Rating Curve

when you force yourself to build a level—an extreme demon in an unfamiliar style, no less—for several hours every single day, you'll inevitably run yourself dry. so perhaps unsurprisingly, rivers of nazareth's creation was plagued by a lack of ideas, frustration, and burnout. as a result, the final product is messy and uninspired; designs, effects, overlays, etc. are all piled on top of each other with little regard for how they work with one another or fit into the larger theme, which is rarely explored outside the religious symbols and arabic text. remove these two elements and the level doesn't really have any discernable theme to speak of. the decoration often regresses towards audieo's flashy design style which he's more comfortable with, whereas i think fully leaning into modern/art would've fit the vibes this level is going for much better. as a result much of the decoration feels lacking in creativity, so as a bandaid fix the level is jam packed with a bunch of unnecessary decoration, which i don't think is an adequate trade-off.

i don't mean to discredit audieovisual's creating skill here....honestly i would probably make something much worse if i had to build every day for 48 days straight; audieo has and will make far better levels than this. i have a lot of fond memories watching him build this live during his building marathon, it's just a shame this format was also to the level's detriment

redeemer has some fantastic world-building, but its whimsical, 2003devin-like gameplay, overuse of radial blur (which ik may sound nitpicky but it gives the whole level this dreamy, fake-feeling aura), and most of all just plain bad song are incredibly at odds with the serious narrative it's attempting to tell. it's a serious level i find very difficult to take seriously, which really pulls me out of the experience. it always feels bad when my biggest complaint about a level is its song choice as it's the one thing that simply cannot be changed after the fact..i do wish i could get invested in this level like how so many others are able to, but every time i hear that royalty free ass xylophone in my right ear and i just can't do it

of the big three creators who spearheaded the neodesign movement—cometface, zhiana, and presta—zhiana's levels have definitely aged the worst. which is a shame, because they feature tons of creative ideas and concepts that just aren't able to fully shine. maybe if zhiana's career lasted longer, he could've developed his skills to the point where he could do his ideas justice. for only creating for a little over a year, though, zhiana's catalog is still very impressive. i do miss when we had creators like echonox, serponge, jayuff, and cometface who were consistently able to engage the community with creative, fresh levels for a long time, which is something we haven't really seen since cometface left at the start of 2023. most good creators now release their levels very sporadically, which is equal parts understandable and unfortunate.

nospikenation isn't zhiana's best level by any means, but it's a fun one to look back on. i remember being obsessed with it when it came out in april 2021, but looking back on it now four years later, there are just too many glaring flaws for me to really get into it. the ship/wave at the halfway point is definitely the highlight of the level, but the rest really does not work at all for a variety of reasons i don't think i need to go into. it'd be cool to see a creator remake one of zhiana's levels and truly let his visions shine. maybe that creator could be me? who knows

not sure if it's just me but i had always assumed mechanical showdown was a 2.1 level, but no! it's actually a very late 2.0 level, which is a testament to how well this level has aged. one of the best aged 2.0 levels, for sure. the gameplay is generally very fun and the decoration is extremely polished, with none of the pitfalls you commonly associate with levels made in this update.

however polished this level may be, though, ultimately the style it's perfected is one i don't find all too interesting. the colors are dull and uninteresting, the industrial theme was pretty common in 2.0, and the song is just okay. from what i remember, this style of black blocks with white outlines that occasionally flash different colors was a common trope at the time. there really isn't anything about this level that stands out; so while i certainly remember this level, in my head it's just one big, gray blur

very quid-coded, in both good and bad ways

the good: the style fits this level very well, and some parts use it to great effect; the looping ball and both ufo parts are all standout parts (visually, anyway) and look really good.

the bad: the somewhat finnicky gameplay adds a lot of character but does get a bit excessive in some spots. several parts feature bright gameplay objects on a bright background which makes for a pretty frustrating experience. at the drop the combination of tiny icons, a large distance between the p1 and p2 gameplay, and bright flashes making the blocks invisible makes my eyes glaze over so hard; it feels impossible to tell what's going on.

also feels quite rushed at times. some parts feel a bit half-baked, and the 30 second black screen at the end is especially egregious