Jonathan's best work in my opinion.

It's no secret to friends that I'm not a fan of the 4-6+ minute style of levels. Some of the main examples of this style being Jonathan's more popular levels (Dark Odyssey, Butiti II, Biru, etc.). It's not that I think these kinds of levels can't be great, in fact most of them are pretty amazing, I just feel that at times a lot of these levels can feel dragged on for longer than they need to just for length and don't really do anything remarkable further along in the level to keep me interested in what's up ahead. This is less of an attention span issue (especially because I do usually end up watching the full thing) but rather an issue of not keeping the rest of the level very memorable for the sake of a longer length.

In my opinion, an example of a good XXL (as some may refer to them) is Dark Odyssey (which I will review fairly soon). The level always feels like it's trying something new each section and I actually enjoyed watching it the full way through despite my general avoidance for levels of that length.

All this to say, when Jonathan showed off previews of Butiti III, I was already hooked. The level is around 2:30 long and it feels like it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to and keeps me interested through the entire length. Whether that be through fast paced and exhilerating gameplay, or through the intense and glitchy effects strewn throughout the level to compliment the song, it all feels very intentional. Playing the level is no different. I have the level in a couple runs and the gameplay is nothing short of phenomenal. It is consistently so exciting and satisfying to play each time I play it.

While I find it unlikely, I really hope Jonathan does more of these slightly shorter, but more action packed levels as they only need to sacrifice a maximum of a minute in length for so much more memorability.