Hazard Duty Pay is an attempt to emulate the successful aspects of In Silico by Rafer, but is unsuccessful in most regards. The main thing that I think made In Silico work so well is how well the gameplay integrated with the level's concept - the labyrinthine tunnels, constant falling and crumbling blocks, warnings and flashing lights all have very strong, obvious thematic connections to the "escape the facility" themes of the level, and combined with the intense song made for an awesome escape sequence. Summed up, Hazard Duty Pay feels like a vapid attempt at recreating this feeling. The gameplay is a particularly sore spot for me; the difficulty in this level comes with (theoretically) much more tightly packed, claustrophobic gameplay, which in theory could work quite well for the escape sequence idea, but the structuring largely does not feel "solid" or labyrinthine in the way In Silico's does, largely due to the more traditional, less naturally-shaped structuring approaches used as well as the lack of contrast and highlights in many of the structures (think of the way In Silico used huge machinery parts or rock tunnels to guide the player), which leaves the gameplay feeling much less intuitive and actually less claustrophobic than In Silico despite the increased difficulty.

The decoration is generally okay, I do quite like some aspects of it. The designs overall have some pretty decent showings; I'm a big fan of the dark, sloped mechanical/electrical blocks around 0:11 and the giant sloped structures at 0:50, as these feel the most to me like an extension of Rafer's style, building that vision into something new with a biomechanical theme that is still distinct enough to give each respective part its own identity (particularly the ending chase, many of the designs feel rocky and glowing orange like the inside of a volcano, which is nice for the climax). However, these approaches are highly inconsistent, and often a lot of the visual elements feel like they fall back on a more traditional glow-design style that creates two somewhat distinct styles that are mish-mashed together in each part. This sticks out the most to me in the part at 0:19, where the flat, angular metal structures do not mesh well whatsoever with the larger, less angular filler structures; they fill different roles, one being a highlight and one being a base, but their physical placement never overlapping and clashing colour choices mean the two do not feel like they should be together in one part.

I see the vision with Hazard Duty Pay, and in some ways it's successful in delivering on expanding on the vision brought on by In Silico, but overall I find this level to be a letdown. The gameplay is underwhelming and one-dimensional, and the decoration misses the mark on most of the elements that made In Silico such a good level to begin with, while really not adding anything new to the table to compensate, leaving Hazard Duty Pay as sort of a vapid middle-ground remake attempt that does not stand out to me in any way.