4/5 ★ – russelljar6's review of Celeste.

This game is a really tight platformer with mostly excellent level design. Each level had fun new mechanics and exciting obstacles to overcome. The space blobs and the golden feathers were my favorite, but each level has something cool to offer. Level 2 was my favorite overall, and I loved the part where multiple shadows were chasing us. This game feels like a puzzle. Each section of every screen had one solution. It was your job to find the correct pieces that fit perfectly into the level design. After that, it's as simple as execution. Well, except the execution is not exactly simple. This game is challenging at parts, especially getting some of the Strawberries. The Strawberries feel similar to a Souls boss. The dopamine hits are not quite as satisfying due to the smaller amount of anticipation, as each run for a Strawberry is lightning fast and ends in the blink of an eye. It scratches the surface of the itch, but doesn't quite hit it. The lack of any real in-game reward for obtaining the Strawberries is also likely contributing to this. However, this game doesn't need the strawberries to be anything besides an additional challenge, and not all Strawberries are created equally (some are really easy, some extremely difficult) even if "That still only counts as one" like Gimli says. Aside from the Strawberries, the game offers a surprising number of additional challenges. These range from B and C-Sides to collecting a single Heart in every level. These Hearts are challenging to find, and if you find their screen, you must solve a puzzle to be granted them. Gathering enough hearts will unlock additional levels in the post-game. With all of this additional content though, it is very easy to miss a lot of it. This is my main complaint. If you happen to stumble down a path that is the correct one to progress the level, it often won't allow the player to go back. On every level, I still had multiple pathways to explore, but went down the "story" path and was unable to complete everything. This game has a minimal amount of story, that has more heart than most AAA games. I really enjoyed the dialogue on anxiety, and while I didn't relate much to it, I feel like it actually may help me understand people who suffer from this more. I certainly wasn't expecting such well expressed feelings, and while the characters felt weak, the words felt strong. TLDR: Really fun and challenging platformer with cool mechanics and a great script. Also offers an array of side content that is, perhaps, too easy to miss. As A Game: 9/10 My Liking: 8/10