“The way I see it, the Mountain can’t bring out anything that isn’t already in you.”
Celeste was a game that snuck up on me. I bought this game on my Switch a couple of years back at a discount. On my first attempt, I gave up. I tried it for around an hour before dropping it. At the time, I couldn’t quite figure out the mechanics of the game and I thought it was too difficult. I thought that I couldn’t beat the game and that I was not adequate to play it. That is where I messed up. Celeste tricks you into wanting to give up; the mountain is tall and scary and gets difficult the longer you climb. The difference between my first attempt and second attempt, however, is that on my second attempt, I would initially give up, but I would come back and keep pushing myself to get to the top of the mountain.
Celeste is a game that’s daunting on purpose. Madeline, the main character, challenges the mountain as a way to push and motivate herself. Madeline meets people throughout her climb to the top of Celeste Mountain. These people help Madeline look into her mental health and her identity, but nothing personifies that more than Badeline. Badeline is a manifestation of Madeline’s anxiety, depression, loneliness, and more. She breaks out of the mirror in the Celestial Resort and torments Madeline along her journey. Badeline is the embodiment of what Madeline is suffering from. Badeline breaking the mirror is an allegory of the Mountain; Madeline needs to confront her deepest fears and find her identity, even if it makes her uncomfortable, and want to run away and hide from it all. You have to look in the mirror and look into yourself to progress. There’s a reason why the Old Woman continuously warns Madeline of the power of the mountain.
Celeste is about confronting the unknown, even if you’re uncomfortable. To grow as a person, you have to push through the uncomfortable moments in life or you’ll continue to stifle yourself. Madeline keeps persevering and climbing the mountain, no matter how arduous it becomes. Madeline has a panic attack on a gondola with Theo, another character on a journey of his own. Theo helps Madeline calm down from her panic attack by picturing a feather. The feather is there to keep it in balance, to make sure to keep Madeline’s breathing in balance. When this succeeds, Madeline feels better and has a new outlook on life. Madeline wants to confront Badeline as a way to confront her mental illness and shut it out. When she begins to panic again, she knows that she can use the feather method to calm herself down. When she attempts this another time when confronting Badeline, the method is a failure and she begins to be consumed by her suffering. Healing isn’t linear; you’re going to have good days and feel like you have everything under control whereas there will be bad days where you will feel existential dread and can’t shake the pain. Madeline desperately wants to leave Badeline behind and forget about her pain so she can move on, but that is the mistake Madeline makes. To get over your pain, you have to learn to accept what you feel and feel those emotions. You have to learn to accept yourself as a person and find your identity. Accepting Badeline is Madeline learning to love and accept herself.
At first, Madeline has two dashes. You only get two attempts to get across the course. Throughout the game, you begin to get used to these mechanics. Even if it gets hard to make it across, you learn as you go that these jumps aren’t as impossible as you think. The mountain that you are climbing is going to have obstacles and hurdles along the way to test if you can make it over or not. Halfway through your climb on Celeste Mountain, there is strong winds that make it harder to dash and climb the mountain. It may seem impossible at first, but Celeste is testing you on whether or not you can push through this detriment. It's an allegory to show that although things get hard, you cannot give up no matter what. When you reach Chapter 6, Madeline accepts Badeline as a part of herself; she learns to work with the pain and suffering she has instead of continuing to push it away. As a result, Madeline goes from having two jumps to now having three jumps. Madeline has another chance to climb, another chance at life, and a renewed spirit to reach the top. Even if you feel like giving up and life weighs heavy on you, everything will be okay. Madeline personifies that very statement; she kept pushing through her struggles and learned to accept those struggles and herself along her journey. When Madeline reaches the top, she feels on top of the world and is on top of the world. She finally learned to understand herself and her inadequacies. Celeste is simultaneously an allegory for creator Maddy Thorson, who is a transgender woman. Madeline realizes that she is a transgender woman at the end of her journey to Celeste Mountain. Thorson wrote about Celeste and mentioned that she didn’t know that she nor Madeline were transgender. Thorson struggled with mental health issues herself, and Celeste serves as a reflection of herself. What’s beautiful about Celeste is that it is made in a way to be interpreted in your point of view and through your own struggles. Celeste isn’t just about Madeline accepting her transness and her mental health, but also about us, the players, to look into ourselves and learn to accept our identities and issues. The journey that we make through our healing journey are struggles that only we can understand; we all have problems that we have to face and triumph. As someone who has mental health issues, I felt understood by Celeste. Mental health is agonizing and convoluted; it can be hard to wrap my mind around my issues and at times, I just want to run away and find an escape from my issues. Even with my identity, I still feel lost about myself and don’t understand things about myself. I’m a traumatized individual who harnesses a lot of hurt and pain, and it has caused me to create a wall within myself. Celeste understands this and acknowledges that it is okay to have issues and not have a steady footing in life. It encourages you to find yourself and learn to accept yourself, even if you have flaws and don’t understand everything about yourself.
