---
title: "Celeste: Complete Guide"
game: "Celeste"
game_url: "https://qna.gg/games/celeste"
author: "Qloud"
author_url: "https://qna.gg/players/Qloud"
topics: ["Collectibles"]
summary: "Everything from your first dash to Farewell: controls, the movement tech the game quietly teaches you, a chapter-by-chapter outline, how strawberries, Crystal Hearts, cassettes and golden berries work, Assist Mode, and…"
url: "https://qna.gg/g/celeste-complete-guide-87394140"
published: "2026-09-27T17:15:32.713Z"
updated: "2026-09-27T17:15:32.713Z"
source: "QnA.GG"
---

# Celeste: Complete Guide

Everything from your first dash to Farewell: controls, the movement tech the game quietly teaches you, a chapter-by-chapter outline, how strawberries, Crystal Hearts, cassettes and golden berries work, Assist Mode, and where modding goes after you've finished.

*Researched September 2026 — current as of v1.4.0.0 (March 2021, the last gameplay patch; Farewell was added free in v1.3.0.0 on September 9, 2019). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.*

## Quick Start

1. **You have three verbs: jump, dash, climb.** Everything else is a combination of those.
2. **One dash in the air, refilled when you land** (and by green crystals). Madeline's hair turns blue when the dash is spent.
3. **Climbing uses stamina.** Hold grab on a wall; she flashes red when stamina is almost gone. Jumping off a wall refills nothing, landing on the ground does.
4. **Strawberries are optional.** They affect a few achievements and the Epilogue pie, nothing else. Skip ones that are ruining your fun.
5. **Deaths don't matter.** Respawns are instant and the game counts deaths as a badge of honour. Expect hundreds per chapter later on.
6. **Cassette tapes unlock B-Sides; Crystal Hearts unlock later chapters.** Each A-Side hides one of each.
7. **Use Assist Mode if you need it.** It's a built-in accessibility option (slower game speed, infinite stamina, extra dashes, invincibility, skip chapters).
8. **Rebind controls in Options.** v1.4.0.0 overhauled rebinding and added a toggle Grab Mode, a Crouch Dash bind and a Quick Restart bind.

## Controls

| Action | Keyboard default | Controller |
|---|---|---|
| Move | Arrow keys | Left stick / D-pad |
| Jump | C | A / Cross |
| Dash | X | X / Square (also B / Circle) |
| Grab / Climb | Z (or Shift, depending on layout) | Shoulder or trigger |
| Pause | Esc | Start |

Keyboard defaults can differ slightly by version; check Options > Keyboard Config. Many players move to a controller with the D-pad for precise eight-direction dashes.

## Core Movement Explained

- **Dash** goes in any of eight directions for a short, fixed distance. Diagonal dashes are key for gaps.
- **Climb jump** — jumping while holding grab on a wall sends you straight up, costing a chunk of stamina.
- **Wall jump** — jump while pressing away from (or not holding) the wall; costs no stamina.
- **Coyote time** — you can still jump for a moment after running off a ledge.
- **Dash refills** — green crystals restore your dash mid-air; Farewell adds pink double-dash refills.
- **Environment:** moving blocks carry momentum; jumping off a moving platform at the right time gives a big speed boost ("lift boost").

## Movement Tech (learn in this order)

| Tech | How | Where it's useful |
|---|---|---|
| Neutral jump | Jump off a wall without holding a direction | Climbing single walls without stamina |
| Super dash (superdash) | Dash horizontally on the ground, then jump during the dash | Long horizontal gaps |
| Hyper dash (hyper) | Dash diagonally down into the ground, then jump | Very long, low jumps |
| Wavedash | Diagonal-down dash from the air, jump when you hit the ground | Taught in Farewell's "wavedash.ppt" presentation |
| Wallbounce | Dash straight up next to a wall, then jump | Huge vertical height; required in Farewell |
| Ultra | Keep speed boost from a diagonal-down dash landing | Speedrunning and later mod maps |

None of these are required for the main story (Chapters 1–7). Farewell and some B/C-Sides do require several.

