Celeste (2018)
Celeste is a 2018 platform video game made by Extremely OK Games and Maddy Makes Games.
Madeline decides to climb a mountain, and the mountain decides to argue with her. Celeste is a tight, hand-built platformer about a young woman scaling Celeste Mountain while her own anxiety climbs alongside her, taking a shape she has to reckon with. Every screen is a self-contained puzzle of dashes, wall-grabs, and split-second timing, generous with checkpoints and honest about how hard it is. Warm pixel art, a gorgeous synth score, and a story about pushing forward when your head says stop.
Quick answers
What is Celeste about?
Madeline decides to climb a mountain, and the mountain decides to argue with her. Celeste is a tight, hand-built platformer about a young woman scaling Celeste Mountain while her own anxiety climbs alongside her, taking a shape she has to reckon with. Every screen is a self-contained puzzle of dashes, wall-grabs, and split-second timing, generous with checkpoints and honest about how hard it is. Warm pixel art, a gorgeous synth score, and a story about pushing forward when your head says stop.
When was Celeste released?
Celeste was released on 25 January 2018.
Who made Celeste?
Celeste was made by Extremely OK Games and Maddy Makes Games.
Similar games
Explore Celeste guides
Celeste in our writing
- Companion guide: Coming of Age
- Companion guide: Mountaineering
A few thoughts on Celeste
Tower of God runs on the same engine of ascent, a climber facing trial after trial up an impossible structure, each floor testing nerve as much as skill. It shares Celeste's feeling that the summit matters less than who you become on the way up.
Tight platformers built to be mastered
Celeste asks for pixel-precise dashes and forgives you with instant respawns. These platformers share that clean challenge, jumps and momentum you learn through repetition, with Nintendo's decades of level design leading the way from flat 2D worlds to full 3D galaxies.
Moody indie platformers with a story underneath
Celeste hides a story about anxiety inside its jumps, and its pixel art and synth score carry genuine feeling. These indie platformers work the same seam, atmosphere and quiet narrative wrapped around tricky movement, where the mood matters as much as the mechanics.
Indie games that became modern classics
Celeste stands among the small-studio games that broke through on craft and heart rather than budget. If you came for that indie sensibility, these are its peers worth playing next, warm, personal, and built around one clear point of view.