Rating Curve

Knot by Santiachu is a level I first became aware of due to my friend @abso beating it. She beat it on mobile and I needed to edit the video for her, and little did I realize how much I would LOVE this simple little memory level. Knot is about a minute long and is relatively simple in retrospect, in both gameplay and decoration.

The first thing you might notice when watching Knot is the structuring. This level has the very unique idea of repeating structures. This might not sound very interesting, but EVERYTHING repeats in this level. This level consists of the same structure, orbs and all repeating over and over again, but every structure requires you to do something different to get around it. It's a super interesting take on memory gameplay which I absolutely adore.

The gameplay isn't the only interesting part about Knot, the other part I love with all my heart is the colors. There are four total parts in Knot, and every single one has its own color associated with it. The first green, then blue, then purple, then pink. Despite only being one color, the pulsing does a great job at spicing up the part with all sorts of shades of it. The backgrounds are all different opacities as well, which give a shiny sense to them. The backgrounds are also super interesting. They consist of a giant area of fake spikes which all move in different ways. Up and down in the first part, moving very abruptly like a factory almost. Both horizontally and vertically in the second part to create this super cool overlay in the background which almost feels hypnotic at times. Completely still in the third part, where a very cool shine effect glosses over it as low opacity pinwheels shine on the sides. Finally, the last part consists of these rotating blocks. As you can see, it's all very simple. But simplicity is what Knot does best.

My favorite part of this level is probably the second part. The extremely pretty shade of blue works wonders with the vertically moving orbs, and really just stays in your head after a while. Knot is an extremely unique level both decoration and gameplay wise and I absolutely plan to beat it one day. However, there's one more thing Knot does best.

Intimidation.

The contrast between the extremely memory based gameplay and the very upbeat and bright visuals is something that ABSOLUTELY sticks in someone's head. A lot of the gameplay being moving, invisible at times, changing every second, it creates a sense of dread as to how somebody could possibly learn it. However, when you do, it is extremely satisfying. It plays like a movie almost when you're able to execute every little input needed in this level, and is just a joy on the eyes and the mind.

Death.

Death is something that everyone, every living thing will one day experience. Some are taught to fear it, some are taught to accept it, some see it as a gateway to another world, but death will hit us all the same time. It's an unknown that nobody can be prepared for. Life, is the exact opposite of it. A time where someone is alive and can experience anything, a place with feelings, thoughts, expressions, and actions that make use of their life.

Death by AleeXhey and Zeptrus doesn't feel like death. It doesn't feel like the end of a life, on the contrary, it feels like life itself. Death feels like a celebration for what life is, a place of emotions, feelings, everything that makes someone alive. From its 9 minute runtime, it goes through what I would call a life. It starts off slow and slowly builds up, eventually hitting its peak, full of colors and expression, everything is spinning, the world is rotating, its bright and colorful compared to every other part before it. It's a complete contrast to the dark and single colored parts from before, while they became bright at times, they never became as bright as here. It continues growing, and growing, more colors, more spinning, the world gets faster, everything starts to flash...

Until it all cuts to black.

It starts again, the dark, single colors. They're back, a soft piano fills the void as you traverse a slowly pulsing world. All the way to the end. This doesn't seem like life, a world where it starts gloomy, becomes bright and happy, and ends gloomy? That doesn't seem right at all, why would I be happy in the middle of my life?

I think it represents the mind during Death. Death is a horrible thing to happen to anyone, and it will affect everyone around them. I said before that I felt like Death doesn't feel like death, or the end of a life, I think it feels like life itself. I think it represents the celebration of life after a death has happened. Death represents all the memories, it always starts out sad, thinking about what once was and why it suddenly stopped. The memories are still happy, but you can't help but feel like they've all been darkened. However, you can't help but admit that it calms you down. Thinking about past memories with that person, remembering all the happy memories that you took for granted. It calms you in a way, you start to tear up, you wish it could have stayed forever.

But it can't. It never will. Everyone must accept that, and I think that's what Death is about. The acceptance of death during a life. It represents memories, tainted by the present, but slowly building up as you begin to accept what has occurred. The world starts to glow brighter and you remember the world as they were, and you look back with a smile. You still wish it hadn't of happened, some taintedness will always slip through the cracks, but you can live. You can survive. You can live to protect everyone else, and yourself. You can live with Death.

