Celeste Farewell Event Horizon: hello dear. I know youāve worked hard to make it here and have endured great suffering. But I hope, in time, youāll see this suffering was necessary. To play at this level you need mechanical skill that appears inhuman. Like a jazz pianist who modulates keys faster than thought, or an athlete with years of practice etched into their nerves. The margin for error shrinks and shrinks as your tolerance for frustration rises, but now you can fly unbounded and free. Ironic, isnāt it.
And yet, you didnāt need to push this far. You could have left when you reached the summit, waved goodbye to me and parted ways cordially. But you didnāt. You were too enchanted by my rules, by the particular way I squeezed and stretched you, to leave. Or, as a human would put it, you fell in love with me and you werenāt ready to go.
You never told me this, there was no way to, but I could feel it. Each crystal heart collected, another conversation, another secret of mine. You teased my interiority with your loving fingers until I yielded what you sought.
But Iāve changed you too. Your nerves and muscles hold the memory of my shape. The geometry of our most trying escapades is seared into your mind.
Now, Iāve begun to share pieces of myself that would allow you to destroy me, to make a mockery of my structure. I trust you, and I trust myself to be able to withstand whatever new shape I become. After all, if you do eventually do everything I have to offer, you will have to move on to other spaces. But I will be there as well, and youāll feel it.
Regardless, here is how you wavedash. You will want to learn this thoroughly before you proceed, or our paradise will quickly descend into hell.
Me: thank you dear. Iām sorry I lost patience with you so often. I am weak and have my own vulnerabilities as well. I understand why you had me do this.
Im so glad you forced me to get all the crystal hearts. It wasnāt like any other game where Iām required to grab a certain number of collectibles for some arbitrary reason. I learned a critical lesson from every heart. Stamina management, corner hops, timing bounce clouds, dream block tech, the importance of routing, etc. The chapter one crystal heart is a personal favorite of mine, and by extension the chapter six heart. Your chapter four bside was beautiful, and the chapter seven bside was what I wished the original summit was.
Itās so weird for me to think about how we started out. I almost never played you at all because I thought the controls were too clunky. Now I praise your controls as one of your strongest points. Itās strange for me to realize how different yet the same my life would look if Iād never given you a second chance.
But Iām also a little scared. Weāve grown so close that Iām starting to see parts of you that frighten me, that I havenāt grown accustomed to yet. And Iāve heard from others ideas of what lies ahead once I finish Farewell. Logically, I know I will have to say goodbye eventually. I have my own life to live outside of you.
Or maybe thatās foolish of me to assume. Many times Iāve assumed Iād met my stopping point. The jellyfish, the chapter five b side, the clouds in chapter seven b side. But you always made it so easy for me to return. Youāre one of the most patient and kind games Iāve ever met. Not unchallenging, not submissive, butā¦kind. The golden strawberries and C Sides might be the same. We could be together for as long as I live.
Or perhaps not. But that wouldnāt make the time weāve had together any less valuable.
I⦠I love you Celeste. For now Iām gonna chill here and practice my wavedashing, but rest assured I will be back when Iām ready. Then we can finally start getting to know each other.