Rating Curve

This is a really funny level to me because of how inconsistent it is. There's a few neat high points to it - I really like the way the ship corridors are used to sync to the high vocals in the first 30 seconds, for example - but overall the contrast between the dark, metallic 1.9 design style popular in levels like Tartarus and the light, upbeat J-rock song used is a bit absurd for my taste. In terms of the percussion I do think it works fine, as the gameplay is fast and high-CPS enough to well represent the percussion, but otherwise the two elements of the level don't coexist well at all. I think Tengaku being less dark would have helped a lot, making it feel a bit less foreboding and menacing to more closely match the song's upbeat nature, and also I'd have loved more consistent use of movement sync in the gameplay beyond the aforementioned ship corridors; there's tons of potential for things like matching icon height to vocal pitch, reusing specific gameplay sections on certain words/patterns in the melodies that would've helped drastically to make this into a more cohesive product. As is, I wouldn't recommend Tengaku for rate, but at the bare minimum it's a pretty interesting level.

The only strong descriptor I have for this level is that it's very clean. Every element of Wand takes a very simplistic approach with flat, muted colours, little movement and very simple structures and designs reminiscent of the peak of the modern style around 2020. I appreciate how well balanced the level of details are across each part, as the simpler, tiled designs are complimented by subtle, geometric background texturing that helps fill in some of the excess negative space.

Aside from that, there's not much on offer. The gameplay is quite standard, containing nothing particularly engaging and no notable song representation or unique gimmicks. The decoration is quite stock-standard aside from the high level of cleanliness, and feels very monotonous as the general style, colour scheme and structuring conventions don't change at all throughout the level. Wand would really benefit from a bit of experimentation in any of its major elements, a unique gimmick or bold colour choice can go a long way towards making a level special.

For lack of much in the way of a better description, Subpar feels like a 2020 daily level. There's some good to be found here, but a lot of it ends up washed out in a sea of deja vu over so many of this level's major elements being played safe.

The designs, structuring and colour scheme of this level stay consistent throughout its length, which is commendable and the metallic blue, angular and vaguely industrial theming is far from bad - in fact, I quite like how it's executed. There's a good balance of detail between the structures and the air deco, with some negative space being left near the top of the screen, but the rest generally being filled with simple backgrounds or effects such as rising bars of glow. When combined with decent enter/exit movements on the structures, Subpar feels quite dynamic to play and stays consistent enough to feel very cohesive throughout its runtime.

I'm also a fan of the slight hue shifting that's done in the first part of the drop, where some of the brighter highlights are shifted 30 or so degrees either up or down to make them stand out from the base designs of the part more. The glow bars that move into place inside gaps created by two pillars are nice to provide a visual connection point between the structures, and make the player's intended path clearer. The common theme with all of this feedback, though, is that it's quite nondescript and can be applied to so many levels to varying levels of accuracy. Subpar really has nothing that makes it stand out; yes, a lot of the individual elements within it are quite good, but I feel like I've played this exact level hundreds of times at this point in my journey in Geometry Dash. In the current creating climate, if you want to aim for anything above permanent mediocrity, it's important to develop something unique to your style that helps you stand out from the pack, whether that be a certain style of structure deco (Icewither's very angular, pipe-like designs are a good example of this), specific usage of movements and structure shapes (2.0 Nasgubb or Namtar), or a specific type of effect that you like (Konsi popularised many of the glow-based effects that would go on to make up the "russian glow" style). I'd recommend pushing your own limits and attempting to expand on what you're comfortable building in future projects to find that thing that helps you stand out from the rest.

Hazard Duty Pay is an attempt to emulate the successful aspects of In Silico by Rafer, but is unsuccessful in most regards. The main thing that I think made In Silico work so well is how well the gameplay integrated with the level's concept - the labyrinthine tunnels, constant falling and crumbling blocks, warnings and flashing lights all have very strong, obvious thematic connections to the "escape the facility" themes of the level, and combined with the intense song made for an awesome escape sequence. Summed up, Hazard Duty Pay feels like a vapid attempt at recreating this feeling. The gameplay is a particularly sore spot for me; the difficulty in this level comes with (theoretically) much more tightly packed, claustrophobic gameplay, which in theory could work quite well for the escape sequence idea, but the structuring largely does not feel "solid" or labyrinthine in the way In Silico's does, largely due to the more traditional, less naturally-shaped structuring approaches used as well as the lack of contrast and highlights in many of the structures (think of the way In Silico used huge machinery parts or rock tunnels to guide the player), which leaves the gameplay feeling much less intuitive and actually less claustrophobic than In Silico despite the increased difficulty.

The decoration is generally okay, I do quite like some aspects of it. The designs overall have some pretty decent showings; I'm a big fan of the dark, sloped mechanical/electrical blocks around 0:11 and the giant sloped structures at 0:50, as these feel the most to me like an extension of Rafer's style, building that vision into something new with a biomechanical theme that is still distinct enough to give each respective part its own identity (particularly the ending chase, many of the designs feel rocky and glowing orange like the inside of a volcano, which is nice for the climax). However, these approaches are highly inconsistent, and often a lot of the visual elements feel like they fall back on a more traditional glow-design style that creates two somewhat distinct styles that are mish-mashed together in each part. This sticks out the most to me in the part at 0:19, where the flat, angular metal structures do not mesh well whatsoever with the larger, less angular filler structures; they fill different roles, one being a highlight and one being a base, but their physical placement never overlapping and clashing colour choices mean the two do not feel like they should be together in one part.