Even if there are times when you think you can't do something, when you feel like everything is hopeless. Remember these memories, remember how they made you feel, and enter a world that you can truly feel alive through. Even through Death.

Eventually these happy memories might fade, you might fight for them, fight for them to stay, but memories won't always stay. There's so many memories to have for such a little space in your mind. Write them down, give them a place to stay for your brain to always have a spot for them. Life might get gloomy after these points, after the happy memories fade, there will be gloom that will overrun you. What will happen to me when death hits? Will I never be able to feel these happy memories again? Can I never look back on this world and help the people I love most at their most vulnerable?

...

What if that's what they're doing for you right now?

(TW: I will be going into some very sensitive topics in this review. Please be cautious if you are sensitive to anything regarding SH and/or suicide.)

I first learned about Bridget a couple years ago when I saw someone on Twitter complaining about one of her levels. I can’t recall which level exactly, but I remember watching it and being very confused. I’ve never been one for negativity exactly, I like to see the light in levels like this and see what makes them so “bad”. When I first saw this level, I instantly fell in love with the style. It was a very simple level, nothing too special, but it was one of those creations where you could just tell that the creator had a lot of fun making the level.

I decided to look at her profile and saw that almost all of her levels were like this, little worlds she crafted from her mind. They were always super fun, super entertaining, like a little adventure you could explore! I loved her way of creating so much that I actually beat every single one of her levels at one point, and I wish I could relive that experience again. Every level felt like a little snippet of a dream, or whatever was going on in her head, and it was an extremely fulfilling experience.

When this was all going on, I also realized she was on Twitter! I followed her and eventually she followed me back, which I was extremely excited about, mostly because my account wasn’t as big at the time. We interacted a couple times in Twitter messages and replies and she was always extremely nice, complimenting my level opinions, showing me new levels, and overall just had a really positive aura which I always strived to have.

During this time, I was also extremely confused about my gender identity and how I really felt about myself. Living in Texas, my family obviously isn’t the most supportive with stuff like this, so I always felt kind of awkward thinking like this. Eventually, I came out as trans on my Twitter, which made me feel really happy. I actually remember her commenting on my coming out post and making me tear up LOL, she was extremely supportive and reminded me that I should be who I want to be and not what other people want to be.

Her levels were also extremely inspirational to me during this time, showing me that levels could be whatever you wanted. Sadly, I never was able to release any levels during this time due to my perfectionist attitude regarding my levels, but she was always my main inspiration when I was building. Just to have fun and try new things!

…

Here’s some context for why I’m reviewing this level in particular. This is where the warning will come into play, it’ll all make sense at the end.

About 2 years ago, I was having an extremely tough time in life. My parents had found my Twitter account and saw that I was portraying myself as trans. They had a meltdown and took everything away until I stopped getting “brainwashed” by the left. It was very hard to deal with, they told me many things that I wish I hadn't heard, and made me feel very little about myself. They forced me to deactivate every social media account I had and told me to message anyone that I told I was trans that “I was going through a phase and I don’t feel like that anymore.” I had to send this to everyone, including my IRL friends who didn’t KNOW I was trans, simply because they thought I had told them as well and they didn’t believe me. This essentially isolated me from my friend group at the time, and I wasn’t able to connect online since I had no access to that anymore.

My mind eventually came to the conclusion that this was my fault, and that it was my fault in the first place that everything ended up like this. So, I decided to punish myself. I won’t go into more detail regarding this as you can most likely imagine what started happening. This went on for a couple of months, until my parents unfortunately found out. This caused another meltdown and some shit happened which I will not repeat. This, unfortunately, caused me to spiral further at this point. I luckily had access to the internet during this point in time (I had found a way to sneak it and convince my parents), but that didn’t really help the big picture at this rate.

