Golden Ridge

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 among 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

Show/hide content

After escaping the Celestial Resort, Madeline arrives at a ridge climbing up the side of Celeste Mountain. On her way up, she encounters the Bird, who chirps once, and then Granny. Both end up surprised upon seeing each other; Granny wasn't expecting Madeline to make it this far, and Madeline thought she was just crazy. Granny then asks Madeline if she saw Mr. Oshiro. Maddy explains that he chased her out of there, and Granny then tells Madeline that Mr. Oshiro is a lost soul. Madeline, however, thinks that the hotel has driven both her and Oshiro insane. The old woman then mentions that someone else (possibly Theo) told her this. She continues to speak about how the mountain cannot bring out anything not already within you: in Madeline's case, her insecurities are fully manifesting themselves. After receiving another comment about how crazy she is, Granny tells the mountain climber that she knows a shortcut back to her car if she decides to give up. Madeline then directly walks past her, stating that she's heading for the summit. The old woman 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 warns her to "watch out for the wind." If Madeline continues the conversation, she asks whether Granny gets many visitors; Granny denies that. The mountain climber then describes how she sometimes thinks about living in solitude, the same way as Oshiro, and how she genuinely wanted to help him. Granny replies that there is "no hope" in saving him. Madeline asks if she is fine living alone in her old cabin; Granny replies that she has friends and isn't a hermit. She then explains that when she found Celeste Mountain, she knew instantly it would be her home because it shows you who you really are (reiterating what she previously said). Madeline then continues up the Golden Ridge. The wind intensifies as she makes it upwards. It eventually reaches a point where Madeline can barely move against it, and snowballs start bombarding her. 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. While riding the gondola, Theo asks how it went with Oshiro; Madeline 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 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

A-Side

The A-Side of Golden Ridge is not a huge difficulty jump from Celestial Resort, with more open-level design and less focus on story compared to its predecessor. Although quite short, the gimmicks are somewhat unique compared to previous chapters. The new entities include wind, green bubbles, clouds, moving platforms, and move blocks.

The sub-chapters in Golden Ridge are Start, Shrine, Old Trail, and Cliff Face.

B-Side

The B-Side of Golden Ridge combines the same entities from the previous chapter, with tighter autoscroller timings and difficult jumps from moving platforms. The second checkpoint, Stepping Stones, reintroduces wind and crumbling blocks, and has a difficult screen with an upwards-moving block where the player must maneuver from side to side while avoiding dying or losing stamina. The next room also reintroduces touch switches. The third checkpoint, Gusty Canyon, has another difficult screen where the player must manage three autoscrollers at the same time, and the room after reintroduces clouds. The cassette room has some mostly simple platforming, but with strong winds pushing Madeline to the left and impeding her movement.

C-Side

The C-Side consists of three rooms, each having a different gimmick. 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.

Collectables

Main article: Golden Ridge Collectables

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 autoscroller rooms. The first 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.
• Along with Celestial Resort's B-Side, this is one of the two levels whose B-Side song is an original composition and not a remix of a song from the Celeste OST.

See also

Celeste base game chapters

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