Celeste Proves That You Can Do Anything 

I described Celeste to my wife as "the most beautiful game that I never want to play again" I felt the whole array of emotions during the game and it helped me come to terms with my own depression. The experience felt by that game was like nothing else I've experienced, even as a masochist who spends most of my time playing the souls games. What they managed to create is truly something special that I think every person should experience at least once.

I like to think about Badeline as all of the emotions and habits we usually call the "Inner demons". Just like those inner demons, we try to fight them, just to overwhelm us with power, and resulting in us trying to flee. When we try to let them go, they reject us even harder. When we try to talk to them, they fight back, they reject our aid. But they can be reasoned with, and eventually, you can come to understand them if you sit with them for long enough. It turns out these inner demons are actually trying to take care of us, they just dont know how destructive their ways are. Only when you accept them you can let them see what's wrong, and you can help them change for the better. They will always be there with you, but you can chose to work with or against them. I loved how this essay was done dude, you were a great essay maker, even from 2 years ago, so I hope you keep on going!

Incredible video! Also I think Badeline fits more into the personafied psychological concept of the shadow: not inherently bad, but usually something uncouncious and/or repressed of one's self. Badeline is not entirely Madeline, but an essential part of her, and aknowledging this is what made her stronger to climb the mountain.

Corrections: -Madeline walks up to the payphone after she hears it ringing. Also that "unnamed character" is, according to the game's files, her ex-boyfriend. -That sludge? It's dustbunnies. That hotel is so dusty that it's lethal.

This is so good! The writing is stellar, the analysis excellent and the eding is so smooth, i cant believe your channel is so small

Great video! I knew Celeste was popular but I had kinda assumed it was just because it had really good platforming, I've never heard anyone talk extensively about the story or themes of the game. But now I'm really intrigued, I love games that manage to weave their narratives into the gameplay itself, I think that's where video games as an artform can truly shine. So yeah, fantastic work, I really hope your channel will grow and receive the appreciation it deserves, I can tell you put a ton of work and passion into this!

As my hand cramped and spasmed I hovered over the assist mode. I'm glad I pushed through and completed the main story. I'm currently going through the bsides because apparently I hate my sanity. It hurts really bad to watch two of my favorite activities become less accessible to me after I was in an accident that left me paralysed. The assist mode was tempting, especially after my damn hand felt like it was being torn apart. Glad I didn't do it though.

This is an excellent video on celeste. I never finished the game myself sadly but I've gotten a new appreciation from watching this video :)

Thank you for this video. Something is really consistent between this and your Pokemon BW video, and that's how it feels like you GET these games, and then give so much more. There are a lot of people who have praised Celeste but few who understand it this well (and I'll definitely take the video rec you gave). And I honestly appreciate getting to understand my favorite game so much deeper now, with the layers of how Madeline chose solitude after being a compulsive helper caused her issues, or how the feather came to her specifically because of how her connection with Theo benefited her. Honestly, I already related to Madeline so much, but this made a lot suddenly click for me with how, even as I don't use traditional social media much like Theo, I constantly judge myself over the mark I have online for other people to see rather than who I am for myself.

TBH I played Celeste and it was... ok but near the end I just got annoyed by dying all the time and turned on the accessibility options. I'm glad those were at thing at least. I understand why the challenge was there and all what with the willpower thing etc etc etc but I've never been a huge fan of the whole "die, retry, die again" style of game tbh

Great video. Looking forward to seeing you grow on the platform!

I finished Celeste on Switch, and revisited it when farewell dropped. The only thing I had open were most golden berries (had only 5 from the C sides) and the moon berry. In the last week I rebought the game on Steam and gathered 100% achievements, all C side golden strawberries, the dashless one and 2 more goldens from A sides. All in around 30 hours. You never stop improving in this game!

Lmao the random “DAaad” had me dyin. This video was stupendous - subbed!

It's been years since the first time I've beaten Celeste, yet I still remember very vividly the feeling of empowerment it gave me, especially after beating for the first time 7C. One of the things that make this game so wonderful is how it is always encouraging you to keep going, how it never makes you feel like the challenge it's setting you it's too much for you. It always make you feel like whatever it's next it's something you're capable of, even if it will take you a lot of effort. I truly think this game is something everybody should give a chance. It is a true gem in every aspect I can think of :33

4:08 ah yes I think I have heard of these ancient relics, used to call apon almost anyone when in its vicinity

I think 27:35 is one of my favorite realizations about this game, and hearing it detailed like this always fills me with an excitement and drive to get things done. “Mountains Past Mountains” is a perfect title for it, and now I wanna hear that whole musical bit on my own while I’ve got stuff to work on. Phenomenal video with lots of great videos to delve into - incredible!