## Chapter Outline (light spoilers)

| # | Chapter | New mechanic | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prologue | — | Basic movement | Teaches dash |
| 1 | Forsaken City | Moving blocks, springs | Winged golden berry lives here (no-dash clear) |
| 2 | Old Site | Dream blocks (dash through), Badeline chase | First "mirror" chase |
| 3 | Celestial Resort | Clutter switches, dust bunnies, keys | Longest chapter so far |
| 4 | Golden Ridge | Wind, moving cloud platforms | Wind direction changes |
| 5 | Mirror Temple | Bubbles (booster), seekers, switches | Darker, maze-like |
| 6 | Reflection | Feathers, bumpers, boss fight | Story climax; no red strawberries |
| 7 | The Summit | All mechanics remixed | Long final climb |
| — | Epilogue | — | The pie reacts to your berry count |
| 8 | Core | Hot/cold switch, dash doesn't refill on ground | Needs Crystal Hearts to enter |
| 9 | Farewell | Jellyfish, pufferfish, double dash, wavedash | Free DLC; very hard |

### Tips by chapter

- **Forsaken City:** Learn to dash diagonally up off moving blocks — they give a speed boost when they stop.
- **Old Site:** Dream blocks: dash into them and you'll pass through; jump on exit for extra height. During chases, Badeline copies your path — keep moving.
- **Celestial Resort:** Collect all clutter switches you can; the section design teaches spotting the "way through" in messy rooms.
- **Golden Ridge:** Use wind — dash with it rather than against it; watch the flag direction.
- **Mirror Temple:** Seekers track sound and movement; bait them into walls. Bubbles carry you — change direction by dashing out.
- **Reflection:** Feathers let you fly for a few seconds; bumpers bounce you. The boss section is about patience, not speed.
- **The Summit:** Checkpoints are frequent. Every mechanic returns, so if a room breaks you, recall which chapter taught it.
- **Core:** Your dash only refills on screen transitions, refills and certain interactions (mostly bubbles), not on landing. Flip the hot/cold switch to change fireballs and magma into ice versions.
- **Farewell:** Starts easy, then demands wavedashes and wallbounces. At the Event Horizon checkpoint, a Heart Door needs 15 Crystal Hearts to continue.

## Collectibles and Unlocks

### Strawberries

- Red strawberries appear in 1A–5A, 7A and 8A (not Reflection or Farewell).
- Achievements at 30, 80 and 175 strawberries.
- They change the pie and characters' reactions in the Epilogue.
- **Winged strawberries** fly away if you dash; collect them without dashing after they appear.
- **Seeds** — collect all seeds in a room to form a strawberry.
- Collecting everything in the game totals **202 berries**; doing so gives your save file a gold background.

### Crystal Hearts and Cassettes

- Each A-Side has a **Crystal Heart** hidden behind a puzzle or secret path, and a **Cassette Tape** that unlocks that chapter's **B-Side** and a remix track.
- **C-Sides** unlock once you've completed all the B-Sides; they're short, brutally hard single-screen gauntlets.
- **Core's Heart Door:** 4 hearts for A-Side, 15 for B-Side (after 7B), 23 for C-Side.
- **Farewell:** unlocked by finishing Core A-Side; the later part sits behind a 15-heart door at the Event Horizon checkpoint.

### B-Sides and C-Sides: how to approach them

- **B-Sides** remix each A-Side's mechanic into a much harder, more linear route, with a remix of the chapter's music. There are no red strawberries — the goal is the Crystal Heart at the end.
- Checkpoints are generous, so treat each screen as its own puzzle: find the intended route first (often slower than it looks), then execute.
- **C-Sides** are a handful of short, extremely dense screens. They reward the tech in the table above more than anything in the main game.
- If a B-Side screen stops being fun, switch to a different chapter's B-Side and come back — they can be cleared in any order once unlocked.
- Hearts from B- and C-Sides count toward Core's later heart doors and Farewell's door, so clearing a few B-Sides is the usual route to 15 hearts.

