Allow room for the whole companion
The collision shape is a circle around the companion’s body. A branch collision is tested against the solid rectangular branch bounds, including their corners. Your center can be inside the opening while the circle still overlaps a branch end.
Aim with clearance above and below, not with a single imagined point. Decorative details such as the scarf, ears and ambient forest motes are not separate obstacles. The solid flat branch ends provide the useful boundary when judging a close approach.
Treat screen boundaries differently
The top and bottom of the clearing also constrain the collision circle. A generous-looking gap does not make a large loop safe if it sends the companion beyond those boundaries before reaching the branches.
The left side is different: the camera advances through the world. Falling behind it produces “The forest got ahead of you.” You can encounter this failure without touching a branch or crossing a vertical boundary. The right side is not a matching static wall; forward movement brings more of the course into view.
Choose the correction that fits
For an upper branch collision, examine both your height and whether the path was still rising during entry. For a clearing-boundary failure, shorten the excursion earlier rather than concentrating only on the next opening. For a camera failure, examine time spent moving backward.
Do not assume every near miss is inconsistent collision detection. The moving body has width, and a curved path can carry its edge into a corner after the center has entered the gap. Repeating one approach with a little more clearance is a useful first check.