I remember playing Scarlet Surge in the Chaos Gauntlet about 8 years ago and playing it day after day. As a younger kid who was awful at video games, it was exceptionally difficult and took a ton of effort, yet I continued to come back. Why? I can point to many things, from the constantly active, vibrant, pulsing structures that gave the level its unmistakable identity, to the well-crafted gameplay designed to keep you engaged yet still insatiable for more even through the second minute of the level, to the honestly electric, raw, energetic song that perfectly matched what was on screen. Between all of those things, it added together to something greater than what was seen at face value.

So when one of the best creators of the era, someone I considered one of my favorite creators ever, posted a remaster of Scarlet Surge, it should've been a dream come true! That was 5 years ago, and I remember downloading the Scarlet Pulse and pressing play with high hopes. At this point, I had gotten a lot better at the game, so relatively speaking, it should've felt just as challenging to me as Scarlet Surge once did, and therefore just as special of an experience. However, when I ran through the level a few times, all I felt was... indifference.

Indeed, the designs were more detailed, it was much more polished, and it had brand new gameplay more befitting of its new desired difficulty range. But this time, it felt different. It felt as though the soul was sucked from it. The once completely dark background that provided so much to Scarlet Surge's vibrancy and contrast was now just another pulsing unit of the level. Gone was the dual in the original, the most iconic gameplay swapped for something straight out of the featured tab. Bright, vibrant colors that once permeated the level were dulled down, partly to accommodate the new details that were tacked on to make the level more conventionally good. Worst of all, the gameplay could've been extremely fun as a standalone product, but instead was littered with weird transitions and click inconsistencies.

Scarlet Pulse is still a perfectly fine level. I just wish it were so much more.

Stressful af and some janky moments can interrupt an otherwise really fun level.