I know people off the bat are going to be looking at these numbers and going "Beckett, you're an insane person." And to that I say... yes, but you should hear me out as to why this level is better than it may look.

At the time I am writing this review, this level currently sits as my hardest platformer level beaten. It was my second platformer extreme just after The Tower XXII and playing a level this hard while not having to worry about many of the other top platformer tropes is such a nice breath of fresh air. There is no stupidly large amount of needle jumps, no slope tech that requires you bug the physics of the game, no wave dashing between hundreds of dash orbs that throw you around at lightning speed. This level is in my opinion, an incredibly well made test of genuine skill.

The main criticism this level gets is that the level is too long, and it only gets interesting at the last two rooms but I want to counter argument those points. Firstly, a successful run of this level only takes people on average between 4-6 minutes to complete. Usually, the first 10 rooms take about a minute, the 2nd set of 10 takes another 2 minutes, and then the last 2 rooms take however much time it takes. Secondly, the point that this level only gets interesting in the last two rooms is a complete joke, because trust me, while the first 10 are super easy, the 2nd set of 10 are not a complete cake walk, and some of them can genuinely give you a run for your money. For instance, I struggled on room 17, "Be Precise", the most out of any room in the entire level and was definitely the most annoying thing when it came to completing this level. Another room which can screw you over at times is room 14, "Curveball", which requires a very specific ball input in order to pass. The point is, do not slouch on all of the difficulty in this level being in the last two rooms, because while a lot of it is there, there are a few other rooms which definitely carry this level. And, if you die to this level, it is one of those levels where you can't really the blame anything the level does for why you're dying, unlike slope tech and wave dashing levels, where you can say "The gameplay feels weird / broken", which is because these types of gameplay revolves around bugs. If you die in 22 Trials of PAIN, there is only person to blame for why you die: YOU.

Lastly, a quick discussion about the visuals and the song choices. I think the visuals aren't anything particularly interesting, but to be fair, this was made right at the start of 2.2, so it's not too unsurprising to see a large amount of pixel block usage here. The songs though I think get overlooked here, and I think they really add to the atmosphere of this level very well. Each one fits the atmosphere of the level perfectly, especially the song chosen for the last two rooms. It matches the flashing rainbow vibe and the intensity of the speedrun segment perfectly. Even the short ending uses the song well, it feels like you've just overcome a really hard challenge (which you have), and earned those 10 moons.

You can hate on me all you want for liking this level, but out of the 4 platformer extremes that I've beaten so far, this one is by far my favorite, and you can't change that opinion. Sorry, not sorry.