Celeste Mountain brings out what is harnessed within Madeline but also within the player itself. “This memorial dedicated to those who perished on the climb” is a powerful line that still resonates with me even after finishing this game. It validates the power of transgender people by acknowledging those who have continued to push through the transphobia and invalidation of their identity while simultaneously validating those who have struggled with mental health issues. At the peak of the mountain, it feels good to be validated and have a renewed sense of hope about life. The peak of Celeste Mountain serves as the beginning of our acceptance and healing; we still have a long way to go. We conquered one peak, but there are still other mountains to conquer. Even though that seems intimidating, we can’t turn our backs on the progress we’ve made and we have to keep pushing ourselves. One step at a time, one mountain at a time, we become closer to finding ourselves and finding peace. Celeste shows that the climb is worth it and that to never give up no matter what stands in your way.
Celeste is one of the greatest games I have ever come across, and it helped me look into myself in ways I haven’t before. Maddy Thorson’s ode to transgender identity and learning to pave a path for yourself through the obstacles you navigate is inspiring. I may not understand the obstacles of transness as I am not trans myself, but Thorson writes about her experiences and journey in accepting her transgender identity. I feel it is an important read to amplify not only her voice and experience as a transgender person but to amplify other transgender voices as well. Celeste has helped me understand myself more as a person and allowed me to look into myself more, and I thank Maddy Thorson for creating a charming, introspective game where we can craft our narratives and learn how to navigate our journeys through life.
Celeste was a game that snuck up on me. I bought this game on my Switch a couple of years back at a discount. On my first attempt, I gave up. I tried it for around an hour before dropping it. At the time, I couldn’t quite figure out the mechanics of the game and I thought it was too difficult. I thought that I couldn’t beat the game and that I was not adequate to play it. That is where I messed up. Celeste tricks you into wanting to give up; the mountain is tall and scary and gets difficult the longer you climb. The difference between my first attempt and second attempt, however, is that on my second attempt, I would initially give up, but I would come back and keep pushing myself to get to the top of the mountain.
Celeste is a game that’s daunting on purpose. Madeline, the main character, challenges the mountain as a way to push and motivate herself. Madeline meets people throughout her climb to the top of Celeste Mountain. These people help Madeline look into her mental health and her identity, but nothing personifies that more than Badeline. Badeline is a manifestation of Madeline’s anxiety, depression, loneliness, and more. She breaks out of the mirror in the Celestial Resort and torments Madeline along her journey. Badeline is the embodiment of what Madeline is suffering from. Badeline breaking the mirror is an allegory of the Mountain; Madeline needs to confront her deepest fears and find her identity, even if it makes her uncomfortable, and want to run away and hide from it all. You have to look in the mirror and look into yourself to progress. There’s a reason why the Old Woman continuously warns Madeline of the power of the mountain.
Celeste is about confronting the unknown, even if you’re uncomfortable. To grow as a person, you have to push through the uncomfortable moments in life or you’ll continue to stifle yourself. Madeline keeps persevering and climbing the mountain, no matter how arduous it becomes. Madeline has a panic attack on a gondola with Theo, another character on a journey of his own. Theo helps Madeline calm down from her panic attack by picturing a feather. The feather is there to keep it in balance, to make sure to keep Madeline’s breathing in balance. When this succeeds, Madeline feels better and has a new outlook on life. Madeline wants to confront Badeline as a way to confront her mental illness and shut it out. When she begins to panic again, she knows that she can use the feather method to calm herself down. When she attempts this another time when confronting Badeline, the method is a failure and she begins to be consumed by her suffering. Healing isn’t linear; you’re going to have good days and feel like you have everything under control whereas there will be bad days where you will feel existential dread and can’t shake the pain. Madeline desperately wants to leave Badeline behind and forget about her pain so she can move on, but that is the mistake Madeline makes. To get over your pain, you have to learn to accept what you feel and feel those emotions. You have to learn to accept yourself as a person and find your identity. Accepting Badeline is Madeline learning to love and accept herself.
