Rating Curve

Abyssgeist is a level from 1.9 that was only rated 3 years ago, and despite it’s simple nature, it really stands out to me as being super charming. The gameplay is very reminiscent of the best of 1.0 era levels, with a design style that utilizes 1.9 block designs in a super modest way. KazVixX uses these simple blocks to create lots of fun structures, but it’s the decorative elements connecting everything together that makes the level stand out so much. KazVixX’s usage of the grey lego-like blocks from 1.9 is some of my favorite that I’ve ever seen, linking together every structure in extremely creative and satisfying ways. The usage of extra details like bonus connector blocks helps keep the structures from feeling visually repetitive as well, resulting in a super clean and appealing look throughout the whole level. There isn’t really any air decoration to fill in extra space in most parts, as the unique structuring and designs do enough work as is! Combined with gameplay and colors that aged pretty well for its time, Abyssgeist is a surprisingly fantastic level for its time. I would highly recommend this level for fans of simplistic levels that stay true to Geometry Dash’s core!

I find Skyline Pt II to be one of the funniest levels from the NCS Event, not based on pure comedic value, but because of the circumstances behind the level. pocke has been a creator I’ve closely followed for a very long time, and one that’s grown on me and started to influence me a ton over the years. He’s always pushed the boundaries of what a Geometry Dash level can be, showing that making purposely “messy” and “unpolished” levels can lead to great success, even if it goes against what’s typically expected from “good” levels. pocke’s song choices are always so closely tied to the levels at hand as well, working super well with the decoration to make his levels extremely cohesive.

All these reasons I listed are what make Skyline Pt II so funny to me. Skyline Pt II uses a new NCS song, and one that’s “NCS” sounding to a tee. It’s not at all what you’d typically expect from a pocke level, which leads to the decoration standing out for pocke as well. Skyline Pt II is extremely clean, with decoration that feels much more grounded and less experimental than what pocke would normally make. Despite that, pocke did an amazing job with the level, and still managed to capture the energy of the song extremely well. The visuals are all great, and the drop is exciting and energetic. I do think it’s a bit too over the top with the intense camera zooms to the beat, but it works. The art of all the different city locations, from the backgrounds to the block designs, work together perfectly to make a super cohesive end project. Even if it isn’t as experimental as other pocke levels, Skyline Pt II does a great job at showing pocke’s raw talent as a creator, and there’s still so many fun details to notice as you watch the level multiple times. pocke did an incredible job with this level, and I think it’s nice to see him make overly joyful stuff like this alongside his more serious projects.

DECAY has intrigued me for a long time, but for some reason, I never got around to playing it. I finally played it today, and I understand all the hype that was around it when it dropped. DECAY is a beautiful platformer with strong world building. You enter a world as a little creature that gets informed that it’s decaying and has a limited time left. You progress through a world utilizing your legs to make jumps, until you lose your legs from the decaying the further in you go. This was a really smart way to change up the platforming, and it isn’t close to the only way the level changes up. As you progress, you go higher and higher up in a world in the sky, each one having a different vibe that brings a new feeling to the world around you. I was a big fan of how a storm worsened as you progressed through the last segment, really emphasizing the sense of urgency to get to the ending before you decay away. When you reach the end, there’s a bitter but sweet ending that shows that life goes on. I’m being a bit vague to avoid spoiling anything, but it’s a super nice and emotion filled way to wrap up the short adventure that you travelled on.

As a pure platformer, it isn’t the most outstanding thing of all time. DECAY was relatively early into 2.2, so the gimmicks playability wise were fairly simple. Honestly though, I think this is fine. There’s still some unique ideas I loved, like the Golem creatures that walk back and forth, requiring you to jump on their heads. The characters have fantastic character design overall, with each one being super varied and well animated. Speaking of animation, the level as a whole felt very fluid and pretty. From the animation of the character you play as, to small details like frogs that croak and jump around, Vegtam put a ton of love and care into DECAY, and it really shows. Only a few things stood out to me as a bit of a negative, such as the camera when you switched from left and right, along with the lag due to all the details in the level. However, these really couldn’t take me away from how breathtaking this level was. Overall, I think that the Legendary Rating for this was well deserved. DECAY isn’t completely groundbreaking gameplay wise as a platformer, but it’s one that makes for a fun and very memorable experience with fantastic decoration.

THOSE WHO PHONK is made to poke fun at the edgy phonk aesthetic, through the song and the level both being pretty unserious. Ironically, whlt ended up making quite the banger with this. While they don’t personally enjoy what they made, I found everything to be extremely clean and a fantastic blend of a red and white color scheme, which can be really difficult to pull off. It uses really flashy backgrounds that do justice to the intense and edgy feeling, and I especially love the background for the UFO. It’s not really a new effect, but it’s executed perfectly in a way that feels super fluid, and the colors remind me a lot of Persona 5. All the blocks perfectly complement the backgrounds as well, being simple but extremely clean. To point out the UFO once again, I really like the detail of the top of spikes being red and staying place instead of moving up and down like the rest of the blocks.

Even though THOSE WHO PHONK was started essentially as a joke, whlt knocked it out of the park with how clean everything feels. The colors are fantastic, the movements are super alive and fluid, and the whole level is super fun as well. I’m shocked that this didn’t get an Epic Rating, but it’s alright considering that it wasn’t too serious of a project. I’m certain if whlt puts a ton of time into a more serious level, they could very easily create a Legendary Rated level.

Duckstep is a really peculiar level, being the 9th level of the NCS x GD event. Creators were chosen and asked to build a level in a short span of about 2 months, with Knots being asked to make a level with Duckstep by Teminite and Chime. It’s quite an unusual dubstep song, that essentially sounds like a joke more than anything to me. While Knots did what he could with the song, this was bound to make the level feel a bit strange, especially with it not sounding like something they would normally use, which is all outside of Knots control. Still, Duckstep got a Legendary Rating, so Knots clearly did a lot of things right.

As usual, Knots skills in art and graphic design shine as bright as ever in Duckstep. Knots surpassed simply being a GD creator a long time ago, as their graphic design skills are up there with the professionals, and I believe that Knots has the potential to have a great career as a graphic designer. The fact that they still spend the time to make amazing levels in Geometry Dash is super awesome, even if at times I feel like it can actually negatively impact their levels. Like other Knots levels, Duckstep has a few gameplay moments that are unclear due to the nature of their artstyle, making it hard to differentiate obstacles and background elements. Some moments like the first ship can also feel a bit static, as the amount of details better correlate to an image that you would look at rather than a moving piece.

Despite the small issues that would be challenging to fix with Knots style and the time given, Duckstep has many great moments to offer. While it would take too long to talk about them all, I want to specifically point out the parts near the end starting at 1:15. While I enjoyed the level for what it was up to this point, I think these parts where the song is the most intense are some of the best parts I’ve seen this update. The art is super in depth, and there’s a lot more movement that makes everything feel alive. While it already looks amazing, the giant Mecha Duck comes in to shoot lasers at you, and it’s incredible. Everything feels so intense and full of energy, coming together to make something incredible. While I think Knots has a bit of work to do with clearer gameplay and zooming in the camera more when it doesn’t need to be as zoomed out, Duckstep is still an awesome level well deserving of the Legendary Rating it received, despite the odd song it uses.