Well done! I really liked your pacing decision and when to tell he story and when to suddenly stop and analyze a bit. Great transition and great technique in your own storytelling around this game’s themes.

Really great video Skyehoppers! 💖 Your script was excellent, every point felt as if it flowed right into the next! I'm really looking forward to seeing what you make in the future! ❤ For now though, I hope you have yourself a wonderful day and thanks for making me want to play Celeste again lol 🌟

Amazing video. Watching these detailed breakthroughs of games is delightful, and you did Celeste so much justice.

I thought the name sounded familiar when HeavyEyed mentioned you in their video and seeing the GSA league clip finally made me realise where I recognised it from! I was using a different handle at the time but I was a mod in their channel, I used to lurk there constantly. Small world.

“Playing through it has genuinely helped a lot of people work through issues they may not have even realized they had.” This comment made me emotional, because what you said in this moment deeply resonates with me. Allow me to share my personal story with this game. For Christmas of 2020, I received a Nintendo Switch. I eventually wanted to buy more games outside of the two or so I was gifted alongside the console, and I decided to look at good indie games for Switch, since while I had always enjoyed Nintendo’s creations, I wanted to find a diamond in the rough. One of the first games that popped up in my search was Celeste, and the little blurb about a young woman named Madeline aiming to climb a mountain intrigued me, so I decided it was worth checking out. I decided to watch a playthrough of the game’s main story for a “test run,” so to speak. I didn’t know what I was about to get myself into. Even just from watching someone else play it, Celeste grabbed me. I was endlessly intrigued by the story, and Madeline’s internal conflict in particular. I’m usually against binge-watching or playing for myself; I like taking in experiences in chunks, allowing me to digest them. After watching Chapter 4 or so, I couldn’t help myself and watched the rest of the playthrough. I was sold, and decided to buy the game. My first time playing through Celeste is an experience I’ll never forget. Now I was experiencing the story firsthand, and even though I knew what happened in it from my “test drive” prior, it felt new because I was the driver of this story. Everyone probably remembers their first time playing a specific game, and I had several of those moments with games like Mario Kart DS and Super Mario Galaxy, but this time was different, and I could feel it with every fiber of my body. A video game had never made me feel this way before, and a lot had to do with the main character. Madeline was the first video game character I’d ever felt an intense connection to on an emotional level. For reasons I couldn’t really explain, I felt so drawn to her character and her journey, which felt weird at the time. Madeline was female, and I identified as male at that point, and I hadn’t really connected with any male characters in media on the same level as I had with Madeline at all. I should mention now that while I didn’t know it at the time, I was experiencing gender dysphoria. In my teen years, disassociation was a common thing for me, looking into the mirror and believing that the person staring back at me wasn’t actually me- an imposter. This carried over into my daily life, believing that emotions weren’t real either, and feeling like an NPC in my own story. I was always in and out of depression, and I didn’t understand why I kept feeling this way when most other things in my life were going well. Because I loved Celeste so much, and because I’m a silly little autistic person, it naturally became a hyperfixation of mine. I consumed every bit of information I could find on it, and in January 2021, came across the information that Madeline is transgender. This made me love the character even more, although I didn’t know why. I was already an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, so I simply thought I was being a good ally and appreciating representation. Nevertheless, I also found any article and video I could on the topic of Madeline’s gender identity. Naturally, this led to me questioning why Madeline’s transness caused me to feel the way did. I wondered “Could *I* be trans myself?” I brushed those thoughts to the side, telling myself how preposterous the idea was. “If I were trans, I’d know it by now!” I continued enjoying the game and its information, even buying Madeline and Badeline plushies, while I pushed those thoughts deep inside of me. But as we all know, repression only works for so long… On August 31, 2021, my egg finally cracked, and I realized that I was, indeed, a trans woman. I eventually learned to accept myself as who I am. I finally realized why Madeline’s transness meant so much to me initially- my true self was poking out, and I had found someone to connect with, even if she was a fictional character. As of the writing of this comment, I’ve been on estrogen for a little over a year and a half, and in a much better mental place. This should be obvious by now, but Celeste holds a *very* special place in my heart. While it wasn’t the event that eventually cracked my egg, it put a massive crack in it, and sent me down the path to eventually discovering my true self. If I hadn’t searched for indie games on Switch on that fateful December evening, who knows where I’d be now? Madeline also continues to be a very special character to me- my middle name is now Madeline, and I also dressed up as her for Halloween in 2022, which got my Instagram post liked by Extremely Okay Games! And as for the game itself, I firmly believe it is the best platformer ever made for the reasons you outlined in the video, although I may be mega biased lol. Bias aside, Celeste is my favorite game of all time, and I doubt it will ever be dethroned. The impact this game has had on my life is truly incalculable. Phew, sorry for the wall of text! Just felt like sharing my thoughts, and I really thank you if you made it this far :)

After youtube recommending your bastion video which was excellent I decided to check out a few more of your videos. Your channel is awesome!

