Rating Curve

Extremely underrated level. I absolutely love how well the upside down section syncs.

I go back and forth on this level. I used to love it, then I didn’t like it, and now I’ve settled into appreciating it while still seeing many flaws with it. On the one hand, the level is extremely unbalanced. Two parts right next to one another will have wildly different difficulties. Said difficulty is almost entirely oriented around the ship, which feels off for a level that’s meant to be a kind of bossfight for the game as a whole. What’s worse, the level has several mistakes which make it look incredibly rushed. In that respect the level falls flat.

However, I cannot deny what the level does well. The “demon face” is incredibly iconic for a reason, and it just feels right that a demon-difficulty level would be themed around structures that actually look like demons. This kind of top-down design also allows for the gameplay to feel just a bit awkward, but in a good way. This is especially true in the mini-UFO, because the mouths are so wide but the UFO’s movement makes it feel so cramped. It makes the level feel so imposing. I also love the few parts where Rob really uses vertical space, especially the cube part right after the first ship. It makes the level feel like a big fortress that you’re only seeing a small part of.

So that’s where it stands. Its highs are really high, but it’s marred by some major problems. Overall though I cannot deny how iconic it is. It’s closer to an 8 than a 6.

Many people don't know that I was consulted extensively for this level. I frequently underestimated how many objects were used, and so durian liked using me as a benchmark for how low he could push things. The glitching effects in particular were a really great way of justifying the blocks being moved to another part of the level before they were offscreen.

I was absolutely in love with this level until the cutscene. It’s still good but I wish it had kept the more subtle storytelling it had going.

The intro is too long for a level this hard and long, but it’s otherwise excellent. I love how the icon movement is used to accentuate the visuals.

This is the quintessential "raw" level. It has a bunch of ideas and despite not having the skill to match the vision, zarIKU just goes for it anyway. Xaro has said that this level was his biggest inspiration as a creator, and I think that's pretty evident, and I can't help but think that Xaro really refined it in a way that surpasses this level ultimately. Because for all the great ideas here, there is just so much sloppiness; everything - the gameplay and decoration - has such a wide range of quality, and so it never quite coheres. Even still, I think this level will always stick in my memory.