It’s been close to three years since Celeste and TowerFall developers Extremely OK Games revealed their next project, the similarly gorgeous-looking and sumptuous-sounding 2D exploration platformer Earthblade. While the studio didn’t give any indication of a release date at the time, we now know not to expect Earthblade until 2025 at the earliest.
]]>Celeste celebrated its sixth anniversary this month, and developers Extremely OK Games have marked the occasion by releasing a free Nintendo 64 homage to their excellent platforming game over on Itch. Made in just "a week(ish)", Celeste 64: Fragments Of The Mountain channels the spirits of Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie as it tasks players with collecting dozens of strawberrys hidden around its snowy 3D landscape. It's well worth checking out if you've got a spare minute or so, though given how rock hard it is you may want to put aside a good hour or so if you want to truly master its controls and uncover every last secret.
]]>We’ve just passed the middle of the month (and the year?), which means it’s time for another wave of Game Pass games to come. For starters, we have a tasty indie trio coming to the service today. Then to cap off July, one of the best platformers in recent memory Celeste rejoins the fun, while Marvel's Avengers waves goodbye.
]]>Players likely recognise Celeste as the pixel-perfect platformer from 2018, but it began its life as Celeste Classic, a free game written for the PICO-8. Celeste Classic presented a condensed climb up the titular mountain, letting you dash across platforms, hang onto walls, and collect strawberries - in miniature form. As a fun homage, you can find the PICO-8 version inside Celeste proper. And now, as an even funner homage, you can play it on the Playdate. A loveable game on a loveable handheld.
]]>Celeste was a delight to play when it launched in 2018 - a pixel-perfect platformer, filled with catchy earworms, and emotional revelations. After completing Celeste all I really wanted was, well, more Celeste. It seems I wasn’t alone, as over 350 fans have collaborated on Celeste Strawberry Jam, the “largest collaborative project in Celeste history.” The mega-mod is adding 111 stages, five difficulty modes, and over 8 hours of original music on February 17th.
]]>A phenomenal new bundle of indie games is raising money for two charities supporting relief efforts in Ukraine. The Bundle For Ukraine on Itch.io includes almost 600 games, and you can have the lot if you pay at least $10. Games include Celeste, A Short Hike, Superhot, Hidden Folks, and oh so many more worth mentioning. Barely 11 hours after launching, the bundle has already raised over $593,000 towards its $1 million goal. Probably because it's a great deal for a good cause.
]]>Celeste and TowerFall developers Extremely Ok Games have announced their next game. Sort of, anyway. They've announced its name and given a "vibe reveal" in the form of a poster, logo, and music by Lena Raine. If I had to describe the vibe, I'd call it magical and hopeful, but you can do your own vibe check on Earthblade right now.
]]>Celeste is a glorious precision platformer, but it began life as a PICO-8 prototype you could play in your browser. To celebrate the full game's 3rd anniversary, its developers took three days to make a sequel to that original prototype. Celeste 2: Lani's Trek can be played now over on Itch.io.
]]>Seven-day speedrunning marathon Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 has ended, raising a brilliant $2,758,847 million (around £2 million) for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. It's the second-highest amount ever raised at the event, right behind last year's winter marathon, which is pretty good going considering this year was the first fully digital AGDQ.
Despite not having a roaring crowd sat behind them, the speedrunners still put on an excellent show from the comfort of their own homes. Here are a few of my fave runs from the week.
]]>Get your speedrunning shoes on and prepare your glitches: Awesome Games Done Quick has arrived for its yearly speedrunning extravaganza. As with previous years, the charity event is raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. It's been live since yesterday evening and runs until this Sunday, and there are already some fab runs in the likes of Mirror's Edge and Dragon Age: Origins to catch up on.
]]>I used to think I was pretty good at platformers, until I played Celeste. Made the creators of Towerfall, Celeste drops you in the shoes of Madeline, whose goal is to climb a mountain. Except, the mountain isn't really just a mountain - it's a metaphor for all the difficulties that Madeline, and you, have overcome, and will need to overcome in the future. It's gruelling and lovely, and you're missing out on a wonderful experience if you haven't gotten around to playing it. Now, however, you have no excuse not to be playing it, because it's one of the hundred of games included in the Itch Bundle For Racial Justice And Equality.