So, I recently find you through a chance encounter in a comment section talking about Wind Waker, and then I see that you have a Celeste video. So I go and watch it, and of course it's excellent, and then you link the _other_ Celeste video that I found deeply meaningful, rather than merely informative like the GMTK one. Man, I really wish I had found you sooner. You have excellent insights _and_ tastes, apparently. I suppose I should share what I got from Celeste. See, I just couldn't pull off the platforming. My reflexes are just a bit too slow to reliably execute most of the various actions. That experience damn near broke me. The rage, the fury, the ranting... too much. Eventually, it broke down my resistance. I turned on Assist Mode. And I found that slowing down the game by around 20% made all the difference. Challenges that had been impossible became tough but fair. I was having fun. Celeste taught me that it's okay to ask for help. I may still struggle to internalize that, but Celeste is what broke through my initial refusal through sheer difficulty, and the fact that Assist Mode didn't even prevent my OCD completionism from being satisfied. With no achievements or anything locked behind not using it, I was able to turn it on without feeling like the game was judging me unworthy for it, and that made all the difference. (Meanwhile, Undertale helped ease my compulsive completionism, but that's a story for another time.) Funny, really, when you think about it. That's the part that Maddy Thorson apparently felt most conflicted about including, yet did in order to allow as many as possible to experience that journey; and then, for me, it becomes the most meaningful and important part _of_ the journey. Just more evidence that the interactivity of games means that, more even than any other piece of art, games encourage a multitude of interpretations, all of them valuable.

About halfway through, but loving getting an insight to this game more (platformers and I aren’t on good terms). Gonna use this to unwind and then head to bed.

Real talk: I agree, wind levels are the fucking worst. In truth, though, I think the best way to describe Badeline is that she's not some negative part of Madeline, or that she's some sort of emotion... But that she's a Shadow. See, in Jungian Psychology, there's a concept called 'The 12 Archetypes'. The theory goes that we as people have specific archetypes that we use when around different people, or when handling different things; The Innocent, The Teacher, The Magician... But there's one that is lies on the outside of those 12 Archetypes, a sort of 13th Archetype... The Shadow. It generally represents the true thoughts and feelings of a person, and how they want to react to certain situations. Everyone eventually encounters their Shadow at one point in their life, in one way or another. In this case, it's sort of a literal encounter with another being entirely.

Celeste is one of my very favorite games and from my trans perspective, Celeste could be thought of as Maddy's egg very loudly cracking in video game format. the mirror theme is extra poignant when you don't ever really see yourself in the mirror. If i had to put a pin in what badeline represents i do think she's the embodiment of inner conflict

7:18 level 2 mirror inspector

Just found your channel and have been binging your vids; phenomenonal work!

Very good video

Heard of your channel from Adam Millard and I'm very glad I checked it out. Your video essays are amazing, you do a great job at getting me to look at games I've played to death in new ways. Keep up the great work!

Fantastic video!! I enjoyed every second and every aspect of it! If you don't mind, I have a personal story to share. The first time I played in 2018 I had to use assist mode. Platforming is really difficult for me for some reason so it was a godsend. I had to use it for the summit and all of the extra levels, but thanks to it I was able to do finish everything minus the golden strawberries. Fast forward to 2021. My friend sent me this video and after I watched it I had this huge urge to play Celeste again but never had time for it until about a month ago. This time I decided to try again without the assist mode. It's been REALLY hard but also SO worth it. Currently I've finished the main game and half of the B-Sides. I honestly don't know if I can do the C-Sides on my own because my motor skills aren't great but I'm just excited to try. I haven't done Farewell yet either, so that will be a nice treat to cap it off. So, thank you for giving me the spark to try again. I don't think I would have come back to Celeste without it. I really love your channel!

I'd say that Badeline doesn't represent the emotion, but the internal conflict inside Madeline. When Madeline is determined to move forward, it's Badeline who tries to stop it. When Madeline stalls because of Oshiro it's Badeline who allows to progress. And when Madeline resolves the conflict inside herself - it's the time when she starts to work together with Badeline - it's time she becomes stronger. In the chapter 8, Core, Madeline is completely at peace with herself. She has power of her and Badeline combined, but Badeline never appears as personality. She doesn't exist when there is no conflict inside Madeline. And then in last chapter, Farewell, when Madeline's emotions are turbulent again, when she goes through another struggle, Badeline appears again.

