Glacier Gully is the fifth Chapter in Skylanders: Giants, located in the Frozen Wastelands of Vesh. It is known for some incredible hail storms, and most of the residents know to stay indoors when heavy chunks of hail start raining down.[1] To enter the Secret Vault of Secrets, the Skylanders need an Arkeyan robot of their own, so they follow Ermit's directions to retrieve a robot he abandoned in Glacier Gully sometime ago.
This Chapter introduces the player to laser puzzles. Lasers can be manipulated with crystals (rotated via levers) to melt ice blocks that block the Skylander's way. When a puzzle is solved, the laser in that puzzle deactivates.
Description
Glacier Gully is a wintry kingdom comprised of many frozen, snow-covered platforms. Large blocks of ice, frozen cacti, and slippery ice bowls appear throughout the level, emphasizing its frigid climate. Light snowflakes drift from its orange-and-blue sky.
Elemental Gates
Areas to Find
- Snow Bump
- Icy Remains (Water)
- Magical Happening (Magic)
- Noodles's Cold Plate (Air)
- Crystal Shards
- Windy Reach
- Frozen Cactus Shrine (Water)
- Frozen Toe
- Fiery Thumb (Fire)
- Burned Depths
- Phoenix Rising
- Chilled Bowl (Water)
- Icy Drain
- Snowdrift Gate (Magic)
- Island of Ice (Magic)
Characters
- Auric (briefly)
- Ice Ogres
- Cali (briefly)
- Ermit (briefly)
- Snowclopses
- Flynn (briefly)
- Machine Ghost (formerly)
- Noodles
- Smoltergeist
Soul Gem
Hats
- Purple Fedora
- Fireman's Helment
Legendary Treasure
- Floral Reef Paint Job
Treasure Chests
- 4
New Enemies
The Store
- Propeller Cap - 400 gold
- Top Hat - 450 gold
- Frigid Chompy 2 Skystone - 100 gold
- Arkeyan Jouster 4 Skystone - 800 gold
- Regeneration Power Up - 175 gold
- Skystone Cheat - 500 gold
- Lock Puzzle Key - 500 gold
- Fairy Dust - 50 gold
Trivia
- In the Giants Strategy guide, there are errors in regards to the Sunburn Ambush; it says Sunburn is female when he is, in fact, a male.
- In the early alpha version of Giants, Glacier Gully possessed several notable differences from its final version:
- Glacier Gully's music was originally pitched higher, composed in an ominous minor key. This version of the theme would later be used for boss battles in Skylanders: Ring of Heroes with new instruments.
- The level's skybox was originally blue and filled with purple-tinted clouds, similar to the sky seen in Shattered Island.[2]
- Machine Ghost originally appeared after the first Battle Gate, rather than in the first Frigid Chompy encounter. He disappeared upon collection instead of following the Skylander through the rest of the level.
- The Kaos battle music from Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure originally played during the Dark Sunburn Ambush.[3]
- There were originally cacti in the first ice bowl, along with a hole in its center which led directly into the Icy Drain. These features were likely removed to minimize player frustration.
- The Icy Drain area was originally modeled to appear snowy and surrounded by trees, giving it an outdoor appearance in contrast with its final ice-cavern design.
- The level originally ended with a boss fight against Noodles, who controlled Machine Ghost's robot body. In the boss battle, the player would attack the robot's arms to cause it to short circuit, releasing Noodles, who then could be damaged freely. The battle consisted of three phases, with the robot performing fist-slamming and icicle-raining projectile attacks of incrementally increasing range. After the boss battle was finished, Noodles would begin healing, only to be crushed by the newly independent robot.[4]
- Glacier Gully's placeholder name was Recover the Robot.
- The key gate after the ice bowls in Chilled Bowl (and the keys used to open that gate) can be skipped entirely by performing a well-placed acrobatic move with Stealth Elf. The slippery momentum stored within the acrobatic move is released when she lands just below the rim of the bowl, allowing Stealth Elf to briefly levitate up the ledge to the final laser puzzle. Once this is achieved, the player must backtrack slightly to just behind the gate to activate the laser.[5]
- The final laser does not actually need to strike Machine Ghost's body to end the Chapter. If the final crystal is rotated twice, the Chapter ends, even if the laser does not strike the robot. This can be observed with two players, while one player rotates the crystal and the other blocks the laser's way.
- In alpha builds of Glacier Gully, and in the level's screenshot on its loading screen, a Giant-liftable boulder sits on the right side of the starting platform. This boulder does not exist in the final game.
- The white platforms that appear in this level are a reused asset from Dragon's Peak.
- Incidentally, a remix of Dragon's Peak's theme also plays at the end of this level.
- Sunburn, the Skylander originally sold in the Dragon's Peak Adventure Pack, also makes an appearance in Glacier Gully as an evil Skylander.
- Glacier Gully reuses several ideas from the Empire of Ice level, including its ice bowls, slippery sections, and frozen cacti.
- Freeze Blade's backstory states that he hails from the Frozen Wastelands of Vesh.
References
- ↑ Skylanders: Giants Official Strategy Guide: Questions & Answers, page 158
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha (Full Playthrough). (Date Posted - Dec 20, 2017). Youtube.
- ↑ Glacier Gully Any% Speedrun. (Date Posted - May 7, 2019). Youtube.