Rating Curve

I'm very, very split on Requiem as a level. When I look at it, the first thing that is made apparent to me is the sheer amount of anger it was made with. Anger at the world, anger at almost all 8 billion people that roam this Earth. Grief, especially with suicide, is incredibly difficult to deal with, and I think Requiem represents that very well... were it not for its pretentiousness. The story it's trying to tell is not apparent throughout the level, nor is it through its predecessor, Killbot. However, if you are given context to the story and creation of Requiem, a picture begins to form.

Online harassment and even destructive criticism suck, they've hurt me physically aswell. You show the world something that you put your heart and soul into, and you're met with people telling you that you have no talent, should disappear, etc. Depicting this as a form of malware that can hijack your brain, like how the Killbot series does, appears somewhat disingenuous. We're already wired to internalize negative expressions that come our way, and our job is to develop skills to cope with them as we grow, ever evolving. When we don't mentally defend ourselves, it may result in self-destructive behavior. It is NOT and will never be "insanity", like Killbot may suggest.

Requiem is the nearly-sobering realization of the tragedy that is not defending oneself and internalizing everything, from the perspective of someone who learned slightly better. Its creation coincides with the passing of David, Lithifusion's friend, by suicide. The actions of a then-destructive community that he'd nearly distanced himself from, hurt him once more. But the idea of likening destructive comments to computer malware hadn't passed. What we're left with is a work that's filled with rage, but unclear to who or what it is directed towards.

When witnessing Requiem for the first time, I could understand what Lithifusion was going through. I just had so many questions. Why is it so... in my face about everything? Does he want attention? I won't pry about who David was, or what hurt him or Lithifusion. All I know is that I'm concerned about the ideas this level propagates regarding negativity.