(Completed in 8/7/25)

Was honestly kinda let down on this one. I loved DOMIANGELI's previous works I've played in the past and was expecting something at least on the lines of decent compared to their other levels. It has a pretty nice atmosphere with the underwater feel it has and while not that visually amazing, has a pretty charming design style that kinda holds up for its time. Sadly from a playing perspective, it was just kinda underwhelming.

It's mostly very standard until to launches you into the fast gameplay at the last 40%, and most of the level just felt pretty awkward, especially the first ball/spider and dual wave. And while the deco isn't bad at all, it was kinda annoying how I couldn't tell which was an orb or just decoration, mainly because of the distracting glow layer I usually don't like looking at in levels. There's also a small bug that I found in the dual ship where your top ship weirdly misaligned from itself, and it had something to do with the structuring of the platform it lands on.

Surprising had a lot to say about this one than I did but that just shows how your level having particular problems with it had to have me point them out in a critique form. The level could've been a lot worse, but I wasn't that invested with it in the end.

Total Attempts: 46

Desolate Deep is one of my favorite levels from the "Glow Design Era," which I have always used as good inspiration for my levels in the past. The theme is specifically about ambient underwater, and it uses a blue-ish color scheme with a bit of other colors such as green, purple, and red, but especially blue in most parts. Something I really like about this level is the throwback to Domiangeli’s first works, which I highly recommend checking out, such as "Astroblue" and "Star Party". It’s very nice to see how much they've improved over the years, both nowadays and back then. However, the visuals of DD haven't aged too well overall, but they’re still very consistently great to watch and play. I don’t know if it was intended, but the last section of the level feels very reminiscent of Klonex’s old works, which is a very good thing for me. Sadly, gameplay isn’t a strong factor in it, mostly due to inconsistencies, such as the wave dual part. Still, it’s pretty fun in general, and I really recommend trying it yourself to see what you think. Desolate Deep, in general, is one of the classic levels from the Glow Design Era, and it still influences many other creators to this day.

Excellent deco, but the gameplay could use some improvements here and there.