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Right off the bat, big feet excels in its structuring and designs. Most of the level's main designs used sharp outlines, flat, bright accents and a darker (usually black) backing colour reminiscent of older cel-shaded comics, and this is perfectly complimented by the harsh angles and free-floating lines that most of the structures used. In particular, the ship at 0:44 reminds me of impact effects, and the circles in the background look like cel-shading gradients. Even the structures that don't fit this mold have other visual tie-ins to this theme: the speakers at 0:31 lack outlines and use cel-shaded highlights to appear more cartoonish, and the large pink structures at 0:53 reuse the same circular cel-shading technique previously mentioned. I appreciate the overall consistency and attention to detail in the level's main structures and designs, and it creates an extremely visually cohesive product.
The detail balancing in big feet is also on point. Every part has lots of contrast between multiple distinct layers, and this is easiest to see at 0:53. Starting from the front, the pulsing black and white concentric circles are a nice, sharp accent detail that stands out from the pink main structures beneath them, which make up the bulk of the screen. Some of the structures also have blobs of purple behind them, which works nicely as a layer to create more distance between the main structures and the background, and helps fill some excess negative space. Lastly, the background has some subtle texturing with spinning stars and grainy glow that provides a little bit more detail to the sections of negative space.
While the level doesn't incorporate the level's lyrics into its visuals much, the lyrics being placed on screen and interacting with some of the decoration (like the TVs about halfway through which show objects relevant to the lyrics) are nice details that do help tie them into the level naturally, and the gameplay mainly syncing to the lyrics also helps in this regard. Overall, I have no real issues with big feet - it's not an extraordinary level, but it's very well rounded and an excellent showing from AudieoVisual. I would personally recommend this for Epic.
COME TO DADDY's theming is near immaculate. An uncommon, much darker and energetic song from Aphex Twin opens a world of possibilities for theming, but skywalker14 takes a fairly literal approach that just feels like hell. The dominant colour of everything is dark red, and the level's backgrounds are all mechanical or city-like (somewhat reminiscent of Ultrakill), but I really like how this is twisted into a more humanoid form for many of the foreground designs. The repeating motif of arms present throughout the level goes such a long way to drawing out this constant connection between the human form and the level's hellish nature, which when combined with the screaming, distorted vocals and guitars of the song does a fantastic job at making the whole level feel like humanity's purgatory. Based on the music video bearing a fair resemblance to this concept, I think it's safe to say skywalker14 executed the song's vision nearly to perfection in this regard.
The more mechanical elements of this level are no slouch visually, either, but what I think really makes it is how skywalker14 blurs the lines between the two at various points. The choice to taint many of the level's more mechanical foreground elements with visible blood (namely, the spikes in the first part, and the saws and green skyscraper-like blocks in the drop) ties the two major themes of the level together quite nicely, although I really wish this was done more often as it is very easy to miss. Having the structures glitch into more humanoid shapes would have been a good way of doing this - a glitching effect was already shown off in the second part that would have been perfectly suited for this purpose. The mechanical faces in the background of the drop that appear to scream the song's lyrics are a much better application of this concept, in my opinion, as both elements of the level are already invariably tied to them in concept, blending together humanoid and mechanical elements into this giant abomination that really sells how hellish the level feels. Either way, COME TO DADDY is a fantastic thematic exploration of Aphex Twin's music, with so much depth despite its short runtime, and despite the flaws in execution it has.
Dead Of Night is tough to describe, because the sheer scale of 64 individual levels puts it in a league of its own in terms of room platformers. Before talking about the individual levels, the single thing that I think makes this concept of a massive, multi-level room platformer work at this scale is DON's level select. The UI is smooth and intuitive, and the ability to select and practice individual levels is incredibly helpful to players attempting to tackle this level's 2+ hour playtime. I love how each level is given its own portrait and title card - giving players a glimpse into what each one offers can be a really nice way to help them pick where to start, or recognise ones they already enjoy. Every single creator is given their time in the spotlight, in a way that's still intuitive and approachable for the average player due to the menu UI's design.
The individual levels themselves are generally high quality, but each one tends to stick to one specific idea such that almost all of the individual parts stand out from each other. I particularly like the mouse pointer gameplay and constant early internet culture references in mbed's part, or the complete gameplay innovation to make a playable version of Fortnite in Culuc's part. Every single part has something to offer, making this behemoth level never really feel stale during playtime - a massive achievement considering DON's length.
