Rating Curve

I'm hopelessly surrounded by people who like this level even more than me but Afterlife stands far above a set of levels that failed to garner much lasting attention, the discord gauntlet levels. I think this is for a reason, too - after all, Nasgubb seems very in tune with what people should feel playing Afterlife, in both paths no less. Since both paths - which are definitely distinct from one another - mostly consist of a single gamemode, all the focus is rightfully put on the environment, and in turn the emotional progression that doesn't feel possible from a level that's not even two minutes long. I've never been compelled to say a GD level has such a positive outlook on the world as with Afterlife, and I think any player can experience that message without thinking about things too literally. The two journeys this level offers are vastly different in tone and storyboarding, but they both offer that same uplifting outlook and I think that's adorable. Anyway check out Drawing Circles by Elisione it's the other best discord gauntlet level but like no one knows about it lol

I wish I had more profound things to say about Echo Delta but if this review doesn't suffice watch Interstellar. It's comfortably in my top 3 favorite movies ever and although I can't really explain why I think it gives a little bit more clarity to what this level has to offer over other space-depicting ones, especially the projects released for the space gauntlet contest. I've talked up less literal approaches to contest themes very frequently with the space gauntlet, a mindset that didn't really get me anywhere with Echo Delta since it is actually quite literal in that way. Space is the setting first and foremost, which is a fair enough starting point given the theme. However, Echo Delta takes the extra step to establish that setting in ways that I feel most creators are scared to, lest a boring beginning sacrifice an engaging playing experience. While I acknowledge that as a pitfall that Echo Delta falls into, the scale and texture of the slow opening carries so much weight on everything that comes after that it still feels worth it.

The whole level has a powerful sense of scale at any given point, either with zoomed out landscapes or the ever-present dead space that haunts the entire experience. When everything does come together and the intensity spikes, everything is dramatically supported by the tension built early on. Of course it helps that Serponge did make the song to be used in Echo Delta, but the transition from a serene opening to what later unfolds is so smooth that it's hard to pinpoint the moment where the intensity starts to feel inevitable, similarly to how Interstellar spends enough time building tension that it doesn't really matter that the movie doesn't yet take place in outer space. Every part past the first leg of Echo Delta has something to offer too, especially the explosive and masterfully well done effect work towards the end. The cube part before is also a highlight, where the tone is at its darkest and the gameplay itself feels just unstable enough to avoid being unreadable. I also sincerely adore the outro where the icon slowly shrinks into deep space, especially since it closes out the flow of intensity much more effectively than if the level just ended. I wouldn't say Echo Delta has a cohesive story or anything like that, but leaving the player with that image is as cruel as it is powerful.

FUTURE FUNK MY GOATTTTTTTT

The 10 is almost entirely due to nostalgia but I also think there's a good reason that feeling came to be in the first place. I remember watching a certain video about the last coin of this level in around 2019, probably back before I even knew what Deadlocked was. I got curious and watched a full video of the level soon after, and although I wasn't too invested in it at the time playing the level again in 2023 when I actually built up the skill to confidently get through a practice run just hit different. Something about the simple act of having distinct parts in a level makes Future Funk incredibly memorable, even through the ~2 year period where I didn't seek out content related to the game at all. The immediately recognizable visual style, beautifully groovy song, and especially the iconic end parts combine for an incredible burst of nostalgia that I've never felt with any other level I remembered from middle school. Even now, playing the space part before the ending makes me cry a little inside, no less evocative than many other parts of the level. I'm not even sure how I'd feel about this level if not for the middle school brainworms but it definitely makes me wish that more people saw nostalgia as a truly valid way to connect with art. It may be hard to get people to relate to at first, but with enough reflection and elaboration I see it as an incredibly powerful source of admiration, even for a GD level.

AudieoVisual, like a lot of popular 2.1 creators, has been on an even more incredible run in the new update. His style is generally defined by a lot of bright and colorful glow with often more simple design and structuring, and despite thinking that the addition of shaders and particles to the mix wouldn't pan out very well that's certainly proven to not be the case. Caraspace is a great remake of Audieo's first level, Turtle Smack, and is a very good case for this sort of reimagining, certainly better than Bli's Magic Travel. Caraspace is arguably a little too literal of a remake, with almost boringly 1:1 improvements and keeping a lot of aspects that actually held Turtle Smack back, like the sudden white backgrounds towards the beginning. The circular part around the midpoint of Caraspace is obviously phenomenally executed, and seeing that sort of part fully realized over the haphazard original attempt is cute, but that sort of ingenuity is somewhat lacking in the new things Caraspace brings to the table.

However, what I feel is a vastly underdiscussed aspect of Caraspace is actually how it ties in with many of AudieoVisual's older levels, not just his first. The sort of vibrant rainbow glow style that put Audieo on the map is gradually giving way to what we've been getting lately with more effect-based levels like Limeade and even Back on Dash. As such, Caraspace feels like a heartfelt farewell to the levels like On And On that served as landmarks for Audieo's evolving yet persistent style, and for that (in large combination with a really sweet ending) Caraspace is certainly up there with his best.

