Golden Ridge

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Golden Ridge 

Golden Ridge
Chapter	4
Strawberries	29  • 3
Sides	4A  •  4B  •  4C
Characters	• Madeline  • Bird (cameo)  • Granny  • Theo  • Badeline (cameo)
Level navigation Celestial Resort ← Golden Ridge → Mirror Temple

Golden Ridge is the fourth chapter of Celeste. Preceded by the Celestial Resort and succeeded by Mirror Temple, it takes place on a windy cliff which scales Celeste Mountain. Within Celeste's main narrative plot, this chapter marks a significant turning point, being the "middle" chapter amongst the seven main chapters of the story. This chapter introduces several new elements to the game, including bouncy clouds and green bubbles; it also marks Granny's first appearance since the prologue.

Plot

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After having escaped the Celestial Resort, Madeline arrives at a ridge climbing up the side of Celeste Mountain. En route, she ends up finding the Bird, who chirps a single time, and Granny. Both end up surprised when seeing each other; Granny wasn't expecting Madeline to make it this far, and Madeline thought that she was just crazy. Granny then subsequently asked Madeline whether she made it out of the hotel, and whether she saw Mr. Oshiro or no; Maddy explains that she was chased out of there. Granny then explains what happened earlier that morning; Mr. Oshiro is a lost soul. Madeline, however, thinks that the hotel has driven both her and Oshiro crazy. The old woman then comments on how someone else had told them this; this person might be Theo. She then continues to talk about how the mountain cannot bring out anything that isn't already within you; in Madeline's case, her insecurities are fully manifesting themselves. After receiving another comment about how crazy she was, Granny then tells the mountain climber about a shortcut she knows back to her car, in the event that she gives up. Madeline then directly walks past her, stating that she's headed for the summit; the old woman then comments that it is tough to tell apart stubbornness and determination (these two terms are reused as chapter names in Farewell). Prior to ending the conversation, she tells her to "watch out for the wind". If Madeline chooses to continue talking to Granny, she'll ask about whether she gets many visitors or no; the answer is no. The mountain climber then comments about how she would want to live the same way, and how she genuinely wanted to help Mr. Oshiro. Granny then comments again about how there's "no hope" in saving him. Madeline then asks if she was fine living alone in her old cabin; she says that she has friends, and isn't a hermit. She then comments about how she found the mountain and knew that it should be her home, because it shows you who you are (reiterating what she previous said). Madeline then continues up the Golden Ridge. The wind becomes increasingly stronger as she makes it upwards, until it eventually reaches a point where she can barely move against the wind, and snowballs start bombarding her. “Nailed it.” ~ Theo, after falling down a cliff The selfie Theo takes as the gondola stalled. At the end of the chapter, Madeline finds a gondola, but then, Theo appears, falling from above. He then gets excited from seeing the gondola, and suggests taking it to cross a relatively deep valley to the other side. Whilst riding the gondola, Theo then asks how did it go with Oshiro; Madeline then tells her the truth, to which Theo replies, "I hate to say this, but...". Madeline interrupts him, knowing that she should've listened. Theo then comments that they have to get a selfie up here. As they take a photo, the gondola stalls out, and Badeline appears close by, but not within sight. Madeline then starts panicking, and the music, 10  •   Anxiety intensifies. This continues, until Theo brings up a technique, taught to him by Carlos (his grandfather), on calming down; imagining a feather floating up and down. This calms Madeline down, and as soon as she is back to a state of relative normality, the gondola resumes to its destination. When they arrive, Madeline thanks Theo, who states that he thought that the gondola wouldn't continue, and shows her the selfie he took.

Gameplay

C-Side

The C-Side consists of three rooms, in which every uses a different mechanic. The first one features bubbles that set up Wallbounces, the second one is a short autoscroller section in which the player has to go around the block in order to regain stamina, and the final one, which features a new type of wind, called "crazy" wind in the game files. Unlike regular strong wind, it makes the player unable to walk backwards without dashing, forcing them to go forwards without stopping. The room has multiple obstacles in which the player has to keep moving forward while also quickly reacting to upcoming hazards.

Strawberries & Collectibles

Main article: Golden Ridge Collectibles

Golden Ridge contains 29 unique red strawberries Hidden throughout the chapter. This incudes one winged strawberry, and one seeded berry. Additionally, a Cassette Tape and Blue Crystal Heart are hidden within.

Speedrun strategies

Speedruns of this chapter mostly feature fancy movement (as always) and taking advantage of the way wind works, being that, when Madeline dashes, it isn't affected by the wind, and you'll go the same distance as you would a dash in no wind. However, there are a couple things that are big enough to be specifically mentioned.

Archie

In Start-9, you can Updemo into the bubble to avoid dying when you dash up-right out of it. It doesn't really save enough time to be noticeable, but it looks cool, and will surely impress your friends.

Autoscroller Skip

Golden Ridge features moving blocks that you have limited control of, and along with these blocks come autoscrollers. The first autoscroller can be skipped by utilizing a Ceiling Pop to get close enough to the wall to dash up-right and climb up to the next room.

Trivia

• The white block in the heart room is a reference to Super Mario Bros. 3 in which crouching on them for a few seconds allowed Mario to fall into the background, allowing players to find hidden areas that are unreachable normally.

See also

Celeste base game chapters

Prologue	Forsaken City	Old Site	Celestial Resort	Golden Ridge	Mirror Temple	Reflection	The Summit	Epilogue	Core	Farewell