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 escaping 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 she was just crazy. Granny then asks 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 tells Madeline that 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 tells the mountain climber about a shortcut she knows back to her car if she decides to give 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). Before ending the conversation, she tells her to "watch out for the wind." If Madeline continues talking to Granny, she'll ask about whether she gets many visitors; 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 is fine living alone in her old cabin; Granny says that she has friends and isn't a hermit. She then comments about how she found the mountain and knew instantly it should be her home because it shows you who you are (reiterating what she previously 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 took 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 another side. Whilst riding the gondola, Theo then asks about 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 at the top of it. Theo breaks a lever trying to get the gondola working; Madeline then starts panicking, commenting that "this really isn't good". The music, 10  •   Anxiety, intensifies. Theo says that she's having a panic attack, to which Madeline angrily asks him why he thought it's a good idea to ride "this stupid thing". Theo calms her down and brings up a technique taught to him by Carlos (his grandfather), imagining a feather floating up and down. This helps reduce the panic, and as soon as she's back to a state of relative normalcy, the gondola continues going 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, each using a different mechanic. The first features bubbles that set up Wallbounces; the second is a short autoscroller section in which the player has to go around the block to regain stamina. The last room has multiple obstacles where the player has to keep moving forward while also quickly reacting to upcoming hazards. It features "crazy" wind, which is even stronger than regular wind: Madeline can't walk backwards without dashing, forcing her to go forwards without stopping.

Strawberries & Collectibles

Main article: Golden Ridge Collectibles

Golden Ridge contains 29 unique red strawberries hidden throughout the chapter. This includes 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, she isn't affected by the wind, and you'll go the same distance as you would in no wind. However, a couple of things 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 and right and climb up to the next room.

Trivia

• The white block in the heart room is a reference to Super Mario Bros. 3. Like in Celeste, crouching on them for a few seconds allows Mario to fall into the background and find normally unreachable hidden areas.

See also

Celeste base game chapters

• 

  Prologue

• 

  Forsaken City

• 

  Old Site

• 

  Celestial Resort

• 

  Golden Ridge

• 

  Mirror Temple

• 

  Reflection

• 

  Summit

• 

  Epilogue

• 

  Core

• 

  Farewell