Since I started myVGBC back in 2020, my inbox gets flooded daily with press and marketing emails — which is a great problem to have. I’m not complaining, I’m lucky to be on these mailing lists and have the opportunity to share my opinion on the latest game releases. I just want to point out a common trend that I’ve noticed over the years.

The subject line in many of these emails usually reads something like “[NEW GAME] is [THIS GAME] meets [THAT GAME]!” Over the past few years I’ve seen examples that are spot on, and others that are more of a gimmick. I do get what they are going for though, “If you liked [THIS GAME] then you are definitely going to love [NEW GAME]!” How else are you going to tell us about a game we know nothing about?

A Celeste-like Tether-based Platformer

Last week, I started playing TetherGeist, which was sold to me as a “Celeste-like tether-based platformer.” That’s a hard sell since Celeste was one of my top games the year it came out — it still is one of my all-time favorite indies. I’ve been looking for a reason to revisit Celeste, but I don’t want to go through some of those tough ass puzzles again. I remember being stuck on certain parts of Celeste for weeks, months, I even left for over a year before getting past one point.

TetherGeist did give me a similar feeling to how I felt when I first played Celeste. First, failure is a good thing. Both games keep a running total of all the times you die — per level and full playthrough. This encourages you to just keep trying, many times over and over again.

Both games feature strong female leads, and they have their unnecessary, slightly impossible optional tasks. In Celeste, you are informed that finding strawberries is strictly to show off to your friends — but totally unnecessary. TetherGeist has flowers to collect in the same vein. These are extra challenges that don’t change anything in the game.

Levels are broken up into many screens with checkpoints. Once you move onto the next screen, you are safe and done with the previous area. Each level is a mix of simple and hard screens, but I’m sure it’s different for every player. What’s difficult for me may be simple for you, and vice versa.

Once you jump off a platform in either game there is an immediate sense of urgency. Instead of calmly pressing the correct button combinations, you spastically try to get from one spot to the next by quickly mashing buttons — at least that was my experience. This could also be the reason I’ve died so many times.

It makes much more sense to try and get into a state of FLOW. Everything will still happen pretty quickly, but you can remain calm and get through it with the proper rhythm. It’s always more about rhythm than button mashing.

It’s just like how boss fights in an action game are easier when you fight defensively. Sure, they may take longer than spamming attacks, but it’s more rewarding to block and parry. Also, defensive moves may lead to more damage on attacks.

TetherGeist Did Not Lie

So, yes it was true this time that TetherGeist did invoke some of those similar feelings to playing Celeste. It’s mainly in gameplay and mechanics though, each of these games has their own separate story.

In Celeste, Madeline is trying to reach the top of a mountain, and fighting her demons along the way. TetherGeist’s story is closer to the story of Mirabel in Disney’s Encanto. Mae comes from a town where people can astral project their spirit once they come of age. For some reason, she can only sort of do this. Instead of binding, like the rest of the town, she can only tether.

The game would be much easier if she could just astral project her spirit all over the screen. Tethering makes the game more interesting.

Mae is also accompanied by her axolotl spirit buddy, Bao. Mae and the art style of TetherGeist remind me of a Cartoon Network show — almost like Clarence. Mae is the outsider in her village who cannot bind, but that leads to a fun, inspiring story.

After spending a few hours with TetherGeist it is a pretty solid Celeste-like, for those who have played Celeste and want a similar experience. After going back to Celeste though, if you haven’t played Celeste yet, you need to. Then you can hit up TetherGeist at a later date.

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*myVGBC was given a review code for TetherGeist by the publisher.