Rating Curve

Not one of the first thousand levels to try this punchy rave aesthetic, but almost certainly the most successful. It's the casual starkness of that oppressive bass and shimmering starkian glow that really provide the most significant opportunities to lose yourself in AFTER DARK's effortless push and pull. Very reminiscent of asistamamong's Подпалящимсолнцем, in that way. I do think the intro sequence overstays its welcome a little bit, and I wish the endscreen were more subtle.

I've always felt that Rob should have built Jumper as level 6 and had Can't Let Go be the final test, because it succeeds so fully in that role with its drilling soundtrack and oppressive blackout that gets the blood pumping. The gameplay just taps into that "tour de force" satisfaction with its verticality and effortless variety, since it's still mostly reliant on focus over strict timing. Very satisfying.

My only complaint about Polargeist is that I wish there was more of it - if not lengthwise then in the form of a more grandiose ending. That final stretch just feels a little unsatisfying after the vastness of the preceding ~50% given the song's intensity. Even so, wonderful color work and sheer, uncompromising architecture make for an invigorating experience.

Maybe I just haven't looked hard enough, but I'm shocked that seemingly no one else is interested in playing around with light and sound the way quid did here. This level's still incredibly inventive and bursting with energy, but the back half doesn't make the most of its sprawling, skyward song and is way too tidy visually.

I don't really subscribe to the commonly-held opinion that quid's levels sacrifice enjoyable gameplay for impressive visuals, but white berry harmonia certainly does lean into being adversarial to the player to contribute to an air of total inhospitality despite the beauty of some of its designs. It's moderately successful in that regard, but even more interesting is the (perhaps unintentional) fakeout at the end that weaponizes both quid's controversial standing in the community and Koraii's foreboding, hostile tone - I've completed the level multiple times and I still half expect some cherry swirls-esque crescendo of hate before a beautiful ending wraps everything up. Fascinating.

Really nails its adaptation of an 80s/90s Japanese media aesthetic with how violent yet twee it is, and a super fun layout balances the energy perfectly with some of the most skilled difficulty scaling of the 2.0 era of demons. Some sections are pretty visually basic due to the object limit of that era, but I'm perfectly content with InsanitY being Not Ugly at its worst, especially given how many levels just completely fell apart when their creator sniffed the object limit back then.

GD's biggest aura merchant. Decoration's nothing special, but the fact that players back in the day couldn't tell whether this or Silent Clubstep was harder is a testament to the success of its layout's intimidation factor, and it's still pretty fun and novel these days with its notorious chokepoints. I will always love the 95% corridor in particular. Just perfect.

So sleek, so modern, so candy-coated like it was cooked up in an advertising studio that it transcends being overwhelming and tacky and leaps into existence as an awesome half-parody effect level with an equally stimulating dual-based layout. I do wish it were a lot easier, though; Dole Damos doesn't really nail that charmingly contradictory friendly exterior/brutally difficult interior thing that other extremes like Kowareta figured out, and I imagine these visuals might get pretty nauseating after hours of attempts.

Maybe the most spiritually TamaN a level has ever been without actually having been made by the man himself. Warm and lush neodesign-adjacent visuals and casual but deliberate gameplay make fisch a total blast to play, more than worthy of its self-celebratory atmosphere.

Lovely composition on this one. The slurry, mellow audiovisuals accompany a fairly cerebral layout just perfectly. I don't know that I love the climax going full memory, but Neurostasis sells the moment with its progressive decay well enough that it's still quite satisfying. Very happy to have seen this from Hyperbolus.