I didn't expect to get nearly 40 hours out of this lol.

I had always seen celeste as a short game before playing it. like, one that you pick up for a challenge, and then put down after a few hours.

but then I found out I had to do some of the side content to play chapter 8. okay, I'll do that I thought. it took me a while, it was tough, but I really loved the challenging B-sides, and my enjoyment of the game grew.

after beating chapter 8, I went on to chapter 9. I expected to beat that, and be done with the game. then I found out I had to seemingly do every B-side, and then some.

so I started finishing all of them, and I liked the game more and more. I then heard that chapter 9 was apparently harder than the C-sides (which I didn't even know existed), and that they really prepare you for chapter 9. so, I knew at that point that I was gonna be doing those too.

when I first picked up this game, I never expected to do all of the side content. I thought that those would be too hard for me. but this game naturally encouraged me to do all of the side content, and that's very cool.

I don't have any complex opinions about this one, it's just simple fun. it's just solid and enjoyable. amazing music, enjoyable gameplay, and a decent story (for modern sonic standards a fantastic story) with dialogue that's actually good.

it has its flaws, and it's not always the most polished thing, but I don't really care. it's fun.

the game also has combat now, which, once again, is just fun. it's not super complex, but it's fun. yeah that's just my opinion on this game. it's fun. I can really feel for hardcore sonic fans that they finally have a good sonic game again.

also, like I briefly mentioned earlier but I just wanna give a special mention: the music is really really good.

super underrated, the game was fantastic, loved it almost the entire way through.

the combat's great and I like how gear and abilities can be customised, though the game lacks weapon variety, with each weapon type only having a few options, some of them being the exact same.

the bosses were great, and there's some really cool and creative ones in there. same for areas. music is also great.

enemy animations can sometimes be really wonky, but when they're hand animated, they're some beautiful animations.

(non specific spoilers ahead I guess)

I also like the ridiculously cryptic requirements for the secret boss, felt like a classic creepypasta.

only thing I really didn't like was the secret requirement for the ending, which can lock you out of the ending you want depending on player skill.