This is a very beautiful level, but it's not quite to the point where I can consider it "amazing" or a masterpiece.

The level starts with a farm location and some mountains. I don't really have a whole lot to say about this part, it's not the best part of the level nor the worst, but it is fitting with its slow pacing and its desaturated colors to tonally match the level's song. Considering the song (and the level) are about dying, I think this part works as a sort of retrospection on life itself.

The part of the level that really stands out to me (and what mostly carries my rating) is the second part of the level with the stars and constellations. This part of the level took the wind out of me. I'm not very well-versed with Radiohead, but I have heard Motion Picture Soundtrack before playing this level. I still was unprepared for how beautifully gecko & Starky represented it. During the moment of silence while the mountains disappear off-screen and the star background fades in, you have an idea what's coming, but it still couldn't prepare me for the constellation backgrounds and lines going crazy with the harp. It's a truly spectacular section of the level and I still get chills from it.

After this part of the level, MPS makes a creative choice that, while I highly respect and see the intent, it's ultimately a decision that I feel brings down the level much more than if the level just ended after the constellation part. On the album Kid A, Motion Picture Soundtrack is listed as the final track but there is a secret, untitled song after that that starts to play after a full minute of silence, and the secret track itself is just a short ambient piece. I think something like this is great in the context of being on the Kid A album, but I feel it doesn't have a place at the end of a standalone GD level, especially when it's being thrusted upon a bunch of GD players who might be unfamiliar with Radiohead or Kid A and will be left confused at this huge gap of emptiness and the ending. I didn't feel the representation of the secret song was up to the caliber that the constellation part was, so this choice to stretch out the level to cover this extra part of the song did not feel worth it.

I should also mention the gameplay here. This is an XXL level that is only rated 3*, which may seem kinda odd at first, but it makes sense when you consider it more of something to be watched instead of played. All of the points were put on song representation and design to the point where the gameplay is very lacking. For the first half, it is a lot of slow-speed ship gameplay with a lot of open space for the player to fly around however they wish. In the second half, there is literally no gameplay. It is completely automatic for slightly more than half of a 5-minute long level, which is especially not helped by a sizeable chunk of this automatic part being just a black screen and silence. A common complaint about this level is that it is very boring to play as well as "top 5 levels to fall asleep to," and I can see where those people are coming from with that.

I'll see you in the next life.

Amazing buildup to later be thorn to shreds by starky, never have I been this disappointed by a level I long awaited. Queso’s constellation effect is hypnotising, it’s so simple in concept yet so elegant in practice, only to have the part end up looking like a lazy neodesign attempt in the end. The ending is by far the worst aspect of it all, it’s almost 2 minutes of complete nothingness before you get shown another cutscene of an half baked background. I can imagine there was good intent put behind their creative decisions, but the entire level ends up suffering from it massively.

top 5 levels to fall asleep to