]]>I've not played Minecraft heavily in several years now, so when I logged in recently I was surprised by some new tunes as I walked about pestering livestock. There are even more new tracks coming in the sandbox game's big Nether Update, this time created by composer Lena Raine whose excellent sounds you may have heard in Celeste. You can check these tunes out now in the newest Minecraft test version snapshot.
]]>Every time I sit down to write, the first thing I do isn’t open up a blank document, it’s find some nice video game music to listen to. And loads of it can be found free on YouTube. Ambient music from Skyrim, relaxing compilations from Animal Crossing, lo-fi Legend of Zelda remixes Sometimes, work or study just can’t get done without my 10-hour loop of Chrono Trigger’s Corridors Of Time.
Looking at the millions of comments, uploads, and views these uploads get, it’s clear that I’m not alone. If you’re reading this on a PC right now, there’s a statistically decent chance that YouTube is currently open and playing some video game tunes in another tab. And it’s only possible because YouTube doesn’t treat video game music as it does other popular music.
]]>Whether or not famously difficult games should have an optional easy mode has long been a point of contention. But many already do, albeit unofficially, thanks to modders taking things into their own hands.
Take the fella who goes by "n00bplatformer", for example. He recently created an “Assist Mode” for run 'n’ gun action game Cuphead. It makes simple tweaks to some of the game’s systems, like granting players six hitpoints instead of the usual three, and boosting weapon damage an extra 50% so that boss battles don’t drag on so long.
]]>Have you ever wondered why some platformers feel excellent where others feel, well, not? Turns out, designing some top-tier running and jumping takes a little more work than you'd think. This week, Celeste developer Matt / Maddy Thorson took to Twitter to run through some of the clever deceptions they used to make the nails-hard platformer feel fun and - more importantly - fair.
]]>AGDQ is over for another year, leaving us with hundreds of hours of fantastic speedrunning VODs to keep us entertained for weeks. I've had a browse through some of the best (and also sat at home binging them because I love me a good speedrun), and found a few more essential runs that I'd be foolish not to point everyone to.
Before we get to that though, the real news: Awesome Games Done Quick 2020 raised $3,155,199.56 (about £2.3 million) for the Prevent Cancer Foundation!
]]>The biggest names in platforming used to live only on console, but it's on PC now that the genre is thriving. Indies have taken the simple ingredients and spun them off in umpteen directions (but still normally from left to right). Below you'll find a collection of the very best platform games on PC - including puzzle platformers, physics platformers, platformers with roguelike elements, and platformers about absolutely nothing but pixel-perfect jumping.
]]>Celeste has three core moves: Jumping, climbing walls, and dashing. But it's also a game about a lot more than that. It's about overcoming obstacles.
]]>Another month, another big video game publisher puts a great big dollop of video game music online for zero pennies. This time, it's Bandai Namco, who have just uploaded every single Tekken soundtrack onto Spotify because, well, apparently everyone loves Tekken. I've never partaken in a Tekken, but with track names like "Massive Stunner" and "Lonesome City Jazz Party 1st", I'm already 100% convinced the music must be great.
However, given my rather lacking expertise in all things Tekken-related, I thought that instead of doing a big Tekken musical breakdown like I did for Capcom and all the Final Fantasy games, I'd take this opportunity to celebrate some of the other great gaming soundtracks you can currently listen to for free right now, because boy howdy are there loads of 'em. So bang on those headphones and turn up the volume, folks. It's head-banging time.
]]>So long, Madeline. Celeste's final update, Farewell has arrived amid a busy week for Matt Makes Extremely OK Games. With a new studio name and a mysterious new game in the works, the future's looking pretty interesting for the Vancouver team. But there's still time for one last trip up Celeste Mountain, starting today.
We've had a lovely time, Celeste. But I think it's time to see other platformers. It's not you, it's me. I've perforated my spine on your spikes so much it's starting to worry my doctor, and I've seen all there is to see. What's that? You've got one last update full of levels? You know, I think I can hang around for a little while longer. I can wait for one last adventure.
It's almost time to say goodbye to Celeste, but not before one final Farewell lands on Monday.
]]>"Inside does insert some big ideas into its slender and sinister frame, but that's not why I loved it – it's the execution of the big, broad, b-movie elements that I adored," our former Adam (RPS in peace) said when we called Inside one of 2016's best games.
"It's a tricky platform game, with a beautifully melancholy story, and enough creativity on show to give me strength even when the going got so tough I almost lost hope," Adam (again) said in our Celeste review in 2018.