Wow, this was outstanding! I can relate so much to this entire story and its themes, but it's not a game I probably ever would pick up, just because the gameplay is not my cup of tea. So thank you for this deep and thoughtful analysis! Without this video I would never have experienced this beautiful story.

That was beautiful! I was chewing myself on what Badeline represented and this did a great job crystalizing it. You deserve more views, I'm really glad I found this channel. :)

Great vid man, love transparency as well. glad to hear them mentioned!

hi, i'm here to judge you for not getting the golden flying strawberry! (just kidding, that seems like the antithesis to the point of the game. it's actually the *only* golden berry i've gotten, as i haven't even done all the b-sides. 1a dashless is a fun challenge but it's really more of just knowing the tricks) thank you SO much for this video, it's exactly what i needed to explain to my girlfriend why i love this game so much

Thank you for not spoiling Farewell. I thought I commented this when the video came out but autoplay happened and the comment ended up on some Magic The Gathering video for the past 3 months. I even got a heart from the uploader, what did he think I was talking about?

What a great vid! I just found your channel and am impressed. You are very underrated. Keep up the awesome work :)

I'm loving these videos! The almighty algorithm blessed me with your Black and White video earlier today, and I'm so glad it did because these analyses are all great! I think I preferred the Mario Sunshine and Black and White videos over this one because there has just been so much that has already been said about the themes of Celeste, so this video feels less unique as a result. But it's still great regardless!

Badeline is all the parts of Madeline that she doesn't accept about herself

I finished the main story of the game and made it to the summit. I later learned that in order to keep climbing B side, C side, etc, you literally needed to know hidden tech and movement mechanics that is nowhere in the game taught nor even hinted at. So in order to progress, you have to look up on a wiki, google, or a youtube video how to do this and other techs to progress. This left a bad taste in my mouth. As someone who grew up abused and traumatized by parents that would threaten me with abandonment, homelessness and death, reaching the summit was good enough for me. I will leave the ultra hardcore stuff to people who have the time, energy and drive to accomplish such things. I have learned irl from suffering a lifetime of abuse, neglect, CPTSD, trauma, and emotional flashbacks, that in order to make progress, you have to look at yourself honestly, accept the parts of you that you might hate, and work within your limitations to improve yourself. Taking baby steps towards improvement, while also understanding and respecting that some parts of me may be too difficult to change in a huge effort, is progress in my eyes, regardless of how I compare to other "normal" people who grew up in loving and safe families. It is better to take small steps that you know you can do, building up over time, instead of making giant leaps that you cannot reach yet. Also definitely helps in creating good habits.

28:42 I was wondering how to unlock the c-sides Makes sense since the c-sides came out first before farewell

I wouldn't say that Mr. Oshiro was *trying* to manipulate Madeline, more that he was so self-deprecating in his thoughts that his thoughts of not being able to do anything were becoming reality, while still grasping on straws to get Madeline to stay at the hotel, even if he knew she wouldn't. Also, just a minor nitpick, the "sludge" Mr. Oshiro produces are call dust-bunnies.

so well made . thank you so much . hope you make more!!

Me, with 40k deaths... yea it's alright...

I used to suck at platformers, now im on summit c-sides Thank you celeste, very cool

Game:we can do anything Mean while me irl being sad cuz i didnt do my goal of under 10h in my first ever attempt

Mind blown. This video was great! I'm sure the game is great too. Just kinda apprehensive about playing this game, I've never ever finished a platformer (the only one I ever played was Super Mario bros and even that I left after playing 2-3 worlds. Also I was 7 then) and I haven't played platformers at all. This game is hard.

great vid! you're killin it!

I think one thing about mr Oshiro is that though Madeline’s efforts to help him don’t help much, he is only able to get out once he finally helps himself (after Badeline helps him recognize his situation, of course)

Keep going! You're great and you're gonna go far. Keep on keeping on! 😊

8:57 you scared me with that instant silence

I love how you dont spoil farewell. I absolutely suck at platformers and just barely beat the "main story", not bothering with the core, seeing it as simple bonus content. Now suddenly, I wanna throw myself back in just to see it through lol

I think Badeline is how Madeline sees herself, or rather the part of her that needs to be "fixed."

I always assumed Badeline was The Shadow, in Jungian terms, because shes clearly not ONE thing, but everything Madeline fights with and tries to ignore

I always though of badaline as pessimism. The lack of hope and the side of Madeline resigned to failing before they start. She has all the same emotions and personality. However since they are the same person, the closer they get to accepting each other, the more optimistic badaline gets, and the more pessimistic Madeline gets. The true Madeline is the person that has hope despite being pessimistic. The two of them fused together and working together, pessimistic caution tempering her expectations and making her more careful, and hopeful optimism driving her forward despite her worries.