At this point, I had planned to kill myself. My father always had a gun locked away in the safe of his room that he had told me the password to in case of an intruder. I had decided that some night in the far future, I would use that to take my own life. It felt freeing, in a way. A way out. Some place I could go if things had gotten too hard. I started to feel better about life, knowing I had a way out. I decided to open GD and scroll through the awarded tab, wanting to see what levels were out. I saw a new level named “Tree World” by Bridget, it was an auto level and I wanted to see what it was like since it had been a bit since I had played a Bridget level. It was very simple in retrospect. Just a level showcasing a bunch of different styled trees with varying effects appearing in the background, changing every once in while over an empty background. Ending off with a tree by a bunch of extremely cool creators, all in different styles.

I don’t know what it was about this level, but for some reason when I played this, I burst out crying. I’m still not exactly sure why to this day, but I think I was just very emotionally sensitive at the time and this level hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized how much art meant to me, how much my friends meant to me, how much this simple game meant to me, they might have been stupid reasons, but they worked. I took a few deep breaths and planned the future with myself. I tried to plan every day from then on, avoiding any lectures and letting myself breathe online when needed. It’s definitely very hard getting yourself out of a rut like that, but I knew I had to. I had to keep living in spite of my parents, in spite of everyone who hated people like me for simply being who I wanted. Bridget went through tons of difficult times, much more than me, and she always came out positively despite constant backlash from everyone.

Flash forward to today, and I am living to my fullest. I never did end up taking my own life, and thank god for that. I’ve met so many incredible people, I’ve had so much fun playing and talking with people, I present myself as who I want to be and I’m happy about it. However, the news that hit today absolutely broke me. Bridget was an incredible creator and person and was one of main inspirations in almost everything. I am absolutely heartbroken and I hope all of her loved ones are doing well after the news. Bridget was an inspiration to many creators, including me, and her impact on this community will never be unrecognized. In a way, she genuinely saved my life, albeit unintentionally.

Fly High Bridget 🕊️

I said before in a previous review that cement by heatherhayes is what essentially radicalized me to the "left-wing" side of this game. I realized tha abstract gameplay and decoration could actually be super interesting, and something doesn't have to fit to standards to be good in someone's eyes. However I feel I slightly overexaggerated that level's impact in that review. cement definitely showed me to look further into levels like this, but I still hadn't seen any that especially stuck out to me at the time.

One day, about 3 years ago give or take, I was browsing Twitter because I was bored. However, something caught my eye. It was a very controversial tweet talking about a level named Raw picture and how cool it was. The replies were a mixed bag talking about how "How is this rated" and "This is the coolest thing ever wtf". This instantly interested me, and I decided to open Geometry Dash and play it for myself. It was by a creator I had never heard of before, twigxcabaret. It was 6 stars and was only star rated, it used a Cacola song, and the comments seemed to be about as mixed as the tweet's replies. I shrugged it off and decided to play the level. What I didn't expect, is that by the end of this level I would be tearing up and my view on creating genuinely forever changed.

Raw picture is a 3 minute long experience that takes your mind places you could've never expected. It feels like a nice, relaxing dream, a place where you can sit back and reminisce on past memories. A place of wonder, a place to be yourself, a place with no judgment. A place of free will.

Nothing in this level feels set in stone, in fact it feels all over the place in almost every part. Nothing feels cohesive, first you're in a free fly maze and now you're in a ship part with lasers spinning at the speed of light? There doesn't seem to be a theme for this level at first, it just looks like object spam and strange ideas all slapped together just because. However, I feel it is so much more than that. Raw picture wants you to hold on to your memories, hold on to the good parts of life, hold on to everyone close to you. Look back on those past times, even if it feels like life is falling apart, even if it feels like nothing makes sense, even if it feels like the world is breaking down with you inside it. Hold on. Hold on to what you have. Live through your memories, live how you want to live, create new memories that you can look back on in the future. You have free will in this world, when life gets hard, just keep holding on.

Now, the level itself. The first 1:12 of the level takes place as an entry point. It takes you from a simple and well put together world, to a place where everything feels disconnected. It feels like entering your mind, a place with no cohesion, all your thoughts scattered around in a place out of reach. You must navigate through these thoughts, make your way into the deep parts of your mind and remember what you're here. The colors in this beginning section are extremely pretty, cycling through what seems to be a rainbow very slowly. The way they're used makes it feel like you're being engrossed in the level, literally surrounding you at points. The structuring being extremely barebones and completely disconnected at points, at some points you might not even be sure where to go. However, it continues to build despite that. Going from simple spike jumps with objects flying above you at varying speeds, to structures that build on themselves, from blocks, to lines, to slopes, it gets more convoluted as you enter deeper into the level. The decoration follows a similar idea, starting out as colored layout blocks with glow to make them pop, as more clouds, spikes, saws, portals, structures turn to buildings, objects spread across the editor as if a kid wanted to have his part in this area, drawn out wind flashes by you as you make your way deeper. It is an incredible beginning and a perfect precursor for what's to come later on.

