Rating Curve

Extreme Demon #5!

Probably my most uninteresting extreme to date, honestly. The only reason I even went for this was because it's a ship (and kind of wave) carried entry extreme, so I knew I could beat it quickly. I was right, as I only took 995 attempts to complete it.

That being said, I think it's a decent level! The gameplay is nothing to really write home about, as it's a mixture of some fun parts balanced out by some awkward bullshit that got kind of annoying. In particular, I found the spider clicks in the middle to be really difficult to gauge at times, although that's probably just a skill issue on my end. I also found the sections of gameplay where you had to click one specific orb in a stream of fakes (such as at 55 and 60) to be quite annoying and finnicky as well, mostly due to how 2.2 changed orb priority to make that style of gameplay much more awkward. Other than that, the gameplay here is perfectly serviceable, and even decently enjoyable if you're good at ship and wave.

The decoration is also nothing super special in the grand scheme of things, but I actually like it quite a bit. I know I'm in the minority here, as most people seem to not really enjoy sillow's visual style, but I've personally had an appreciation for it's simplicity and effectiveness ever since I first heard about him. It is still fairly basic, though.

Overall, a decent level that I highly recommend for anyone looking to transition from insane to extreme demons. At the very least, it will get you better at ship and wave and get you used to hard levels that are carried by those two gamemodes, which happens quite often in this tier of difficulty.

For as long as I have played this game, I have NEVER liked boss fights. I feel this is a pretty common opinion to have, but I think I can still say with confidence that this level is the absolute epitome of why I feel this way. The gameplay is sincerely just so poorly made. It would be a god damn easy demon if it actually functioned correctly.

For the first part of the boss fight, the indicators for where to go and what do are pretty difficult to react to sometimes and lots of the inputs you DO actually have to do feel generally awkward. At the very least, it is possible to form a semi-consistent strategy for the part, which makes it at least tolerable when going for a completion. The same CANNOT be said for the second part of the boss fight, where most of the indicators actually just straight up lie to you. It would be at least somewhat better if you consistently had to click earlier or later than the indicators, but the timing differs for each one, so you genuinely just have to learn what to actually do for each indicator, which is AWFUL design when not indicated correctly as is what has happened here. And even then, sometimes, it's just incredibly hard to telegraph when to click, hold or release to avoid a laser beam and you'll die for what feels like no reason at all. It just feels so random. The robot part right before the second part of the boss fight has the same issues, but to a lesser extent. At least you can get consistent with that part.

Thankfully, it's not all bad. The ship and wave sections in between the first part of the boss and the robot are genuinely decent, and the overall decoration is actually pretty good and thematic. Unfortunately, it doesn't excuse how annoying, poorly executed and unfair most of the gameplay is. What a shame that the doom gauntlet ends with this.

Honestly, it may not be a stretch to call this my favorite medium demon in the game as of the time of me writing this. Considering how old this level actually is, it's INCREDIBLY ahead of it's time in terms of theming and overall visual style. Not only is it a unique theme that sets it apart from your average "hell" or "space" level, but it's also executed with a level of polish rarely seen before or since. The only complaint I can give is that it's just a TINY bit too modernistic for my tastes, but that's really more of a personal thing.

Luckily, the level of attention given to the visuals does not mean that the gameplay was left to the wayside here, as it often is with user levels. Medium demons tend to be kind of unfun in general, but this is a huge exception in my eyes. Nothing feels unfair and every part is not only fun to play, but fun to revisit as well. The 4x ball part is especially great, super satisfying. Easily motleyorc's best work.

Canon event 2nd online demon for most players. I think this and the nightmare are practically the same level of quality overall, but this has higher highs and lower lows. The level is lowkey kind of ugly for most of it's runtime, but that's counterbalanced by the fact that the gameplay is pretty unique, which actually makes it kind of fun. Go ahead and beat this to get ANOTHER free demon in your stats.

Canon event first online demon for most players. Incredibly iconic. Besides that, I literally have NOTHING to say about this. Everything about this level is just 100% inoffensive. Go ahead and beat this to get a free demon in your stats.

