Forsaken City
| Forsaken City | |
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| Chapter | 1 |
| Strawberries |
 20 •  3 •  1 |
| Sides | 1A • 1B • 1C |
| Characters |
• Madeline • Theo • Bird |
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Level navigation Prologue ← Forsaken City → Old Site | |
Forsaken City is the first chapter of Celeste. Preceded by the Prologue and succeeded by Old Site, it introduces several core mechanics of the game, notably octadirectional dashes, red strawberries, red winged strawberries, and dash-refilling diamonds. Additionally, Theo is first introduced during this chapter.
Plot[edit | edit source]
For the list of dialogues, check Forsaken City/Dialogues.
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After crossing the collapsing bridge and narrowly escaping death, thanks to the Bird, Madeline arrives at the titular Forsaken City, an abandoned city apparently built by a mega-corporation, but where no one ended up settling. As Madeline continues to climb Forsaken City, which is filled with traffic-light blocks and city decor, she finds Theo and meets him for the first time. He is slightly hidden within the city's "main path", so meeting Theo isn't guaranteed. Theo presents himself in a much more flamboyant way, being in awe because of the city; he does end up rejoicing because of Madeline's presence. Her silence ends up scaring him to some degree, to the point where he calls Madeline a "lone wolf type" before even knowing her name. Madeline subsequently introduces herself and states that she has "a lot on her mind". Theo reacts positively, saying that she couldn't have "come to a better place". She then asks where he comes from: apparently, Theo lives in Seattle. Madeline then talks about what she knows about the city itself. After Madeline asks Theo about why he is present at Mount Celeste, he answers that he "has a thing for abandoned places", and also considers himself a budding photographer, often posting online via InstaPix (a parody of Instagram). Madeline then states that she is heading for the summit, which directly ends up telling Theo about how determined she is. Theo, on the other hand, mainly wants to explore the ruins around the mountain. He knows that he is doing something irresponsible but then suppresses his "holding-back" instinct, saying "YOLOOOOOOOOO!!" Madeline then continues up the mountain, without Theo (for the moment), until she ends up reaching the Celeste Mountain Memorial, a memorial dedicated to those who perished on the climb (towards the summit). Right beside, seeing an unlit campfire and realizing how tired she is, she lights it up, puts down her backpack, and sleeps for some time. The Bird reappears, landing on her head. She then contemplates whether her decision to climb the mountain was a mistake. |
Gameplay[edit | edit source]
A-Side[edit | edit source]
| Forsaken City A-Side | |
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| Level | 1A |
| Strawberries |
20 • 1 • 1 |
| Soundtrack |
Celeste OST: 02 • First Steps Madeline's Grab Bag: 09 • First Steps (Piano Only) |
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Forsaken City A-side • B-side • C-side |
Forsaken City's A-Side serves as an introductory level to much of how the game works. Madeline, controlled by the player, is introduced to combining jumping, dashing, and climbing to make it through various rooms. Strawberries, cassette tapes, crystal hearts, dash-refilling crystals, and many other objects are all introduced here. Momentum is another core mechanic that is presented.
Three sub-chapters are present: Start, Crossing, and Chasm.
Start[edit | edit source]
The beginning of "Start" introduces the player to several basic mechanics. The second room introduces wall jumping, which occurs when Madeline jumps from one wall to another; it's the simplest way to climb without using stamina.
Zippers, also known as "traffic light blocks" first appear in the fourth room. Jumping too soon whilst the block is moving will result in Madeline being thrown into a wall of spikes; this is the player's first introduction to momentum. The next room after features a winged strawberry; dashing will result in it flying away, and as such, Madeline must jump on the disappearing platforms right of the berry to collect it. The next room features a light shining at the left. It's the first occurrence of a "berry room", a room outside the main path containing a strawberry.
Springs, which bounce Madeline in the direction the spring is pointing towards, and smashable walls, which may be dashed into to remove, are also introduced here. Six strawberries are hidden within this subchapter.
Crossing[edit | edit source]
At the beginning of this subchapter, take the path left, and use the dash refill diamond to dash twice leftwards. This will lead into a room with a tent, where Theo is hiding. Diamonds refill your dash mid-air.
Later during this subchapter, falling ice blocks make a reappearance. 9 strawberries are hidden in this subchapter, and so is the Crystal Heart.
Chasm[edit | edit source]
The final subchapter contains several slightly more intricate uses of zippers. A Cassette Tape unlocking the B-Side can be found here.
Five strawberries are hidden within this subchapter.
B-Side[edit | edit source]
| Forsaken City B-Side | |
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| Level | 1B |
| Strawberries |
1 |
| Soundtrack |
Celeste B-Sides: 01 • First Steps (Sever the Skyline Mix) Remixed by Maxo |
Forsaken City's B-Side builds upon the mechanics of the A-Side, presenting them in a more challenging way. No new objects are introduced in this chapter, but Skull Binoculars, present in later chapters, also appear. Zipper blocks no longer generally follow an octadirectional system, and now appear much more frequently, often with spikes on them. Spikes are placed much more liberally and are often integrated with momentum-based rooms. Also, the game introduces resource management as a key factor, as many rooms in the B-Side force the player to conserve stamina, dashes, or both to get to the exit
The level follows approximately the same course as the A-Side, but is slightly shorter, heading both upwards and right, but continues slightly past the Celeste Mountain Memorial and unlit campfire into a Cassette Block room. The red crystal heart, situated at the end of the room, is named "Sever the Skyline".
Three sub-chapters are present: Start, Contraption, and Scrap Pit.
C-Side[edit | edit source]
| Forsaken City C-Side | |
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| Level | 1C |
| Strawberries |
1 |
| Soundtrack |
Celeste B-Sides: 01 • First Steps (Sever the Skyline Mix) Remixed by Maxo |
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Forsaken City A-side • B-side • C-side |
Forsaken City's C-Side further builds upon mechanics introduced in Forsaken City's A-Side and B-Side. The three-room gauntlet, unlocked after completing Core B-Side, adds Touch switches, also known as shields, as well as shield-powered blocks. It further enhances the difficulty and adds the idea of dashing away from a traffic block to not gain momentum.
Strawberries & Collectibles[edit | edit source]
Forsaken City contains 20 unique red strawberries hidden throughout the chapter. This includes 2 winged strawberries. Additionally, a Cassette Tape and Blue Crystal Heart are hidden within.
Winged Golden Strawberry[edit | edit source]
A unique collectible, the Winged Golden Strawberry, only appears in Forsaken City's A-Side. Obtaining it requires not completing any rooms within the entire chapter using Madeline's dash move; this entails the use of several advanced techniques, such as neutral jumping, and nearly pixel-perfect precision on several occasions.
The player can dash by accident so long as they die before moving to the next room, collecting a strawberry, or activating a change respawn trigger.
Speedrun strategies[edit | edit source]
Apart from general movement optimization, various techniques are used by speedrunners such as wall bouncing in the first winged berry room (with the breaking blocks) and doing a reverse hyperdash off the girder to do a corner boost off a wall which leads to the room with Theo. Screen transitions are used to refill dashes, allowing to skip doing the main path. Doing neutral jumps in the final room as well as a corner kick-up allows players to literally skip the whole room. These tricks allow speedrunners to do this chapter extremely quickly.
Celeste base game chapters