You then enter your childhood memories, a free flying place where you can choose wherever you'd like to go. Cute drawings fill the blinding white background, a railroad sign you saw once that always stuck in your head, that one thunder cloud hung up in the theater that you always wondered how they got it up there. You're allowed to explore anywhere and everywhere. This part is probably my favorite part in any level in this game, it is incredibly well executed and the connection with the song makes it feel like I'm living through my past self.

Look back. You look back on your past with happiness, entering an almost stand-still state as you look back on the happiest moments of your life with a soft smile. I feel that's what the next part represents. It's a simple ship part that makes you feel like you're treading through the memory, trying to stay there as long as possible. The blinding white of the background continues but the art is gone, you are left with these extremely fast and colorful lasers that seem to rotate at random and varying speeds as the song feels to be flying with you. This part is what made me start tearing up, I'm not sure why I did when I first watched it I'll be honest, I hadn't made any connections with the level at this point. I just think the raw atmosphere of the level combined with this beautifully progressed song just hit something in me that made me look back. It's beautiful how such a simple part with such simple effects, can strike an individual with such ferocity.

Eventually, the memory ends. You're sent back down to the ground, as all the memories fly above you, out of your reach once more. Slowly fading out of what once was, into the present. The level slowly fades to black as you continue to jump over these same spikes, over and over again. Maybe you can look back on these times once more, but now you must focus on the present. Make memories you can look back on in the future, when you can replay this level you can think of those once more.

This review might be corny, it might miss the whole point of the level, I might be completely wrong. However, this is how I interpreted it, and is why I love this level so much. twigxcabaret are able to perfect what makes Geometry Dash a storytelling medium, a place you can express whatever you like and have others experience it just the same. If you've read this far, thank you for reading. I'm not the best writer, and I very well know that, but this level means an incredible amount to me and I hope I've put into well enough words why that is.

Thank you.

Over again by PAHC is a level I first found out about because my friend @abso was stuck at a part in the level. I was curious, so I opened the level and tried to get where they were as soon as possible. What I didn’t expect was an entire journey through old levels, decrypting different codes, and understanding the true intentions behind a narrator.

This level starts with a simple code that you have to figure out. However, there are no clues to be seen. Everything you try just flashes the screen red. Eventually, a voice near the bottom of the screen gives you a suggestion. Maybe you should try a more original line of thought. Maybe there’s more information outside the level?

Let’s call this character the narrator. They will be your guide through this carefully crafted journey through their levels, finding every little piece of the puzzle to finally complete it. Hey, it’s just like an ARG! The narrator brings you through many of their old levels, telling you stories about what caused the creation of them, how they were feeling, all little details to get you attached to these little levels. Eventually it ends with some sort of next step, another level to try out usually, to find the next part of the code.

You head through auto levels, old minigame levels, their first level ever, their first full level. A whole experience of levels, all to find the code. The levels are cool and all, and it’s nice learning about them, but what are you here for in the end? You continue progressing through the level, in awe at how much detail was put into this puzzle. How well made this puzzle is. How they make you go through their old levels to look for a code.

Eventually after all of these puzzles and searching, you end up in a recreation of their level Strange Conversation made within the original level. Strange Conversation is an insanely cool story type level, where you make choices to progress the story in different ways. Choosing to redirect the story when need be. In this recreation, you decide not to redirect. Let’s see how the story plays out after all? But then, it loops. Again, and again. You decide to try and redirect, but instead, you leave the cafe. You get teleported to this strange out of bounds area it seems, as the narrator then starts… berating you? For sequence breaking their level? But you had no other choice? They start getting angrier and angrier for your lack of care put into their old levels.

