The original Celeste now has a sequel you can play in your browser

Celestial was one of the most acclaimed games of 2018, but what you might not know is that the tightly crafted platformer was an expanded version of a smaller project developed in four days during a game jam. Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry created the original Celestial for the Pico-8 platform, and now this version has a sequel called Celeste 2: Lani’s trek.

The developers, now including songwriter Lena Raine, say this game only took three days to make. The outing is to celebrate the third anniversary of Celestialthe Liberation.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Pico-8, it’s a “virtual console” that gives developers a framework to create games as if they were real hardware with defined technical capabilities. Games are limited to a resolution of 128 x 128, for example, and a specific palette of 16 colors, which gives a distinctive look. The games are accessible through the front end of the Pico-8 itself or distributed separately.

In Celestial 2In case, you can download Windows, Mac, Linux and Raspberry Pi versions for free from Itch.io, or play it in your browser through this link. (I would highly recommend using a controller, as the keyboard controls are … tricky.) The soundtrack is also available on Bandcamp.