Alternate Aesop Interpretation: One of the Spoof Aesop variety; trans fans of the game like to joke that the real Aesop is "being trans gives you a Double Jump", humorously tying the dash mechanic to the blatant trans applicability, especially after Maddy Thorson finally confirmed that Madeline is in fact trans. Some go one further and add "being plural gives you a triple jump", referencing how Madeline gained an additional midair dash after making peace with her Literal Split Personality.
Alternative Character Interpretation: It's implied but not outright confirmed that Madeline is climbing the mountain after a bad breakup, as a means to regain her spirit and confidence. She dreams of dialing her ex, and they both confirmed that the two haven't talked for months.
The consistent theme of trying to understand your mental illness rather than trying to remove it outright couldn't be any less subtle.
Chapter 9 emphasizes that You Are Not Alone when trying to process complicated feelings, like grief. While Badeline argues with Madeline that Granny is gone, and nothing will bring her back, eventually she admits that she understands why Madeline is unwilling to accept the reality. Granny then appears at the end of the level, to give Madeline a proper goodbye. Madeline wakes up and calls Theo, apologizing for shutting him out.
Awesome Boss: The climactic fight with Badeline in Chapter 6 is frequently referred to as one of the best moments in the game because of its tricky attacks, multiple phases, and beautifully intense atmosphere. The theme for the sequence (the aforementioned "Confronting Myself") definitely helps.
"First Steps" is a peaceful, wintry track that effortlessly creates an atmosphere of wonder and mystery, perfect for the game's first true level.
"Resurrections" is an eerie, otherworldly and mysterious track that builds up in intensity as Madeline traverses through the dreamlike Old Site, before becoming frantic and tense as Badeline starts to chase her.
"Scattered and Lost" is an eerie and haunting track that gets even better when the drums go wild as the level progresses.
Madeline and Theo is a beautiful and serene duet between a guitar representing Theo and piano representing Madeline. Undercut with a wobbling synth backdrop, it really gives off the impression that these two travelers have formed an unbreakable bond, even despite both parties' underlying emotional trauma. It's easily one of the most heartwarming songs on the soundtrack.
"Reach for the Summit" is an immensely hopeful and determined track with a Call-Back to the theme from the tutorial, a perfect fit for Madeline's race to the summit, having finally made peace with Badeline. Something of note is how the song switches instrumentation as you progress from area to area, each segment picking up on the respective chapter's Leitmotifs to boot, growing more and more triumphant before reaching a climax in the final area.
"Heart of the Mountain", from the Core, is a beautifully tranquil theme that weaves motifs from "Prologue" and "Exhale" with its own motif, providing an awe-inspiring yet dangerous backdrop as Madeline confronts the toughest the Mountain has to offer in the game's original Brutal Bonus Level. The music also changes depending on whether the level is in fire or ice mode, with fire featuring a continous background track that adds another layer of texture to the song, and ice silencing everything except for the quiet piano melody and main synth. At the tail end of the level where Madeline must outrun the rising waves of lava/ice, the song adds an exciting drumbeat and upbeat synths to drive home the newfound urgency as you approach the final stretch.
The Say Goodbye Mix for the B and C-sides takes the already mystical melodies from the original and creates a more subdued but no less climactic theme with an air of finality, fitting for what was formerly the last and hardest challenge in the entire game.
All of the B-Side tracks are amazing, but special mention goes to "Mirror Temple (Mirror Magic Mix)", an extremely catchy jazzy rendition of Quiet and Falling.
From Chapter 9/Farewell:
Joy of Remembrance is a gorgeous violin-and-cello duet that really highlights the wonder of the dreamlike space the level takes place in.
Beyond the Heart, much like Reach for the Summit, is an energetic and exciting theme that just screams determination, albeit in a slightly more melancholic way than Reach for the Summit's hopeful tone.