Good pair of platformers, those, and quite different. Good news too: both are currently free for keepsies on the Epic Games Store.
]]>It's the middle of the week, it's time to unwind a little, so let's take a stroll back up the spike-lined paths of Celeste mountain, but this time as Kirby. Ingeste, by EX.ULT VIDEOTAINMENT is a free, browser-friendly mod of the original Celeste for Pico-8 starring HAL Laborotory's famously friend-shaped pink puffball. It's a cute little subversion of a Matt Thorson's tough platformer, letting you float and flutter your way to the top. Give it a try for yourself in your browser here on Itch. If floating up the mountain seems like cheating, there's a fresh challenge below.
]]>I hope you didn’t have anything planned this week, because speedrunning extravaganza Awesome Games Done Quick starts today at 4:30pm GMT.
If you’ve never tuned in before, AGDQ is a weeklong, 24/7 marathon of games, all played as fast as possible, while streaming on Twitch and raising a whole shedload of cash for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. What’s not to like?
]]>The doors have been opened, the games inside have been devoured, and now it's time to recycle the cardboard. Below you'll find all of our favourite games from 2018, gathered together in a single post for easy reading.
]]>It’s been a pretty stinking great year for indie games. We’ve seen the release of several long-hyped darlings (finally) as well as a few surprise hits that went on to dominate newsfeeds. You easily could have missed them, though, what with all the big budget map fest games making huge waves this year. I know there are about a million games demanding your attention right now, but if you have some time over the holidays, each of these titles experiments with or otherwise builds on their genres in a way that stands out amidst all the noise.
]]>Look out. The year 2018 is going down in a storm. There are hundreds of games aboard, running, jumping, trying their best to survive the maelstrom. But there’s only one tiny lifeboat, and only enough room for three games. It falls on the sorry shoulders of the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, to decide which trio of games clamber onto the life raft and which games drown and become lost to history.
]]>We're just about halfway through 2018 (which has somehow taken both too long and no time at all). As is tradition, we've shaken our our brains around to see which games from the last six months still make our neurons fizzle with delight. Then we wrote about them here, in this big list feature that you're reading right now this second.
And what games they are! 2018 has been a great year so far, and our top picks run the whole range, from hand drawn oddities made by one person, to big mega-studio blockbusters that took the work of hundreds. And each of them is special to us in some way. Just like you are too. Click through the arrows to see the full spread of our faves so far. Better luck next year to the games that didn't make the cut this time.
]]>Bit nippy in here, isn’t it? Let’s throw another game on the fire and warm ourselves with some electro-soup. Yes, it’s the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, and this week we’re talking about freezing cold city-builder Frostpunk. Katharine lost a third of her people to cold when she forgot to turn the heat on, while Brendan dug up his society’s dead because he "needed the space". Matt is horrified by these tales, but soon proves he’s just as horrible when he completes our Frostpunk-themed ethical dilemma quiz.
]]>The awards ceremony at this year’s GDC was fun. At least, that’s what John told me from his seat in the crowd, where he saw the winners mount a stage some would consider too colourful for this planet. The Independent Games Festival Awards and subsequent Game Developer’s Choice Awards saw a range of trophy-grabbers, from indie students to adventure game veterans. Unfortunately for them, I was hiding backstage, skulking behind a black curtain and holding a voice recorder like a cudgel. I had one question to ask them all: If they had to give their award away, who would get it?
It’s like re-gifting, except you worked really hard for the gift and now you have to hand it over three minutes after your acceptance speech. Life is pain.
]]>This is The Mechanic, where Alex Wiltshire invites developers to discuss the difficult journeys they underwent to make the best bits of their games. This time, mountain-climbing platformer Celeste and the importance of timing in its movements and kindness in its code.
Early last month, the makers of Celeste released the source code behind the game’s star, Madeline. Across 5472 lines and in variables like JumpGraceTime, DashHJumpThruNudge and DuckFriction, the code precisely defines her ability to run, climb, jump and dash, bringing her to life in your hands.
If you’re not a programmer, it’s difficult to figure out what the code really means, so I asked Noel Berry to explain how it coalesces into a character who feels so good to control. Focusing on her dash, the mechanic around which Celeste revolves, it turns out that a lot of it’s down to the game making her do what you expected her to do, and not necessarily what you actually did.
