Rating Curve

Bordering on a ten. I feel like a fucking fraud watching this. This is the type of level that I wish I was able to make in GD.

This level is so many things at once, and to precisely pin it down when its shape is ever changing throughout its runtime is incredibly difficult. It's simple, yet also incredibly intricately detailed and textured. It sometimes syncs with the music, sometimes it doesn't. There are some moments where you can grasp some sense of normality and familiarity yet surrounding those little oases are completely foreign structures. There are moments where you feel that this level isn't even showing everything it has to offer, with fractals stretching ad infinitum just outside your view. You find monuments and visages that tell varying stories yet provide so little information of actual use. And just when you feel as if you've figured it out, and you think there's more time, it ends.

This is an awesome level.

It makes me feel

A few people have questioned why I've rated this level so high, so I figured I would start with my reaction to playing the level.

I played it, and I jumped over the two objects, and then I heard the piano come in, and I could almost feel some sort of immediate reaction. And i realized that I made a reaction to it, I processed this, and I realized that this level made me feel something. Then that feeling blossomed to something more and more, like a positive feedback loop, until I felt some strong feeling as I just sat there looking at the "level complete" popup. I found it incredibly impressive for being able to do that. It does so much with so little. And that's what made this level fantastic.

One of the best parts about low object levels is that you're able to dissect every detail and analyze how it contributes to the whole package. Many of these types of levels often either feel very aimless, and on the surface, this level feels no different, but I find it to have a lot of intentionality in each decision. The background and ground aims to set up subversion, baiting the player into thinking the level will contain nothing of value, with the music acting as the subversion, changing the tone of the level so quickly. It recontextualizes the main subject of the level, the titular two objects which look like a flower- you may think that the flower is just something that was thrown together for a goof, but the song lends itself to being great synesthesia for it- they mesh incredibly well. I think the stem of the flower being black is also really great- it further sells the intentionality aspect of this level since that isn't the default color for that object- it's a player color. In fact, even calling these two objects a flower is something that sells that this level is much deeper than it looks on the surface.

I would consider a 10/10 level to be something that has truly made an impact on my mind, something that can never escape my mind. Yet I hesitate on giving this level a perfect score; the image of that flower fades ever so slightly in my mind on occasion. And so this is the limit on what 2 objects can accomplish, and maybe so for low object levels. It is the genre's logical conclusion.

There is something truly special about it being as old and untouched as it is, kind of like it being a pocket of pure, uncorrupted paradise- almost like Garden of Eden vibes. Literal time traveler level

This XIL kid is a demon - they have to be another durianhead alt the way they were moving here. Jokes aside, fantastic and creative gameplay for the most part, some awesome effects and designs, strikes a really good balance between introducing a bunch of cool ideas while also having cohesive motifs and themes, you can't go wrong here. My favorite level of the year so far.

it's simply hype your honor

it's the emunene level. enough said