By this point, the player is most likely very confused. The narrator they had been following every exact detail from, is now talking about how they did something wrong? Did you? Were you supposed to play the original Strange Conversation? No, nothing there. Were you supposed to let it loop over and over again? Nothing seems to be changing. Maybe. Just maybe. The narrator isn’t as trustworthy as you once thought. Maybe they aren’t your guiding light throughout this level. Maybe they are a person with feelings, and motives.

Maybe the narrator isn’t a good person?

The narrator told you before leaving to take any of 4 paths, all leading you to different old levels from them with separate parts of a code. After a while, you eventually retrieve all four parts and gain new information for how the code system really works. It took a while, but it was fun finding the codes in each level. That Go You one took a while though… maybe it should’ve been shorter so you didn’t have to play it as long.

You enter the new code, expecting to finally beat the level. However, you are greeted with a simple ‘Access Denied’, and an email to report to if you feel a mistake has been made. I mean, you sat here this whole time exploring all these different levels for codes, and now it’s not right? You decide to email the address given, and get a very strange response.

The email tells you a story of a creator named ‘Babelism’. They’re a normal player, making challenges that they find really fun and enjoyed making them a ton. Five of them, to be specific. They finally decide to make a full level, possibly even rateworthy! But they aren’t proud of it. There’s flaws everywhere, ideas that they could’ve implemented that they couldn’t figure out, it looks basic compared to other levels. If this level got rated, is this all they would be known for? Would people still enjoy their other challenges, knowing this level was cool and got rated? Would they even check out their other levels? Or will they forever be known for that one cool level they made.

You go and open up the ‘Babelism’ account and play through their challenges. Getting different pieces of the code at the end of each one, maybe even giving them a like to show that you enjoyed them! You can tell they enjoyed making them, and you had fun playing them too.

Once you obtain every part of the code, you return back to the original level, entering this new update to the code you just received. However, when you enter it, the narrator returns and starts getting angry at you again? They’re angry that you took your time on every level that ‘Babelism’ created and didn’t give their levels the time of day! At this point the player is most likely very confused once again, how were you supposed to know what the narrator wanted from you? You simply followed everything they asked of you, they got mad at you for spamming one job on Go You, but that’s what they told you to do?

Maybe this narrator isn’t that good of a person after all, maybe they don’t know what they’re talking about and can’t expect the world from you. Maybe this narrator is being selfish and shouldn’t expect you to be able to read minds. Maybe, just maybe. This narrator is a representation of someone years ago.

But then you realize, you played through all of Babelism’s levels because you knew what was happening. You played them because you knew they had fun making those challenges, and that they weren’t proud of their full level. You enjoyed giving them support on what they made. What do you know about the narrator? Do you know how they were feeling when they made all those levels you played? Did you get a detailed email describing exactly what happened with each level? Do you know exactly what the narrator wants of you? Do you think you could ever fit their idea of how to enjoy ‘their’ level?

No, you can’t. You can’t read minds, nobody can. You can’t figure out what the narrator is thinking, you can’t figure out how they want you to look at and view their level. You can’t figure out why they are so angry at you. You’ll never be able to understand, because you can only know what you’re told. You were lucky with ‘Babelism’, you knew everything about them. You could see them in your mind while playing, and you knew exactly what they felt like when they released that full level they weren’t proud of.

Is the narrator in the right? Have you been enjoying their levels wrong? But no, if they wanted something they should have told you to do something, not brought you through a convoluted puzzle simply focusing on finding codes. But, can you know what this narrator is thinking? Maybe there was a reason for this, and you’re in the wrong? But maybe you’re also in the right, maybe this narrator will never get their fill and will constantly spout about how nobody will understand that level. Maybe there are signs from the beginning of who this narrator is, maybe you should go on play those older levels again. Maybe you should replay this level and see if anything could change? Maybe you could finally understand who this narrator is, and their true intentions?

Maybe you have to play everything Over Again.

I watched this level about 5 minutes ago and I am genuinely in shock that I hadn't seen this level until now. I've always been familiar with PAHC, knowing some of their most popular levels such as SAVE AS and Charmed Life, as well as Vertigo which I saw on Twitter. I also recently beat their level Over Again which is INSANELY well made, and I should've probably taken that as a reminder to play their older levels because that meant I would've seen this one sooner.

