Rating Curve

A relatively old platformer insane/extreme demon that is still unrated to this day, but it remains my favorite of all time. The concept of this level of being a relatively long level with very sparse checkpoints seems unnecessarily frustrating on the surface, but the sense of stress this induces makes every jump feel intense and makes it immensely gratifying to reach the end of each checkpoint. As the level goes on, the feeling of being higher settles in, increasing the element of stress and making the risk of going for the coins feel like more important of a decision. This all peaks at the last checkpoint with the music fading out and the rest of the level just being ambient noise, with the gravity lowering partway through. The various gimmicks with moving objects and tight gaps make the gameplay feel varied and unique, and no part ever gets boring or annoying (except maybe the 3rd coin potentially, but I found that fine). The parts later on with invisible fading objects feel like they would just be annoying on paper, but they do kind of showcase how their use in platformers differs a lot from classics; you're not intended to react fast to the blocks appearing in front of you, or quickly remember them, but they just keep you attentive. This all culminates in an amazing playing experience that’s stressful but feels truly rewarding at the end.

As usual for Split72, the decoration in this level isn’t filled with details and is quite simple, but this is far from a negative. The solid dark rounded pillars making up every structure, being accented by more faded out pillars behind them, create a sense of isolation. Everything being monochrome and the abundance of saws add onto this. Along with the various real world city objects, like the benches and flickering lamp posts, this makes the place feel abandoned, as if you’re not meant to be there. This feeling of isolation and the uninviting nature of the dark decoration accentuates the stress already induced by the gameplay. Making the decoration have more intricate details would just serve as a distraction and I don’t think it would help, and I think this and Split72’s other levels truly show that high technical effort and intricate details are not necessary if one’s ideas are executed well. The fact this level was built in under 13 hours (editor time, not a time span) is still very commendable, and yet it feels as fleshed out as it should be and it never felt like it was lacking something. This is to be expected from the top 1 creator, though.

All in all, the way the decoration and gameplay accompany each other create an experience I absolutely loved and am happy to call my favorite platformer, and I would recommend it to anyone at a high enough skill level to play it. While it might not be seen as one of the best levels generally by the community due to its minimalist nature, and probably wouldn’t meet rate standards for anything above a feature, I wouldn’t let any of that affect my opinions on it. Hoping to see it featured someday :)