If the gameplay in the cloud section and some other sections were more engaging, this would have probably been my absolute favorite level. I have no clue how djudjeito ascended this much, from Pluto to this is an incredibly crazy jump in quality from what was already an incredibly crazy jump from his previous levels. This level feels like it tapped into the subconscious murky water in my brain and unleashed them to the real world. It really feels unreal seeing this level fully realized. Do not sleep on this one folks.

El gameplay es bastante olvidable ademas de que la seccion del swing es bastante incomoda y en parte mala por usar orbes en un swing, pero de resto el nivel me gusto.

Las visuales si son las mejores que he visto, no son el tipico realista, tienen ese concepto abstracto demasiado bien, ninguna queja.

uhhhhhh yeah

the decoration is utterly beautiful and works amazingly with the song

the gameplay is intuitive and enjoyable, i was able to beat it in one attempt but still felt like i had to pay attention to not die

basically everything you can ask for in a nondemon

Slow levels don't usually tend to be my thing. I often like levels that go at a moderate - fast pace. It is more of my speed that I am personally comfortable with. But there have been some levels that I give credit because it honestly adds to it, and this is a level that I really do like despite it being too slow for my liking. The overall song representation of the level adds so much to it. It feels, immersive in a way. Like you're taking in the atmosphere of the whole level that you are playing. How the art is represented here is really well done. I do get why you wouldn't like the level. Again, I also think it is a bit too slow for my liking, but the gameplay here complements well with the decoration and the song representation. Out of Place really lives to it's name, being completely out of place from all the other Space Gauntlet Contest entries. And while it is slow, it is very immersive.

The visuals being as captivating as they are only adds to the frustration I feel as a result of Out of Place's incredibly disengaging gameplay. Not unengaging, disengaging - if it was merely some 2.0-style on-rails ship gameplay that was extremely easy it would be a 6/10ish, but this layout manages to be tactilely boring while simultaneously requiring enough engagement that you can't widen your lens to soak in the elaborate visual sequences. Funnily enough, the tedious "ship in the middle of the screen" parts are the most inoffensive, it's the segments with unclear obstacles or awful slow-mo that really kill this level. I'll still give it this score because the viewing experience is worth something on its own, but this level is in no way a rebuttal of the wider space gauntlet's gameplay being careless in service of the YouTube audience - it just happens to actually look great for once.

I absolutely adore this level, easily my favorite one of the Space Gauntlet contest winners.

The best part of this level for me is undoubtedly its artstyle; there are so many synonyms I could use to describe it, but my biggest ones would have to be intruging, atmospheric, and just… beautiful. I would kill to see more levels done in an artstyle like this. And there is also such a high attention to detail in many parts (yes, I’m including the statue with a penis LMAO), all of which help further compliment the level’s atmosphere. The artstyle feels like a unique mix between Hollow Knight’s artstyle and old Renaissance era paintings, and I am ALL for it. My favorite part has got to be the cube part at 72%, it reminds me a lot of Tree Top Town from Donkey Kong Country. Or… is it actually at 72%?

Ah, that’s right! Another crazy detail that caught me off guard was that the level actually kept on going past 100% in the progress bar about halfway through the level! Initially, I thought it was another typical 2.2 bug with the progress bar, but there was so much gameplay following this occurrnce, that I slowly learned this choice was indeed intentional. The level isn’t called “Out of Place” for nothing after all! It’s actually really cool to see this bug being used in the level’s favor, as it really makes it feel more alive and atmospheric. I could gush on about how much I love the decoration in this level, but I think you get the point.

I also think the gameplay really compliments this level! Now, I have seen a few complain about it, as they think its too boring and goes on for too long, but I have to disagree. The gameplay being so open and easy actually work’s in this level’s favor, as you can take in even more of this level’s beautiful visuals, and immerse yourself even further. And I think the length is hardly an issue too, the gameplay is easy enough to a point that you will almost certainly fluke it.

Really the only thing I will criticize in the gameplay is the Swing part at the first drop. I’ll admit the timings in it can be a little jank, but at least it isn’t at the end of the level.

In conclusion, this level is a masterpiece, and easily one of my favs from this year. Shame how its only placed at 7th in the contest, when it shouldve been top 3 minimum.