Celeste: The B-Sides and What Madeline Was Telling Herself

Celeste’s B-Side cassette tapes — found hidden in each main chapter — unlock brutal remixed versions of the stages that were not part of the original vision Madeline has when she decides to climb the mountain. They represent what the mountain shows her after she has already faced her initial challenge.

The B-Sides do not appear in the post-game story. They exist in a liminal space — acknowledged by the game’s achievement structure but not integrated into the narrative arc. Their difficulty is roughly double the main campaign, and their music is deconstructed, fragmented versions of the chapter themes.

What the B-Sides are, tonally, is a relapse. Having climbed the mountain and accepted herself, Madeline returning to remixed, harder versions of the same trials is the game’s mechanical metaphor for the fact that mental health progress is not linear. The mountain isn’t done with her.

The C-Sides — even harder, found via a completely different unlock condition involving the B-Side hearts — extend this further into something that the game’s creator Maddy Thorson described as ‘the mountain’s cruelty turned up to its maximum.’ Playing the C-Sides requires seeking out difficulty for its own sake. The game never asks you to.