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ActionAdventureIndie by Maddy Makes Games Inc., Extremely OK Games, Ltd.

Celeste

Celeste is a precision platformer about Madeline climbing Celeste Mountain, developed by Maddy Makes Games. Each screen is a self-contained challenge built around tight jumping and dashing mechanics, with a narrative about anxiety and self-doubt that develops through dialogue and environmental storytelling. An Assist Mode lets you modify game speed and dash count, making it accessible without removing the default challenge.

Summary drafted by Claude, not individually reviewed · Page built · How this page is made

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Celeste

Steam reviews

145,266 of 149,141 Steam user reviews are positive (97.4%) and Steam's own label is “Overwhelmingly Positive”, according to Steam's review summary for Celeste at the last data refresh.

What Steam reviewers mention

19 of the 20 sampled reviews recommend it, about half with only a line or joke. Substantive texts praise the challenging yet fair platforming, assist options, soundtrack and a story about anxiety, with caveats on difficulty for casual players, no colourblind mode and controller input problems.

Sample: 20 reviews from Steam's English filter (10 most helpful, 10 most recent, ), 19 recommending · how Claude counts topics

  • Difficulty and Assist Mode (praised in 7, criticised in 2 of 20): Reviewers praise a challenging but fair precision platformer with optional assist settings, though one warns casual players may find it frustrating and another found it frustrating at points.
  • Story and Characters (praised in 6, criticised in 1 of 20): Reviewers praise an emotional story about anxiety and self-improvement and a memorable lead, with one describing real comfort from it, while one reviewer dislikes a supporting character.
  • Music and Art (praised in 6 of 20): Reviewers praise the soundtrack and pixel artwork, with one noting that every level pairs a unique theme with fitting music and another ranking the music among the best in games.
  • Controls and Visual Accessibility (praised in 2, criticised in 3 of 20): One reviewer praises the large text and another the responsive controls, but others report no colourblind mode blocking a stage, unreliable diagonal stick input, and controller recognition problems.
  • Level Design and Extra Content (praised in 5, criticised in 1 of 20): Reviewers like varied level themes that keep adding new mechanics, plus strawberries and harder bonus levels, though one gave up on the bonus levels after no longer enjoying them.

Good for

  • Players who enjoy difficult precision platformers with a fair-feeling death loop
  • Those interested in games that address mental health themes in a non-heavy-handed way
  • Players who want flexible difficulty via Assist Mode without losing the core game
  • Speedrunners — the game has an active speedrunning community

Avoid if

  • You find repeated failure on difficult jumps fundamentally unfrusting rather than satisfying
  • You want a game-length proportional to $19.99 — the main game is 6-8 hours
  • You are epilepsy-sensitive — flashing lights appear in certain story sequences
  • You play only for story and find platforming mechanics secondary

Is Celeste an indie game?

Yes. Steam lists Celeste under the "Indie" genre, and its publisher is not on this site's major-publisher list.

  • Steam genre tags on record: Action, Adventure, Indie — includes "Indie".
  • Developer: Maddy Makes Games Inc., Extremely OK Games, Ltd..
  • Publisher: Maddy Makes Games Inc. — not on this site's major-publisher list.

The rubric, its limits and the publisher list: methodology.