Celeste is something special. I've written its praises many times, but not for a Steam review, so here we go: Celeste is a percision platformer featuring a girl, Madeline, and her climb to the top of Celeste Mountain. The game is hard, but not brutally so. The controls are simple - just movement, jumping, climbing and a dash. Despite this, the mechanics are very deep and there is very variant movement in each level. Speaking of levels, I think that Celeste has the best level design out there bar none. The levels are intricately designed so that there are many ways to get from one platform to another, it's simply impeccable. Each level also brings in many secondary mechanics from flying feathers to carrying your crystal-entrapped friend throughout the level. Each level has three secondary mechanics which are introduced separately, but, by the end, challenges you to utilize all of them in glorious leaps. The platforming is hard, but respawns are frequent and quick, meaning that, while you may rack an abundant amount of deaths in a level, you're never discouraged to keep trying.

Celeste has a pixel art-style, how much that appeals varies from person to person, but I found it very charming. There are also beautifully-drawn character portraits for story sections as well as mesmerising postcards that you see at the end of each level. Accompanying the art is one of my favorite video game soundtracks of all time by Lena Raine. The motifs and how it matches the gameplay is incredible. The story is also one that I thoroughly enjoyed. It goes over topics such as depression and similar mental illnesses, and shows a great perspective on them that really gave me a better sense of them. The music, story, and gameplay all match perfectly, with many repeating elements that make for a very immersive experience.

Overall, Celeste is a near-perfect game in my book, and likely my favorite game of all time (though I am partial to the genre). It has loads of endgame content after a decently lengthy story, and many challenges to keep me going after playing for ~100 hours (I've played the game on more platforms than just Steam.) Celeste is an easy recommendation from me.