Rating Curve

I do appreciate the attempt, but I just did not have a great time at all. I really feel like some high-profile youtuber or creator has to address sound design in GD, because I've seen so many levels where the SFX usage was so inappropriate and mismanaged. I know why, because its such a new thing for GD creators; unlike visuals / gameplay / etc, sound design has had only a year to develop and has much lower precedence than other level creating aspects. As with anything, sound design is an art and is something that should be carefully accounted for.

it had pretty fun gameplay!

I think this was a bit too much for me

Really good, I think this hovers between a 7 and an 8, I do have some issues with it such as some bosses being a bit unbalanced in progression (boss 3 being a bit too hard and boss 4 being way too easy). I also think it falls under the same pitfalls that Boss Rush II does, where demographic-wise its aimed towards kids more than adults. I think this is most apparent with the visual change-up; Towerverse I used pixel assets whereas Towerverse II goes for a cartoony visual style. Although its an upgrade, I do long for the quieter, more contemplative atmosphere that Towerverse I set up. Towerverse II is a bit too eventful at times, almost begrudgingly so due to the hate that Towerverse I got for being more reserved.

Not really sure what the Towerverse II story is trying to get at. 16Lord says the story has not been "fully deciphered" but I personally feel like a story should at least have the veneer of intrigue, even if it is dense and puzzling. I just simply don't find that within Towerverse II, but any Towerverse fans are free to fill me in on the lore.

I do like this overall, very hype to see this finally out and a massive achievement and undertaking from 16Lord.

On one hand I do think this aims towards a much younger demographic than would be fitting for me. On the other hand, this is such a delightful level with great bosses, amazing gimmicks and gameplay sections, and an overall consistently nice decoration style. Pretty much screams massive in almost all aspects imaginable of level creating. I do think I like this a bit less because it has the effect of being a sugary treat, but goddamn this is a very nourishing sugary treat.

A bit of a step down from PUNCH and POV, mostly cuz I feel like its utilizing similar ideas but not expanding much on it. I can still respect that this was practically Bpi's take on a casual level, which is still more expansive than many others' casual levels.

Very fun level, so cool to see Arclia giving a spotlight to many up-and-coming creators. The inconsistency in this collab really gives me pre-2.2 collab vibes which was really nice to see.

A delightful, consistent experience that imo doesn't do anything crazy but makes for a nice time. I think the ocean parts are not that great visually but the overworld sections look quite nice. And there's lots of great mechanics here.

Just not a huge fan of the way they went with this concept. I think its really cool to make a level that essentially serves as a compilation of a bunch of different styles from all walks of life. It's like looking at the Golden Record's contents, a myriad of different lived experiences. But this concept is at odds with the "Top 1 Platformer Demon" and needle gameplay. So the resulting effect is a level that most will just watch on YouTube instead. I understand the allure of making some sort of behemoth in scale and difficulty, but surely this could have been done without making it completely inaccessible to most players. Something like Floating Outskirt's gameplay progression would have worked wonders, where it gets exponentially harder over time.

Unbelievably bold and boundary-pushing

I think this riffs too close to home to levels like Commatose for a lot of the sections, which I don't really like much. The portions where it did its own thing, like with the scribbly notes section, were definite highlights for me. I do like the gameplay a lot though, does a good balance between being accessible and not being too straightforward. The song is also just way too obvious and blunt to me. Some of the lines are cool like "The moon used to be a perfect circle until telescopes and measuring tools gave it its craters" but these lines are delivered in a really "I have been enlightened" / "KNOW THE TRUTH" type of way where it just removes all nuance for me.