Great content. Thanks for sharing!

Hot take wind levels are great and golden ridge is so much fun

So through this video we learn that Skye’s personal growth was learning how to take a mic out of a tub of water- Jokes aside, this is a really good video. I don’t think I’ll play Celeste, mostly because while playing Hollow Knight I ended up with hand issues and had to ban myself from platformers (the White Palace is no joke, I can still hear the buzzsaws). I think if I had discovered and played the game in 2017 it would have been… really good for me. I’m a lot better, now. Breathing is easier. But I’ll still tip my metaphorical hat to Celeste, everyone it has helped, and everyone who has something to say about it. It still hits, even if I no longer am hanging off the edge of my own Mountain.

Dude you're severely underrated

At least the wind doesn't change randomly!

beautiful video

To me, Badeline represents a fairly ambiguous concept: the part of you you don't/can't accept. The message tied to it is that you are the way you are, flaws and all. You can work on them, but not brush aside who you are and how you function thinking it will "fix" your problems. I believe the interaction with Oshiro before the roof chase is an example of this: Madeline cannot get through to Oshiro, but can't accept to leave him because it'd be rude and unhelpful of her. Thus, part of her pushes to sever the relationship between Madeline and Oshiro, but not in an healthy way. They're both wrong in their approach, but because Madeline can't accept this idea that she can't help Oshiro, it leads to a much more violent separation that it otherwise could've been. The way I see it, you will always have parts of you you don't like, or don't want to accept. Mean inner thoughts? Self doubts? Ideas that conflict with others in a way that threaten your world view, yet still seem like they have some truth to them? But pursuing the destruction of those parts can, in turn, only be achieved at the cost of what makes you, you; and there is no guarantee you would be better off if you truly could remove those. At the end of the day I also believe that what Badeline represents is personal to any interpretation of the game's story, and by definition there are as many of these interpretations as there are people who interpret the story. P.S.: As someone who played this game way too much the Mountains after Mountains thing is so true help, Grandmaster gameplay is tearing me apart but I can't stop, send help.

Loved the video!! Tempts me to buy it ;)

I had no idea that the creator was trans, but I myself as a trans person saw trans themes in the game. as always, you made a wonderful analysis. I've been a silent sub for the most part for a long time, pretty much since your first big hit on the platform. Keep up the great work my friend!

Celeste is one of my favorite games of all time. i bought the game for my ps4, where i have 150 hours just playing the base game alone, i tried speedrunning the game and tried doing some golden berries. still remember when i got the 6A golden berry after many hours of attempts, just trying to not wake up my brother and my mom at 3 in the morning. and i liked the game so much that i bought it again, but for the pc, and have another 50 hours in about 3 weeks. now i just need to convince my brother that he NEEDS to play it too lol

Pt.1 11:19 the music cuts in very jarringly. 1:34 if you could extend the music more, and put a lowpass filter on it it would be cleaner. 2:57 love the little touch with the font, not only with Theo but all of the characters and even chapters. 4:11 the music could cut in a liiiitle bit sooner. 5:11 funny little bit but maybe a little over the top? just a personal pref. 5:59 there is a lot of stuff going on here, there is too much text and unless you watch it over, rewind, then pause it won't make sense. instead maybe put the text after you explain the lore of this bit, and for a little longer. 6:50 beautiful audio mixing, its so damn clean. 7:23 nice transition that matches the style really well.7:56 may just be a personal thing, but when trying to convey sarcasm, making the text more visible/ bigger as well as on the screen longer. I also think keeping a cohesive font across the video is far less confusing. if you want a visual difference between "titles/subtitles" and "post-video/editor-text" then I recommend using the same font and with its unique colours for the "titles/subtitles", keeping the same font for your "editing-text", but just have a white text colour with a black stroke. 8:58 I admire the build up to suspense, but I see a couple loopholes. 1-the audio cuts out pretty abruptly, make sure that you cut at a point where the audio is at its lowest. 2-*nit pick*One of my favorite parts about this video is the rhythm and tone of voice, staying somewhat consistent and conveying what you would like. you make a cut **8:54** ish and your tone is kind of overdone. I totally get you where trying to get a sense of tension/urgency, but it comes off rushed. 3-*super nit pick* when you say "...no longer has any need for her, and ||", I find this a little... strange. the pause/comma right before the "and" would be a perfect place to stop as the message you are conveying has come to a crescendo, there isn't really a "and" needed.9:02 I think the little hop noise the revealers "Part 2" is a wee bit anti-climactic, but all I would do is switch the "Help and Human Connection"s sound effect with "Part 2"s sound effect.9:44 I love these crazy creative cropped panels of celeste. 9:56 slowing down and in general slowing down the zoom builds more suspense or emphasis on the character itself, so slow it down a bit, a little goes a long way (also no one loves pixel-y videos). 10:16 the music seems to have overlapped. not sure why but not a huge deal. 10:24 to 10:29 the audio fades out very quickly, and there is no music behind your beautiful voice, giving the edit less atmosphere. I would recommend turning down the volume and adding a lowpass filter, just to keep the viewers subconscious in the immersive video. 10:45 these are called "dust bunnies". not a huge deal as most if not all won't care, but its good to know the names of certain objects (also dust bunnies sound cuter than sludge{i would also get it if you where trying to make things simpler for the viewer, just saying "sludge" so they could be referenced to easier}). 11:11-*nit pick* I just noticed this as the music gets fuller (as the chapter progresses)but maybe turning down the music a decibel so mobile viewers (or anyone using speakers) could more easily hear your narration. 13:22 really really good way of summing up the emotional peaks and valleys of the chapter. 14:10-*nit pick* transition maybe? bit of a harsh cut.14:42- love that little touch. 15:06-15:10 such a well done transition, had me chuckling. (also I agree wind levels < water levels). 15:29 nice metaphor, I dig it. Brain is frazzled, will make pt.2+ soon. Overall this is such a well thought out, well scripted, and (of course) well edited video essay. so glad I stumbled across it. I say all these things with 5+ years of serious editing work and only put so much time into this comment because this video inspired me. keep up the excellent work homie.

