Celeste is a high-difficulty low-failure-consequence platformer that came out a few years back. Actually it’s a few games - the original release for PICO-8, the remake for everything, and a PICO sequel (not sure if it’s actually PICO or just in the style).
The original version is a flip screen platformer where you’re always moving upwards. You can jump and you can dash. After dashing you need to touch the ground or a pick-up before dashing again. You can also cling to walls to drift slowly down them and do wall jumps off them. Each screen contains a short but precise platforming challenge. Move wrong and spikes or holes are there to kill you, but respawning is instant and you’re only set back to the start of the current screen. I think it took me about half an hour to clear for the first time with two hundred and something deaths.
I’ve just started playing the remake on Switch. It seems pretty good so far. I had a lot of early deaths because I kept trying to jump with the dash button and dash with the jump button, but I seem to have gotten used to it now. I was kind of expecting it to be basically a big level pack for the original game with gussied up graphics, but right off the bat it’s somewhat different. The screen will scroll, for one thing. That obviously opens up what can happen in each sub area, but already I’ve had a few sections where getting sent back to the start is more of a penalty than I’d like. The other big change so far is that you can properly hold onto walls and even climb up them. This seems like a good addition.
I’ve completed the first two areas, the city and the dream sequence. The first was pretty much what I was expecting from the game, but the second mixed things up quite a bit. Probably a good thing, given the original game was tiny and this one is bigger and may need some more variety. I remember the first game having a sort of meditative quality - reach a screen, figure out what you’re going to do, do it. Not being able to see the whole section at once already changes that, but adding enemies that chase you makes things much more frantic. It’s still very enjoyable to play, though.
I think I’ve got something like a hundred and fifty deaths so far, and less than half of the berries. I am mostly trying for the berries and getting most of the ones I’m aware of, but it seems I’m not great at finding hidden stuff in this game so far. If there’s two options for where to go I pick the one that I think is not the way forward, but I’m getting it wrong most of the time.
The original version is a flip screen platformer where you’re always moving upwards. You can jump and you can dash. After dashing you need to touch the ground or a pick-up before dashing again. You can also cling to walls to drift slowly down them and do wall jumps off them. Each screen contains a short but precise platforming challenge. Move wrong and spikes or holes are there to kill you, but respawning is instant and you’re only set back to the start of the current screen. I think it took me about half an hour to clear for the first time with two hundred and something deaths.
I’ve just started playing the remake on Switch. It seems pretty good so far. I had a lot of early deaths because I kept trying to jump with the dash button and dash with the jump button, but I seem to have gotten used to it now. I was kind of expecting it to be basically a big level pack for the original game with gussied up graphics, but right off the bat it’s somewhat different. The screen will scroll, for one thing. That obviously opens up what can happen in each sub area, but already I’ve had a few sections where getting sent back to the start is more of a penalty than I’d like. The other big change so far is that you can properly hold onto walls and even climb up them. This seems like a good addition.
I’ve completed the first two areas, the city and the dream sequence. The first was pretty much what I was expecting from the game, but the second mixed things up quite a bit. Probably a good thing, given the original game was tiny and this one is bigger and may need some more variety. I remember the first game having a sort of meditative quality - reach a screen, figure out what you’re going to do, do it. Not being able to see the whole section at once already changes that, but adding enemies that chase you makes things much more frantic. It’s still very enjoyable to play, though.
I think I’ve got something like a hundred and fifty deaths so far, and less than half of the berries. I am mostly trying for the berries and getting most of the ones I’m aware of, but it seems I’m not great at finding hidden stuff in this game so far. If there’s two options for where to go I pick the one that I think is not the way forward, but I’m getting it wrong most of the time.