Rating Curve

There's a certain kind of level I'd consider untouchable, where any attempt to directly bounce off of it is likely doomed. Contrary to a level like Nine Circles or Windy Landscape, which could be used as templates (of sorts) to hopefully recapture the essence of an original work, some levels aren't really definable in structure. Despite frequent efforts, you can't really recapture the magic of a level like Death Moon, Lonely Travel, or High Life while going about things in the same way. I suppose the existence of Future Funk and Reanimation (for example) might prove the validity of edge cases, but I don't think they really feel the same like two Nine Circles levels might.

All of this is to say that High Life is one of a kind, and if there's a reason it has earned its status as a classic I wouldn't say it has anything to do with length or visual fidelity. Instead, each part of High Life feels indescribably self-confident, like it somehow knew that even the many parts with only one main effect or detail to offer wouldn't be seen as iconic rather than obsolete as time passed. Migueword was far from a new creator by the time High Life came out, but it has that aura of ignoring all concern of what more could be done to fill things out. I love when 1.9 levels make the most of their effects and designs, which usually makes for a much more polished and timeless product, but I've always admired High Life for keeping things simple just because that was the vision. I'm sure that High Life was considered very impressively constructed at the time, but its legacy has proved to be as an inspiration, to not worry about cramming a level full of things as if the action had its own inherent value.

To be clear I'm not the biggest High Life enjoyer or anything, I just think it's a really cool level to think about as it ages

rate this map!!!!!!

Adding to the pile of things Jayuff is infuriatingly talented at, F Nostalgists straddles such a confounding tightrope between a really dumb spoof and arguably their most polished level to date. Jayuff levels never really reached a height where I would consider them 10-worthy without question, but they're all very good at making a point and in this case it's pretty much that everyone's been doing it all wrong. It's honestly pretty petty in its messaging and certainly overly heavy-handed, but with nearly 7 years it's funny that Jayuff was spot on this whole time. F Nostalgists isn't really the kind of level you could get away with now, and not only because the GD community has become a lot more self-policing, but I think its rhetoric regarding simplism remains prescient. Especially with how popular the 1.9 and 2.0 GDPS have gotten since Jayuff's prime, it's always worth reiterating that simpler levels and styles don't have to model or even look back on periods of the game's history when the stuff that was popular was itself simple, particularly pre-2.0 like how Jayuff seems to imply. In other words, it's unreasonable to attempt to be intentionally forward-thinking when creating, but looking back on the past emulating it as a goal needlessly misses an opportunity to stand out.

Just to finish with more thoughts about the level itself, F Nostalgists is pretty creative in its own right, even apart from the jabs it makes at Dear Nostalgists. The 5-second glitch transition that eventually leads into the wave part is immaculately well done and engaging, in the same way that walking down the stairs in the dark is for the lack of a better description. The wave itself is also fun, with a very smooth propagating effect on the slopes that probably became the template for that effect to be endlessly redone. There's not much else I feel like talking about but I do think F Nostalgists stands as one of Jayuff's best, even if you don't really care about what it has to say.

I've always really liked Strange Boxes and if for any sole reason it's just down to vibes. There's a certain array of styles that work well with WaxTerk songs and Strange Boxes definitely fits within them. It's just weird and rough enough to match the song while still being pretty and colorful enough to appreciate otherwise, and it only gets better in both aspects as it progresses. It's also definitely worth mentioning all the interesting things this level does with its gameplay, particularly matching orb types to parts, but more than anything I think it just plays remarkably well anyway. It's definitely very low on the easy demon difficulty spectrum, but Strange Boxes really asks new players to think a little bit about the way forward, which I think is really cool. Although I think the level could have been better without them, the indicators throughout each part definitely help with sightreadability, as well as making some otherwise-finicky dash orb releases in the last ship much simpler. Highly recommend to anyone as a first or second demon, it's really one of the best out there!

