Madeline (Celeste) in the context of "Maddy Thorson"

A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not controlled by a player are called non-player characters (NPCs). The actions of non-player characters are typically handled by the game itself in video games, or according to rules followed by a gamemaster refereeing tabletop role-playing games. The player character functions as a fictional, alternate body for the player controlling the character.

Video games typically have one player character for each person playing the game. Some games, such as multiplayer online battle arena, hero shooter, and fighting games, offer a group of player characters for the player to choose from, allowing the player to control one of them at a time. Where more than one player character is available, the characters may have distinctive abilities and differing styles of play.

Celeste is a 2018 platform video game developed and published by indie studio Maddy Makes Games. The player controls the player character Madeline, a young woman with anxiety and depression, who endeavors to climb Celeste Mountain, a fictional version of Mount Celeste. During her climb, she encounters several characters, including a personification of her self-doubt nicknamed "Badeline", who attempts to stop her from reaching the mountain's summit.

Development of Celeste began in August 2015, when game developers Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry created a version of Celeste for the PICO-8 during the course of a weekend; Thorson, who served as producer, and Berry, who served as the lead programmer, wanted to expand the PICO-8 version into a full game. Inspired in part by Thorson's own TowerFall (2013) and Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988), the gameplay was designed to be minimal and to mirror the feeling of bouldering. Celeste was designed to be accessible, featuring game mechanics and an "Assist Mode" that make the game more forgiving and less challenging. To create a more "introspective" game, the developers added themes of self-forgiveness into the narrative, which grew to become intertwined with the gameplay. Celeste's soundtrack was composed by Lena Raine.