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

• You have three verbs: jump, dash, climb. Everything else is a combination of those.
• One dash in the air, refilled when you land (and by green crystals). Madeline's hair turns blue when the dash is spent.
• 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.
• Strawberries are optional. They affect a few achievements and the Epilogue pie, nothing else. Skip ones that are ruining your fun.
• Deaths don't matter. Respawns are instant and the game counts deaths as a badge of honour. Expect hundreds per chapter later on.
• Cassette tapes unlock B-Sides; Crystal Hearts unlock later chapters. Each A-Side hides one of each.
• Use Assist Mode if you need it. It's a built-in accessibility option (slower game speed, infinite stamina, extra dashes, invincibility, skip chapters).
• 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
• Celeste v1.4.0.0 changelog (Steam news)
• Celeste Wiki — Strawberries
• Celeste Wiki — Golden Strawberry
• Celeste Wiki — Core
• Celeste Wiki — Farewell
• Celeste Wiki — Assist Mode