Rating Curve

this level speaks for itself i think

Bro, this level is straight up GYATT, no cap. It’s like peak Ohio brainrot vibes mixed with that Brazilian phonk rizz, perfect for Gen Alpha's TikTok feed. Some Hawk Tuah would've gone wild in here, but honestly, I’m not even mad they skipped it. Too much sauce might’ve made it sus.

The start? Skull emoji energy fr, with some mad sigma memes popping off in every corner. Like bro, I can’t even tell who made what, but it’s all keeping that consistent edge. Then we hit the fire particle effects — legit spitting flames 🔥, setting the mood like a proper dunk to whatever chaos is coming next. And dawg, they’ve got Venom out here dunking an NCS logo?? That’s some sigma Venom rizz right there. And they hit us with those TikTok camera zooms? Peak brainrot.

Then you got the Alpha Wolf meme showing up like “bro, I’m built different,” and the forest vibe is strong af. It’s like the entire background is saying “welcome to the pack, dawg.” We go from that into Rick from Ohio, and ngl, I’m pressed there’s no Pickle Rick cameo. But hey, guess that joke’s kinda dead. They did space-themed stuff instead, and that portal at the end? Straight rizz.

A pirate meme? Bro, what in Ohio is going on here 💀? It’s mad sus but lowkey, the structure’s fire. They got water at the bottom, ropes holding up orbs, and then they hit you with a fake death. I mean, fake-outs? Kinda mid, but I’ll let it slide.

Then, boom, Tesla in the background. Of course, we gotta have Elon Musk, the sigma overlord of Gen Alpha. That Tesla animation goes hard, kinda reminds me of some OG Geometry Dash vibes, but with that new subway surfers on loop brainrot energy. They throw in RobTop too, and it’s like, “don’t worry bros, this is still GD, not your little cousin’s TikTok feed.”

Next up? Gigachad boss fight! The man’s out here striking those sigma poses, and it’s like, bro, you really think you’re that guy? But nah, he’s easy to clap — just another “average” sigma wannabe. The colors though? That 360 hue? Straight sauce.

And then the skeleton reaction meme. The fact that none of the art is traced? Pure rizz. They’re throwing bones everywhere, and the gameplay back-and-forth is giving me serious TikTok edit deja vu.

To finish? We got the Sigma boss, floating in with likes like it’s a whole TikTok stream. If you ain’t beating this in one shot, you're just a beta bro. The shaders, the filters, the sigma memes—Joker Sigma, classic Sigma, but they missed the Homelander Sigma, which, let’s be real, would’ve been the ultimate sigma rizz for all the Americans out here.

The only thing missing? Skibidi Toilet. But tbh, maybe that’s for the best, would've been too much brainrot even for this level. All in all? Absolute certified Ohio banger, hoping this level wins because it’d be hilarious to see it take the dub.

In paint planet, we are taken to a world of little creatures and color fountains. While a lot of people will find the decoration overall a bit amateurish, I think that's for the better and clearly isn't the main focus of the level. I especially like the pulsing flowers in the bushes. Still, it helps set the scenary very well: the spikey mountains in the background along with the ground color are not reminscent of any place on Earth, which helps set the level in a very distant planet as the name indicates.

The name of the level also connects to the theme very clearly in the first act: as the player crosses the fountains, made of primary colors, it starts to paint the ground and the obstacles of that same color. Moreover, when it crosses another fountain it starts to paint the mixture of those two colors (secondary colors) for a little bit, as the trail slowly fades to the color of the second one. This color mixture concept will become a big part of the story in the second half.

Soon, we are introduced to small colored creatures that come out of the ground. They're extremely well animated, and from a technical standpoint that's the best part of the level. As the player progresses the level, a big wall appears, and the only way to get through it is to press a button as indicated by the sign. This, however, unlocks a "forbidden area" of the planet, releasing a wave of black fog that starts to cover up the level. This fits the song very well too, as it also starts turning darker.

When the fog goes away, you can find that the friendly creatures are covered on black. Black is not exactly a color, but rather the abscense of it, which indicates that the creatures lost their colors and they need to get them back. This whole act is told using speech bubbles: they don't contain any words, but rather drawings that can be universally understood, which I find to be a wise decision. While the red, blue and yellow creatures can get their colors back by bathing in the fountains, the other three cannot as there are no fountains that produce their color. The expressions and faces of the creatures are very well animated as mentioned earlier.

The next part is retrospective: the player is transported in a flashback to the idea of mixing colors between the fountains. Using this concept, the creatures can get their colors back by bathing in two fountains and mixing their colors together. The last act shows exactly that: the level mirrors itself and now the player starts to travel back where it started. Keep in mind this is a 2.1 level, so this had to be made using mirror portals.

