Orientalist white boy

I feel like I would've liked this even more a couple years back but I'm somewhat past that hyperfixation so right now it's just "good". Main complaint is honestly that some effects are too good and I find myself losing track of the gameplay (in a bad way).

Also this inevitably has to compete with coke county in my head and that thing did this song better

when you force yourself to build a level—an extreme demon in an unfamiliar style, no less—for several hours every single day, you'll inevitably run yourself dry. so perhaps unsurprisingly, rivers of nazareth's creation was plagued by a lack of ideas, frustration, and burnout. as a result, the final product is messy and uninspired; designs, effects, overlays, etc. are all piled on top of each other with little regard for how they work with one another or fit into the larger theme, which is rarely explored outside the religious symbols and arabic text. remove these two elements and the level doesn't really have any discernable theme to speak of. the decoration often regresses towards audieo's flashy design style which he's more comfortable with, whereas i think fully leaning into modern/art would've fit the vibes this level is going for much better. as a result much of the decoration feels lacking in creativity, so as a bandaid fix the level is jam packed with a bunch of unnecessary decoration, which i don't think is an adequate trade-off.

i don't mean to discredit audieovisual's creating skill here....honestly i would probably make something much worse if i had to build every day for 48 days straight; audieo has and will make far better levels than this. i have a lot of fond memories watching him build this live during his building marathon, it's just a shame this format was also to the level's detriment