Celeste

[olivermoss]

Celeste is a very difficult platfomer game that is also a metaphor for coming to terms with being trans. The creator started making the game as a metaphor for anxiety and depression, but while making the game realize what was causing her anxiety and depression.



“When I wrote Celeste I sincerely still believed that I was cisgender, but I was nevertheless waist-deep in gender feelings (among other anxieties). When Madeline looks in the mirror and sees her other self; when she attempts to abandon her reflection, who then drags her down the mountain; when the two reconcile and merge to become stronger and more complete… that was all unknowingly written from a trans perspective.”
From a Pocketgamer interview

I'd heard about this game before, but was reminded of it because it's one of the alternate games people are playing on Twitch right now for the fundraiser "TLC for the Transgender Law Center". The game was extremely well reviewed and won a number of awards.

After release, the game got a free update called Farewell where the main character, Madeline, was confirmed as trans. The final chapter is considered by some to be the most challenging to play. The chapter was release for "One thing we tried to communicate in Chapter 7 that might have been missed by some players, is that climbing the mountain was not the end of all of Madeline's problems. It was a breakthrough for her, but it doesn't make sense to think of it as "happily ever after." per this IGN interview.

Comments

[walgesang]

My kid is nuts about this game but it looks waaaaaaay too hard for me (they really love unforgivingly hard games too).

[olivermoss]

That's awesome. I might give it a try if I had a controller. Some types of games just are not great for mouse+keyboard. Buuuut maybe my days of hard platformers are long behind :)

[dhampyresa]

This art is so pretty!

[goodbyebird]

Just wanted to recommend this stunning Celeste vid by hartknyx :)

[olivermoss]

That's cool!