Rating Curve

i don't know how it took me as long as it did to find out about this level, haven't heard anyone talk about it, but damn this might be one of the coldest levels rated this year. from the presentation to the gameplay this goes unbelivably hard. it feels like a spiritual sequel to kidsmoke in some ways but also stands on its own as a project full of personality and charm. i love when animation is implemented well in gd levels and it really works here, the transitions look awesome and there are so many details and references hidden in the corners of this level that you can only spot if you look closely. its also clearly telling a story while not shoving it down your throat, it leaves you room for interpretation. it plays as crazy as it looks, its the type of level that demands you sit down to learn it. once you understand the gimmicks though it plays so smooth as the execution isnt really that hard. really creative gameplay though it might be frustrating for people approaching this thinking "its an easy extreme, i should be good enough to do this quickly". it also syncs really well. i was thinking of giving it a 10 but it does have one big problem: lag. tons of objects, meaning its going to ask a lot of the device you are playing on. i had to play with around 120 fps on average. also this level is fucking cursed it literally crashes your game if you try to leave. i've never seen something like that but it fits the level so well i think it might even be on purpose? overall, cursed in the best way possible.

dont know why i waited so long to review this. kidsmoke is one of the absolute best levels uploaded in the entirety of the 2.1 update. its that good. the atmosphere is so well done, through the simple but effective animations, the flashes, the gameplay even. combined with the banger that is dedrater by kingbastard, it all works to make a level that actually manages to intimidate you a bit which i think is quite hard for a gd level to accomplish. the level has a pretty straight forward narrative that it shows you without being too obvious or in your face about it. the two highlights of this level in my opinion are the wave at 37% that everyone talks about, with the confusing fading in and out and the demon taunting you in the background. such a simple but effective gameplay idea i love it, also the cube at 82% is such an intense part that is rarely mentioned: the leaves falling, the demon smiling, and the shadows covering up parts of the gameplay, it leads to the end of the level perfectly and might be my favourite part of the level overall. only reason i'm not giving this a 10 is that the gameplay, while it fits the level perfectly and i can totally justify it being what it is, isn't the most fun thing in the world to play. throughout the review i mentioned how a lot of the gameplay is obscured or hidden in some way, and while it works perfectly for a level like this, it can be frustrating when playing. still i personally think its consistent and fair once you sit down and learn it, not bad by any means. as a fan of radiohead, i totally recommend this. please play this awesome level.

more like 6.5. its alright. the animations and the transitions are super smooth, very very well made i like them a lot. the presentation is very well done in general. honestly though, all the intensity feels wasted on gameplay like this. i don't know why this level is screaming at me and flashbanging me while im going through babys-first-demon-level-type gameplay. i feel like that type of intensity doesn't fit gameplay that is as boring as this (even for easy demon standards, this is on the easier side). also i don't like how the main "enemy" in this level is just an eye, not really a super interesting design yet he's everywhere, sometimes he's the background, sometimes he just shows up to take up space on my screen for no reason. also as i said i love the animations but you can see some of them get reused throughout. its a fine level, it just looks a bit more interesting and intense than how it plays.

animated hell-ish themed level. intense song, intense decoration, not so intense gameplay. pretty good overall, love animation in gd levels and its really well executed here, looks cool and i really like the atmosphere. the gameplay is a weak point for sure, it isn't bad so much as it is kind of boring and doesn't fit the intensity of the theme and the song. i think the difficulty its a limiting factor here, maybe if the level were aimed to be a little bit harder it would have had more room to implement interesting and intense gameplay that could match the theme a bit better, but if you want a really easy demon i guess you can't really get much more intense than this, its cool for what it is.

this might actually be one of the most fun extremes in the entire game. its really, really good. its good enough where i would have loved it even if it had subpar deco, but nah, awesome deco aswell. nothing too crazy when it comes to that, but it doesn't have to be. the use of trasparency makes the simple designs work well with the theme of a "diamond" disco, the structures look like they are made of crystals, the movements and the fade in / out effects look awesome too. sync is great and makes the level really satisfying to play, song goes hard, transitions are really really good, this level makes me so happy its such a good time overall.

more like a 7.5. gameplay isn't great, but the level is easy enough where i didn't really mind going through it too much. i think the checkpoint gimmick could have been used a little better, its like the gameplay was just made as an afterthought. however, i still think this level has enough charm and personality that makes it worth going through it, the music choice is perfect too. so yea, not super fun, but still more interesting and entertaining than 99% of what the featured section offers. its also probably my favourite of all the space gauntlet entries. pretty cool!

i truly think this is one of the worst top 1s this game has ever seen. this deco looks mid now, but i assure you, even when this level was "new" people saw the deco was all over the place. there's no theme, no consistency in the color patterns, and honestly they didn't even try to make any part connect to each other. its just the perfect example of an aimless, bad, 2.1 collab that people only care about nowadays because it was the hardest rated level at one point. there are some cool designs here and there but overall its just a complete mess with no cohesion. i remember caring very little about this level in the past and actually laughing my ass off when it came out that it was actually hacked, that just sealed this level as a huge flop for me.

this was the first 2.2 level that genuinely impressed me in both terms of decoration and mechanics. i remember this being the level that made me realize what people could really do with the new editor. this was also the first level that i think managed to pull off the "static" decoration effect and made it work well. the song fits the atmosphere of the level so well too. despite the waves going in different directions the gameplay is actually still very intuitive while also not being stupid easy. the difficulty is perfect for a level like this, a decent challenge but nothing too hard. if this was an extreme demon for example i feel like practicing this wouldn't have been enjoyable (this might be a me problem but i remember not being able to make start positions work for this level). banger overall.

i'm conflicted about this level. on one hand, i truly think separated duals are just a bad idea gameplay wise, almost making those dual parts memory based. on the other hand however, this level is a spectacle and full of personality and charm. i can also appreaciate how hard it is to make gameplay like this with two icons moving at "different speeds". in the end, this is probably the best possible execution of a rather poor gameplay idea. the result is a level that looks amazing and is super fun to watch, but is not as much fun to play.

cute energetic level. usually when people try to make 2.0 styled levels they end up making purposely weird (and often ugly) structures and going for absurd color combinations because they really want you to know "look!! its like a real 2.0 level!!!!" but this level doesn't. for the most part, its an example of 2.0 done right, while still looking genuine (except the wrong 3d, thats a "oh look its amateurish like a really old level" moment right there). good overall!