From Dust is a 6 minute long progression filled masterpiece, which is almost exactly up my alley in terms of level design. It's a relatively simple concept at first glance, when a new element gets introduced into the song, a new element gets introduced into the level to match it. I think just that little combination between the song and the level is able to make them feel completely connected. Cacola has always been an insanely good progressive artist, so any level that tries to match it will most likely also be an insanely well made experience.

There isn't much to say that can't be explained by just playing the level itself, putting a level like this into words and analyzing each little detail would only serve to ruin the experience of viewing it yourself for the first time. I highly request you to play this if you haven't seen it already.

It starts off with almost 30 seconds of nothing, which is most likely why so many people haven't heard of it, they quit out before they could get to any of the progression.

Just play the level, you'll understand why I'm speaking so highly of it.

what the fuck did i just play

The reason I am rating this version of Six Paths of Pain, is because, while I understand the reasoning behind the redecoration and other certain changes to the level. I think it ruins the original charm the level had and why I fell in love with it so much. This is the original version of Six Paths of Pain and what I will always see it as.

Six Paths of Pain is my second favorite impossible level of all time, just behind Sakupen End. I've never seen a level so accurately capture the old impossible level feel as this one does. The stupidly impossible wave spams, the edgy text and style, the insanely good song? It has EVERYTHING.

I would go into detail about each part of the level, but I feel like all of my reviews have just been plot summary and I kind of want to stray away from that. I'll instead talk about specific details which I love and what make the level so special to me.

The colors in this level are perfect for what it is trying to achieve. The gray, red, and black do wonders for fitting this old impossible level edgy theming, and the first part feels like a bit of a bait and switch for what the level is going to be. One of my personal favorite parts of this level is actually the text. There isn't a lot of it, but what it says REALLY brings me back.

"Those who can't understand TRUE PAIN, can never understand TRUE PEACE."

"Open your third eye, you won't believe the TRUTH."

Both are said at extremely impactful parts of the level and makes it SO much more memorable. I especially love the 2.0 flowers around "PEACE" in the first quote.

Another thing I love is the abundance of faces/monsters, a lot of them look really goofy but I think that's a good thing! All the scary faces and monsters fit the edgy atmosphere the level gives off!

I can't really talk about this level without mentioning the song though. Nuke Powder is probably the perfect song for a level like this and is probably what makes it so memorable to a lot of people. The song representation is PERFECT in this level, having a couple parts which genuinely feel as dramatic as the song. It's one of those level + song combinations where you can't associate the song with any other level.

While I am sad that the redecoration ruined almost all of this for me, I am still happy that this version still exists and is able to be watched. This level is absolutely amazing and I'm so happy I was able to watch it in my lifetime.

"Limitation breeds creativity."

Phenomenal level. The atmosphere in this level is out of this world, only thing that breaks the limits of 1.0 in this level is object count, which I can understand. Never seen anything like this level before, and I doubt I ever will.

Despite 2 player mode being introduced all the way back in 1.8, Duelo Maestro is by far the most recognizable level that utilizes it. Nacho21 has always had an insanely unique style which you can recognize in an instant, with very notable levels such as Retro Circles, Invisible Light, Conchetumare X, and of course, Duelo Maestro.

I don't know what the hell Nacho21 laced this level with, but I swear no matter how many years pass since its creation, it never ages a day in it's life. It looks just as good as it did when it came out 8 years ago. Now most people obviously like to focus on this level's gameplay, as it is very recognizable and I feel like anyone could recognize the keys in the asymmetric dual. I'd like to focus on this level's decoration and style.

The first memory cube I'd say is one of the most recognizable predrop's in all of GD, the weird timings and fake spikes is something that doesn't exactly leave a lot of player's heads I've noticed. It shows you what the style is going to be like right away and sets you in for a 4 minute long journey. The next robot adds some color to the background, swapping between green, blue, and purple as you jump up these platforms of what seems to be a glass maze. It's super simplisticly designed, and yet, somehow extremely memorable! I think the gameplay here is also super unique because of its maze-like gameplay despite not seeming like one at first!