I LOVE YOU WHOEVER SUBMITTED THIS

Regret Cave is one of my favorite 1.9 levels ever and it's also probably the most underrated. This level got massively overshadowed by the whole thing with it being superbuffed and becoming the hardest 7 star and then being nerfed again, and I think that's way less interesting than the level itself. In fact, none of what I think is interesting about Regret Cave has to do with the old buffed version and I like the current version better anyway. Even so, my attraction towards Regret Cave doesn't have as much to do with gameplay or even the incredibly well aged visuals. Like very few levels from the era have, Regret Cave has captured the simultaneous retrospective goofiness and preserved sincerity of 1.9 levels in a way that really stuck with me. Even the song, one of the classics from DJ-Nate, is at once adorable, powerful, and impossible to take seriously. In the midsection with the buffered yellow orbs along with the pulses in the song, it's so fucking stupid but it just works perfectly.

Regret Cave is a pretty archaically designed level, maybe even a little bit amateur for the time, but when the drop hits and the gradient finally fades in it's a magical moment. People always cite Lonely Travel for the grayscale to full color transition but this level precedes it and does it just as effectively in way less time!! The effect itself is also AMAZING looking even now, and especially when the color comes back towards the end I think it's still the most creative standard use we've gotten out of the 4 color channel restriction ever, GDPS or otherwise. Animations and art in 1.9 are cool and all, but the really cool stuff lies in effect and color work and I wish more people were doing that. Incredible level

you just had to be there

nubivagant if it was 8 years old

ok since this is like the real one ill put a real review https://x.com/bork_fireforge/status/1923241397123010910

I can't believe I slept on this level for so long, if I had bothered to play it a month ago it would have placed at #4 in my space gauntlet ranking, sitting below Echo Delta and above Space I Guess. Semantics aside, I'm not sure if my opinion is changed by being friends with the creator on Twitter, but in any case Kiss of Fortune is an incredible level on almost all fronts I've praised other contest entries on. There are exactly two things I think held this level back from being up with the best few entries though, the first of which I noticed was the song choice. It's very fun as a listen, but I think the vibe is a little too consistent to really work for any kind of progression that I would hope for in a level as long as Kiss of Fortune. To be fair, Saturno certainly makes the most of it, as Kiss of Fortune features several very distinct parts and is never any less upbeat than the song is. A more obvious criticism I have with the level is the strangely disconnected space elements. I'm all for theming that relies a little more on audience participation - Planispheres ended up as my favorite from the contest largely for that reason - but Kiss of Fortune feels so far in that direction that there's not much left to do other than interpret the space theming purely at face value. What I'm saying is that this level is space themed in the same way Cosmic Dolphin is, with the connection mostly being through very literal imagery of stars and planets rather than really selling the vibes of the cosmos the way levels like Echo Delta and Pluto did. In Kiss of Fortune's case there are also some vague alien figures that show up a few times, but they look too much like stylized humans to really sell it for me.

I bring this up because Kiss of Fortune is clearly going for something a little different, intentionally or not. The best part about having very distinct parts is that each one has their own little shtick to show off. The first part has some beautiful particle work to create a shimmering horizon line, the free fly ship part has some astonishingly polished and fluid structures, and the motion blur in the part afterward is so effortlessly stunning that I couldn't stop thinking about it for the remainder of my practice run. The visuals throughout the level show off some incredible glow and color work, never dropping the ball in quality or cohesion. The gameplay is equally fun and varied throughout the level, and surprisingly the occasional handholding flows perfectly fine making for a very generous and frictionless playing experience. It really was that easy this whole time!!! More than the surface factors, though, this level has a very strong whimsical and adventurous aura during its entirety that I couldn't quite place until I saw the ending credits, including the Kirby series as an inspiration. I don't talk about it often, but I think Kirby is easily Nintendo's best IP, with games that have built up a reputation for having entire worlds chock full with magic and adventure, all while each and every character has been a cute and colorful little short blob since little short blobs could be rendered on hardware. This is what I mean by Kiss of Fortune matching the energy of Kirby perfectly; there's a whole range of ideas that went into this level that got all the execution they deserved, and yet the coalescence of it all isn't some overbearing and cliche idea dump, nor does it offer some epic conclusion after a grand romp through the cosmos. It feels like just enough, and that makes me just as happy as any spin it could have on black holes or supernovae.

If this matters to anyone Alien Dream Emulator absolutely did NOT bring it justice lol that part sucks ass

The GD community is insane bc they will look at a level like Rage Quit or Dead Device and call it "lazy" or "boring" but then show them something like this and they'll call it "unique" and "experimental" and then rally to get it featured