The last part also becomes more vivid: the blocks become brighter and start to move around, while the creatures jump around happily. The level ends in full circle, exiting the planet back from where you came from.

This is definitely one of my favorite levels of all time and it really, I mean REALLY deserves more attention.

I do hold some personal connection to this level (it was the first demon I ever beat), but that aside: this is one of the best levels of all time

This website has an option to give scores for visuals and gameplay separately, and I'm so thankful that it's optional because... how are you supposed to do that here? Forever Bound is a great example of visuals and designs complementing their own gameplay.

The design is clearly a good focus of this level, and particularly how those designs move around and interact with the player. Take the ship part almost halfway through the level, with the lazer shooter moving around and having you dodging its shots, or the iconic rainbow robot part with the monsters moving the bricks around. The prime example though, in my opinion, is the floating gray blocks in the first half (which, following the level's terminology, I'll call notes). They appear for that first half of the level in basically every part: in the start they serve as notes you have to touch in order to get a coin (which by the way, only now I understood how you're supposed to get it, because every time I played this I kept getting it by accident), the way they float around and relocate themselves in the following wave, or the satisfying moving pattern they form in the next UFO part. I think the biggest flaw with Forever Bound is that it doesn't keep playing around with those notes during the second half, and it would be way more cohesive if it used them for that portion of the level more. That doesn't mean it still doesn't play around with interesting movements and designs; it's just that they feel more like random ideas that still feel and play really nice.

I also love the color palette, and how the level becomes more colorful and rainbowy as it goes on, matching the more uplifting and intense parts of the song. I will say though, does fall off in quality a little bit towards the end. Even then many parts hold up extremely well today, particularly the extremely iconic rainbow part.

Overall this level just feels like an ode to everything that made 2.0 effects and designs so iconic, and while I wouldn't say it's flawless, I think it's one of the most emotional levels of its era.

Incredible work, Bob.

Many such cases of bands and artists who write a song, becomes a hit, and said band or artist begins to loathe what they created as time goes on. Not because they think it's bad, but rather because they're reduced to a one hit wonder whose fanbase remembers them for that song and nothing else.

Well, anyone who is familiar with PAHC's catalog knows that SAVE AS is essentially his Creep. The loud majority knows this level, because it was groundbreaking, terrifying, and a massive hit when it came out. And that is for a reason: this level is a god damn masterpiece. I really hate to say this, because I'm pretty sure PAHC doesn't like this level for that reason, but very few if not no other level has managed to achieve what SAVE AS did.

Anyone who's familiar with this level knows what it's about: Alzheimer's. I'm not going to spend my time writing about what it represents and how it's represented because it's been said many, many times. But rather than that I want to talk about him, as a creator.

I'm sure many people consider this to be his peak. The honest truth, to me, is; he never peaked. PAHC is one of the most versatile, conceptual and unconventional modern creators of the current era. While this level is a prime example of that, you don't just have to limit yourself to it: Charmed Life is a beautiful 10+ minute journey; Over Again is easily one of the best and most fun ARGs in the whole game, and even his more conventional modern levels still take many interesting creative decisions and risks. He's always stayed consistent as a creator, and if he chooses to keep going and bless us with more levels in the future, he will continue to stay consistent.

Is this his best level? Maybe. It's hard for me to say it's not my favorite. But I guess my whole point is, reducing him to just "the creator of save as" isn't a good thing. But on the other hand, denying the influence and artistic reach of this level also won't help it.

It's fantastic, in so many levels. Thankfully I don't relate to it, but many people do and many people are personally attached and cried to it. And I think that makes it scarily beautiful.

Incredible level.

Go check out his other levels too.

revolutionary open-world level. the first, best, and last of its kind

A very neat level overall but I can't say it does anything interesting or novel to me. Traditional 2.2 gameplay and design are obviously the main focus and while it's good at those it just doesn't do anything remarkable that'll make it stick in my head. I do enjoy some of the layered assets and it was quite fun to beat.

On a more nitpicky note, I never liked how many levels with 3D designs stick the top spikes on that 3D layer instead of the actual blocks. Not only does it make the gameplay feel more closed, it just also looks really odd.

one of the most iconic and influential levels of all time

Since the first time I saw this level being started I knew that, when it got finished, it would be considered one of the all time greatest. I'm glad I wasn't wrong. This feels like the culmination of what the neodesign movement could achieve ever since it started.

While not my favorite deffy level (although I still hold it very close to my heart) it's impossible to deny the perfection of it in almost every aspect. It's the kind of level any side of the community can easily enjoy.