Rating Curve

The world you’re in feels unreal, everything you see is smoothened and artificial, a complete virtual reality. Horizon is the simulation you take place in, branding its mark at the very start, it’s a massive dungeon full of dangers lying ahead. Throughout the travel of your journey, the paths range from moderately peaceful strolls to traps with no predictability to save you, it’s a wild adventure with only one goal waiting behind it all, to slay Anemone. Anemone functions as the queen of this entire place, to beat her is to win the game immediately, but she won’t go out without a fight. Her design is the one of a butterfly, depicting her vulnerability, all she can do to stop you is focus her energy into offence and pray she’s left untouched. If you manage to evade all her attacks until she’s wholly out of stamina, her end is met, and you’ll see her memorial lying down suggesting that you completed your goal, the gates of the level open and you’re freed.

I got so easily hooked the entire 15 minutes through, not a single second goes by without something interesting happening, the level feels unreal in that sense. The path is aimless, all sense of familiarity is gone travelling through these absurd obstacles, there isn’t any real interpretation to be made out of it all and yet it’s so soothing to explore the wastes of this little world. The song feels like it’s in complete dissonance with the environment but it doesn’t distract from the ambience in any way, it’s there to do nothing but set a tone and for the rest of the level to play out in solemn silence. You won’t like the experience if you’re expecting some larger takeaway from it all, it’s simply an interval to be enjoyed for what it is

Such a fantastic experience, I dont have too much to say about it since it's already so widely known what makes funnygame's work so remarkable, but that doesnt mean I love this level any less. Steampianist has always been one of the greatest artists on newgrounds, for a while unrecognised, but funnygame took an initiative making the most gorgeous travel level in the entire game to one of their songs. The progression is out of this world, not to forget the countless amount of brilliant ideas that get completely overshadowed by all the trivial documentation on funnygame’s breakthrough discoveries. Alike death moon everything works together flawlessly, somehow still far surpassing the former, the level feels so serenely colourful despite being completely monochrome for more than half of its length. I love this level to death

The level has undeniable flaws, and it's something I want to touch on before going over everything I love about this level, but I have my own arguments as to why I dont believe it drags the experience down any bit. To start off, the cohesion between parts is... not exactly non existent but it does noticably cut off quite strangely at times. Especially in the drop these issues become more apparent, where each part continuously breaks down the pacing and setting the part before it tries to establish, and it makes for some pretty wonky immersion overall. Theres also the inconsistency between designs, I dont think I need to elaborate much on how certain have much crazier ideas than others, and the gameplay really isnt interesting enough to make up for anything either. These are some pretty massive complaints overall, so why put the level on a pedestal if there are this many points working against its favour? Well, I cant really go over the critiques one by one and excuse them on every front, and instead I want to argue its beauty comes from its informality. I strongly believe art is something to be admired for the way you engage with it, and not the way it shines in isolation, and this work is a perfect demonstration of something suceeding to fill me with inspiration and happiness regardless of all its technical flaws.

My perception of color has always been very noisy, in a way it usually directly affects my mood, and it's part of what made me fell in love with popular nintendo titles like the paper mario and mario & luigi series as a kid. The exaggerated and vibrant color palletes are present everywhere throughout these games, even when the settings are moody or relaxed, it gives the aesthetics a warming effect while never overdoing it enough to overstimulate me. As stupid as it may sound, seeing life through the same child-like wonder I felt playing these games is what kept me seeing light in moments of immense distress, and as a way of reserving these bright feelings I choose to engrave the visuals of these games into my personal aesthetic. Now begs the question, how does my nostalgia for these games relate in any way to a fundamentally different game like gd? Let alone bob ratchet's level? The answer is quite simple, the new textures 2.0 brought imitate the general style of the Wii and its respected games brilliantly. Everyone is well aware of the "mario vibes" brought by this update, it's especially noticable in the way geometrical dominator is designed. And while the art direction gd was shifting towards seemed terrible on paper, many amazing creators have proven to make it work as a seamless part of this game, and I believe nobody did it as creatively as bob ratchet did. Bob ratchet's style is like the perfect mix of cartoonish vibes like Valentinsanity and strong gd essence you see in levels from creators like Taman, and it makes use out of the basic editor tilesets in a way I never could have thought of myself. Forever Bound drags me back into my childhood, every part of it feels like im sitting after my old console exploring the worlds created for me and yet it still holds all the values I have for gd itself. It influenced my way of creating more than any other level ever achieved on its own, because of how deeply it resonates with my own creative vision, and it's the biggest reason as to why I hold this level so dear to me.

About the volume of the level itself, I find the way the progression works really cute despite how jarring it may seem on surface. Obviously part of my feelings stem from growing up with some more lackluster nintendo titles, but I can also empathize with how carefree everything was made. The bundle of ideas are all very charming, and consistent enough for me to appreciate everything as a collective. I also adore the use of player colors everywhere throughout the level, it's more of a subtle touch than a real focus but I still think the personalized look gives the level an extra bit of flavour and helps its retro feel stand out more. Then there are the pulses and movements which are incredibly smooth, with the 3d robot part becoming famous for how dynamic it came to look, it's something I see the level get little to no credit for despite how remarkable it was for its time. Speaking of the 3d robot part, it gotta be one of the most beautiful parts to ever touch this game and holding the rest of the level to the same standard is just ridiculous in my eyes. If anything the buildup to the climax is what makes it hit as hard as it does, it's an amazing spectacle that rounds everything to an experience I'll never forget.

All in all, I understand the point of view from those who cant see the level through the same lense as I do, since its inner foundation is anything but standard. But nevertheless, I'm spoken by the vision of bob ratchet and I would be glad to follow his legacy.

Funnygame is one of the only creators who can be hyped up to extreme lengths and have all of it be justified. I cant point out a single flaw in this level except for minor gp complaints, the level already left a really strong impression on me when I first started playing the game and over time I've only come to appreciate it more. There is so much to love about this level despite being almost a decade old and I think thats incredibly remarkable, overall just a level thats way too ahead of its time and something I keep revisiting for its dominant perfection.