Rating Curve

Giving Golden Hope a formal review, or even rating its decoration and gameplay, would be a disservice to the level. It's comfortably the best April Fools level of all time.

...What do you mean this isn't the Terron level?

If there were any doubt that 2.2 was yet to have a killer level, those doubts have been put to bed upon the release of Skeletal Shenanigans. Anyone cognizant of YoReid can recognize that there are few creators with as much talent, knowledge, and expertise of what makes for a good artistic experience and they've quite simply blown all their previous work out of the water here.

YoReid was definitely one of the leading creators in 2.1, but Airzyy is a name fewer people will be aware of, having found notoriety much more recently. If this is to be their true breakout, there's fantastic things to come. Visually, this level is a treat with theming on a level rarely seen in Geometry Dash. For a relatively normal-length level to have such complete worldbuilding is a real feat but it feels very deserved. Charming animations and usage of SFX (something very difficult to do tastefully in a classic level) complement the fun art style and progression. The titular skeletons are the perfect level of silly, while the boss manages to be threatening without being scary. There's brilliant usage of really quick effects throughout the level and so many tiny details that it's impossible to even notice all of them, let alone discuss them in a review. The decoration never comes at the cost of readability either - it's always easy to tell what's safe to touch and what isn't. The endscreen is also a fantastic bit of art and really adds to the experience.

Skeletal Shenanigans is also a real joy to play. The gameplay is quick and engaging and there's little in the way of awkward balancing - just a couple of clicks are recognizably harder than most. It syncs brilliantly, is well structured, and doesn't feel excessively repetitive. The downhill cube is utterly fantastic, and is one of the best executions of the idea in any level. The boss is apparently controversial, but it probably shouldn't be. Attacks are semi-random, are well telegraphed, and are easy to dodge if you know how they work. It avoids the memory-based pitfalls of the famous -Sirius- while retaining and similar style of bossfight. The biggest (and certainly most valid) criticism you'll see is that of performance, as Skeletal Shenanigans tanks on low-end devices. It's a shame, because it's such a fantastic experience on more powerful devices, but at the end of the day, if a level cannot be enjoyed by everyone purely because of performance issues, there's a problem, and it's a big hit against this level.

One has to wonder, that when a level becomes as popular as this, if people become unfairly critical, and expect perfection. There's also a question of people taking out their struggles in beating a level that isn't trivial (due to a bossfight with random attacks) on the creator. This isn't to suggest that all complaints can be refuted with "skill issue" - different people have different strengths and weaknesses when playing - but to point out some double standards and hypocrisy within the community.

Perhaps with better optimization (likely on RobTop's end and not the creators), this would be considered an all-time great level. Some call it "slop" - a quite frankly ludicrous accusation that reeks of laziness on the reviewer's behalf. Regardless of the unnecessary hate, This is the best level we've had so far in this update, and it bodes very well for the future. Hopefully, this will be remembered as a landmark.

WOOGI1411 is a legend of the creating scene. Their breakout levels in 1.9 were consistently delightful, and they carried this momentum into 2.0 with the fantastic extreme demon Retention. Slightly bizarre name aside, this level is an absolute joy in every way, and feels like a celebration of everything that makes the famous creator's levels so beloved.

Retention modernises its creator's style for 2.0 standards, introducing movement, much more dynamic decoration, and even a cheesy "Yeah!" near the end. Colours in this level are always beautiful (a particular highlight is the greyscale section near the start, which is complimented by some really nice usage of muted colours to add a bit of life. It sounds boring but it works very well) and structuring is chaotic and messy, exactly what you'd expect. Handily, visibility isn't lost in this clutter. It's surprisingly easy to see what's happening at all times, even when the icon is being teleported all over the screen.

The gameplay in Retention is the true standout. It's a career best for a creator known for enjoyable and satisfying gameplay, with brilliantly creative duals, sync, and icon movement. Very few creators are able to make the icon move around the screen in a way as enjoyable as this. It's also a very fair level - there's very few chokepoints and it's largely down to pure skill, aside from the initial memorisation of some of the more complicated sections. The drop is high energy but surprisingly intuitive, and a little more difficult than previous sections which makes it feel deserved when you pass it and reach the climax. Starting just after an unfortunately difficult timing (which sticks out like a sore thumb), the climax of Retention is unfairly good. It's a chaotic and fast paced cube section, which could certainly be crowned the greatest cube section ever built. It's one of those parts you really have to play from zero to understand (perhaps akin to the mountain in Nhelv, by SirGuillester?) and elevates an already great layout to the next level. The sections after this are fun as well, albeit a little tamer in comparison.

The modern age of Geometry Dash produces so many brilliant levels that it's easy to forget levels from the past. Retention has a feeling about it that very few modern levels can capture, and it's an experience any worthy player should absolutely not miss, because it's a level that will stick with you.