What are the best games like Celeste?

Celeste came out almost a year ago to the day and has gotten such critical acclaim that it won the award for best Indie game and Games for Impact at the 2018 Game Awards.  

Perhaps you’ve finished the journey of climbing up Celeste Mountain. Maybe you’ve even done it multiple times or you’ve done a speedrun of the game and you know the chapters like the back of your hand.  

And yet maybe you want to experience a new adventure, but you’re not sure where to look. Here are 10 games that are similar enough to Celeste so that you don’t feel alienated, but just different enough so that you don’t feel like you’re playing bootleg clones of the game.

10. Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight Gameplay

Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania that takes place in a long-forgotten kingdom known as Hallownest. Hallownest lies underneath a ghost town called Dirtmouth. You take control of a genderless vessel known as The Knight. A lot of people go to Hallownest with riches, glory, or answers to their past in mind. However, The Knight has the goal of finding out the mysteries of Hallownest.

The Knight comes initially equipped with nothing but an old worn-down Nail. However, throughout the course of the journey, The Knight will meet a being known as The Nailsmith whom can enhance The Knight’s nail to improve its damage output and teach The Knight how to use new skills known as Nail Arts.

That nail is useless though unless there are enemies to use the abilities you learn and the nail you have. And thankfully, Hollow Knight offers a variety of enemies to do just that with including a flying predator known as the Vengefly that will home in on you when you are within range, and a fungal creature known as the Ambloom that will crawl around but deal damage upon contact.

Explore an expansive hand-drawn world filled with areas such as a hive filled with bees, caverns filled with fungus, and a webbed structure filled with spiders among other areas. In addition, throughout your exploration of Hallownest, experience a story filled with memorable moments.  

Fake? You’re Not Even Good Enough to be My Fake: The Knight finds itself up against a giant Knight equipped with a nail known as The False Knight.

This Area? A Bee Plus at Worst: The Knight will have a variety of areas to explore in Hallownest including The Hive pictured above.