look at that mural about a minute in. coming across that on a first playthrough must put someone in a daze. up until that point the terminator has been putting together a stereotypical, if a bit unsettling, picture of heaven: statues of angels, white marble, flowers and pastel colors. there are hints of imperfection prior to the mural in smaller details but this “hint” is so incredibly striking and out of place it smacks you right in the face. the image of people burning in hell big and centered in the middle of the screen, surrounded by clean pale structures. one of two big narrative anchors in the level, it’s perfectly timed, even if it foreshadows the most obvious "twist" possible; soon after the facade pulls away (literally! the level deconstructs and lets more red seep through in the designs) and the objects actually individually flitter out of the level. two jaws close on you — the first organic structures you’ve seen so far besides the flowers — and the level reveals itself, fading back in as hell.

relative to other “hell-themed” levels in the game this particular representation is wildly unique. the neon red common in nearly every other gd hell takes a backseat here to darker desaturated crimson, purple, and brown, and the structures are made out of flesh and teeth, deliberately placed among design elements present in the first part of the level driving home the idea that you’re still in the same place you started. the tension created in the short time between this reveal and the closing part hits its peak at the climax of the level, where everything breaks away for a second time and you're sent down even further to what i consider the second anchor. this fairly small part with only four inputs total is the level’s reason for existing; everything that happens up to this point is justified because of this payoff, and it is absolutely fucking miraculous. the colors burn the brightest they’ve been yet and all four clicks have an immense weight to them, so every time you fall back onto the platform it’s as if the ground is being punched. it’s a hypnotizing high point in the level while you are literally the lowest you could feasibly go in the world skywalker’s created, a really creative way for the gameplay to contribute to the immersion. You start the climb back up after those four clicks (thankfully allowing you to see that gorgeous background) and finally everything fades out again. An unrewarding yet completely fitting ending.

the terminator leaves behind the polish and fine-tuning of other "art" levels and sets its goals exclusively in the representation of its theme. everything is directed towards this goal, and as a result all the nitpicks and critiques one could make, no matter how applicable, fail to even make a dent in the absolute monolith that this level is as an ensemble. untouchable

I'm very torn between whether this or STORM is Skywalker's best level, but in terms of theming, this edges it out slightly. Arguably the best executed hell themed level.

Strong contender for skywalker14's best, which means it's a strong contender for the best of all time