First of all, great video. But oh my god, I am genuinely shocked at how much meaning a lot of people extrapolated from this game. I like this game because of it's artstyle and challenging platforming. All of this deeper meaning about struggle, perseverance and I guess identity didn't hit me until I watched this video. I suppose it's because I don't have self doubt issues, I work hard for everything I have and I'm naturally not a quitter. So maybe the true big picture takeaway wasn't for someone like me but I'm glad this game means so much to so many people. For everyone reading this, you can do it. Keep going. 👊🏾✊🏾

If you don't do any other golden strawberry, at the very least ATTEMPT the winged one in chapter one, it's probably the easiest golden in the game simply due to the favt you can die over and over again without reseting all the way back to square one, heck, you can even REBIND your buttons so you won't accidentally dash and the challenge is actually pretty fun in comparison to the stress of doing a entire level without dying

this has probably already been said and might actually be not entirely correct but i'm pretty sure that Badeline represents fear or self doubt. both, i think. well, i'm not sure that's entirely correct, it's a bit more complicated than that. i'm able to put it into words better with a bit of explaining first.(see paragraph 4) Badeline doesn't want Madeline to climb the mountain not because Badeline is evil, but because Badeline doesn't want Madeline(and by extension herself) to die. or maybe to fail, i guess. yeah, Badeline does send Madeline down to those caves in chapter 6, but the fear of failure can lead one to failure. Madeline's journey up the mountain is a metaphor for being transgender and i feel like understanding that really changes how one perceives the game. i would know, since i knew ahead of time that this was the case. thinking i could finally find answers, maybe i really am transgender and everything i've been feeling was real, i decided to play it. i mean, it looked like a fun game anyway but this was something i was personally invested in. so i played Celeste... and Madeline's story fell on deaf ears. it was cool in the moment, but that was more the flashiness of the game and my inherent compassion, my want for the characters in the story to succeed, that i felt then. i didn't really understand the subtext, because subconsciously, i didn't want to. i had a Badeline of my own. why didn't i understand Celeste in the moment? well, it's because i was afraid of what understanding myself would mean for me. it isn't easy to be transgender and i didn't want to be transgender. but repressing that part of oneself in fear is exactly what Badeline represents. i didn't(and over two years later now still haven't been able to) move forward because i was afraid of what would happen if i did.(this is something actually addressed in Bridget's arcade mode from Guilty Gear Strive. good game btw, people who don't accept Bridget are delusional. that's a huge tangent though) i didn't even accept the path that was ahead of me, i acted like it wasn't there. before i played Celeste wasn't the first or only time i had doubts about this, doubts about who i really am. not the first time i asked myself why i felt so wrong. it's been something stuck with me, something i didn't understand, didn't accept, something i even forced myself to forget time and time again, for as long as i can remember. well, maybe longer than i can remember! no one can repress memories forever, but how do i know that i've found them all again? maybe there's something i'm still missing. this is why Madeline needs to accept Badeline to reach the summit of Celeste Mountain. this is why i can't reach the summit of my own mountain. what Badeline represents isn't something that can be conquered, something that can be defeated. it's something that one needs to accept. but accepting that, accepting yourself, when you have to deal with crippling doubt... when almost no one else will accept you... it's almost impossible. having the resolve to move forward and improve in ways that matter, it's unthinkable to me. climbing a mountain seems like an easier goal. it is difficult, though, and that's why Celeste's difficulty is important. even after chapter 6, things are still hard. this is because self acceptance isn't the end of a long and arduous journey, rather, it is only the beginning. not many pieces of media express that. what Badeline represents of course isn't something that only transgender people can feel. maybe it's something not all transgender people feel, even. Madeline canonically has depression and that's something i also struggle with, i don't know how that changes my perspective but i know that it does. anyway, i imagine anyone can see Badeline in themselves if they struggle with, well, anything. feelings of regret, self-loathing, anxiety... i was gonna list more but i can't actually think of anything else. i mean, i kind of struggle with that stuff too,(except self-loathing i only loathe myself a reasonable amount, though that's exactly what someone who hates themself would say) i'm human just like anyone else, but still i don't think one needs to be transgender to see Badeline in themselves. damn i wrote this whole comment like halfway through the video about what Madeline's transgender identity means for Madeline and Badeline only for my point to be made(without much mention of transgender identity barring the conclusion) later on in the video. well, i still think this comment has some value. perhaps only to me. i first saw Celeste as a story about simply overcoming fear, so it didn't linger for me the same way it did for other people. but when i realised long after beating the game(the first 7 chapters anyway) that i didn't truly understand Celeste, that's when the game and its story became important to me. maybe it's not as important to me as i think, though, i still haven't mustered up the resolve to get much done beyond getting most of the strawberries in the first 7 chapters. pretty revealing of my character, huh? i only strive for goals i can actually achieve without putting in too much effort. they're the only kinds of accomplishments i'm still able to make. they don't really matter, but they still mean something to me. this whole comment is kind of the world's biggest nothing burger but i might as well leave it if only for the algorithm to smile upon this video. i like to go on long winded and unsolicited rants on RU-vid about what being trans means for me and how it affects my perspective of the world. even if i lack the resolve to move forward in any truly meaningful way, doing it at least helps me continue to accept myself.

