An odd duck in the series of "travel" levels, marking a turning point to where this trend of levels was really falling off. For its time, this was the longest level, although I feel that unlike other levels that reached this benchmark (Dark Travel and Light Travel come to mind) it never really called attention to that, like it felt like it was always the right length. It's a very humble level, just content with vibing in the same way the original Lonely Travel did, something which is missing from a lot of other levels of its type.

That being said, I think that a lot of this is phoned in, especially every part from the part before 4x ship to the end. It kinda felt like a "I'm at the 8 minute mark so I might as well use the whole song" type moment. It feels really tonally backwards compared to a lot of what the rest of the level was going for, and as a result a lot of it doesn't really fit in. So while the level is the right length, I think there could’ve been a lot more effort put into these final few parts to make it fit in a lot better with the rest of the level.

I don't know why this level is so well-liked, I don't know what I am missing, I have to be mistaken, they have to be talking about a different level, I just don't get it.

This is the most bored I have ever felt while playing GD. Almost every serious session of the level I was accompanied with coffee or some other caffeinated beverage. I felt so bored because of these reasons:

1. Design. Like most travel levels, they feel incohesive and themeless. The level constantly shifts through different designs and artsy backgrounds. None of these backgrounds looked too good at the time, and they certainly don't hold up well. If you really look at them, you can find all sorts of visual problems - fucked layering, misalignments, and colors that just don't work with each other in nearly every background. None of them are good enough to be memorable on their own, I just pass through all of them for some reason to get to the next one to progress through the level.

2. Pacing. Hypnotic Travel is set almost entirely in the slowest speed, and this combined with the complete lack of progression because of nothing tying the various backgrounds together makes a senseless, dull slog. It all feels the same for 9 minutes straight. The song, which is admittedly very good, is full of beautiful soundscapes and a really strong progression, and this level just does nothing with it. While the song is building up for a climax 8 minutes, the level is just doing the same thing it has always done so getting thrown into an extremely clunky, free-form 4x speed part, it's off-putting and uneasy. Then the level just returns to doing what it does and ends.

3. Gameplay. The gameplay just isn't fun. Outside of a few cool ideas like the ship part where you dodge the portals, there just isn't much interesting going on with the gameplay. It's just standard easy-medium demon slow speed gameplay for almost 9 minutes. There are some chokepoints mixed in, namely some of the earlier dual sections and UFO parts, so dying there and getting sent back is particularly demotivating. There are a lot of things that suck to play through that you can't just pick up on from watching a video, most notably the duals from 9%-12% and 26%-29% being uncomfortable, the slopes in the ship/UFO part from 34-36% being noncollidable while appearing just like structures that are actually collidable, and as I suggested earlier, the 4x free fly speed part from 82%-89% is awfully executed with the end result feeling slightly nauseous.

If you still find enough things in this level redeemable, give it a shot as you wish. Otherwise, if you just want to have this level under your belt for one reason or another (or lack thereof), this level isn't worth your time.