I really have no complaints with this level. Limitations surrounding object count causing memory leaks and the overall massive playtime mean that I do agree with the Feature rating it received, but this is an incredibly well organised experience that feels like a tribute to everything that the GD community has accomplished. There's something here for everyone, and I think that is quite awesome.
I'm a sucker for levels with great song representation, and It Ends In Fire is no exception. This is a very interesting level stylistically, bearing a lot of resemblance to creators like cometface with its simpler designs, flashy colours and atmospheric effects. The lo-fi indie rock song is used really well here, and its stressful, climactic vibe fits in really well with the level's theming, that being the end of the world. Every element of this level harmonises extremely well in the final product, and nothing feels wasted - the block designs are quaint and simple but still do their job, the effects are used very well in order to convey the shifting energy of the song, and the background work is stellar and really helps tie everything together. I especially love how everything disintegrates and then is sucked into a wormhole at the end.
Any complaints I have about this level are pretty nitpicky, but they revolve around the gameplay. The drum breaks with plenty of spider orbs in the beginning feel quite awkward and out of place, and the rainbow colour loop has the same issue. I think this would have been much better executed with a speed change and some different, more intense effects. Additionally, the level does feel a bit too short for the amount of progression it's trying to cram in, which leaves it feeling unfinished in that aspect. I would have loved to see how the creator made use of the next drop rather than cutting the level off where it does.
Overall, this is a really strong showing from value1, a creator I've never heard of. I would love to see this level get epic, and I'm super excited to see what they make in the future. I would encourage value1 to continue to utilise their talent with backgrounds and effects, while working on refining the other aspects of their levels mentioned. Well done
SoDaZ has managed to carve out quite a niche for themself within the very renowned, tried-and-true Hinds/Shocksidian style that's developed over the last 8 or so years. Maverick is by far their best showing in this regard, building on nearly everything the style has to offer as well as their own previous levels into a very interesting fusion blend of many different inspirations that I really love. The block/ground designs and colours remind me most of the traditional Hinds/Shocksidian levels, with simpler designs comprised mostly of pre-2.0 default blocks, and very saturated, well-synced andd cohesive pulse work throughout, which in my opinion is most apparent during the UFO about 25 seconds in. However, where I feel this level shines most are in the elements that make it more of a SoDaZ level - the effects, backgrounds and air decoration are all stellar and really compliment the strengths of the rest of the deco. The background work is quite subtle but adds a layer of depth to the level often missing from more classic ones, and the effects are simple but help uplift the otherwise static parts of the level.
My biggest (and only) complaint is the level's lack of cohesion in the second half. Here it feels like SoDaZ began sort of throwing things together at random, with the most intense part visually not coming at the most intense section of the song, some very odd colour choices in the last 20%, and the designs starting to fall flat a bit, leaving the level feeling lacking in this regard. However, despite this, it's still pretty decent overall, and even more impressively manages to remain extremely fun and consistent to play.
The creativity shown through most aspects of this level is very, very impressive considering the rough stylistic template it uses, and it really cements SoDaZ as a master of his style. I'd give this level epic, and really hope to see more from SoDaZ going forward.
It's always great to see a return level from an older creator, and Anonymous doesn't disappoint, being a collab between Havok, Sillow, Flash and Tuna310. Havok is an older creator most prolific before 2.1, and the stylistic inspiration from that era of creating is very apparent throughout the level, mainly in the designs. The mesh between the new, like the 2.2 gameplay, shader effects and backgrounds, with the old, namely the designs very reminiscent of Occult Outcry and older Shocksidian levels, works surprisingly well and Anonymous as a whole is very cohesive. The glitchy digital theme is forefront in every single part, the colour scheme is consistent throughout while still remaining varied (I especially like the emphasis on blue during the dual at about 65%), and the gameplay is learny but extremely rewarding and consistent. No one element is all that outstanding, but everything blends together to create an excellent experience from start to finish.
I personally really enjoy each creator's individual take on the overarching theme of the level - Havok's parts are a blend of older, more static designs and very complex backgrounds and effects, Sillow's part is heavily effect based with tons of glitching shaders and movements, and Flash and Tuna310's part is a lot more traditional with some excellent colour work and very well-made backgrounds. It's difficult to cover everything within the character limit, but I would HIGHLY recommend giving this level a try yourself, as the difficulty of around high end insane demon is pretty approachable for most experienced players. This is one of the best "traditional" design-effect levels to come out this year, and an absolute banger of a comeback from Havok. I would really love to see this level get epic.