### Golden Strawberries

- Unlocked after you complete **Core B-Side**; they then appear at the start of each chapter side.
- You must finish the whole side **without dying**; the berry is at the end of A-Sides or after the heart in B/C-Sides.
- Die and you lose the berry and are sent back to the room where you picked it up.
- **Farewell's golden** follows its own rule: it appears only after you have finished Farewell once.
- The **winged golden** in Forsaken City A-Side is the exception — you must reach the end without dashing rather than without dying.
- The **Moon Berry** is a secret in a hidden room in Farewell's final checkpoint.

## Assist Mode and Variant Mode

Assist Mode (Options) offers:

- Game Speed down to 50% (10% steps)
- Infinite Stamina
- Air Dashes: Default, Two or Infinite
- Dash Assist (freezes time to aim your dash)
- Invincibility
- Assist Skip (skip chapters)

Variant Mode adds optional modifiers for fun or extra challenge; enabling it turns Assist Mode off. Using assists never blocks the story or later chapters.

## Common Mistakes to Avoid

- **Chasing every strawberry on first playthrough.** Some are much harder than the chapter's required path. Come back later.
- **Holding grab while wall jumping.** Holding grab makes a climb jump (drains stamina). Let go for a free wall jump.
- **Mashing dash.** One dash per landing — plan it. Most deaths come from dashing too early.
- **Ignoring the direction you're holding when dashing.** On keyboard, make sure both keys are pressed for diagonals before you hit dash.
- **Skipping Options.** Screenshake at 50% is the default since 1.4; turn it off if it bothers you, and set up Grab Mode toggle if holding hurts your hands.
- **Thinking B-Sides are required.** They're optional post-game content.

## Advanced Tips

- **Quick Restart bind** (v1.4) is ideal for golden-strawberry attempts.
- **Screen-by-screen practice:** in Chapter Select, use Assist Mode's invincibility or game speed to rehearse a room, then turn it off to execute.
- **Speedrunning:** the community uses tech like hypers, supers, ultras and demo dashes (the "Crouch Dash" bind added in 1.4). Check speedrun resources for route-specific tricks.
- **Modding:** the community loader **Everest** runs custom maps and big collab campaigns. Install via the Olympus launcher; keep a vanilla copy if you care about your original save.
- **Farewell prep:** before Farewell's second half, practice wavedashes on the "wavedash.ppt" screens until you can do them 10 in a row.

## FAQ

**How long is Celeste?**
The main story (Prologue to Summit + Epilogue) is typically around 8–10 hours for most players; 100% with B-Sides, C-Sides, Farewell and goldens can take many times longer.

**Do I need all strawberries to see the true ending?**
No. Strawberries only affect achievements and the pie in the Epilogue. Farewell is the real epilogue chapter.

**How do I unlock Chapter 9 (Farewell)?**
Complete Core A-Side. Around halfway through Farewell there's a door that needs 15 Crystal Hearts.

**How do I get B-Sides?**
Collect the Cassette Tape hidden in each A-Side.

**Is Assist Mode "cheating"?**
No. The developers built it as an accessibility feature and rewrote its menu text in v1.3.0.0 so it reads as less judgmental. It never blocks story progress. If you're hunting 100% achievements, clear the hard stuff without assists so there's no doubt.

**Is there a golden strawberry for every chapter?**
Yes — one per side, once unlocked by beating Core B-Side (Farewell's appears after you clear Farewell once).

## Sources

- [Celeste on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/504230/Celeste/)
- [Celeste v1.4.0.0 changelog (Steam news)](https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/504230)
- [Celeste Wiki — Strawberries](https://celeste.ink/wiki/Strawberries)
- [Celeste Wiki — Golden Strawberry](https://celeste.ink/wiki/Golden_Strawberry)
- [Celeste Wiki — Core](https://celeste.ink/wiki/Core)
- [Celeste Wiki — Farewell](https://celeste.ink/wiki/Farewell)
- [Celeste Wiki — Assist Mode](https://celeste.ink/wiki/Assist_Mode)