Badeline makes sense as a part of Madeline from a point of view of Internal Family Systems therapy. In this case, Badeline is a part of Madeline that wants to protect her from feeling worse. But she does that in the only way she knows how: to insult Madeline. If you've ever procrastinated something because you were afraid of failure... Say you need to study for an exam, but a part of you is afraid that you do your best and fail the exam. You might feel devastated! ...Best not study in the first place and do some gaming instead. That way, you know you will fail, and your feelings are aligned to the result. It's easier to cope with failing the exam when you haven't studied in the first place. The part that reasons this way, that is your Badeline. And while most classical forms of therapy want to exile those thoughts, Internal Family Systems therapy acknowledges instead that this part, this Badeline, is trying to help you, in its own way. If you imagine that part, try thanking it for protecting you. Be aware how it feels when you thank them. Is it happy, glad? Or does it feel other feelings? Then another question you could throw to it is "if your part doesn't need to protect you from bad feelings anymore, what do they want to do instead?" Try to listen to what it has to say. This aligns with the game. Madeline makes peace with Badeline. Note: Internal Family Systems deals with imagination. While it can be adapted for DID, the standard line of thinking is, the part isn't real, it's just you thinking to yourself. But because since it might be easier to imagine it as another entity, we can use this to make the therapy more effective than thinking about abstract concepts and thanking 'concepts' for protecting us. It's also a therapy one can do on their own, without the involvement of a therapist.

Thank you really for this great vid

this game really goes to show how unique video games can be as a storytelling medium. it would probably be impossible to create the same feeling celeste does that helps its themes hit so hard if it were a book or movie, because youre not actively playing a role in the story.

as trans person, the whole game is crystal clear picture of the journey of i been through with it... self-doubt, the long way ahead, gender dysphoria personified as badeline

Anything ? Can I make Nintendo let us save Marin from being trapped as a seagull forever ? 311 days remaining till

I first HEARD Badeline vs reading it and thought she was named Battleline cause she fights you 😂

massively underrated channel

Choosing a mountain as climbing ur problems and mental health is so cool as its telling u can do everything u want😊

As someone who has played through this whole game I agree completely.

I have to keep trying. There's something i want to do.

Celeste is my perfect game

28:53 i think 2c took me like 19/29 deaths i dont remember clearly

great video!

