Replaying this for Game Club.
Finished the first two chapters tonight and I'm a little overwhelmed by its softness I guess? An assist mode is given from the start and the game doesn't shame you at all about using it. The loading screens reassure of your capacity to face the challenges ahead. After countless deaths you're invited by Theo to engage in nice and completely meaningless conversation.
Its predecessors - games like Super Meat Boy, VVVVVV and They Bleed Pixels - difficulty often feels hollow and, sometimes, even mean-spirited. Celeste, on the other hand, joins difficulty and extremely precise controls not to wallow in the defeats but to revel in the victories. Reaching its pinnacle not in the repeated failures but on the quiet moments after. When the player has time to think about the perseverance they displayed and on the ammount they accomplished.