The eponymous Farewell takes the aforementioned determination and awe, before blending it into something truly evocative of how Madeline has accepted the truth of Granny's death and resolved to set things right as her final act before waking up. It's an immensely suspenseful and hopeful theme that seamlessly blends together the Leitmotifs of both Farewell and the game itself, adding in an enchanting choir and gorgeous strings working in tandem with the synths to stunning effect.
Chapter 2, Old Site, is where Celeste starts to introduce more puzzle-like elements, like mandatory breakable walls, strawberry seeds that force you to collect them all without touching the ground, and a Crystal Heart that requires you to use the transition between screens in a novel way. Moving through the Dream Blocks feels nice and "fluid", a mechanic that gets added upon in its B-side and C-side with the ability to jump out of the Dream Blocks for an extra height boost or grab onto the side when you leave. The chapter finishes with your first encounter with Badeline, which raises the stakes and solidifies that this isn't going to just be a game about climbing a mountain.
Chapter 5, Mirror Temple, features some tricky platforming, but it balances the challenge factor out with fun stage elements like the red bubbles, which propel you forwards until you dash out or hit the wall, and platforms that travel along a track when Madeline dashes. The entire chapter has an incredible, memorable atmosphere that helps Madeline and Theo explore their character arcs in depth while traversing the mountain. And, of course, in the B-side and C-side, the smooth and catchy "Mirror Magic" is playing.
Chapter 6, Reflection, might lack the cleverly hidden strawberries and creepy vibes of the Mirror Temple, but it's the turning point of the game's story as a whole. With a beautiful, serene, yet melancholy aesthetic that looks like an underground garden, less demanding platforming and branching paths, Reflection excellently builds up to the climactic confrontation with Badeline, whose boss fight at the end of the chapter is easily one of the best moments of the entire game.
Chapter 7, the Summit, is a satisfying challenge that puts a cap on the story as Madeline and Badeline reconcile their differences and gain the confidence to ascend all of Mount Celeste in one go. The result is an awesome All the Worlds Are a StageMarathon Level that will leave you slightly nostalgic for all the previous levels and proud of how far you, and Madeline, have come on your journey. When you approach the summit itself, the checkpoints will turn into encouraging flags that will count down to the very end each time you progress, further cheering you on.
Chapter 8, the Core, provides some of the most cerebral, satisfying rooms in the game thanks to the Mountain itself tampering with Madeline's dash, forcing you to play carefully and plan everything out. It's a novel challenge that will push you without being totally overwhelming. And that's without mentioning its gimmick: a clever spin on Hailfire Peaks where you can switch between "hot" and "cold" versions of the level by hitting special switches. Towards the end, there are even some puzzles requiring you to switch multiple times per room, outrunning rising lava and falling ice.
Chapter 9, Farewell, is an absolutely hellish take on the Brutal Bonus Level, sure, but the entire chapter is an experience all its own. It takes everything about the rest of Celeste to their zenith and adds in all-new stage elements, like exploding pufferfish that launch you across the screen and jellyfish that can airily float you across the screen, as well as a new Advanced Movement Technique, the Wavedash. With all that's going on in this level — helped along by an amazing soundtrack with real instruments and an all-new story about Madeline's grief — you'll feel like an absolute champion once you reach the end, because even though you've probably died thousands of times to reach Granny's ghost at the end, the fact remains that you've made it and made the old lady proud.
Chapter 6 can provide players some time to recover between much longer and difficult Chapters 5 and 7, as it's filled with cutscenes, alternative paths and has no strawberries whatsoever, leaving the challenge only up to the new Feather mechanic and the "Get Back Here!" Boss.
After you have beaten the already fiendishly difficult levels 7-B and 8-B, you will prepare for literally hell with the newly unlocked C-Sides, only to find that the first two, 1-C and 2-C are relatively easy even compared to most other B-Sides.
Broken Base: Chapter 9/Farewell is more divisive amongst the fandom compared to the 8 main chapters, with fans either loving it for its highly emotional story, the new gimmicks, use of more advanced techniques and degree of challenge or disliking it for how ludicrously difficult, long and seemingly inaccessible it is compared to the main chapters. Some of its story beats have also been controversial.