You then get to the next ship part where it becomes night time, this part is very simple in about every way. Pulsing stars in the background that follow you, the bricks from the building that pulse brighter and darken again, the giant structure where you hold and release? That might sound very non-descript but if you know the level, you know exactly what I'm talking about! That's what I'm talking about with this level's gameplay, it's just that memorable even if it isn't the most advanced. The next ball part keeps the night time theme aesthetic going with these floating spike lanterns with fire in them that shine the way through this dark area. All the blocks are now completely black and it makes it feel like you're going through some sort of dungeon. This part utilizes ball portals to bring the camera up and down, which genuinely makes it feel like you're exploring it. (Side note, I've always LOVED when levels did this, it makes the level feel so much cooler and like you're actually exploring it)

The next part is the cube right before the drop, bringing a very simple design with slowly changing colors where you follow the music notes to the song. You go up a giant staircase to the song and enter the symmetric drop for the first time. This buildup is very simple but REALLY COOL AND MEMORABLE. This level makes such simple design choices but is somehow able to use them effectively every time. I genuinely don't know how Nacho does it.

You finally enter the first 2 player dual, which is symmetric. It keeps the gray building look from the first part with this really cool circle moving background which seem to vaguely follow you, which I never actually noticed before LOL, it then goes darker after the wave part as all the blocks go black. The next part of the dual is a very unique take on a forest style, using the 2.0 grass and these customly designed mushrooms, as well as these low opacity yellow hexagons in the background which give a semblance of light above the trees. The gameplay here also only consists of jump pads and orbs but it's still REALLY fun to play as it syncs with the song. The design here is quite simple, but as we know, Nacho can achieve an incredibly unique aesthetic even with not much on screen at all. You then seem to enter the glow mushroom cave itself in the next part, as you jump across these invisible platforms surrounded by glowing ground topped off with glowing mushrooms. The background becomes this really cool moving square background, and it's overall just a really cool section. The gameplay here is also very fun for a robot dual :) The next part of the symmetric dual is probably the most recognizable, you finally leave the cave and are greeted with the bright sun as you are now flying along the clouds as a ship. It feels straight out of 2.0 and yet somehow feels like it hasn't aged a bit. Extremely memorable part and I haven't seen a single person dislike this part. The final part of the dual is back to the night time with the dual ball part, the gameplay involves sweeping across the screen onto different platforms and having the two players constantly swap sides. It's one of those parts that would be very easy with one player, but having two players makes it VERY reliant on both players performing at their best. The decoration is very simple once again, being night time and having low opacity glow and moving squares in the background. One cool part some people might not notice, is the moon appearing and changing phases during this part! It starts out as whole moon, becomes a half moon, and eventually disappears from the eyes. It's a very cool detail which is surprisingly visible yet a lot of people don't notice.

The dual part then ends and you are greeted with the beginning of the slow break part. This robot part has a very unique gimmick of all the blocks and spikes changing between high and low opacity. This part feels very still, as the background doesn't move at all. And all you can see is the fires that appear in the spikes when they go low opacity. The gameplay here is also very stressful as it involves some very weird robot gameplay where you have to microclick sometimes. It can be very precise which I find very cool!

You then enter the tech styled part, which will be the remainder of the break. This wave is EXTREMELY cool, bringing back the glass block design from before but utilizing a black color to make it look like shiny metal. The color goes purple and you wave this incredibly hollow feeling area, where the structures consist of one row of metal and then a pattern of gears. This part looks very pretty and the gameplay is AWESOME. It involves sweeping up and down, but you have to inch your way up and down, as well as go through these little spike corridors. It's very unique and fits the song extremely well!!

The next part stays the same style except you are now a ship. Nacho introduces these blocks that launch out platforms which you can use as a launch pad essentially. This is the first gameplay gimmick in the level and is used very tastefully. You have to view them as obstacles as touching them will 99% of the time launch you into a spike, but you also have to use them to your advantage to clear large heights you couldn't make with your ship. It's incredibly unique gameplay and I absolutely love this part.

