Ratchet
Medium course
A climb that changes axis on every hop. No straight line until the top.
What it is
Ratchet changes axis on every hop — there is no straight line in it until the top. Twenty-eight jumps across 125 cells, climbing 19, with the widest gap in the Medium tier at 4.7 cells and a 4-cell drop.
The route
Each jump turns ninety degrees from the last, which is what the name is about: it advances one notch at a time and never runs. The 4.7-cell gap is the hardest single jump before the Hard tier and it sits a long way into the course, past the third of four checkpoints — which is the part that makes this a Medium rather than an Easy.
How to approach it
Stop trying to keep sprint speed. A ratchet is a sequence of standing starts, and fighting that costs more time than it saves.
What it teaches: Precision from a stop, and that speed is not always the answer.
By the numbers
| Blocks | 480 |
|---|---|
| Footprint | 125 × 38 cells |
| Height | 13 cells |
| Checkpoints | 4 |
| Jumps on the solved route | 28 |
| Widest gap | 4.7 cells |
| Total climb | 19 cells |
| Start to finish | +7 cells |
| Biggest drop | 4 cells |
Measured from the geometry the game builds for ratchet, not estimated. Route figures describe the course, not a human run.
How it compares to the rest of the ladder
Ranked against all 23 courses on the same measurements, this one holds 2 places:
- the third-widest single jump on the ladder — 4.7 cells of air
- the third-longest fall on the ladder — 4 cells
Outright places only — ties are not claimed.
Medal times
Derived from this course's own geometry, not typed in — how the times are worked out.
| Medal | Time |
|---|---|
| Author | 0:36.99 |
| Gold | 0:42.54 |
| Silver | 0:51.79 |
| Bronze | 1:13.99 |
Controls
What you need to start
| Move | WASDArrow keys work too. |
|---|---|
| Jump | Space |
| Sprint / lock on | ShiftA latch, not a hold: tap once to arm sprint and a camera lock-on together, tap again to release both. Neither carries over into the next world you open. |
Sprint is a latch rather than a hold — tap it once and it stays on. Every control, keyboard and touch, including respawn, restart and the camera keys, and all of them rebindable.
Other Medium courses
- Cinder Gap — A broken causeway, an S-bend, and a descent that opens up.
- Switchback Yard — Beacon Climb's tower, with the turn taken on the pad and no deck to walk.
- The Turnpike — One hard corner, and a plunge on the far side you arrive at already turned.
- The Narrows — Ordinary jumps onto beams one cell wide. Precision, with no clock on it.