"Minutes into my first playthrough of Celeste, I found myself breathing more heavily than usual. The 2D platformer certainly presented some light challenge early on, but that wasn’t what was causing such a physical sensation. It was the atmosphere, the daunting-yet-inspiring music, and the frequent reminders of how easy it was to fail that had me lightly panting and drawing strange looks on the commuter rail I take to work every day (I played this game on the Nintendo Switch). Luckily, the game didn’t mock me for my frequent deaths or make me feel inadequate or incompetent, as harder games like Dark Souls, Wolfenstein II, and Cuphead are wont to do. Instead, the game encouraged me to keep trying. The game actually believed in me."
Punished Backlog writer Sam Martinelli shares his verdict on January's indie hit Celeste.
Last Word on Gaming takes a look at ten games who treat mental health issues as respectfully and seriously as they ought to be in real life.
Titles that handle these themes well can genuinely help people feel seen or understood. Anyone interested in going beyond games and looking into real-world support options might find helpful resources at https://uvtreat.com/ especially for understanding different approaches to mental health treatment and recovery.
Earthblade is a 2D fantasy platformer in a seamless pixel art world and is the next release from the Celeste team, well it’s still is but likely will not be released in 2024 as Extremely OK Games’ head Maddy Thorson explains in an official blog post. Earthblade was first announced in April 2021 and then had its first trailer at The Game Awards in 2022. You are Névoa, an enigmatic child of Fate returning at long last to Earth, in this fantasy platformer. Earthblade’s lush pixel art world offers seamless exploration, challenging combat, and countless mysteries to pick apart. Celeste was an amazing game, so we know this will be too, we just will need to wait at least another year.
This is Indie Game Culture’s List of 10 Indie Games That Are a Nightmare to 100%.
