Celeste
Released: January 25, 2018
Developer: Matt Makes Games
Composer: Lena Raine
Are you depressed? Do you have self confidence issues? Do you like climbing mountains? If so then I’ve got just the game for you, because so does Madeline! It started out as just an indie PICO-8 game on itch.io, and ended up turning into a huge and impressive achievement. The gameplay pays homage to the old 8-bit, 2d side-scrolling games, and the soundtrack seems to have the same inspiration.
The soundtrack starts with the prologue track, but First Steps is what I think of as the game’s theme. From the piano arpeggios to the synthesizers that follow, this reflects the hopeful and confident side of the main character, which is what she has trouble keeping.
We don’t get this same optimism during the whole game, though. Things get tough for us and for her. We feel increasing anxiety, especially when we have to run away from certain characters and when we must land at just the right spot.
Spoiler Alert: Things get especially dark when we meet the dark side of Madeline (aka Badeline). The darkness building up inside of her is felt through this music as it builds up itself. It continues until the final confrontation where things feel sad. She’s been trying to avoid this side of her this whole time, but now she finally decided to team up with her dark side to finish the climb
We’re nearing the top, and from this music we start to feel hopeful again that we’re almost there. It continually gets more suspenseful, but we’re feeling more and more confident as we get closer. When we get there, the music kind of fades away. We can take a breath now and realize that we did it.
Before I played this I remember the soundtrack being hyped up quite a bit. A track appears on Spotify’s Video Game Soundtracks playlist, and also one of the tags for this game on Steam is “Great Soundtrack”. I was thinking “I have to play this for the soundtrack!”
Controversial opinion warning: I didn’t find the soundtrack to be anything spectacular while playing this game. Don’t get me wrong, it fits the gameplay really well, it’s just not anything I had a big desire to listen to afterwards. I’m sorry, it just wasn’t my jam. I guess the 8-bit music isn’t as much my type of music, most of the score doesn’t seem that relaxing, and on the other hand much of the soundtrack gives me anxiety, which is kind of the point so it accomplished its goal.
No riots please Celeste fans. Even though the soundtrack has never been one I’ve really enjoyed listening to on its own, it went really well with this very enjoyable game. Lena Raine did a great job with this, and I look forward to hearing scores she does in the future. This soundtrack gets a 4 out of 5 stars from me.
★★★★
Sources:
https://mattmakesgames.itch.io/celesteclassic
Video Game Harmony 
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