I was first made aware of Somie as a creator when I reviewed their level the escape in my other rating request thread (which I LOVED). I had planned to check out more of their levels, but sadly never did. That was until about 2 months ago when the Unreal GD Levels account posted this level by them, I was curious so I watched it, and holy SHIT I was hooked. This level is exactly my level taste in every possible conceivable way, I don't know how to put into words how much I love this level.

THE STORM is what I think of when I think of a Geometry Dash level. It's a journey made by a creator with so many ideas it just fills your mind with joy when you watch it. Even if it's not technically the best level ever, it's so memorable and interesting that you can't help but love it when you watch it. It feels like a magic tab level in a way, many wouldn't consider it rateworthy due to some of the flaws within the level, "its so empty!!!" "this gameplay is weird!!!" (which i think are stupid criticims btw, if a creator made it like that then it was obviously intentional) everything within this level just exudes an aura I don't think anything else can replicate.

The level consists of two halves, before the bomb, and after the bomb. The first half has you speeding through many different areas as you try and evacuate from this mystery timer that counts down to what you can only assume to be your demise. Jumping across buildings and scaffolding through a city, trying whatever you can to evacuate as soon as possible. Eventually you enter a forest and fly your way through the trees in hopes of a faster escape, but the clock continues to tick down.

20 seconds.

You eventually escape the forest and run across a packed bridge, jumping and flinging yourself over moving cars and jumping across the boats on the river below, trying to find any possible way to escape this place faster. However, the time continues to tick down, and as you jump off the last boat, you realize what's about to happen.

10 seconds.

The timer ticks down dreadfully in the background as you think about your journey through the city, forest, and bridge before this, unsure of the future ahead. You then land in a field of some kind, with the sun shining bright, the grass as green as ever, not a single cloud in the sky. You're safe you assume, that is, until THE STORM hits.

You are immediately enveloped in this bright red background as everything that was once visible immediately turns pitch black and starts breaking down to the ground, frame by frame. Every place you went through, the forest, city, and bridge, you must watch as it all falls to the ground, and all you can do is jump across the broken debris to try and escape what's at hand. Jumping across falling buildings, collapsing trees, and even cars as they plummet into the river below. It's a horrifying sight honestly, but eventually, you make it out. The night sky is simple, the moon shining on the darkened debris as you make your way through the rubble. You've made it out alive you've seen, but you're forced to sit and look at the destruction that has been caused. By the end, you finally realized what has happened as you watch a bomb fly out of a plane and destroy the city below, your city.

THE STORM is possibly my favorite 2.2 level to ever release, and that's saying something. This level, while maybe not the best executed in some parts, has such cool ideas and extremely interesting theming that there's no way I COULDN'T love it. The second half with the red sky as the world turns black and falls is one of the coolest parts I have ever seen in a level. It's so masterfully done with the frame by frame animation and forcing you to jump across all of the debris as it falls. Everything is just done so perfectly in my eyes and I genuinely hope this will get rated in the future. Somie has shown their way to be one of my all time favorite creators, especially with their new collab level Adasha. Hopefully they can get a rate soon :)