You know what? In spite of all the circumstances working against it, this is actually solid! A nice introduction to this stupid cube game we all probably care a bit too much about. The idea of switching gamemodes and timing hard jumps is given to the player at a nice and steady pace without bombarding them with difficulty and the intensity curve is basically perfect in my eyes. It obviously leaves a bit to be desired in the visual department, but I can excuse that given the fact it was LITERALLY the first level ever made.

Obviously a comedically large nostalgia bomb for anyone who has been playing this game for a while. That being said, I don't think the rose-tinted glasses are working as well on this level as they do for other levels in it's category of "nostalgic peak", or whatever its called. Honest to god, the gameplay is incredibly boring and uninteresting, it just kind of happens. That's not to say its particularly BAD, its just not very imaginative at all to me. You know that one scene from baki where he's cooking and eating meals made out of air? Yeah, that's basically what the gameplay in this is like.

I largely feel the same way about the decoration, but the visual at least gets bonus points for the fact that it is genuinely pretty thematic. I especially like the dark cube bits. They're sparse, but it works in favor of the atmosphere in my opinion.

Overall, not bad, but maybe wasn't as deserving of it's iconic status as a lot of people seem to think. At least to me.

Deception Dive. Oh boy.

Let me not beat around the bush here, this is in contention for being my least favorite level in the whole damn game. First of all, most obviously, the overall difficulty balancing of the level is ABYSMAL. There's something to be said about balancing where the difficulty of the level progresses as you get further, but this simply takes that idea WAY too far. The first quarter of the level is quite literally unqualified to be a demon at all. It's 9 star gameplay at the absolute hardest. Then, out of nowhere, you get hit with platnuu's ship, which isn't very difficult for me since I'm incredibly ship carried but will be a HUGE chokepoint for most players. Then the level goes back to being easy again, around a medium demon difficulty, up until about 70 percent or so. Out of nowhere, it turns into a proper extreme as soon as you clear Mazl's part. You play an extreme demon for about 30 percent, and then it's over. hooray!

Now, you may be thinking - balancing aside, is the gameplay at least good in isolation? The answer is a resounding NO. The gameplay is equivalent to god damn sleep medication until you get to the drop. Once you arrive at the drop, in all fairness, you get gameplay that is actually pretty fun for a while. But then the 70 difficulty spike happens, and the fun is over. You are thrust into perhaps some of the WORST extreme demon gameplay I've ever had the misfortune of playing. It is sincerely so unfun and annoying, I can't stand it. It just sucks.

What about the deco Dan? Is it at least pretty to look at? NOPE! It is a 5/10 nothing burger at best and a 2/10 eyesore at worst.

DO NOT PLAY THIS. IT IS BAD.

I have to say, this was totally unexpected. I can say for sure that I IMMEDIATELY fell in love with the deco style, as I have a huge soft spot for weird psychedelic rainbow design. I was put off by the seemingly random gameplay at first, but once I realized that this was actually an open-world level that essentially lets you take whatever path you want to complete it, I was deeply impressed and excited to play (and watch) it. This could have likely been a 10 in gameplay from me, but I do think that the first ship part is a bit too linear and sticks out because of it. I do appreciate the alternate route with the trigger at the beginning, though. I just wish it had that same open-world energy as the rest of the level. Otherwise, this shit slaps!

I basically have the exact same thoughts about this level as I do with La Campanella, but I like this one SLIGHTLY more, like a 9.5 overall as compared to a 9. The gameplay is just as good as it is in La Campanella, it serves the song quite well by speeding up and slowing down exactly when it needs to. The deco and atmosphere, however, is where I think this level outshines it just a little bit. I'm not really big on the ufo part at the beginning, but the rest of the parts are simply fantastic. I especially love the mini cube right after the aforementioned UFO and the wave part at the end with the really fast spinning clocks, the effects and atmosphere are just so cool to me. Again, another funnygame classic.