Demonic Spiders: The floating, multi-eyed enemies in the Mirror Temple. The moment they see you, they’ll immediately make a beeline for you, and they’re much faster than you. While they can be temporarily stunned by jumping on them, it doesn’t last long, and they’ll create a shockwave once they resume that can send you flying into a pit if you don’t move away quickly enough. To make matters worse, you’ll often have to contend with them while holding Theo, which limits your movement options to just jumping, making them harder to dodge. On top of that, exploiting their movement and luring them around is a required mechanic to get through much of the Mirror Temple, especially once you get to 5B.
Ending Fatigue: Given that Chapter 8 has very little plot and Chapter 9 having a lot of controversial twists, such as Granny's off-screen death, Madeline and Badeline separating again after many chapters of build-up and the chapter ending in a Fetch Quest for any remaining Crystal Hearts, some players are content with finishing the game after the epilogue, leaving them with an ending good enough.
Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: Not the case for the main game (Chapter 1-7 and by extension Chapter 8) since that is considered to be reasonably challenging, but the game starts getting more and more difficult, to the point where many players vent about being forced to use Assist Mode in order to get the rest of the story.
Fan Nickname: That One Room in Farewell that focuses on wallbouncing and navigating through spinners using a move block has been nicknamed the Comb Room due to the spinners lining this room looking like combs.
Fanon Discontinuity: According to some people, Chapter 9/Farewell doesn't exist. Since the game is getting so hard, it's ridiculous, and the Chapter itself having rather controversial story beats.
For very clear reasons, many fans are also Persona 4 fans, or at least get along. There are a lot of memes and fan work surrounding this. Hilarious in Hindsight, as they both have similar named Awesome Music tracks about coming to terms with your inner demons ("Confronting Myself" and "I'll Face Myself", respectively).
Many fans of Celeste are also big fans of Pizza Tower, thanks to both titles placing heavy emphasis on precision platforming and speedrunning. Some fans even depict Madeline and Peppino as a duo of unlikely friends due to their surprisingly similar circumstances.
Hype Backlash: With how critically acclaimed and popular Celeste became so quickly, it is not uncommon to find those who found the game to be not as worthy of the wide acclaim it got from critics and general audiences, seeing it as a competent but basic and annoyingly difficult platformer. The fans heavily pushing to have the game known in forums (giving birth to the "hidden gem" meme) would not help matters, eventually even many fans came to agree the game got overhyped.
I Knew It!: Many fans have correctly guessed that Madeline was transgender thanks to the ending of Chapter 9 (Farewell) implying it, before it was later properly confirmed by Word of Gay in November 2020.
It's Hard, So It Sucks!: it would be way more fair to add "Practice mode"/quicksave-quickload to the Assist Mode than any of those literal cheats, because quicksave-quickload is literally made for practicing the games like this, while assist mode cheats can make your game literally auto. Of course, these cheats still would be nice for people who can't beat the game even with practice mode, but for all other people, a way to replay parts of the screen for practice would make the game way less frustrating while keeping it fair.
I Am Not Shazam: The Player Character is not Celeste; her name is Madeline. Celeste is the name of the mountain Madeline climbs.
Iron Woobie: Madeline. She's suffering from depression and anxiety, she had an estranged relationship to her mother and generally feels like she hasn't accomplished anything before deciding to climb Celeste Mountain. But even when her mental illness comes to life and actively tries to hinder her process, she isn't even thinkingabout giving up. Player reaction is generally a mix between feeling sorry for her and admiring her.
Jerkass Woobie: Mr. Oshiro is a rare character that manages to peg both aspects in about equal measure. He legitimately just wants people to enjoy their stay at his hotel, seeks to be a good host, and is heartbroken when his "guests" aren't interested in staying, even more so when he starts to realize how run-down the hotel really is—and that's before getting into his own mental problems. He's also pushy, domineering, acts smug and ungrateful when Madeline helps him get the hotel in shape, and outright attacks her when Badeline pushes her insults too far. This is even discussed by Madeline and Theo in the chapter; Madeline is moved by Oshiro's sympathetic side, while Theo insists that he's dangerous and that they don't need to risk their personal safety to try and make a stranger happy.