At first, Madeline has two dashes. You only get two attempts to get across the course. Throughout the game, you begin to get used to these mechanics. Even if it gets hard to make it across, you learn as you go that these jumps aren’t as impossible as you think. The mountain that you are climbing is going to have obstacles and hurdles along the way to test if you can make it over or not. Halfway through your climb on Celeste Mountain, there is strong winds that make it harder to dash and climb the mountain. It may seem impossible at first, but Celeste is testing you on whether or not you can push through this detriment. It's an allegory to show that although things get hard, you cannot give up no matter what. When you reach Chapter 6, Madeline accepts Badeline as a part of herself; she learns to work with the pain and suffering she has instead of continuing to push it away. As a result, Madeline goes from having two jumps to now having three jumps. Madeline has another chance to climb, another chance at life, and a renewed spirit to reach the top. Even if you feel like giving up and life weighs heavy on you, everything will be okay. Madeline personifies that very statement; she kept pushing through her struggles and learned to accept those struggles and herself along her journey. When Madeline reaches the top, she feels on top of the world and is on top of the world. She finally learned to understand herself and her inadequacies. Celeste is simultaneously an allegory for creator Maddy Thorson, who is a transgender woman. Madeline realizes that she is a transgender woman at the end of her journey to Celeste Mountain. Thorson wrote about Celeste and mentioned that she didn’t know that she nor Madeline were transgender. Thorson struggled with mental health issues herself, and Celeste serves as a reflection of herself. What’s beautiful about Celeste is that it is made in a way to be interpreted in your point of view and through your own struggles. Celeste isn’t just about Madeline accepting her transness and her mental health, but also about us, the players, to look into ourselves and learn to accept our identities and issues. The journey that we make through our healing journey are struggles that only we can understand; we all have problems that we have to face and triumph. As someone who has mental health issues, I felt understood by Celeste. Mental health is agonizing and convoluted; it can be hard to wrap my mind around my issues and at times, I just want to run away and find an escape from my issues. Even with my identity, I still feel lost about myself and don’t understand things about myself. I’m a traumatized individual who harnesses a lot of hurt and pain, and it has caused me to create a wall within myself. Celeste understands this and acknowledges that it is okay to have issues and not have a steady footing in life. It encourages you to find yourself and learn to accept yourself, even if you have flaws and don’t understand everything about yourself.
Celeste Mountain brings out what is harnessed within Madeline but also within the player itself. “This memorial dedicated to those who perished on the climb” is a powerful line that still resonates with me even after finishing this game. It validates the power of transgender people by acknowledging those who have continued to push through the transphobia and invalidation of their identity while simultaneously validating those who have struggled with mental health issues. At the peak of the mountain, it feels good to be validated and have a renewed sense of hope about life. The peak of Celeste Mountain serves as the beginning of our acceptance and healing; we still have a long way to go. We conquered one peak, but there are still other mountains to conquer. Even though that seems intimidating, we can’t turn our backs on the progress we’ve made and we have to keep pushing ourselves. One step at a time, one mountain at a time, we become closer to finding ourselves and finding peace. Celeste shows that the climb is worth it and that to never give up no matter what stands in your way.
Celeste is one of the greatest games I have ever come across, and it helped me look into myself in ways I haven’t before. Maddy Thorson’s ode to transgender identity and learning to pave a path for yourself through the obstacles you navigate is inspiring. I may not understand the obstacles of transness as I am not trans myself, but Thorson writes about her experiences and journey in accepting her transgender identity. I feel it is an important read to amplify not only her voice and experience as a transgender person but to amplify other transgender voices as well. Celeste has helped me understand myself more as a person and allowed me to look into myself more, and I thank Maddy Thorson for creating a charming, introspective game where we can craft our narratives and learn how to navigate our journeys through life.