I see the vision with Hazard Duty Pay, and in some ways it's successful in delivering on expanding on the vision brought on by In Silico, but overall I find this level to be a letdown. The gameplay is underwhelming and one-dimensional, and the decoration misses the mark on most of the elements that made In Silico such a good level to begin with, while really not adding anything new to the table to compensate, leaving Hazard Duty Pay as sort of a vapid middle-ground remake attempt that does not stand out to me in any way.

I honestly feel like Enjoy could have been a great and very unique top extreme, but unfortunately it ends up being quite a letdown. Enjoy is a level by Septagon7 that apparently would have placed in the top 20 hardest demons upon verification, but it was never rated, and I can see why this is the case. I do want to first mention, though, that I appreciate this level's attempts to differentiate itself from other top extremes, mainly in the decoration. This level's style almost feels like nostalgic, 2018-2019 modern levels, but with a bit more detail and polish. I don't mind this aspect of it at all, and it's definitely eye catching compared to the rest of the top demons from around the time. I quite like the different shades of grey highlighted with splashes of green and blue, it helps the details and structuring stand out pretty well and makes it easy to "read" the level.

Sadly this is about where my praise ends. The gameplay does not match with the song at all, being primarily made up of extremely difficult, timing-based wave and ship sections somewhat reminiscent of Slaughterhouse, however this style does not work here as Enjoy's visuals and song are significantly less intimidating and do not really warrant this sort of claustrophobic gameplay. The gameplay itself is uninteresting, the only remarkable things about it being the sync, which is alright, and the difficulty. The decoration is completely static and sports next to no variation throughout the level's length, making Enjoy quite a chore to watch more than once, and there's little to no effect or background work to compliment this. I think a lot of my issues with Enjoy are pretty integral to the level's general aesthetic, but at bare minimum it needs some movement, progression and variation of structuring in order to make it a more enjoyable experience.

On a conceptual level, Enjoy lacks in many ways, but it is an alright attempt at creating a more unique top extreme, especially for the time in which it was released. I would love to see gameplay with different methods of sync (icon movement or elevation rather than just clicks), some experimentation in terms of structuring, effects, backgrounds and designs, and more progression to make the level feel more climactic and complete. Out of the current top demons, Slaughterhouse and Arcturus come to mind as the best examples of this, making use of their hellish and dark songs to craft extremely intimidating levels with pretty unique structuring and designs despite the tried-and-true "red hell" style. I would not send Enjoy, but I appreciate what it's trying to do.

CLARITO's first half has some remarkably poor effect and design work, considering how solid the second half is in comparison. The really bright pulses with the glow beams and shaders in the first part aren't synced to anything, and thus feel completely out of place considering how intense they are. A similar issue crops up in the following part with the rainbow up-down glow beams that are, once again, not synced to any part of the song and are far too intense to justify their existence with no song representation to go off of. I'm also not a fan of the slowed down transition between parts 2 and 3, because it once again does not match any element of the song and thus feels out of place. Lastly, the following part's camera rotates slowly side to side, which I personally am a huge proponent against because I feel like it adds nothing to the level and just looks disorienting. Despite this, though, the actual art design sections of the level are consistently quite solid. There's a few parts that resemble more "generic" modern styles from years past (namely parts 1 and 3 with the flat colour blocks, basic rectangular structures and very minimal background detail), but the second half has a lot more variation in structuring and deco style, as well as more complex backgrounds and pulsing effects that accentuate the song's percussion. I especially like the transition into the drop, since the song's rapid melody is conveyed quite well with how fast the backgrounds shift between one another. However, I can't overlook the issues I mentioned previously, and I would not recommend this level to be rated due to the poor cohesion and effect work in the first half.

Looking back on 2.0, jakerz95's style might be one of the funniest things to come out of the entire update. Most aspects of Sysmique Locked are so ridiculously over-the-top and messy, but hell it's a damn memorable level because of it. This level's structuring and designs are incredibly unique; especially so for 2.0, but even 8 or 9 years down the line I've rarely seen anyone successfully replicate the cluttered, colourful mess of blending glow and odd angles that makes up most of jakerz's structuring. This extends to the backgrounds, being reminiscent of some highly detailed tech creators from 2.1 like Xender Game, but with a lot more glow and a lot less polish. I do very much find this charming, and generally fairly good looking, but it is undeniably extremely messy in a way that muddies most of the actual detail of the level, causing much of it to be missed on the player as everything sort of coalesces into vague blobs of blue and purple. Sysmique Locked's boss is similar, but even more noticeable since it's present for the entire level. The layering in particular is pretty awkward, as sometimes structuring from the level clips through the boss, breaking its "foreground" appearance somewhat. There's also next to no contrast between the boss and the rest of the level, so it doesn't really stand out and feels more like a nuisance than an imposing threat of any kind. However, the design is honestly pretty sick for the time, with a lot of black glow and bright highlights used to give it a shiny, metallic feel that I think compliments its sharp, angular, dragonlike design pretty nicely. The attacks themselves are also decent for 2.0 standards, being telegraphed fairly well and varying between lasers, projectiles and melee attacks enough to keep things interesting.

While Sysmique Locked is a nice callback to 2.0 and has a few strong elements in its designs and colour usage, it's incredibly messy and not the most pleasant to look at. I'm perfectly fine with the Featured rating it has received, and I'm quite glad levels like this are still paid attention to in the modern era, as they're both funny and highly intriguing.