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Depression!
Exciting, isn’t it? A
little bit of frank,
mental health
talk. Focuses the
mind (and god
knows I could’ve
done with that a few months ago).
Allow me to start by getting personal.
2018 was a rough one for the ol’
brainbox. I started the whole thing
off unmedicated, and wound up
12 months later with my serotonin
reuptake being selectively inhibited.
Thankfully, after a festive period
with more sertraline coursing through
my veins than red wine, the meds
seem to have done the trick. I’m living
in the now! But I’m putting a large part
of the new pills’ success down to a
videogame. One of the best of last
year. And it couldn’t be more fitting.
I do not know why it took me so long
to get around to Celeste, but it was
likely the myriad reports of its uber
difficulty. Tough games are something
I relish, but I assumed the precision
platforming the game seemed to
demand would wind me up more than
entertain me. New controllers are
expensive, after all. I eventually took
the plunge just before Christmas, and
found myself finishing Celeste on New
Year’s Eve, the clock hands steadily
approaching midnight.
It was a slog, at times feeling like
the definition of insanity (my stats
reveal I took 2,513 deaths over ten
hours – one every 14 seconds), but
at no point did it feel unfair. “What
did you achieve this year?” I asked
on social media, sharing the game’s
completion screen to Instagram,
as friends reminded followers of
their ‘genuine’ accomplishments,
engagements and sprogs.
It was all down to the difficulty that
kept Celeste on my backburner for
nearly 12 months, which made the
game’s completion feel like a genuine
crowning moment. One that I’ve rarely
felt after finishing a videogame, not
since seven-year-old me had to be
removed from class because that
morning’s Super Mario credits left me
too emotional to participate.You play as Madeline, a young
woman on a quest to climb the titular
Celeste Mountain. She’s no climber,
and early on you’re warned about the
risks as a wizened old lady who’s ‘seen
things’ asks that you reconsider your
intentions. But Madeline continues,
driven by a desire to prove something
to herself, that she can set her mind
to something and complete it, no
matter how out of her comfort zone
she is. You’re given a limited move
set – run, jump and dash – and
must make it through hundreds of
challenging stages.Rocky ascent
So why, when the game was resetting
itself every 14 seconds, did I pushthrough? I was implored to try again
from the off. After the game’s brief
and vague tutorial (Celeste is the kind
of game that doesn’t like to tell you
about anything), the camera drifts
towards the night sky and these words
appear: “You can do this.” That one
line of encouragement immediately
hooks you in, the game almost daring
you to consider failing. No. I won’t.
Thankyouverymuch.
And that’s the real beauty: Celeste’s
difficulty reaffirms the narrative, one
of overcoming Madeline’s depression,
anxiety and insecurities. That
challenge is difficult in the real world,
so why wouldn’t it be in a videogame?
Overcoming mental health issues can
be a real moment of celebration andextra
The deliriously demanding Celeste tackles mental health with
painstaking platforming. And it’s brilliant ALEX NELSON
PUBLISHER MATT MAKES GAMES / DEVELOPER MATT MAKES GAMES / FORMAT XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE JANUARY 2018096 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE