[Extreme Demon] CICADA3302 by DarwinGD
Oops! The FPS counter got recorded for some reason. I'M SORRY.
I wanted to push a few of my own buttons by beating my very first 5+ minute XXL extreme. Usually, I avoid extremely long levels like the plague, but I saw this brought up recently and this level's really grown on me so I really wanted to give it a worthy shot.
Well, this ended up not taking me too much longer than other extremes around its difficulty! Honestly, though, stretching a level like this usually makes me take 3-4x longer than I otherwise would on a level, but this one took me maybe an extra hour at most from how much time I'd usually spend on extremes of this caliber, so either I'm just getting better (unlikely since I just gave up on Daydream), this level shouldn't be extreme, or Hypnotic Travel shouldn't be hard demon...
Anyway, my experience playing this wasn't so bad. Some parts of the level, especially toward the end, can be quite difficult to learn, and there are a few sections that are a bit buggy, but all in all, given its length and difficulty, I'd say this is pretty solid. I definitely didn't have the same "just relax" mindset going into this as I did with Hypnotic, after all, this level doesn't exactly scream "relaxing". Also, despite this only taking about 20-25 attempts from 0, I didn't really get that lucky either and about a third of those attempts were dying somewhere past 60, with most of them past 70. All that to say that with enough practice, most of this level does feel super consistent to play, so honestly, although this was far from my favorite extreme in terms of experience, I think given its length, it's not easy to do better than this. I just hate playing ultra-long levels, they're so insanely stressful...but who knows, this may not be my last.
Again, as for the gameplay, it's not bad, and certainly not boring, some parts are actually quite fun. Here's the overview:
Predrop (0-24): Probably one of the harder parts of the level. The spider from 9-15 gave me a few issues since the gameplay was honestly hard to follow with all the visual interference, and the next few parts that follow it have some slightly rough transitions. The ship at 18 is also kind of easy to choke, and the wave after it is annoyingly flashy. That being said, nothing here is really too difficult, but overall, I'd definitely say most of this section is probably a solid hard demon difficulty.
Drop 1 (24-52): The difficulty definitely eases for a bit until about 30 when things ramp up back to about a hard demon difficulty, but unlike some of the predrop, the section from 30-52 was really consistent and pretty fun to play as well. I really like the ship/waves from 30-34, they're hard but super satisfying to pull off, and the dash orbs from 34-38 are so fun to hit to the song, it's easy but really intense and I love it. The section from 40-47 is definitely the hardest of the first drop for me, especially the first set of duals from 42-44, which can feel a bit awkward to play. That being said, a lot of times duals are just weirdly inconsistent which can be especially annoying in XXL levels but this was not the case here, I think these were very well made. Lastly, the UFO/robot sections from 47-52 are pretty easy, not much to say here.
Predrop 2 (52-72): Not the greatest section of gameplay, but also not very hard. The first cube involves some somewhat tricky dash orb timings but is otherwise pretty easy, and the ball after it is pretty much free. The ship at 58 is super awkward to play at first but it eventually got very consistent so no complaints here I guess, although the random gravity portals do it no favors. The slow robot after it is almost fine but there are a few clicks in the middle where the moving platforms screw up your jumps. Then at 62, we have kind of a repeat of the beginning ship, and it would be alright if it wasn't for some stupid bug that happens sometimes and launches your cube out of an auto section in the wrong direction (which happened actually at 4:59, though I managed to save it somehow). Everything after that is pretty chill, although I really don't like the flashy wave still.
Drop 2 (72-100): Hardest part of the level. This section by itself is almost an insane demon. The duals at 72-77 aren't easy but they are consistent, they just require some awkward microclicks and know-how with some of the timings. The 77 cube is actually kind of hard to get down as well. The level then eases off until 82, by far the hardest part of the level in my opinion. It's mostly buffers but there are a few very specific timings involved, and just in general, the gameplay is not very easy to follow and VERY easy to choke. This section is easily mid-end insane demon in terms of difficulty. Luckily, this is really the last hard section, everything from 89 onwards is kind of a repeat of the beginning but easier. Then the level ends!
Gameplay: 5.6/7
Deco: 2.9/3
Total: 8.5/10
Personal Difficulty: Very easy extreme demon (5A)