The Celeste fan-modding community has come together to collaborate on a HUGE fan-made content pack for the challenging platformer, and it’s out this month.
For those uninitiated, Celeste is a 2018 indie platformer developed by Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry. It has one of the most passionate fan communities I’ve ever seen for a game, and is a long-time favourite for many a speedrunner. It’s a whole lot of fun, hard as hell, and an incredibly beautiful story of overcoming depression and anxiety, and learning to trust yourself. Yes, I cried after playing Celeste.
The game’s community also includes a large subset of modders who have been building on the game since its release. Enter Celeste Strawberry Jam.
Celeste Strawberry Jam is an upcoming collaboration by various Celeste modders that is, according to the YouTube description for the release date video, set to include “over 100 new levels” lovingly made by fans of the title as well as 5 difficulty modes to keep it accessible.
The collaboration is two years in the making, with the odd update being posted to the team’s Celeste Strawberry Jam YouTube channel. On January 28th, the channel released a new trailer for the collaboration that gave fans a new look at what’s to come as well as when to expect it.
As seen in the release date trailer, the new fan-made levels cover a lot of ground in terms of new biomes, challenges, and ways to play for fans. Celeste Strawberry Jam is, to date, the largest ever collaboration in the Celeste modding community’s history of existence, with more than 350 contributors taking part.
On top of the contributions of modders, the collaboration will also include musical works from a collective of 50 composers. The fan-made soundtrack will be available on Bandcamp, with all proceeds made from soundtrack purchases going towards trans support network TransLifeline.
The collab has also gotten the tick of approval from the Celeste team themselves, who have long been avid supporters of the modding community around their game. Makes sense considering Thorson has openly said that she’s got no plans for a Celeste 2. Look out for Earthblade though!
Community mod coming!!
Grab your strawb pies, boba teas and let’s goooo 🍓🍰🧋https://t.co/X3CI4VAzwy
— Celeste (@celeste_game) January 27, 2023
So when and where should we expect to see Celeste Strawberry Jam? In terms of when, the mod is set to release on the Celeste GameBanana page on February 18th, 2023 at 5:00 a.m. AEDT, and will be playable through Celeste‘s dedicated mod loader and modding API Everest. As of writing, the collab will only be available on PC.
If you’ve been holding out for more Celeste content, this might just be the jam to fill your scone.
Leave a Reply