Post VIII: Motivational Motifs (Celeste’s Soundtrack P1)

Trevor Williams
3 min readApr 28, 2021

I briefly touched upon the depth of Celeste’s soundtrack in the first minute of my podcast, The Beginning, in my WP2 (linked here), but I haven’t quite done its depth justice. Therefore, this post will be the beginning of a two-post series about the nuance of the game’s OST, as an extension of “The Middle: Examining Celeste’s Climax,” another WP2 article. This one will examine its music as a motivational/calming tool, and the other will explore it as a reflection of the game’s exploration/anxiety.

In my podcast, while explaining my choice of background music, I introduced this concept: “I think this song demonstrates how a talented composer and a good soundtrack can create this air of intrigue and mystery without even using words…the scaling arpeggios and instrument choice develop that calming effect and create that environmental storytelling” (The Beginning: A Podcast-Interview 0:41). The song, “Resurrections,” plays in the second chapter of the game, creating an atmosphere that is essential to that section’s storytelling experience.

I’ve always been drawn to music that tells a coherent story because as a storyteller, it taught me about the emotional weight of musical choices. I’ve played the piano for 12 years, I sing casually and for musical theatre, and I was exposed to classical music from my childhood best friend, a concert cellist. While usually, my narrative-driven interest takes form through a song’s lyrics (think verse-driven music such as “American Pie” or “Cat’s in the Cradle”), Celeste introduced me to the unique charm of instrumental music as accompaniment. While music can be used on its own to tell a compelling narrative, I’ve noticed it can become even more powerful when used in tandem with other storytelling methods to elevate the story’s impact.

The soundtrack of Celeste is very well-thought out and flows from one piece to the next fluidly and smoothly. As shown in “Reach for the Summit,” each chapter’s primary melody can be combined and mixed to create a symphony, and each track embodies the environment of the chapter it can be found in.

Lena Raine (the game’s composer) also often utilizes musical motifs in order to unlock complicated emotions in its audience that wouldn’t otherwise be possible to accomplish. For instance, listen to the track that plays at the very end of the prologue, when the player is introduced to the movement mechanics for the first time:

And listen to the beginning of the track of the final section of the final chapter of the game:

They’re identical. While perhaps you wouldn’t consciously notice on your first playthrough, the repetition allows you to access the moment in your brain when you first learned the ropes. You innately recognize how far you’ve come, how much you’ve improved, what you’ve had to struggle through to reach the point you’re at. It adds a core memory to that four-pitch sequence, creating an amalgamation of nuanced thoughts each time you listen.

The motivational music in Celeste creates a more satisfying feeling of achievement, but more importantly, it deepens the response that its audience has to the gameplay. It’s allowed me to understand the importance of multimodal storytelling: with only one or the other, the game’s story would be interesting, but only through the emotions produced from recurring motifs in music ALONG with the difficulty and reward of gameplay is Celeste truly fulfilling.

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