Looked like dogshit when it came out but it's achieved somewhat of a charm to it in the following years, though obviously it hasn't gotten any tangibly better it's just much more endearing now. Devil Vortex, on the other hand, did not have this happen and remains an embarrassment. I wonder what it is that makes the difference.

Erebus by Rustam is a level that is quite well known to a good chunk of the community, being part of the RGB trilogy and being a stone for the gd community in 2017. I remember very well when this level was verified, with people comparing it to other levels like Woodkid or Killbot, and generally had a lot of community attention because of it. The difficulty of this was also heavily underestimated and overestimated simultaneously for its time considering the levels it was placed around when people would compare it, making it pretty funny to look back on nowadays now that we have possibly hundreds of people who have beaten the level or who have at least gotten significant progress to do so while Woodkid has none. This level is also one of the ones I hacked in 2020 when I was a child because I wanted attention, and this has always been a level that I was interested in. The overall designs for this level are eye catching for me, as I enjoy its messy and just overall at the time inconsistent and flawed designs, having multiple errors with 3DL, consistency, glow, and overall execution. I have always found an interesting in "bad" levels around this time mainly because of how generic levels were during it, so it was a nice breath of fresh air whenever I would get a "bad" level instead, because at least it would be memorable. For 2017 realistically though this isn't that bad, but keep in mind who this was made by, this was made by Rustam, which is someone who was considered a very well talented creator. You can see how he is talented too in specific parts, as he has good designs in the .5 speed ship near the end of the level, and the fist art design being genuinely pretty good for its time. These are only two examples of many, and if you argue that it is because these were the last parts in the level so of course they would be the best well decorated, well then just take a look at the first part. The start of Erebus may be a bit empty yes, however it shows quickly the Rustam is at least unique, as it has unique designs and a consistent execution regarding expectation. The song representation in this level is something that has always confused me, because at times it works extremely well but just does terribly, but I believe an example of where he does well is the first two parts in this level, though it does kind of just fall apart as it goes on. I do still applaud this level for being unapologetic with his designs, as it was clear that Rustam was just enjoying placing random objects and building a level, and I can admire that, though at times it really does lack when in others it works beautifully. In multiple parts of the level it has some really good designs and then less than a second later, the blocks lose contrast and become a blur. There is even a part of the level that just straight up IS a blur, where it has black glow covering the majority of a screen, where while you're looking at it you wonder what the background even is ?? Like can someone tell me what the background of the buildup in Erebus is ? I genuinely cannot make anything out of it and it seems like maybe it could just be a fog of some sort, but at that point it really defines an example of a lack of execution. The thing is though that no matter how much I bash on this level, it will always have a weird spot in my heart as it is something I genuinely took interest in as a kid as I really liked the level when I was younger, so because of that I may give this a higher rating than what I should realistically give it, but I am also not done talking about this level.

The gameplay of this level is uhh, fine ? I have played it quite a bit, with about ~10k attempts into it (mostly all in 2019) so I will go off of that, however I will not give it a difficulty rating as I haven't played it enough in recent time to give a fair judgement. In the start the gameplay is pretty consistent, though I remember it having a lot of random unexpected flaws, though do keep in mind that everything I am saying is from an experience I had 6 years ago, and I also do not have the best memory. I also do remember the drop being pretty fun, with specific parts being consistent and random parts just having a random bug be thrown at you or a curve ball of a difficulty spike. Though overall for a gameplay rating this is fine, the gameplay in this was made by Ilrell who is a legend at creation and is someone who has always been ahead of their league, but this is not a level where he shines the best in.

People in 2017 forcing themself to like Rustam's decoration, the gameplay is surprisingly good except for the first third.