beat this for my 500th demon (i also built in this lol)

(Disclaimer: I have not beaten Idols yet, so take everything I say about that level in here with a grain of salt. I have, however, beaten Project Reunion as my 500th demon. This is also my 2nd favorite level of all time.)

I'll start by saying Project Reunion feels like a much more authentic love letter to 1.9 than Idols was. I felt Idols was way too flashy of an experience and went too far in on having good effects and cinematic moments that it felt as authentic to 1.9 as Esencia was to 1.0. Project Reunion fixes this problem by having the level made entirely with what was only available in the 1.9 update. Idols also constantly directly references some of the most famous levels of the 1.9 update, and in that regard it feels a lot more like its song where its a flashy, mashup-remix of the past instead of a true love letter to the past. Project Reunion has 100 parts, and none of them are as up-front and direct with their references like Idols is. Sure, while some parts may appear as too-well made and intricate for anyone in 2015 to make themselves, there are a lot of parts that have the perfect amount of intricacy as seen in levels actually from 2015, and it feels more like creating your own music that is a love letter to music from a bygone era as opposed to just taking what was already made and repackaging it in a nice way.

I also felt the song choices separating the two letters marks this distinction well, too - Idols is a mashup of many EDM songs that came before it while Overtime is an original EDM song from the same time period. This could be my early-mid 2010s Roblox nostalgia taking control, but I feel Overtime was genuinely the perfect song Project Reunion could have chosen. It's not just that the song is amazing - it has an amazing progression throughout that makes Project Reunion a more standout level for me than Idols was. Idols (the song) does have moments which are faster or slower compared to other parts of the song, but it never feels like those moments are given the weight they should to be impactful as they are in Overtime/Project Reunion. Project Reunion has a short first drop pretty quickly before pulling back for a bit and entering into a second longer drop of similar intensity, nothing too special. But the song and the level just go a true bridge/break time segment at the halfway point as they both slow down tremendously. After a beautiful sunset art piece, the song and the level build back up in intensity slowly, then all at once, and then you're hit with the Proximity logo and the big text "Keep Going!" as you're sent into the final, most euphoric part of both the song and the drop. It's such a great soaring high that still reminds of the past while feeling like its own unique, special moment and Idols doesn't have anything that hit me as hard as this.

The way Project Reunion ends is also more satisfying than Idols. Idols (the song) winds down incrementally as it ends, and the song tries to replicate that but doesn't feel as satisfying as it tries to do a credits roll while still awkwardly interjecting with gameplay. On the other hand, Project Reunion ends with a long end screen. Normally, I am not someone who likes long end screens in levels, but in cases like Project Reunion, where there is a long fadeout in the song, the long end screen can be very satisfying (commatose is a good example of this too).

One final thing I kept putting off writing about is the gameplay. I've been comparing Project Reunion and Idols a lot throughout this review, and I kinda shot myself in the foot since while I have watched Idols a whole lot, I haven't actually played the level myself to really have a definite opinion on how it plays. I can say, however, that I really enjoyed the gameplay in Project Reunion. For having 100 parts, I didn't feel there was any particularly gnarly chokepoints, and the level was well-balanced throughout. The duals are a bit inconsistent and learny, but they're short and other than those two parts I have no complaints. There are no transitions which suck a whole lot either, which seems like a miracle for a megacollab with this many parts.

I don't know how to wrap up this review, so maybe I'll just link here: https://genius.com/Cash-cash-overtime-lyrics