This week on Twitter Matt Thorson, the creator of the breakout indie super-tight platformer Celeste, shared a progress report on the game’s anticipated upcoming DLC. Celeste’s Chapter 9: Farewell will have “over 100 levels” that the team have been working on intensely for several weeks.
We don’t like to talk release dates until we’re 100% sure, because as always we have missed every internal target we set for ourselves as the Chapter grew in scope. Sorry!
— Matt Thorson 🍂 (@MattThorson) May 31, 2019
Celeste released to highly positive reviews in 2018 and was named the 5th best game on mxdwn’s Top 10 Games of 2018 list last year. Matt Thorson originally built the game in four days for a game jam and Celeste ended up being a cult hit, selling 500,000 copies in its first year. As a thank you to the fans for their support, Matt Thorson and development company Matt Make Games started working on DLC for the game, planning to release them in early 2019 to line up with the game’s first anniversary .
We’re working on some farewell Celeste levels, which should be ready in early 2019. They’re very hard. And we’ll be announcing what’s next for us in the new year as well. See you in 2019 🙂
— Matt Thorson 🍂 (@MattThorson) December 21, 2018
Unfortunately, Matt Make Games’s development team wasn’t able to get the DLC content up to par in time to hit their original release target. The project got bigger and more ambitious than expected, and it seems the development team prefers to delay the release of the DLC rather than rush or release it in an incomplete state.
Release of the DLC may not be too far off, however. An announcement on the official Twitter page for Celeste reads that Chapter 9: Farewell is on the “home stretch” and that the DLC will be free on all available platforms. The update from Matt Thorson this week might be a sign that a release is imminent.
Back in January, Matt Thorson also shared what’s in store for Celeste with the new content update. The DLC is apparently very hard and will feature the “current hardest levels in difficulty” as well as new items and mechanics.
Some Celeste DLC Chapter details:
-It won’t be ready for the anniversary on Jan 25th, sorry!
-It’s all one continuous chapter, no B-Side
-It’s after the current hardest levels in difficulty
-No strawberries
-There are some new items/mechanics
-Free on all platforms— Matt Thorson 🍂 (@MattThorson) January 12, 2019
From the game’s official website, Celeste is a “single-player platformer about climbing a mountain” and is currently available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.