Throat Of The World is a platformer that redefined the limits for platformers when it came out, as it's one of the first of its kind to show such high worldbuilding, polish and interactivity throughout a very long runtime (somewhere around 3 hours on a first practice run). I'll start with the things I don't like about it: I feel TheJShadow uses pixel blocks as a crutch throughout the level, and the gameplay between bosses is pretty uninteresting. I understand the usage of pixel blocks might have been for optimisation, but it ends up looking cheap at points where the detail provided by the pixel blocks becomes a central focus point of the level, mostly in the first half of the level prior to the first boss. I think more custom pixel assets here and there would have done well in livening up the visuals and preventing this sort of overuse from occurring, especially in the ground designs. The gameplay between bosses tends to lack any meaningful gimmicks; there's environmental assets, but those are pretty straightforward, being mostly ice, water or lava. There's wind in a couple of parts, but that doesn't add much to the level aside from being thematically accurate and tends to make for more annoying gameplay. There's also multiple fetch quests scattered throughout the level which make up the entirety of the quest mechanic, containing little variation and only requiring the player to grab a hidden collectible or two. The only real exceptions are some custom bounce pads and rotating platforms, but I just don't feel like it's enough to prevent these gameplay sections from feeling very monotonous.
Thankfully, that's about where my complaints end, and everything else about the level is excellent. The boss gameplay is challenging and engaging, but fair and reasonably well-telegraphed, being quite reminiscent of Terraria in a lot of good ways. The boss designs are well made, and the final boss is very climactic. I love how tense the buildup feels, as everything gets quieter, darker and more menacing as you approach the boss. Each of the game's individual environments is well-built, with excellent colours, effects and level design; that is to say, almost nothing feels out of place in this regard. I particularly love the above-ground sections late into the level; the rendition of the northern lights and the snowy landscape look beautiful and make for a nice break from the dark, claustrophobic underground parts. All of this is brought into harmony by the consistently solid part-to-part transitions, as each of them makes sense thematically (for example, descending underground from a snowy mountain into a cavernous zone filled with lava). The player is thrown into the metaphorical Throat Of The World, and I truly love this level for that.
While I think this level stands with quite a bit of room for improvement, this is an incredible showing from TheJShadow and one of the best platformer levels ever created; hell, this could stand on its own as a pretty solid indie game. All around, a very technically impressive level with great depth, environmental design and worldbuilding, and one I would personally have given a legendary rating.
The Depths Above is a level heavily based on the game Outer Wilds that is faithful in its approach while still adding a fairly unique spin on the "game remake" genre of levels. The choice to not make this a platformer level is interesting considering how heavily Outer Wilds prioritises a free-roam, exploration-driven approach to its gameplay and storytelling, but Bram4Real pulled this off well and it helps differentiate the level from the game. The Depths Above reuses many of the planets, environments and story elements from Outer Wilds, but pieces them together in a more linear fashion in line with the intended player progression of the game - I won't elaborate on this too much in order to not spoil Outer Wilds' story, but I would highly recommend playing the game if this interests you.
Each individual part and cutscene is recognisable as its comparative element from the game, but the way everything fits together feels like the player is watching an advertisement for the game rather than playing the game itself, which I think is a much better approach than directly remaking the game. It allows Bram4Real to exercise far more creative freedom over how the gameplay works with each individual part's theming, backgrounds, block designs and some of the transition effects like the Mask. There are also lots of little details included that reference the game itself, such as the gravity on Giant's Deep being much higher than normal and the memory rewind after running into the anglerfish in Dark Bramble, which I quite like. (edited)
I do wish that more effort was made to incorporate some of Outer Wilds' gameplay elements into the level. The aforementioned gravity trick is interesting, but I think there's plenty to be done with elements like space's natural lack of gravity, the black hole in the centre of Brittle Hollow, and many other things that feel oddly left out. Ultimately, The Depths Above feels a bit half-hearted in its Outer Wilds-esque approach because of this, considering that ultimately this is a level that is meant to be played, and I would have loved to see more creative incorporations of major elements from the game in order to better connect the two. With that said, though, this is still an excellent showing from Bram4Real and I am very happy to see some representation of Outer Wilds in GD, being one of my favourite games of all time. I would personally recommend this level for Epic and look forward to seeing more from this creator.
