Pluto is an absolute masterclass in how viscerally uncomfortable it feels to play it. The whole level is made of these pulsing, writhing shades of blue, purple and orange, meshed with a base blackness that prevents the player from getting a good look at most of the level during a normal playthrough. I don't mean this in a bad way, but rather it creates an atmosphere that's dark and feels foreboding since the player has to work to understand much of their environment. Djudjeito couples these aspects with a very trippy forced depth effect in the level's second part, using gradient triggers to make it appear the structures extend backwards forever into infinity, driving home the aforementioned surrealist undertones alongside the mask staring at the player from the background. I love how the jagged, freeform structures are briefly highlighted by the solid black background - it forces the player to pay attention to them and highlights how unnatural they ultimately end up feeling. This combined with everything else I've mentioned evokes this deep internal sense that we the player should not be here, playing the level. It's something I can only recall being pulled off by a select few other levels, such as False Noise by Lumpy.

However, my absolute favourite aspect of this level is its song representation. The dissonant, high-pitched and whining lead synths really accentuate the discomfort that the predrop creates, and I love how the level opens up into a huge, flat expanse with a city and sunset in the distance right as the song becomes quieter, with heavy reverb that sounds and feels cavernous. The quick flashes of blue and the jerky, unnatural way in which the arrows and hands move in the drop's second half are really neat touches that feel mechanical, further driving home Pluto's surrealism in its environments and helping highlight the part's gameplay. This leads into my only major criticism of the level, being that the gameplay is pretty underwhelming and little attempt was made to integrate it in with the level's theming. It feels very normal and doesn't add to the level in any meaningful way; several parts even have blocks that only appear near the player to show the gameplay, and whether intentional or not this feels quite out of place. I feel that either Djudjeito should have fully invested into this concept as he's done for so many other aspects of Pluto, as they're the only parts like this, or found a way to integrate elements of the environment into the structures, such as the huge, jagged rocks in the first drop part.

Regardless, it's incredibly rare to find a level that I feel is this close to being perfect. Pluto takes a base feeling of visceral discomfort, and masterfully applies it to nearly everything within it in ways I've never seen before, showing Djudjeito's skill in world building and visual storytelling. I encourage people to learn from how every element in this level synergises to form the final product, and I would love to see this receive a Mythic rating and stand for the forseeable future as one of the best in its class.

best level of 2024 and maybe the best level of all time

Another candidate for best of 2024. Was quite shocked not to see it nominated in the GD awards last year, despite receiving a well-deserved legendary rating and everything. Seemed like a fairly obvious pick to me.