill'' (no pun intended). Celeste is beautiful, both in looks and sound; it's pixel art it's marvelous, everything looks stylized to the extreme, and that simplistic look helps the game both in how it looks AND in gameplay. And the sound it's almost otherworldly, every sound effect is feels right, recognizable and submerges you even more in this little world, and the soundtrack is honest to god one of the best I've ever heard, period, every song is both memorable and it fits well with each moment, it can be calm, upbeat, oppressive, sad and victorious to a range that's fantastic.

In contrast to all of this, the game's story themes are very heavy, and it doesn't shy away of that. Depression and a sensation of lack of self-worth is what envelopes the game as a whole, but in the end I didn't found myself tearing up sadness, but of joy. Madeline's adventure is one of acceptance of a part that we don't want, of accepting the fact that yes, we may not always succeed, we may sometimes fuck up, but that is a truth that we must accept, and once we do that, we will be able to come up top; this is not the first game to tackle this type of themes, but it was one of the first to tackle it this well both in its story and in gameplay.

I did get mad and stressed ta few times during my time with Celeste, but all of them could be considered my fault. The game really brings home the final idea of doing things at your own pace, the sections where you have to go truly fast and few and far between, respawning is fast as hell and it gives you all the options needed to make this climbing as hard or as easy as you want to. It lets you be you, and never looks down nor up on you for it, it simply has a ton of respect for the player as much as the player has for Madeline.

Celeste is not perfect, some of the side content is really whacky to say the least and what it demands of you to reach the final base levels is sometimes exaggerated, and I'll admit some parts of some base levels are not all winners, but that just pales in comparison with the sheer magnitude of the rest of the game. This may not be my favorite 2D platformer ever, but it has some of my favorite moments, this is truly a piece of art worth to be celebrated, and its message almost everyone will found a lesson to be taught, a reason to keep climb.

Just... don't overdo yourself, ok?

Be seeing ya.