Air Fryer has some of my favourite gameplay and structuring of any extreme demon, hands down, so huge props to razsta4ax for their awesome work on the gameplay. Many of this level's designs are metallic in line with the level's theming around an air fryer (although it feels more like a crucible or furnace), and are reminiscent of many 2.0 creators with the heavy use of highlight and 1.6 metal blocks in many parts, making for clean and relatively simple block deco throughout. However, Aimbotter makes creative use of tons of different structuring methods in order to spice up each part visually. Heavy use of slopes in the first half gives the level a pretty distinct style, and Aimbotter frequently reuses interior block deco to connect different structures as a bridge between the background and foreground, such as the metal cages at 0:30 and the tesselated triangles at 0:58. This makes the level feel fuller and gives a solid connection point between two or more structures that helps guide the eye on where the player should go, while also allowing for some crazy, jagged shapes in some parts to add a fresh spin onto the structuring. I also love the bouncing movements present in many of the parts, as these feel much more rough and mechanical than more typical ease or exponential movements and help sell the theme.
While I do like this level's strong theming, the transitions and effects are pretty inconsistent in quality and don't tend to add much aside from flashiness. Certain elements like the glow pillar following the player at 0:30 and the disintegrating effect around 0:52 are nice additions that add a bit of flair to their respective parts, but they work largely because they're fairly subtle and thematically consistent. The transitions are mostly black and white, and contain either spirals or just white flashes that either don't fit or add nothing to the parts around them, and in particular the transition from the first to the second drop part completely breaks the flow between the two parts because it feels so out of place. The level can also be overwhelmingly flashy and bright sometimes, to the point of being pretty unpleasant to play repeatedly (namely 0:39) and overutilises blue at the end with no real progression dictating its introduction in such a large amount. This level reminds me pretty strongly of Swirling Fire by Jenkins for its theming, design style and colour usage, but I prefer the way Swirling Fire integrates blue elements as the level slowly becomes more blue over time as it "heats up", ending in a superheated explosion of sorts, lacking distinct transitions like Air Fryer has. Some elements from this would definitely have helped Air Fryer feel more complete progression wise, and given it more overall cohesion.
Aimbotter is one creator who I feel is iteratively growing and improving on his style, so Air Fryer being as good as it is despite the pretty glaring issues I have with it speaks volumes for his talent. I would have given this level epic, but it's no doubt a fun, energetic level with great theming, and I hope to see Aimbotter address some of the issues I had in his future works.
Zoroa has always been one of my favourites from the crowd of creators whose levels feel more like tech demos, and thus tend to appear frequently in gauntlets and events, which is mostly due to the excellent theming and progression most of his levels have. Backstreet Boy is no exception, with the purple and yellow city theme being forefront in every single part but supported by constantly shifting intensity, effect work and other smaller details to match with the song. I think the theme is a great complement to the bouncy, synth-heavy dance song used, as everything feels alive and gives the vibe of riding through city streets in a car with your head out the window. I really like the silhouette part near the end too, the shift to lower detail and energy goes nicely with the break sections of the song, and with silhouettes being another very common element seen in city-focused media this feels very well thematically integrated.
My main issues with this level all revolve around the gameplay. Circling back to my comment on "tech demo creators", Zoroa makes use of many completely new 2.2 elements here like sideways gameplay, camera zoom/movement and the wall-jumping mechanic in the aforementioned silhouette section. I like this in concept due to the level's placement as an event level necessitating them to be flashy and eye-catching, but ultimately the end up usually feeling awkward and out of place. The sideways spider section doesn't really have any indication prior to starting and no thematic ties to the level, and the camera controls tend to feel quite unnecessary or even downright detrimental. This is mostly apparent in the wall-jump section as the camera locks to the player and makes it quite annoying to read the coming gameplay since everything is constantly moving around.
With some polish, Backstreet Boy has potential to be one of the best in the whole event, but even still it's a very solid showcase of skill from Zoroa. I think almost every aspect of the visuals is done nicely here, and Zoroa did a great job using and representing the song given. I'd love to see better incorporation of new mechanics and editor features going forward, as well as more effect work to highlight certain elements of the song like the drums or vocals. I would recommend this for Epic.
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sorry about this gang