in my opinion this is the hardest level i've ever beaten (harder than the abyss)

probably one of my hottest takes(?) but this is the most fun level in the entire game, and almost nothing comes close.

to most people i can probably see how this level doesn't really do anything interesting, but this level does so much without even trying lol

i started playing this level as a joke, because one of my friends hated beating it, so i wanted to see how bad it really was. in my first few practice runs the level felt literally impossible. i have never done anything remotely hard with platformer swingcopter, so i had to learn an entire new skillset for this level. this leads me into my absolute favourite thing about iownfish levels. iownfish levels are WEIRDDDD i mean they basically make no sense at all compared to the average platformer. this forces me and most other players to actually think about what they're playing, and learn a new skill. mechanical warehouse trains nerve control, swing copter, cycle timings, and it's an autoscroller. sleep, is honestly all over the place. the nightmare caves in the beginning and the aquarium are unlike any gameplay you will ever play in your life. learning how to control and master the unfamiliar territory of iownfish's levels is the beauty to me, they really challenge you with new concepts. with mechanical warehouse specifically, to me, i've done like no autoscroller before, no swing copter before, and not many xxl deathless levels before. practicing and learning this level was the most fun i've ever had playing this game, almost every other level ever, even if i ended up enjoying it, i got annoyed at something at some point. never happened when playing mechanical warehouse.

i think i also got pretty lucky, only dying to the hardest part (the last 1:20) twice, but i also super overpracticed so idk. visually, this level is so simple but to me really impactful. it doesn't do any over the top art with weird shading and 3d to put you in some weird factory. this level just does what it needs to. starting out as a working warehouse slowly breaking down and burning up over time. the cycles start simple and slow and become more erratic and fast towards the end. so many subtle details throughout really immerse me and i feel like i'm actually in the warehouse. throughout the level, it almost feels like the warehouse isn't "naturally" deteriorating, and you the player end up doing something to destroy everything, and the robots in the level actually start to get mad at you. this "theory" of mine only got more confirmed with the sequel, where once you escape the warehouse you get into a room where a big evil computer tries to kill you with lasers and projectiles sooooo

in my opinion, this is the most underappreciated level of all time, and really should've gotten more popular. please play this level its soooooo goooooood