Celeste dev releases new mod that turns the hero into the tiny pixelated grandma

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If you thought Celeste was frustrating, you should try OLDESTE

OLDESTE mod for Celeste
(Image credit: Noel Berry)

The developer behind Celeste has shared a new version of the game called OLDESTE, which is much like the game it was based on, except you play as the little old lady. 

Sharing the project on Twitter, Celeste artist Noel Berry said: "People have asked us a lot about whether the original PICO-8 Celeste features Granny, so I present OLDESTE, a game about that." 

Like in Celeste, players are tasked with pulling off tricky platforming to progress through the game and collect strawberries along the way. The only difference is that instead of playing as the regular protagonist Madeline, players will instead play as the 'Old Woman' who inhabits the mountain from the original game. 

If you thought Celeste was on the difficult side, you should try playing OLDESTE. As expected, when playing as a little old lady, each manoeuvre in the game has been slowed down slightly. This means every step, jump, and bounce takes just that little longer to pull off. But what do you expect from someone with a walking stick and probably bad knees? 

According to Berry, the mod only took around an hour to pull together, so in their own words, "please do not take [it] too seriously." This hasn't stopped several fans from giving the unofficial spin-off a go, with many sharing their results in reply to the tweet and expressing their love for OLDESTE. 

The team behind Celeste, and technically OLDESTE too, have been busy since releasing the former back in 2018. Extremely OK Games is at the playtesting stage of development for its next game 2D action game, Earthblade. It's yet to get an official release date, but the team behind the upcoming title has said it is aiming for a 2023 launch. 

Want to know what other hidden gems you should keep an eye out for? Take a look at our new indie games list. 

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.