Rating Curve

Very simple in concept but very well executed, and it's also quite charming too!

Silly and fun. Very underrated too, should have been epic rated. As far as my memory goes, the gameplay wasn't pretty exciting though, but it is hard to achieve this when you make a storytelling type level. Solid work nonetheless :)

[review imported from YraX's server]

As far as art-styled levels go, I gotta give it to Actv for having a rather interesting approach, making things both really atmospheric and rather simple in design too.

The level starts of with a desert during nighttime - this makes it pretty calm and eerie, which I'd say is a great approach for beginning, however I do that think adding some faint dark particles could elevate this feeling further. I really appreciate the moon flickering it's light whenever it gets out of sight, that's a nice touch! Moving onto the cave part, I do wish it had a bit more going on... the same color palette of dark blue and black could have been changed to differenciate it better from the last one, as well as adding in more details into it would be a good choice too, given it is a much simpler comparing to the others. I am glad that the spikes have random colors to them and are glowing, definitely spices things up a bit.

The next part is probably my favorite one, having an amazing landscape that is painted orange and pink, thanks to the sunrise. There's plenty of detail to lay your eyes upon and the color choices are very strong, big thumbs up from me. I also like how the jump indicators blend in with the decorations, bold move, however it does make them less visible, which I find better in this scenario. Next, another landscape and some wooden beams - it's a nice part, definitely feels a lot like an intermission for me though. One thing I can say about it though, is that it also has a lot of atmosphere - which I appreciate a lot.

Overall, as much as the first parts didn't impress me as much as the later ones, I do agree with the epic rating in-game, that's a very good art piece, clearly a lot of effort went into it and it was fun to play too, being very sightreadable. Got no issues, only some nitpicks that I've mentioned, but these can be ignored and the level would still be amazing. This is surely nothing to sneeze at - great job!

Love how it took inspiration from the achievement games there used to be. I think the simplicity of designs hurts the quality of it a bit - but to be fair it's best to not clutter the screen with too much stuff since there's already a lot happening. I'd love for it to have it some better theming though.

Ohhh this level! The only one that fits the theme of the gauntlet that it is in... which in a retrospective, it made the level much more memorable than it should be. Wouldn't say it's a bad thing though, since I think the level is awesome - and all the hate it gathered when it was first put into the gauntlet was ill-considered. Sure, the gameplay wasn't that great at first, but it was trying it's best at being something unique, which I feel like should be much more appreciated, EVEN if not executed well. For what it is, being a 2.0 level, the execution of theming and general decorations fit very well and any sort of movement this level has isn't rapid or up-to-your-face, which is already an accomplishment for those times on it's own. I definitely see the vision the creator had while making it and I will defend this level until I die.

As someone who loves wave gamemode, I'm glad this is the level that made the whole 'Nine Circles' level trend a thing. Another thing that I love about this level that not many people know about, is that it was inspired by another games level - Open Hexagon user level which also used same song and had similar colors. Overall as a whole level, I think it's a good introduction to hard demons, being definitely one of the most popular choice for people's first one, and I think it's fair, since it's a gauntlet of most of the gamemodes (putting in major focus on the wave though). This level can definitely train your straight fly and sightreading skills. The visuals themselves aren't anything crazy, but they do their job well with how simple it is to actually make them.

Definitely a timeless classic that will shape generations of players for years to come, and I think it's a good thing that this is one of the levels that will do it.