Rating Curve

This is one of the most reviewed levels on this site as well as one of the most divisive levels on this site, and right now I'm bored so I'll put in my two cents.

I don't love this level but I also don't hate it either. I've got some mixed feelings towards Rage Quit. Visually, it's one of the best levels to come out of 2024. It's also widely influential due to how cinematic the level is with its excessive 4th wall breaks and its attempts to divert the player's expectations whenever possible. The really big problem that Rage Quit suffers from, however, is how unfocused the level can seem at times. Rage Quit can be unfocused to the point where select sections of the level make the whole level feel like a senseless product made so bli can flex his GD editor knowledge in the flashiest way possible. The two most glaring examples of this have to be the ship parts where the designs are constantly shifting for no apparent reason, or the second half of the first cube where the player flies of the screen, the player enters Dash, the futuristic eye appears, and there is a fake-out level exit... I don't even know how to properly summarize this part of the level. What's unfortunate is that are some legitimately cool things this level does, like the original 4th wall break setting the stage for the rest of the level after the player is confused at why they couldn't pass the first spike, or when the level does this again after the player somehow crashes into the completion wall. It's this extra layer of nonsense that surrounds these cool concepts that sours this level for me.

Another reason I'm split by Rage Quit is its gameplay. The gameplay is also not particularly good or bad, rather there's just not a lot of it. When levels choose to be ultra cinematic, gameplay quality is often shoved aside. This often takes one of two roads: (1) there is a lot of gameplay but it's unsightreadable, confusing, and frustrating, or (2) the level has sizeable stretches where it is just automatic or the gameplay is very simple. For the most part, Rage Quit takes road 2, which still isn't very good in a level, but it's very preferable to road 1. Despite this, there are still moments par for road 1 in Rage Quit. The most commonly complained about is the red part of Stereo Madness, where a silhouette figure is destroying the nine screens GD is being played on in a fit of rage. On your first playthrough, you don't know which screens he will break, so when he breaks the screen you are looking at, you're most likely dead due to not being able to react and adapt in time. A less severe example would also be the final ship part; I have a friend who, on a blind playthrough, did not realize it was a ship part due to the player being a cube, thus dying. Outside of these parts, I'd say the level's gameplay is fine.

TL;DR some great designs and ideas, but way too unfocused in execution and lacking in the gameplay department. "Hype Moments and Aura" was invented by bli when he released this level.

(Disclaimer: I haven't beaten this level yet. My personal best is at 85%, where I've died twice. Also, while I am aware this is a remake of an earlier version of this level, I will only be talking about Ultimo Universo (2023) as it is the version I am most familiar with. I have now beaten this level as of 5/2/25.)

This level does not feel like an epic rated insane demon released in 2023, in both good and bad ways.

Ultimo Universo is Nacho's latest level after a 4 (or 7) year hiatus from building after Larga Espera. He doesn't have a large levelography, but he has released some very famous and influential levels, like Duelo Maestro and Larga Espera. The stakes for his return to building would be high. So, does he measure up? Well...

Let me talk about some things I do like about this level first. My biggest things I like about the level include some of the gameplay and structuring in the level. The structuring is very minimalist and there is a lot of vast, open space where there is no gameplay or structuring. This would be an odd design choice in most other levels, but it works great in Ultimo Universo. It is a space themed level, and these large, empty spaces work great because space is vast, infinite, and very empty. One of my favorite parts is the purple part halfway through where the level utilizes all of the height in its gameplay. You fell up into the cosmos, you soar higher, then you jump down, far down, back into the world. This spacious feel throughout the level goes hand-in-hand with the gameplay, which is also (mostly) very simple and you can still take in the backgrounds of this level while you are playing.

But then that leads in to this level's biggest problem: the backgrounds. Ultimo Universo's design is carried by its art backgrounds, and they are a main draw of the level in that regard. However, a lot of these backgrounds are compositionally uninteresting. Mainly, a lot of them are sterile with little movement and have washed out colors that don't pop out to the eyes. There may be one or two moving parts to a certain background, but it isn't enough to keep them from starting to feel stale too quickly. Stylistically, the backgrounds are also inconsistent. Most backgrounds follow the subpar, almost modernistic design I explained why I didn't like earlier, but some backgrounds border on attempting realism (like at 18%) or attempting to be cartoony (like at 35%). Regardless, I did not find them very interesting.