I was ready to pin this down as another top-echelon modern level (which I also assumed was like three years older than it actually is) but the rainbow ufo part and everything after it are so stunningly beautiful that I think Equilibrio deserves more than just that. That's not the say the first half is a letdown, I love the style and how each part has its own visual theme running, but the rainbow part probably singlehandedly carried this score by like a point ITS SO FUCKING GOOD HOW IS THIS REAL

I don't expect every level like this to really get the attention they deserve on account of them actually being pretty common, but I think going out of your way to look for cute and understated levels is a good strategy for hidden gem hunting. Or just get AudieoVisual to send you twenty of them at once the choice is yours

Would have been a 10 if I liked the song at all like I love you Lockyn but this is not it

I never really go out of my way to look for cool Jayuff levels but when one crosses paths with me it's always a great time. Special FX is an incredibly joyous level and it evidently had a lot of influence flowing both in and out of it. 2019 was definitely a great year for chill modern and effect levels, all of which may as well be evident in Special FX entirely. Although I wish I could say only good things about it, the level does have several points where all the colors and art are starkly absent for a transitional moment. The other main level I would relate this to is Adust, which also has some very annoying and completely empty parts where you just do a couple triple spikes, and both levels are unspeakably held back by it. Special FX is also very crusty in its design at times, with some relatively subtle things that would probably be sanded off if the level were released closer to the present, but for me it just elevates the whimsical charm levels from the time had and it's hard to say the level's even worse off for it in the first place. Jayuff also knows exactly how much energy to put into each part of their creations, and especially in the second half the balance is met perfectly. Enduring classic as always from them lol

I don't have a ton to say about Before the Square that hasn't been said already but finally getting around to playing this level was very worth it! For the most part this level is a phenomenal revisit to older mechanics of difficulty, truly feeling like a labor of love for how levels played before waves, duals, and straightfly changed the formula. Whether it's through memory or just a gesture towards the awkward, Puueds very effectively captured the fun and unique puzzle aspects of old top demons while putting a very welcome modern sheen over the top. There's a very commendable level of frictionless towards this level, and for that I think if you do enjoy that puzzle old levels provide (such as myself) Before the Square is a must play.

I know I say this in most of my reviews at this point, but Puueds has absolutely been on an incredible run for some time now. With projects ranging from Pulse, an atmospherically moody and repetitive 2 player level, to Calm Frenzy, a manic effect level with what I can only concisely describe as deconstructed dual gameplay, Puueds levels always have something going on that really gives them that magic touch, distinct to all other levels including his own. No two of his levels are anything alike, and so playing Before the Square was as much of a visual surprise as one in gameplay. Unfortunately, the visuals happen to be both an incredible strength and easily the strongest weakness of the level. The drop of Before the Square takes a sudden switch into a colorful and unpolished effect style. While it's a great and chaotic part on its own, it's a letdown of magnitudes I haven't found words for. I absolutely love the approach to including imagery of temples and lost maps in the first half, and it synergizes perfectly with the gameplay style. I'm not even sure how you come up with the idea of exploring lost temples for forgotten relics and cultural glimpses in the context of GD, but it's so fucking genius and I wish it was developed even a little bit more. Before the Square is so close to a 10 and it's certainly a high point in Puueds's insane running catalog.

One of my favorite parts about the longevity of GD creating is that many creators have established their own immediately recognizable style. Flash is one of the more recent cases of this, with an incredible run of levels as of late. Arguably the shift from standard (but innovative) design creator to whatever he's doing now started with Sleeper, though it was Sculptures that really set the whole style rolling. Arguably the biggest form of continuity between their levels are the beige backgrounds and laid-back atmosphere, but there's a sort of essence that permeates everything Flash has made since Sleeper that I've grown very fascinated of, and it's one of the reasons I'm so excited for his creator contest to potentially yield some similar stuff.

For all I've talked about the niches Flash has managed to establish as a creator, it's more than worth beginning mention of Sky Garden with its very obvious draw from that style. The most direct inspiration is probably from Sculptures, particularly in gameplay, but more impressively Grenada effectively captured the essence of all of Flash's newer works despite Sky Garden having little literal visual resemblance to them. One thing I think people forget when drawing heavy inspiration from creators is that the style they're drawing from has a shift of its own, and the best of levels like Sky Garden will keep that in mind when putting their own spin on the source material. Despite very distinctly doing its own thing, it still feels like it could fit perfectly in Flash's catalog, though I'm obviously still happy with the direction Planispheres went too. Sky Garden is shiny and colorful throughout, making for a beautiful experience with a heavy moody atmosphere. There's also a night mode, which I think does improve the level a bit but it's a bit confusing why it says it's recommended. If the night mode was the preferred experience it probably should have been switched with the day mode, and the change definitely shouldn't be permanent. I still think the option is cute though, and both modes work incredibly and distinctly from each other. The gameplay is also fun to figure out; there's a surprising amount of friction in the learning process but once it clicks it's very fun and pretty readable for the most part. If there's one thing holding this level back it's that it's really really short!! I like the ending a lot but then the song keeps going which is pretty disappointing after a level that's essentially under a minute. Still a very fun and underrated level though, if you're down for a learny medium demon definitely go play this!