Moral of the story:headbash your demons till they murge with you👍

What did you think of my reading of Celeste? Anything you disagree with? Any aspects of the game I missed that would affect my interpretation? If you enjoyed the video please consider supporting me on Patreon (www.patreon.com/skyehoppers ). I'm eventually aiming to build a community around collectively discussing and analyzing media. It's not much right now, but just getting enough support to not be actively losing money on these videos would feel amazing! Here are some fun discussion questions for Celeste that didn't make it into the video: 1. What I conclude about Theo's character is kinda contradicted by him during the conversation in Chapter 6. He says he's mostly just putting too much pressure on himself, and it's not other people's fault. This is at odds, to my eye, with the symbolism in the Mirror Temple and the way he frames all his interests and motivations in the context of what other people think. Is Theo just mistaken about the source of his problems, or was I wrong? 2. Do you think the strawberries hold any sort of purpose in the narrative? Do they represent anything? I always assumed not, but the decision to not have any in Chapter 6 has always been super weird to me. 3. What was the Core about, if anything? There's not a lot going on story-wise, but there's just enough that you could probably dig in and find some meaning if you tried.

This game is so good

Amazing video skye. I played this once in a very happy/stable moment in my life. I can’t wait to play it again now that I’ve focused more on my mental health. The hotel level was AMAZING

I did golden winged in about an hour lol.

Celeste just does 4 things excellently and people can't shut up about it despite these things that should be obvious to every game dev... and yet rarely these days game devs do these things, which should be the absolute basics. 1: Favor depth over complexity. Depth is defined as how many ways can a mechanic, a button, interact with the game. There are three types of wall jumps, different hights of neutral jumps. Climb has three basic different mechanics associated with it. Dash interacts with all the other buttons and like climb it interacts with the environment. This is why the mechanics are deep, despite being very simple. The depth to complexity ratio is huge. 2: High skill ceiling: Don't sugar coat your game and respect your players. Make it a rewarding experience. Also you will hit the jackpot if your game rewards more practice and offers more difficult challenges that would otherwise be overwhelming at the beginning of the journey. But Always remember that this must never be in conflict with rule 3. 3: Deaths must be fair. The way celeste does this is by making resets really fast. No wait time between reset. And rooms at most dont take more than 45 seconds to complete before having the next checkpoint. This is how celeste gets away with ramping up the difficulty so much without taking the fun away/ Unfair deaths are not really unfair if you don't have to wait through a loading screen, run for 60 seconds toward the boss and fight them again. (BTW, dark souls gets away with this by two things, most of the damage is avoidable with correct play. Healing is an item that refills with checkpoint. Healing is the game saying "Here is the leeway to your mistakes, but commit enough mistakes and you deserve a fair death"). This is really difficult to do in a unique way. 4: Allow player creativity and expression. Almost all rooms have around 3 to 5 different ways to solve them. Spelling it out more literally, allow your mechanics to solve puzzles/challenges in a more than one way. These rules is all you need. The rest such as visuals and music is thematic choices and tastes. Must always be secondary to what is outlined here.

In a way, I am quite bad at Celeste. I didn’t die a bit over the thousand times, I almost died seven thousand times in Farewell. But at the same time, doesn’t that also mean I needed more perseverance to achieve it? But also, why should I say I’m better ’cause I died more. That’s stupid. And I stuck at games. Why do I play hard games, when I stuck so much at all of them.

fun fact: Chapter 9 took more deaths than all of my other stages including B and C sides, combined to beat

Hearing you sum up the story does give me a theory about what Badeline might be. She might not represent an objectively bad part of Madeline, but rather parts of her that she PERSONALLY resents. This can coincide with unhealthy aspects, sure, but it can also include things that are actively necessary in ways that Madeline herself might not recognize. Badeline could particularly be her critical side. The side that is both critical of herself and others such as Oshiro. We do see on occasion that she can get annoyed and sassy with others, and Badeline is just a more potent manifestation of that that's been given a voice. It's true that one's critical side can become exaggerated to the point of being destructive and unhealthy (Madeline deals with depression and anxiety for a reason after all. This is probably why she resents this part of her in the first place). At the same time though, one's inner critic (a constructive amount of it) is also a necessary and healthy thing to have for self improvement.

I thought my phone crashed in the transition between parts 1 and 2 lmao

I would say badeline is Madeline's fear but great video

I just ended farewell with 20000+ deaths. Couldn't agree more

Damn, Architect of Games brought me here and I can honestly say that video essays and speedrunning analyses are my two favourite things on this platform. Celeste is an amazing game for me, especially since platformers and challenge games aren't my thing at all, but it was just so good and I honestly recommend it to anyone looking for a good game. Thanks for this great breakdown on the story!

Badaling is just overconfidence but I guess almost all villains can be boiled down to this

Found it so lame that you did all the c sides but not the winged golden strawberry By far the most satisfying berry of the vanilla a sides

Don't show.... Don't tell... *Just prove it.*

0:08 NO! I WILL NOT LET YOU EXPLAIN! *clicks off*