I also don't like some of the gameplay. While I do enjoy the gameplay for the most part, there are some chokepoints and unfair parts that just ruin it for me. These include (but are not limited to): the ball at 7% with the invisible spikes on the edges of all platforms, the ship at 39% with janky structuring, the ball directly after with its uncomfortable orb timings, the ball with the block & slope structures at 59% which is impossible to sightread due to how odd the structures are and how fast you are going, and the bossfight at 85% being very precise and deviating slightly off the invisible path (that you can only see after you die) makes your chance of survival almost none. While the invisible arrow path becoming visible on death does seem like a good idea on paper, it doesn't work in practice because after each attempt you only have a second and a half to see the path, which isn't enough to really process it. After this bossfight, the ship is a completely open free fly for a few seconds to remind you of how bad the balancing is in this level. There are multiple moments like these where the level jumpscares you with no gameplay (somehow), while other times jumpscaring you with bullshit. Another thing I didn't like about the gameplay was the pacing of the level. It felt much older than 2023 in the sense it made little to no sense. Samsara is an intense song throughout, but there are some moments that are beat drops and others that are the space surrounding these drops. While Ultimo Universo does thematically align itself well with the song, the gameplay does not. You are thrusted into these seemingly random speed decreases during drops or speed increases during non-drop parts, and it's off-putting every time.

Finally, I need to talk about the story in this level. This is supposedly a story, but I can't tell you what it is about. Even after playing this level for hundreds of attempts, I still have zero idea what is going on or why I am frequently alternating between outer space and Earth-like places, shit just happens. There are ways to tell stories minimalistically that give the player nuggets of information while still letting them interpret for their own (like CICADA3302), but this is not it. So much information is omitted that it feels incomplete. It is never explained where you start and where you go, you just start somewhere and go places. The unfortunate thing is, there are some great moments in this level. The rapid cinematic camera shots at 89%, the way the level transitions into the end screen as the spaceships destroy the level, and the end screen itself are all well done. They just feel out of place when the rest of this level's story lacks an equivalent amount of thought and planning put in. It's a cool ending sequence, but where is it in the context of everything else? It doesn't work as well as it could because the rest of the doesn't properly build up into it.

To answer the question I asked earlier of "Does [Nacho] measure up?" I'd say no. While it is an improvement from the original version of the level, Ultimo Universo still feels undercooked and unpolished. This level still has potential to be amazing, but considering this got epic rated in 2023, I don't think the rest of that potential will ever be realized.

This is another one of those levels I wish I could love, but I just can't.

Before I start this review, I need to preface this by disclosing my bias: I do not like the song in this level. I feel commatose is an incohesive mess of a song with a lot of ideas that could work well on their own, but just don't work in this song. I also hate the vocal performance here as it oscillates between sleepy-sounding shoegaze and migraine-inducing screamo vocals and I don't like how either of them sound. I've heard snippets of sounds from other glass beach songs and I haven't liked them either.

Now that that's out of the way, let me say something I do like about the level: the visuals are amazing. The level is always able to match the energy of its current part of the song well and all of the colors go great with each other. I really get the impression that there are a lot of references to glass beach in this level, and as someone who isn't too familiar with the band they do fly over my head, but a friend of mine who is into the band does get them and loves the level more as a result. I also really love the atmosphere in commatose. Stretches of non-auto levels where there is no gameplay can be hit-or-miss, but in commatose they're a hit. The cutscene halfway through that divides the two halves is a creative way of representing the song and the extremely long outro as the song just fades into drones is also sick as hell and super satisfying after completing a legit run.

The main dealbreaker for me, and why I can't love this level, is the gameplay. I just found so many problems with this level when doing practice runs that can't be found when just watching the level on YouTube. You really feel the beginning segment drag on when you need to go through it every time you die. I died a lot at the 25% UFO in legit runs, it constantly alternates between having jump indicators and sometimes not and I end up getting thrown off, as well as not being able to judge the hitboxes of some of the spikes well. 41-56% has to be my least favorite stretch of the level, the shader usage and camera movements are the most intrusive here and I could not see what I was doing during some parts since the level goes into having to look at these really inaccurate outlines for some reason, and when the camera gets super shakey it is quite nauseating and I have jumped on accident here. I also really don't like the last orb combo sequence at the end, I never ended up getting the dash orbs consistent since it felt like if I entered one slightly the wrong way, I was fucked and that was just another 8 minutes down the drain. It's all silhouettes so you kinda just need to eyeball it while also being able to quickly shift gears between those calculated dash orbs and almost spam-like click patterns in the rest of the part.

If you have beaten this level and you still love it, I am genuinely happy you were able to enjoy this level as much as you did and I wish I could share the same sentiment as you. On the contrary, if you think this is one of the best levels ever made and you haven't taken a serious attempt at even just playing it in a practice run, then please shut the fuck up and give the level you're glazing a shot before coming to an opinion. I do not care what your skill level is, you can place as many checkpoints you like in a practice run.