LGBT Fanbase: Gained one after the release of Chapter 9, Farewell, suggested that Madeline may be transgender,note Madeline has a tiny trans flag by her desk, a photo shows her having short hair when she was little (implying that she was AMAB), and a pill bottle is shown that may be for HRT later confirmed by Maddy Thorson. The game's story leading up to this final chapter is also easy to read as a trans metaphor, which is especially amusing considering that Maddy Thorson herself was unaware at the time that she wrote it. Madeline's mountain climbing hobby is referred to in such a way that it can very easily be replaced with "being a girl" and the game's theme remains unchanged.
"Play Celeste, it's a hidden gem".ExplanationA popular stock response in various Nintendo Switch-related forums and subreddits, most commonly used to poke fun at repetitive "What game do I buy?" threads in particular and community's tendency to recommend the same small pool of indie games (Celeste, Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley) in general.
No doorskip, unverified run. ExplanationA room in Chapter 7's Mirror Temple segment has a few floating doors that can be skipped by a well-timed dash. In the first few months of Celeste, speedrunners avoided using doorskip as the 3 second delay if performed wrong is a bigger risk than the second it saves. This has been commented when a run doesn’t contain the doorskip. Over time, speedrunners have learned to use the doorskip and save that second.
Doorskip locator here, doorskip is at 27:19. ExplanationPeople in the comments section have been pointing out the location of the doorskip in runs.
Intro car ExplanationMadeline's car at the Prologue that can be found by going backwards from your starting point. Despite practically just being a decoration that some people don't even see, the car has been hyped up by fans and occasionally added to modded levels. It's even hidden in Chapter 9!
The comfy spot. ExplanationA one block tall gap, which can be accessed by dashing into it. These spots aren't usually found in the base game, but often appear in custom maps.
Trans people can double jump.ExplanationAfter Maddy Thorson confirmed that Madeline was trans, this phrase caught on among trans fans of the game as a joking Alternate Aesop Interpretation. Consequently, asking trans fans what Celeste is about will invite more than a few instances of this statement.
2B final screen ExplanationThe final screen in Old Site's B-Side, a screen that is considered hard for some new players despite death not being possible, which was turned into a meme similar to the Dash Spider in Geometry Dash where people recreate the layout of the screen in other games or places.
The immensely satisfying chord that plays when you get a Crystal Heart. It's been compared to the THX sound test blast.
The melodious jingle that plays when you find a B-Side Cassette is very soothing too.
While the "Chapter Complete" jingles are already satisfying, the B-Sides electronic variation can be counted as the true reward of these levels.
The gong when you successfully obtain a Golden Strawberry, as well as the harmonious jingle that plays when you get the Moon Berry.
The single, echoing piano chord that sounds when you finally clear Farewell.
Nintendo Hard: While the controls are easy to grasp, the level design demands that every movement be precise, especially in the B-Side chapters. Lots of deaths are to be expected.
Play the Game, Skip the Story: Conversely, the game's twitch reflex platformer with a scaling difficulty sometimes comes into sharp relief with the story of a Broken Bird slowly dealing with depression and anxiety. It often sidetracks into discussions on how to subjectively grapple with these issues. Often it can feel like it's slowing down the gameplay.
Wooden platforms, which mark points of no return within a chapter. In many cases it's completely arbitrary whether a room transition has a no-return barrier or not, and exploring can be very frustrating when you run into one with no warning.
On top of being very sensitive to directional input, bumpers passively oscillate back and forth, potentially causing a jump that worked before to not work thanks to their slightly different position. This can be annoying in Chapter 6, but it's hair-pulling in the Core due to the massively increased precision needed.
