of all the levels that could've won the race to dethrone slaughterhouse, i'm glad it was this one. liked this level since i first saw it, beautiful ugly jank and all, and it's really just continued to grow on me

it's also that it's a pretty unique level due to its circumstances. on one hand, it was explicitly made for clout. i mean most top 1s are, but i'm pretty sure i remember reading onilink literally saying that. the people doing that in the last couple years have really soured my opinion of the idea of doing such a thing, worse than ever before by far, but the way this does that is intrinsically linked to in the level, i mean 'thanks for playing' becoming '..watching', literally teasing its own sequel, the level arguably being a very divergent sonic wave remake. one of the maxims i hold is "attention is proportional to harassment" and i'm damn sure onilink has to deal with some weirdos because of this level literally just existing, but on the other hand it's the price you have to pay for it. i dunno much about the person and i don't really care to learn more but i hope they're coping with the spotlight alright. but i think further attempts make more levels like this from them just kind of fall flat on principle (especially including the remake i'm very glad is dead, robtop not rating this for ages is bewildering cuz this is well within modern """rateworthy""" standards). it really feels like a level that's a Statement in its own strange way. another review calls it "like if one of those 'top 1s' created by some kid actually got finished", and to me that's part of the charm

and that leads me to the counterpoint, in that despite all that, i genuinely think this level is in the high percentile of levels which embody the 'joy of creation'. it's in how it reminds me of levels like glowy and khorne, both of which are quite divisive levels themselves that i earnestly enjoy, though much less intricate due to its blocky copy paste look (and i've seen many shitty copy paste glow levels like this but it owns it harder than almost all of them). it's in the song, which has no right to be good. it's in how it doesn't understand why it's doing what it's doing, the color choice being off, the cliche effects and designs applied somewhat haphazardly, its skill in design outclassed by the best design levels of even like, 2018. it's also that it's genuinely paced really well, diverging greatly from any nine circles/wave level format with how it starts off at 4x speed, it never sticks in the same spot for too long letting the weaker parts not clog up the level, the dissonant neon or muddy blues and yellows giving way to the much more pleasing sunset part, amplifying the effect of both, giving a strong tension and release. all in all, against the odds of its cliches and pretenses, it succeeds in being a very distinct and memorable level. i don't really care (much, looking at you avernus) about the integrity of top 1s having to be memorable or good levels, cuz as far as i'm concerned i'm always rooting for the demon list to get as stupid as possible, but this still feels like a top 1 somehow emblematic of its era, and i'm glad it exists