You then enter the final portion of the break part. The level goes entirely red and utilizes these really cool blocks that constantly extend spikes out of them on a cycle. It also uses really cool orb chains and doesn't stop you if you stray off the main path! You jump up this giant staircase to the next part. This tunnel is my favorite part of the level gameplay wise, there are invisible portals that constantly swap you through four gamemodes. Ship, Ball, UFO, and Wave. You have to maneuver through this corridor while constantly swapping gamemodes and remembering when the spikes are going to jut out. It's all synced to the song and is SUPER satisfying to pull off. I remember always being enamored by this part when watching someone beat it. Shit like this is why I love Nacho21 levels so much, nobody else could pull this off as well as he does.

Finally, you enter the asymmetric dual. Each player has to collect their player color's keys and this is the final test of the level. The first part utilizes these very cool solid color blocks that get colored different colors as you move past them. The background consists of normal 2.0 objects that move in the background, however I really like what happens when one of the ships touches the blue auto pads. The low opacity black arrows in the background become real and start moving to the song! It's literally like watching something come alive in the background LOL, the wave part after keeps the same style but utilizes the tech styled blocks from before where they constantly switch colors. The gameplay here is SUPER fun and involves lots of sweeping over each other and making sure to keep track of where the other player here.

The next part is back to the night time where the background consists of a slowly rotating glow star in the background as you move two cubes across it. One starts as mini on the top and other starts as big on the bottom. The contrast of gameplay here is something I've always liked for some reason. You time some orbs and eventually both become big and start using the same platforms in the middle. One is forced to fall off and hit a blue pad to enter a ufo portal and spam up to the top. I really like the gameplay here and it's always stuck in my mind for some reason, I think it's due to how well it syncs with the music. It's able to make unique and interesting gameplay that also fits the music to a tee. I LOVE IT.

The part after is relatively simple, containing two mini balls traversing through two corridors on top of each other. A pulsing diamond reminiscent of the nine circles effect is used as the background and the balls have to do completely different gameplay that BOTH sync to the song. It flows extremely well. At the end of it they both come together in the middle, where they swap from top to bottom and bottom to top, leading to the next part, and my favorite from the asymmetrical dual.

This part HEAVILY reminds me of something KrmaL would make. The background is a simple darkened sky background with glow made to look like clouds. You also have these shapes made out of 4 hearts where each one individually moves to the song, making the level feel very vibrant!. The block design is SUPER cool, utilizing the gray 2.0 blocks with shadows to make it feel shiny like it really is in the sky! (I LOVE THIS) Both the wave and the ship have to then go through this wave corridor that is covered in spikes, where the ship has to sweep up and down. It's a super simple part in retrospective to everything, but the colors work perfectly and it's SO memorable.

The final part of the asymmetric dual is a dark brick style which feels like some sort of castle. The mini cubes dance across the screen, hitting different orbs to stay on their side of the screen and making sure to avoid any that the other should hit. I especially like the last row of orbs for the top player. It then gets darker as it splits into two corridors, the top being a big cube and the bottom being a mini ball. This part is very tense for solo players especially as the timings here are very awkward and makes for a fitting finale to the dual. Once the dual ends you enter this auto part as you make your way to the final cube. On sync, you also collect two invisible free coins, no idea why, but it's so memorable there's no way I can't love it LOL.

The last cube is probably the most stressful thing in any level EVER. After all of that 2 player dual madness, you enter a one player cube part where every orb is a question mark. It involves complete memorization of every orb and the timing of each one. You can't just simply buffer every single one, there's individual timings needed for each one. The background is completely black, there's no bells and whistles decoration wise, it's just up to you to remember the final part. It goes on for about 15 seconds, where the song resorts back to it's original melody after hearing dubstep for the past couple minutes. However, once it's finally over, the level gives you a free dual ship portal and thanks you for playing, and shows you all the dedication for about 20 seconds. This might feel drawn out, but I think this is perfect. It makes the level feel a lot more personal and a lot more like a passion project by the creator. It also serves as a break to react for the player(s) LOL, the endscreen is very simple just being a dual portal that say duelo maestro with your player colors. Very simple, very effective.

I don't think I'd be lying if I said this level was revolutionary. Even if it's not the most unique in it's decoration, it's able to form its own style and forces itself to make it known through it's incredible unique and satisfying gameplay, as well as its incredible song representation. There's no way I can't give this anything less than a 10 in everything :)