Signature Song: "First Steps", the theme of the first area which introduces the Leitmotif used throughout the entire game.
That One Achievement: Certain golden strawberries get into this territory due to requiring a No-Damage Run of levels where one mistake can undo up entire minutes of work—but the cake goes to the one for Chapter 9. Besides applying the usual rules to a Brutal BonusMarathon Level taken up to eleven, there's also the fact that at the end of the level is an additional, tough-as-nails room that only appears when carrying the Golden Strawberry.
That One Boss: As mentioned in Awesome Boss, the fight with Badeline in Chapter 6 has some great atmosphere, but it goes on for ages, with no indication of how far you still have yet to go, and the (often lengthy) levels you run through would be hard enough without getting blasted by lasers. Eventually, it just wears out its welcome and becomes a chore.
The end of Chapter 2/Old Site has sections where Badeline clones chase you through water walls as you try to collect objects to power platforms and open escape routes. Touching the clones instantly kills you, and they copy your movements, making backtracking extremely difficult since spikes are also around.
Chapter 3/Celestial Resort is almost universally reviled for the moving dust bunnies which act as fast-moving obstacles in a game where most of the obstacles are static, forcing players to internalize their timed cycles in order to make their way through them. It's also rife with deceptively large static dust bunnies and red fuzz which turns surfaces dangerous after touching them once, making mistakes often unforgiving since you won't be able to reuse any surface you've already touched. Special mention goes to Chapter 3-C, with its final room incorporating lots of tricky jumps with dust bunnies and an aggressive Mr Oshiro at the same time, and you'll need to jump on him with precise timing to hit the switch at the end.
Chapter 5/Mirror Temple. While the new mechanics introduced in the beginning of the level (red bubbles and dash blocks) are some of the most fun in the game, collecting strawberries is much more challenging than in most levels due to the dark rooms and large, open structure making it particularly easy to miss secrets. Once you head inside the mirror, you'll be hounded by Seekers, extremely persistent Mental Monsters, all while trying to escort Theo across the level. The B-side and C-side are even worse, but for different reasons — the former has lots of moving buzzsaws, difficult platforming with Seekers, and a prolonged Theo section, while the latter demands absolute mastery of the wall bounce mechanic taught in Chapter 7-B and will kill players who struggle with the game's physics hundreds of times.
Chapter 8/The Core is a tough level on its own, but its B-Side is utterly insane with its difficulty, requiring incredibly precise jumps and maneuvers that require complete knowledge of all the stage gimmicks, including the various bumpers and launching blocks that are extremely sensitive to what angle you hit them at. And like Core A, you don't recover your dash when touching ground, making management of your two dashes key.
Almost all of the C-Side levels are brutally difficult despite being very short, but especially 7C, where not only do you have to pull off multiple wall bounce moves in succession (which are not only difficult to execute, but taught very late in the game) but you also have to navigate a very tight spike maze using springs, pink clouds and dash crystals without a break for half a minute. There is barely any room for error here.
Farewell, the ninth chapter added in the free DLC, is not only incredibly long but incredibly hard, requiring just about every trick in the book executed consecutively with flawless precision, along with introducing a variety of tricky new mechanics that often demand unorthodox usage right after being introduced. In particular, almost every screen after the halfway point requires multiple wavedashes (a technique taught in the exact same level) strung together with countless other movement techs, including the aforementioned wall bounces. There aren't even double-dashes without items, as Badeline leaves after the chapter starts and takes the extra dash with her. The level culminates in a brutal gauntlet that forces you to exploit the Jellyfish mechanic to its fullest, and lasts for about two minutes without checkpoints. And woe betide you if you're trying to get the Moon Berry, which requires you to take an even harder alternate path loaded with unconventional platforming.
Watched It for the Representation: Quite a few folks decide to check it out not only due to its plot and gameplay, but also because it's a rare example of a greatly acclaimed indie hit with a transgender protagonist.
is a peaceful, wintry track that effortlessly creates an atmosphere of wonder and mystery, perfect for the game's first true level.