]]>Rad trash mammal simulator Night In The Woods scooped this year's Grand Prize during the 2018 Independent Games Festival Awards at the Game Developers Conference last night, also lifting the award for Excellence In Narrative. Baba Is You, an upcoming puzzle game about shifting words to change how parts of the levels and game work, also picked up two awards. Looking across all the winners, ah yes, there certainly are good video games going around.
]]>The makers of Celeste have shared a big slab of the platformer's code, letting everyone dig down into the intricacies of its movement. "Maybe it'll interest you if you're curious how some part of that works!" game director Matt Thorson said. Given how secretive the games industry can be, it's nice to see a game with such great-feeling movement spill its guts for all to inspect.
]]>From a publisher as huge as Ubisoft, and in a series as chart-dominating as Assassin’s Creed's Discovery Tour represents an unusual and welcome ambition. The mode, available as free DLC for Assassin’s Creed Origins or as a standalone game, strips out all the combat, levelling-up and collectibles in favour of a promised educational experience. It takes the strongest facet of Origins – its detailed and enormous depiction of Ancient Egypt – and adapts it into something almost entirely new.
Ubisoft isn’t alone in remixing its games in this way, however. The Discovery mode for Origins follows in the squelchy footsteps of Frictional’s Soma, which added a ‘Safe Mode’ last December that removes any mechanical threat from its monsters. Traditionally, the concept of ‘games’ has been closely tied with that of ‘challenge’, but these modes sidestep that. And in doing so, they remove a barrier to entry for less experienced players who want to explore their worlds. Even if the execution doesn't necessarily match the idea, this is a good thing.
]]>No. Let's not be ridiculous. But there are so many examples of bad survival games that it’s important to remember the good ones. So that’s what we are doing on the latest RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show. We're breaking stones over the heads of rubbish survival games, but cooking, salting and eating the delicious ones. Adam wraps himself up in The Long Dark but reluctantly sets Project Zomboid on fire to stay warm. Matt gets sea sickness from Subnautica but wants to swim again anyway. And Brendan freedives into Subnautica too, in an attempt to escape from all the mediocre survival games set on red planets.
]]>You're climbing a mountain. It's hard, especially when the wind is cutting through you like a knife and angry spikes are pulsing from the walls. Sometimes you're not even sure if the mountain is actually a metaphor for every difficult thing you've ever done in your life. That's how much trouble you're having getting to the peak.
That is my brief summary of Celeste, a game that has flung me into the abyss hundreds of times, battered me into submission, and placed me in predicaments that are as unnerving as they are challenging. It's a tricky platform game, with a beautifully melancholy story, and enough creativity on show to give me strength even when the going got so tough I almost lost hope.
]]>As someone who recently spent 10 days trekking through the French Alps while trying to figure out what to do with my life, I think I can empathise with Madeline. She's the main character in Celeste, the upcoming platformer from the Towerfall devs which releases on January 26th. Madeline sets out to climb Celeste Mountain for reasons unknown - though I reckon it's got something to do with 'brooding'.
Whatever her reason, it's a good excuse for some promising looking platforming that evokes a less frantic Super Meat Boy. After watching the 9 minutes of game footage below, I've got high hopes for it.
]]>It’s Brendan hour at RPS. Everybody else has gone to bed and I’m left on sentry duty, which means I get to make posts which are seemingly about colourful-yet-hardcore mountain-climbing platformers called Celeste [official site] which Graham really likes but on closer inspection are actually a grave and terrible insight into my own fragile and harrowed psyche as it tumbles silently into a dark and fathomless realm of inner turmoil. Celeste is coming out in January, say the developers.
]]>Celeste [official site] is simple enough. It's a platformer about climbing a mountain in which you can jump, air-dash to clear larger gaps, wall jump, and hold down right-trigger on the controller to cling to vertical surfaces until your stamina runs out. You leap between platforms, you avoid the spikes, and it's all very pleasant.
That's how it begins, anyway. By the time I reached its third area, the last included in the preview build I've been playing, I'm fleeing from mirror-world clones of myself that mimic my movements and destroy me on touch and navigating the world via blocks full of colourful stars. With each twist introduced as I climb its mountain, Celeste climbs higher in my estimation.
]]>TowerFall creator Matt Thorson has announced his next game, a mountain-climbing platformer named Celeste [official site]. Together with Noel Berry, he's "re-imagining" the wee prototype they made last year in only four days - which you can still play online. Unlike the local multiplayer murder madness of TowerFall, Celeste looks like quite a chill - though certainly not easy - solo adventure.
]]>
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