Review of Death

by
, 2025-03-16, 18:41:52, Level ID: 98929172
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Death is a very aptly titled level that simultaneously feels larger-than-life-like yet astonishingly simple. It never strays from its rudimentary gameplay flow, and while the individual gameplay of each section is trivially easy and relatively straightforward for an Extreme Demon, the nine minutes and forty seconds of runtime – and the possibility of making tiny errors navigating unintuitive structuring – compounds the difficulty to a mid-high end extreme demon.

Death sacrifices intricacy in its designs for intimacy, although it’s disingenuous to say that this level is not intricate in intent. While there is a clear sense of an arduous progression throughout, the message of the level isn’t laid out explicitly for the player, leaving room for interpretation, except in the level’s title.

Death does not use typical imagery associated with death like skulls, crosses or whatnot. Instead, it focuses on the more emotional aspect of death, which is pretty unexplored territory for a Geometry Dash level; traditional symbolism of death comes in the form of hell / horror levels which capitalise (to varying degrees of success) on the fear factor of death. Instead, Death’s progression parallels the creators’ perception of the experience in the hours before death. It is monochromatic throughout most of its runtime and mostly consists of simple, almost child-like forms and shapes, with celestial imagery gradually introduced, as if you’re recollecting your childhood and potentially your beliefs of the afterlife. Despite the level feeling comforting all the way through, you can sense that feeling of dread still looming in the shadows of the level, but without any real signs of a threat or a switch-up you can’t concretely pinpoint what’s wrong or when something is going to change.

Death suddenly ramps up in energy as if under a supernatural force around the 5 minute mark. In contrast to the rest of the level, the climax of the level is permeated by a bold white with limited vision, like a short period of terminal lucidity. The sombre atmosphere transforms into one that is nearly euphoric and blissful, and clarity is restored as the gradients and darkness that are abundant in the other parts are replaced by sharp edges of vibrantly-coloured stars in the background and the featureless jagged blocks.

Death, however, is inevitable. After this period of terminal lucidity, the level, along with the energy of the song, recedes back into its former shell. The contrast is nearly paralysing as now the simple forms have noticeably reduced colour as well, as if life has been sucked out in that one moment of bliss, and you can feel the end approaching. However, the level doesn’t end until about 2 minutes later as slowly, but surely, the block design becomes more and more minimalistic, becoming more and more agonisingly tense until

Death eventually arrives, as the symbolism of one’s final resting state is conveyed through the player being lifted by jump pads into a pure white endscreen.

Death adds no unnecessary padding to its runtime or story; it is masterfully pensive and somber, yet brings a glimmer of hope to whatever is waiting on the other side of the end wall. I wouldn’t really call its execution effortless at all, really. You can really feel the weight of every second of this level’s runtime, however this level’s execution is virtually unparalleled in its progression and its

Death is, hence, a perfect level.

diff: -

score: 10

rating i would give: Mythic

OVERALL10/10
GAMEPLAY-/10
VISUALS10/10
DIFFICULTY-/100
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sorry about this gang