inspired me to imagine some of the most unique visuals ever

dont know why i waited so long to review this. kidsmoke is one of the absolute best levels uploaded in the entirety of the 2.1 update. its that good. the atmosphere is so well done, through the simple but effective animations, the flashes, the gameplay even. combined with the banger that is dedrater by kingbastard, it all works to make a level that actually manages to intimidate you a bit which i think is quite hard for a gd level to accomplish. the level has a pretty straight forward narrative that it shows you without being too obvious or in your face about it. the two highlights of this level in my opinion are the wave at 37% that everyone talks about, with the confusing fading in and out and the demon taunting you in the background. such a simple but effective gameplay idea i love it, also the cube at 82% is such an intense part that is rarely mentioned: the leaves falling, the demon smiling, and the shadows covering up parts of the gameplay, it leads to the end of the level perfectly and might be my favourite part of the level overall. only reason i'm not giving this a 10 is that the gameplay, while it fits the level perfectly and i can totally justify it being what it is, isn't the most fun thing in the world to play. throughout the review i mentioned how a lot of the gameplay is obscured or hidden in some way, and while it works perfectly for a level like this, it can be frustrating when playing. still i personally think its consistent and fair once you sit down and learn it, not bad by any means. as a fan of radiohead, i totally recommend this. please play this awesome level.

Kidsmoke gives out the idea that the level is infested by a plague, it's undeniable that the various art assets carry the entire theming but in this case it's not out of place to do so. Up until the last few parts there isnt much of any rhyme or reason to the level's intentions, you're constantly taunted by these grimacing characters as the song voices its repetitive tune and where the screen transitions now make up their own rules. I wish more of the parts were designed to accompany the seeming overhaul of the entire environment, the wave is actually a great example of what couldve been done for the entire thing, it wouldve helped for the immersion and to seem less like a mascot horror. Fine level all around

Vacuous, posturing, lifeless, a pound of flash and none of flesh. I was going to joke that it was a Yuko level wrapped in pretense, but halfway through the first sentence I realized that might be harsh to Yuko -- her levels have gotten actually good recently. Without the song and the rating drama and some of those Radiohead signs, would it be the icon that it is today? Of course not. After all, kidsmoke isn't just a level steeped in its inspirations, it is those inspirations, it is the Radiohead signs and the demon faces and the spiral effect and the clubstep monster. It is aesthetic, and only aesthetic, for the rest of the level is empty. And that makes it worse than bad -- it's a betrayal. Little wonder, then, that it was the poster child of GD Twitter for ages.

I clicked play while I was pooping, I saw the pic then I had explosive poop. True story.

New addition to the favorites list. Love the theming and details and its also fun to play. I was gonna upload this to youtube but I forgot to record (lmao).

First jump is just at the right difficulty to let the level be fun from 0 but still make you have occasional streaks where you die to it 5 times in a row and you start to question why you're doing anything. Also in the first cube you're introduced to the otherworldly voices in the music and also the demon guy you follow throughout this level and I love him. Title card has a faint face in the background which I didn't notice at first but I appreciate that its there especially since it's also a recurring motif at multiple transitions later on. Discovering it is pretty fun, like noticing foreshadowing on a rewatch of your favorite series. Speaking of easter eggs what the hell is up with the poem in the editor what does that mean for this level

First ship is generally easy but that one gap at 8% is pretty rough. I vaguely remember a number of people not liking the smoke emitting creatures when this first came out and I'm glad all those people seem to be dead. In general I really like the rough artstyle this has. It helps add to the bizarre feeling of this level.

I like the bee movie on the TV it makes 0 sense, anyway the next ship is also easy with one random hard gap which is noticeably even harder with the ship I started playing this level with. The tongue creatures are cool and I also like the sort of "agent of chaos" type role the demon starts taking by throwing a sawblade into the creature with the do not enter sign eyes and it starts bleeding and then you go inside it and then the background in the following ball is presumably its digestive tract.

The ball itself has another creature with its tongue sticking out and it bends in sync with the music like this is so good dude. Also the blue orbs are fun and satisfying to hit despite how easy they are.

The following part has the demon causing even more chaos via a smoke producing device and can you tell I really like this guy ok. The gameplay also gets pretty weird here and I appreciate that you can skip things and still survive.

The wave is iconic and the demon splits into at LEAST 3 and the effect is REALLY good and I also like that.

The dual is around where nerves start kicking in. It's very hard to learn but eventually you'll get the first half pretty consistent. The swingcopter is a lot more inconsistent but luckily I only died there a couple times from zero. The sync in the swingcopter is also really good with the background swirl and the other background swirl and also the ball all rotating in time nicely.

UFO is pretty fun, depending on the angle the last timing can be harder and it keeps you on your toes and hitting it at a hard angle is super satisfying to do. I like the sync with the glitch effects and hey wait is this Ballistic Wistfully? Also the background chomping being followed up with the foreground chomping is cool.

Last ship is also kinda hard to learn. Love the background, it's another iconic bit, also why is there a minecraft head here. Also this is where the nerves really start increasing.

Finally, the last cube. How the fuck did I not die here from 0? Anyway, even in runs this is the part where you need to really focus and the atmosphere both in the deco and song as well as the effects do a great job of conveying that. The smoke emitters are now dying on the floor and a face just pops by randomly. The effect also combines with that precise jump at 84% to make it the hardest click in the level (the entire reason I played this on 120fps was so this wouldn't be as stupid) and 96% is basically blind and you have to rely on audio and it's the 2nd hardest click and again you have plenty of nerves so idk how I got past these without issue.

Overall, very weird level. TriAxis would've liked this