Happy Monday, folks! I’m just off recording the latest GamesCast and here to welcome you to the Weekly Video Games Thread!
Lately, I’ve been playing Celeste. Well, I’ve been playing Celeste and Balatro and replaying Dark Souls, and I just finished Borderlands for that article. But let’s stick with Celeste, which turns out to be as good as advertised. Just finished Chapter 5!
Now, amongst its other virtues—the wonderful Assist Mode I haven’t explored yet, the soundtrack, the storytelling, the way its, like, “sub-8-bit” graphics are so evocative and clear—Celeste feels great to play. It took me a little while to acclimate, but it has some of the best movement I’ve seen in a 2D platformer. And one of the best parts? The dash. Madeline has this wonderful blast forward in eight directions that basically does everything. On the ground, it replaces a theoretical “run” button. In the air, it’s a double jump, except that mechanics are different from her normal jump in ways that can be a benefit, a hindrance, and often a requirement. To me, it’s one of the great verbs in 2D, right up there with Mario’s jump and the thing where you press all the buttons and it does Zangief’s special attack. Because it’s a power and a skill. It demands study, experimentation, and eventually mastery, and in doing so becomes a tool of self-expression.
Now, I could use this to make a prompt about these kinds of systems or mechanics but… nah. Let’s just focus on the dash. Or its many counterparts! So today’s prompt is dashing: one off dash moves (Hollow Knight), holding the button to run (Dark Souls, Zelda, basically every shooter that uses the left stick button as a dash for some reason), items that make you zoom forward (Banjo-Kazooie), rolls (also Zelda)… Basically, things that make you move faster than normal. I wanna hear all of your favorite examples. Maybe you like when dashing is part of the basic moveset, or when it’s a prize or a tool you have to seek out. And are there any new ways you’d like to see this kind of movement implemented?
And while you’re doing that, why not tell us all what gaming you got up to this… oh, wait, is this a Wolfman Jew last minute news update? Well, while the rest of this was written on Sunday night, less than a half hour before this launched, I actually finished Chapters 6 and 7 and hit the credits on Celeste! I guess there’s two more post-credits levels, on top of all the B-sides and secret bonus levels, but who cares! I did it!