This is so powerful

I have honestly no idea what to make of OCCCCCO, the story line is pretty cute and the gameplay was fun enough to play through (VERY confusing though) so it ended up being a pretty fun level to finally play. I think more than anything OCCCCCO is missing the disarming silliness that most of CW's best levels excel in. The decoration is definitely a high point of the level, with Icerod complementing CW's textured and pointed style with his own equally great part in the middle. Every peak and lull of excitement is appropriately acknowledged, and even with a bit of a stupid song choice everything is easily more polished and cohesive than any of CW's past solos. Overall, under the lens of simply being a level on the servers that I was asked to play, OCCCCCO is perfectly fine and definitely deserved more than a feature. However, I think the level is actually a bit too serious for its own good.

What makes CW levels so fascinating to me is how they grapple with being so heavily story-driven in a medium that has not shown itself to be supportive of stories as complex as what many creators have aimed towards, often falling on their face and producing works that are better appreciated in a detached and humor-seeking fashion, insert Mr Gawne dog here. A Fishing Trip is honestly haunting in conception and execution, and yet it's impossible to get around that most of the level looks really stupid in the lens of a Geometry Dash level. There's oversized animated fire objects spammed everywhere, hardly any structuring when there's gameplay at all, and two parts where you play as a fish for like three seconds. I don't think any of this hinders the level, though - in fact, this sort of honesty with the medium it's in makes A Fishing Trip all the more intense and harrowing, and it's come to be my favorite level CW's put out even today.

With the 2.2 update, it's become feasible to create more realistic designs and use the icon as an animated character, and now any execution to create a serious story (i.e. Final Orbit) just feels silly and jarring when put next to a square jumping around the screen. CW seems to have lost that for OCCCCCO, choosing a more developed story over something sillier and more at ease with existing in a game like GD. None of this is to say OCCCCCO completely loses that feeling, by the way - obviously the FatRat song provides some welcome unseriousness, but it's not like the visuals indicated something that was drafted in a writer's room either. Everything is still very light, upbeat, and fun, and surprisingly polished.

Also to Icerod I'm sorry if you feel ignored here, I love your part and it ties in so well with the first and last third that I thought your contribution to the level was the layout or something. Amazing level guys <3

One thing PAHC clearly excels at is making the core motivation of their levels ultra-transparent. Go You was clearly formed with the concept of an absurdly large achievement list, then fitted with a novel art style and hub world. Saturation Point is made to be flashy, raw, and abrasive to fit the song and layout, and the designs and effects are (relatively) irrelevant to the discussion past that. The actual decoration of PAHC levels in general never mattered to me that much - virtually all of them are very pretty and polished and create a stellar backdrop for the stuff that's actually fun to talk about, which is something creators like G4lvatron and Notlsa also do a great job of to help the most unique aspects of their levels shine. PAHC in particular is one of the best arguments for the benefit of honing your craft as a creator for this reason, and Vertigo certainly wouldn't be the level it is without great skill with colors and modern design.

With that said, Vertigo contains one of the coolest gimmicks I've seen in any extreme, being that the hitboxes of every visible object are shifted by a little over a block, randomly to the left or right. I've maintained that 2.2 has enabled some of the craziest ideas to see the light of day with how accessible features like the random and area triggers are, and Vertigo stands as a top tier gimmick level. It was really fun to play for the first time and I did something like 6 practice runs of the level before deciding I didn't want to properly learn it. I will say that the Achilles Heel of this level is absolutely the last part - having the final offset be untelegraphed apart from a hint at the beginning of the level just seems annoying and forces some kind of cheese strategy to get consistent. Other than that awesome level!!